Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-07-01
must five upon the land and max. certain

must FIVE upon the land and make q certain
amount Of improvements, and. after the
third year he can DISPOSE Of bis claim =, TO
another. No more than four sections of $40
acres each. or a total OF 2.560 acres, can
be purchased by any one person. The de-
ferfed payments and the interest have to
be paid on the first of November every
year. II settler fails to pay for three
years the land commissioner declares the
land forfeited and places it again on the
lists of the county clerk for sale. GEAR
title, or patent, cannot be obtained until
all the payments are made but the pur-
chaser has the option of making settle
ment any time within forty years.
That is the way in which the country
around Fort Worth Is being settled Thou
sands OF people are going in and buying
farms 40 to $500 acres in size. They are
mostly farmers and farmers sons from
Missouri, Illinois, Iowa and particularly
from east and south Texas, where the boil
weevfl has been doing much damage 20
the cotton. That mischievous worm thrives
in middle and southern Texas. and where
ever there is moist climate and ran
growth of vegetation. 1t cannot live, or
at leas- 1t does not thrive, in western and
northwestern Texas. where the atmosphere
is drier and there is less, tropical growth
Hence many planters who have been
knocked out by its rayages are engratiEg
into the big triangle have described.
Cotton will grow in this country just as
well as corn, and wheat grows better than
anything else. The triangle now produces
from 6000o0 to 100000 oaies of cotton per
year. and is capable of producing 2,Goo.3Oo
bales 1t can produce from 10,00D,ooo to
20, 900 600 bushels of wheat and an equal
mount of corn At present the annual
value of the products of that triangle Is
SO, Zoo 0C0, not including cattle. which IS
becoming one of the most valuable assets
because of a change in the methods of
raising them.
Disappearance of the Range.
The range has disappeared. The long
10 hay no fnas n II
pure bred Herfords in the United States
may be found at Midlands. $50 miles west
of Fort Worth, where only q few years ago
We're nothing but ''long horns, or wild
range cattle. Texas has been breeding
ground for the beef cattle of the United
States which have been sent northward to
Kansas Nebraska, Missouri, Illinois ana
other states to be fattened. But the land
down here has become too valuable 10 use
for such purposes. 1t takes ten acres OF
ordinary range to pasture a steer; and, as
the farmers say
1T does not pay to use ten acres of three
dollar land to raise tweive-dollar steer
on
Hence the ranges are being rapidly cut
up into small FARMS new breeds of cattle
are being introduced, and are being fat
tened here on Kafifr corn. milo rnaise and
other non-saccharine sorghum plants, ana
on cottor-seed meal and hulls instead of
being driven directly OFF the range and
shipped Borthward, to be fattened there
The cost of the transportation of Tat steer
Is no greater than that of q lean one, but
the price at Chicago or St fieuIs or Kansas
City is doubled. Then again, the farmers
have learned that they can fatten more
beef than they could formerly raise. at
very little advance in the care and cost
In other words, it costs very little more
to produce a fat steer than it does a lean
one, although the latter will sell for. only
half as much. Beef is very scarce No
matter what people may think o. the bees
trust it is impossible for packers to get all
the cattle they require, and the demand is
increases and the purchasing power of the
working people expands. All economical
laws, which regulate such things, are in
favor of securing the heaviest weight of
beef for the least money. That is the bot
tom reason why the ranges out here are
being broken up. There are now something
over 10.000,003 cattle in Texas, and until
recently each had average range Of
twenty-five acres Steers of double the
value may be raised upon one-tenth of the
land by proper management and that is
what the people of Texas are learning.
Instead of driving his herds from place to
place in search of grass and water, the cat
tleman of today is fencing in small areas,
driving wells and building dams and reser-
voirs raising the food for his cattle, feed
ing them with his own hands, watering
them and looking after them closely, which
would have been considered absurd and eff
Terminate few years ago.
The 10000 900 cattle in Texas which are
twice s many as can be found in any other
state, are worth about S1T0,000,0o0 and they
can be made much more valuable by hay
ing them fattened at home instead of at
some farm half way to the market.
Packers Meeting the Ranchmen.
Recognizing this, the packers are coming
to meet the ranchmen half way. The Ar
mours and Swifts have recently expended