4-31
WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1845
when our natural facilities will be inquired into, and our re- sources developed, by those who have capital and possess enter- prise. Doubtless no country on earth possesses equal advantages to Texas as a stock-raising community. Stock here require no feed- ing either in summer or winter, and cost no trouble or expense save marketing and branding. Salting is not necessary, as salines, or licks, are in every part of the country; so that in fact, an ox weighing one thousand weight, or the most valuable cow, would not cost a farmer one cent in its raising. Our prairies are clothed with the most nutritious grasses, sufficient for countless herds. Heretofore, the Durhams have not prospered in this country; but this, to my mind, is readily ac- counted for. They have generally come by water, and have remained on the seaboard, where the insects are more numerous than in the interior; and where, too, the climate is not so genial to the constitution as the rolling country, not only to cattle, but likewise to horses. Some Durhams have been introduced from Missouri, and remained in the interior, about one hundred miles from the seaboard, and they have done well. There is no good reason why blooded cattle, or blooded horses should not do well in Texas, if proper care be taken of them the first year. The change of climate from a northern to a southern latitude, will have an influence upon all animals, as experience has shown ; this fact being known, should not be disregarded while the animal is undergoing acclimation. My opinion is, that November would be the most favorable month for the introduc- tion of blooded stock, and that they should be fed hay, or corn- stalk fodder, with very little grain during the first winter, and be kept sheltered. If this course be pursued, I am satisfied that there would not be more than one failure in twenty experiments. The present stock of cattle in Texas is generally a mixture of Mexican, and cattle from the United States. They each show a · distinctiveness of character. The Mexican (or Spanish) cattle are not so heavy or compactly built, but are taller and more ac- tive; nor do they weigh as well in proportion to appearances when slaughtered as do the American cattle. But they are more active than our cattle, with remarkably long, slim, and 5-harp horns: they are not so good for milk as ours. A cross of these breeds I consider an improvement, and for oxen decidedly so, for it tends to blend the power of the American with the activity of the Mexican cattle. There is a fact in the natural histor~r of
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