Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1912-02-16
THIS is SOME FARM.
Eleven Thousand Head OF Cattle Fed
On Texas Ranch.

What an immense business we'll con-
Quoted farm can be is indicated in let
ter that has just been sent the Secretary
of Agriculture by DIR. Il. 7. Galloway
chief of the bureau of plant industry of
the Department of Agriculture. He has
recently received a detailed account of
the Borden ranch in Texas from Mr..
kinsler, a young employe of the depart
ment, who has been for some time In
Texas on departmental work, and has
kept in close touch with the development
of the big ranch.
The owner has made big business Of
his farm and is the patIiarchal head of
quite a community. He has 11,0o0 acres
in rice alone. 100 acres in cotton and 300
acres in alfalfa. He imports his laborers
from Russia and keeps II. ooo head of cat
tie on his place. feeding practically
everything he produces to his stock and
thus getting it back in fertilizer on the
land.
He is the man who made quite na-
tional reputation some years ago by i'm
porting the humpbaeked Brahman cattle
from India to cross with the native stock
so as to make a breed that would resist
tick infection and allow raising cattle
in spite of the Texas fever. In eonnec-
ton with the ranch DIR. Galloway says:
You visited this plantation some years
ago and you will probably remember the
owner having made a special trip 20
India to introduce the humpbacked
Brahman cattle. Mr.. Kinsler says that
efforts in the breeding of the Brahmans
are proving very successful. Last sea-
son was an exceptionally severe one IN
the matter of ticks, anu while it was
necessary to dip thoroughbred cattle and
shorthorns from three to four times, the
crossbred cattle went through the sea-
son without any dipping whatever, and
We're practically free from ticks. Mr..
Kinsler further says that as a rule the
crossbred cattle are averaging from 100
to 200 pounds heavier than the thorough
bred when grown.
LAS indicating the rancher's activities
along agricultural lines, it may be inter-
esting to know that he produced last
year 1876 tons of sorghum seed. The seed
he sells to farmers of Texas for planting,
and the sorghum itself he silos. He US
ually cuts two crops, leaving the third
crop for seed At the last cutting ne
averaged 10 tons of silage and go bushels
of seed per acre. lie produced last year
about 25,ee0 bushels of corn and 400 900
pounds of rice. He has 1l,000 acres in
rice, and Mr. Kinsler states that he pro-
duces about 2 per cent. of the rice crop
of the United States. He has 1900 acres
in alfalfa, which he cuts two to three
times He is going quite extensively in
to hog raising, and is shipping his hogs
now to Fort Worth and Houston. Eight
carloads went out of his place short
i oil He IL
not producing as much cotton as former
ly, owing to the fact that he finds other
crops more profitable. He has now about
100 acres in cotton.
"a quite radical change has recently
been made in his labor force at the con-
Wet farm which you visited when you
were in Texas. The state has been
steadily raising the price of convict la
Dor; moreover, the rules, under pressure.
have been made so strict that it was
found difficult to get the convicts to do
| a full days work, hence the owner got
rid of them all and is now conducting
his farm through the help of Russian
peasants. These men are brought in di-
rectly from Galveston, and he pays them
$40 per month and feeds them and takes
care of them when they are sick. Mr..
Kinsler says that for two or three years
they made most excellent farm help. At
ter that they become more or less Amer
icanized and strike out for themselves
as small land renters or sometimes own
ers. They do much better work, how
ever than the negro convicts and do not
have to be guarded or kept in squads,
which is an important factor in accom-
plishing results.
"The owner has in the last few years
quite materially changed his system of
feeding cattle. He has divided up his
extensive grazing grounds into pastures
and through his production of corn sor-
ghum silage, alfalfa and similar crops
has been able to intensity greatly his
production. He now has about 1i,0oo head