Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-04-13
R0UND-UPS.
last Years Experience Should Teach
That There is no Money in Scrubs.
FLOODED stock for breeding in Demand In
TeZas-How to stop Prairie Fires-Gen-
eraI Stock Items.

NA
# anything can drive home the lesson
of all science and experience that there
i no profit in scrubs or scrub keep, the
experience of the last year should do it.
with every kind of stock that competes
witb the range selling at dead loss and
nv its volume carrying down the price of
even good cattle until the margin of
nraGt, even on these, is small, certainly
farmers can see that, however damaging
the dressed beef combine may ave been,
the scrub has done them even
worse. injury. 1t must now be appar-
e1t 10 the dullest comprehension that,
ON land worth from SO to $50 per acre,
II will not pay to keep q scrub COW for a
sc-uh calf alone, or, rather, for the
chance of a calf, nor will If pay to milk
her TOR IS or 100 pounds of butter, and
have at once Improbable butter and a
stiu more Improbable calf. Something
must be done 10 bring a profit, and 1t IS
70 suggest tnat better way that this arti-
Gle is written. But first let us define
what is meant by scrub 1t is used
not as the opposite TO thoroughbred
stock, or to grade stock, but as the OPP
Dosite OF the term good cattle, u by
Inc term good Is meant good for the
rJ-pose in view. Hence q COW that Is q
.ewel in ~the'daiTy may be a scrub on the
beef farm, and a cow that is beyond price
III the hands OF an exclusive beef producer
NAV De the vflest kind of g scrub in the
dairy. A thorogghbPed-aud one, too,
OF fine GualitY-may produce, in the
hands OF a poor feeder or scrub farmer,
the wort kind of scrubs, lacking both
the virtues of :he natives and of the
thoroughbred. 1t is time now for farmers
10 sort out their cattle and, after hold
ing an institute with themselves, a sort
Cf agricultural determination, to use
their cattle for a special purpose. That
special purpose may be the dairy or beef
production, or both. After determining
what they viii try to do, go at the work
intelIigently, and by safe and sure
methods. The daiTyman needs the dairy
COW, the beef producer needs the
beef animal and the granger
needs the granger's COW, which,
while not as good at the pail
rs the special purpose dairy cow, nor as
q fine beef animal as the special purpose
beef COW, is yet a good beefer and a good
mixer. 1t is Of no avail to say that this
combination is impossible. A similar
combination exists in. almost every line
Of stock. We have mutton sheep that
produce plenty of wool, farm horses that
are neither heavy drafts nor roadsters,
but strike the happy medium Of a coach
horse that brings more money than
either; we nave hogs that mature early
and yet make heavy weights, and, more
convincing than all we have on hundreds
of farms, 400 pound COWS hat give milk
enough to raise two big, lusty calves.
What better is wanted for foundation
stock than this?
For any and all these purposes there is
no better time to procure foundation
stock than at the present'hour. There
never has been a better time, and we do
not think there ever will be. The hard
times have been felt as se~YeTelY-bY the
breeders as by the farmers. Thousands
of scrub thoroughbred COWS have gone
INTO the feed lots and thousands of
thoroughbred bulls are now as yeaTlings
and two-yeaT-olds making splendid use
OF fifteen cent corn in Western feed
yards. This wedding process has greatly
purified the breeds. 1t has been ''bitter
herbs'' TO the breeders, but after all
il has been wholesome. At the
sales now advertised may be found
plenty of fiTst-class cattle. Some
Of them are of the beef breeds,
some of the dairy breeds and some of the
material that the granger needs to de-
velop more generally the granger's cow
the coming COW, the COW OF the future
in the West and Southwest. The farmer,
or granger, must, however, unload two
or three Of his rock-rooted ~prejudices.
NTa-araF1-a h. I,- 1,N1, NLa -1--& 1r a11nr I
crauks. In Short-horns nothing but q
red bull would suit him. This is nom
sense, pure and unadulterated. The
question he should ask is not what kind
OF hair does the bull wear, but what is
his quality. The granger, too, has been
the worst crank on questionable crosses.
We don't blame the breeder for fighting
shy Of these. He knows that the granger
IS often cranky on this point. But we
do blame the farmer VINO, raising cattle
only for beef or milk. refuses to buy
cattle that suit his purpose, and often
buys those that do not, for a reason that l
Is n his case, no reason whatever.
We aurise farmers to buy bulls fGStS
class IN quality, looking at the color of i
the hair after they get home, and neil.
refusing al questionable cross if it hRsS
the merit required. There are onen
more good milking short-horrs among
these untashionables than among others,
and again, some Of the very best mixers
are among the older shOrt-horn families
that were famous alike at the pail and IN
HE stall. All the indications now point
ID the direction Of a scarcity of bulls Far
mis- season 5 trade. We again make the4
suggestion we ave often made before, 7
mat the cheapest way to buy a bull for
the future Is 70 buv q thoroughbred caw {
with a young bull calf, or if that cannot
De done, to buy a COW in calf and take5
chances. 1t is time now for farmers tG
wake M to their interests, and if the&
Keep fewer cattle, keep better and keep
only such as are bred in line with the
purposes Of the farmer.
STOCK REVOLUTION.
sUockmen OF the state Purchasing FLOODED