The Advocate and news., 1899-04-12
MODERN METHODS.
How Things Are Now Done ON tho
Western Ranges.

instrument into the equipment OF
range, says the San Francisco Ohron'
icle. Il is a steel apparatus with han.
dies about three feet long and altogether
weighing 10 pounds. It is known as
the "dehorner. Il has two sharp
knives, one stationary and one movable,
and resembles a tree pruning fork.
When the handles are apart, the knives
are open and will encircle the largest
cattle horns. When the handles are
pinohed together, the knives close, and
in a twinkling the horns are severed
clean and smooth. A strong armed man
can remove the toughest horns from an
animal by quick strong pressure on the
handles. The large cattle companies
have their own dehorning outfits, but
there are gangs, each Of five men, that
20 about the southwest doing nothing
except dehorning cattle at so much
head. One of the gang is the roper,
who heaves his lariat about an animals
hind leg and by the sudden backing Of
his pony throws it down. There are two
"bulldoggers. They hold the strug-
Cling, believing animal down, one man
holding on to the tail, while another
plants knee across the beasts neck.
The fourth man manipulates the de-
horner. The fifth stands close at hand
with pail Of pine tar and brush.
The moment the horns have been cut
away and blood begins to squirt the tar is
daubed over the wound. The beast stag
gers to its feet and runs madly away.
Nowadays, also, the branding on a
well regulated cattle ranch is done sys-
lematically and with improved inven.
tions The picturesque scenes that for
merly characterized a rodeO and brand
ing have been supplanted by practical
coRtrlvanoes for saving time and doing
neat jop.
I The witer saw recently one Of these
businestike outfits at work on the Aztec
Cattle company's range in Navajo coun-
ty. There was none of the wild cowboy
yelling and whooping Of a decade ago
as the cattle were driven. Indeed not
one of the cowboys wore the regulation
buckskin suit, with brace Of pistols at
his waist, as Of yore Hardly person
spoke. The boss rode slowly about like
a captain, seeing that no time was lost
and 10 animals misused The cows and
calves were separated and driven into
different corrals From each corral a
narrow, boarded passageway led to q
still narrower arrangement, COnstitut-
ing the branding box. Several men in
the corral, armed with long, blunt
poles, drove the COWS and calves, in sin
gle file, through the passageway. AT
the farther end the animals, one by
one, were forced into the branding box.
A man stood without and at one side
with a long wooden lever in his hands.
He watched the cattle as they emerged
into the box. When each animal was
we'll in, he suddenly pushed the lever
down, the movable side Of the box closed
in upon the beast and it was held fast
and tight without injury. In a trice the
prandeI snatched one of the several
branding irons from the fire and pressed
che heated end against the side Of the
animal. There was a little smoke and 6
smell Of burning hair. The beast gave
oonvulsive outcry, but the brand-s
huge ga. C."-was charred in the hail
and flesh. The lever was raised, the
box Widened, and the poor brute dartet
out into another corral.
So the branding went on for hours
necessarily. The boss said that by
working two branding boxes 500 cattle
could be branded day. There had beel
over 400 branded in day by the use o.
only one box.
Some ParadOxeB.
:. !. .-- b.. !. D. 7.