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t THE SUN. NEWBERRY. S. C, FRIDAY, JUNE 21, 1940 U. S. Officials Say We Should Add to Our List of "Vanishing Americans" The Name of the Famed Texas Longhorn A TYPICAL TEXAS LONGHORN (Photo, courtesy of the United By ELMO SCOTT WATSON (Released by Western Newspaper Union.) ADD to the list of “Vanish- ZA ing Americans” the famed Texas longhorn! At least, that’s what a re port of the biological survey indicates, for it says that this animal, which once loomed large in the history of the West, is on the verge of ex tinction. Once there were nearly 10,000,000 of these rangy beasts. Now out of that vast number there are only 250 pure-strain longhorns left. They are fewer than the buf falo which they succeeded on the Great Plains and once ri valed in numbers. Unlike the buffalo, however, the longhorn was not decimated to the point of near-extinction by ruthless slaughter. He is being bred out of existence. In his veins now flows the blood of the Short horn and the Hereford which re duced the length of his horns, put meat on his lanky sides and cooled his wild spirits. It’s all due to economics—or, more specifically, to the economic law of supply and demand. Back in the days which followed the Civil war, when Texans began gathering up the oversupply of cattle running wild over her broad prairies and trailing them north to the Kansas “cow towns” where eastern buyers met them, Amer ica became more of a beef-eating nation than it had ever been be fore. The Texas longhorn was the chief source of supply and he con tinued to be thus for more than two decades. Then American meat-eaters began demanding a better quality meat. So the stock- men in the West used the hardy, half-wild longhorn as the founda tion for crossing with superior beef breeds. And that revolu tionized the cattle industry and the whole economy of the West. The longhorn was a picturesque feature of the western landscape but he was also an “economically wasteful” feature. So he was doomed to go. By the middle 1920s it was ap parent that the typical old-time longhorn, except for a few speci mens in Wild West shows, or rodeo exhibition companies and a few running wild in various parts of the Lone Star state, was rapidly approaching the point of extinction. Then a few Texans, remembering that this animal had been one of the chief founda tion stones upon which the pros perity of their commonwealth had been built, declared that it would be something of a tragedy to let him be wiped out of exist ence and decided to do something about it. Among the leaders was J. Frank Dobie, professor of Eng lish at the University of Texas and a noted author of western books. A Move to Save the Longhorn. At a meeting of the Old Trail Drivers association in San An tonio, he proposed that a long horn preserve be established in the ranch region of south Texas and a resolution was adopted in dorsing the plan. Next, the Texas Folklore society passed a resolu tion recommending that the legis lature appropriate sufficient funds and provide adequate means "to preserve in its purity for future generations the Texas longhorn breed—the most historic breed of cattle the world has ever known.” In the meantime the United States Department of Agriculture had become interested in the plan to preserve the longhorn. For several years it had tried to se cure an appropriation from con gress for that purpose but to no avail. Finally in 1927, through the efforts of Senator J. B. Hend rick of Wyoming, a small sum was granted for the purchase of a few cows and some bulls and it was decided to place them on a preserve in the Wichita national forest in Oklahoma. To Will C. Barnes, a veteran cowman con nected with the forest service in the department of agriculture, and another forestry official was given the task of finding the nec essary animals. The story of their quest is told by Mr. Barnes as follows: “At Fort Worth, San Antonio and other points the general feel ing was that their quest would be unsuccessful. ‘A few old cows might be found,’ they were told, ‘away "down in the prickly pear country of the lower Rio Grande or in the dense mesquite thickets of the plains.’ But bulls! Well, that was something else again. Everybody doubted the possibil ity of finding them. “The forest officers first plunged into the prickly pear country be tween Laredo and Brownsville on the Rio Grande and Corpus Christi on the gulf. Every nook and cor ner of this region was hunted out, using every imaginable kind of traB spor tation. States Department of Agriculture). “In two weeks they had spotted ten cows and one bull in that cor ner of Texas as meeting their re quirements, picking one here, one there. They hired a cattleman who knew the country to gather them at a central point of ship ping, and having exhausted this end of Texas, they moved up into the great coastal plains region be tween Houston and Beaumont. Here was an entirely different country, one of the great range cattle sections of the state. The region was combed thoroughly and ten excellent longhorn cows and two good bulls were gathered. “Inasmuch as the steers are the ones that developed the extremely long horns, three glorious ani mals with good-sized horns were brought to be kept as an exhibit of what a longhorn should be. They are all young and their horns will probably grow at least 18 inches more in a few years. Branded “U. S.” “The two shipments were con centrated at Fort Worth and dipped three times at seven-day intervals to free them of the dead ly Texas fever tick and tested for tuberculosis. Then the whole bunch were put through a brand ing chute and branded ‘U. S.’ on the left hip. “The longhorns were shipped from Fort Worth to the Wichita national forest. It was like old times to sit in the caboose of a long freight train with a car of cattle ahead and crawl over the top of the train in the dark to make sure the cows were all “OLD ALAMO” This famous longhorn steer was crippled in a stampede during the filming of Emerson Hough’s “North of ’36” and had to be destroyed. there. Cache and the Wichita forest were eventually reached and the cattle placed in the pas ture provided for them. Swarms of people came out from sur rounding cities to look them over, and the old-time cowmen of the region all agreed that the bunch which had been collected were really fine specimens of the old longhorns—perfect types with which to build up a modest herd of 250 or 300 head and thus pre serve the breed for future genera tions of Americans to study and admire.” By 1929 the original herd of 24 longhorns in the Wichita national forest had increased to 40 and since then there has been a small increase each year. But the re cent statement made by biologi cal survey officials that there are now only 250 pure-strain long horns, including no doubt the herd in Oklahoma and scattered numbers in other parts of the West, indicates that this animal is nearing the “end of the trail” and it is not inconceivable that an epidemic or sickness or some oth er unforeseen circumstance might easily wipe the breed out of exist ence. Origin of the Longhorn. It has been a “long trail,” in more than one sense, that the longhorn has traveled. His his tory traces back to the days of Cortez. The Spanish conquista- dores brought the first cattle to North America from the hills of Andalusia, in southern Spain. Two centuries before any cattle were sent to Texas the Spaniards were successfully raising good ones in Mexico. The first herds crossed the Rio Grande into Tex as when the missions were built. Around each mission the padres kept good-sized herds of beef and milch cattle, and oxen for trans porting heavy loads. As the years passed numbers of these cattle escaped and be came wild, running as free on the endless prairies as the bison and the antelope. Inbreeding caused deterioration and settlers arriving from the states east of the Mississippi late in the Eight eenth and early in the Nineteenth centuries found herds of scrawny wild cattle everywhere, with horns out of all proportion to the animal's size. They were fleet, tough creatures, as well adapted to the arid region as the antelope and deer or the buffalo herds that were growing less numerous. In the years before the railroad came to Texas, without a rod of fence anywhere between the Rio Grande and Kansas, the longhorn roamed at will over the vast range. There became so many in Texas then that often they were killed for their hides alone. Oc casionally herds were driven to New Orleans, which is 650 miles from San Antonio, and to Mobile and Vicksburg. They rarely sold for more than $5 a head and the demand was not very brisk. Then came the Civil war. Texas couldn’t and wouldn’t send herds northward, and the Union block ade of the Mississippi river was so effective that only one or two droves got through, swimming almost under the guns of warships below Vicksburg. Their numbers were greatly diminished, the rem nant finally reaching the Confed erate army. When the war ended the cattle industry in Texas was nearly ruined. It was during this hour of de pression that a ranchman con ceived the idea of driving cattle to the North. If the buyers wouldn’t come to Texas for cattle, he would take his cattle where he could sell them, or, at least, where the prospects were good. He selected Abilene, Kan., end of rail on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe. So, in 1867, the first herd of longhorns “went up trail.” They arrived at their destination, were sold at a good profit and the cattleman went back to Texas for another herd. The news of his success spread like wildfire, and the next year other herds were driven north ward, with varying degrees of success. But Texas cattlemen were used to hard luck and diffi culties. Within two or three years trail driving became an estab lished business and in one year three-fourths of a million head arrived in Kansas. The longhorn was in the heyday of his glory and the cattle industry thrived in Texas. Disaster on the Range. It continued to flourish with the discovery by the cattlemen that by driving their steers to the north ern ranges and fattening them there they could increase their profits. By 1880 the land was badly overstocked and under nourished. Then came the drouth of 1885 when cattle perished by the thousands around tanks and waterholes. This was followed a few years later by severe winters which wiped out whole herds. Other factors which spelled the doom of the longhorn were the coming of the barbed wire, which marked the end of the open range, and the settling of the West by homesteaders. Long before the last great herd went “up the trail” in 1895, -pro gressive cattlemen had been in troducing blooded stock and cross ing them with the longhorns. Shorthorns were tried first but the shorthorn wasn’t so good at “rustling for his grass.” In the Hereford the cattlemen found the animal that, crossed with the long horn, was ideally adapted to the Texas ranges. So the lanky old longhorn was through as a beef type. He be came a hybrid and began losing his individuality in the red-coated “white-face.” As a pure strain he exists now only as a curiosity on a few ranches in Texas, at live stock shows and in the “reserva tion” set aside for him in Okla homa. He is a “Vanishing Amer ican.” ELECTRICITY AIDS FARM OPERATIONS Power Yields More Work at Less Cost. By NORTON IVES (Extension Agricultural Engineer, University of Minnesota Farm.) When you buy electricity you buy work. The success of the rural elec trification program should not be measured in terms of miles of line or numbers of customers connected. These only show the amount of money invested and the amount of debt incurred, the engineer warns. The true value of electricity lies in its ability to do work cheaper and better than by old-fashioned methods. Unless put to work at productive labor or money-saving tasks, the “juice” is just another expense. | When feiven a chance, however, it is the cheapest laborer on the farm. | A small quarter-horsepower motor will do the work of one man and at an energy cost averaging only one cent per hour. Feed grinding is accepted as a money-saving practice on most live stock farms, and when rates are moderate, electricity will do the job cheaper than any other form of power. At a rate of 2.5 cents per KWH (kilowatt hour), 25 cents will grind a ton of oats, 1,100 pounds of barley or 2,800 pounds of corn to medium fineness. Overhead bins, \ arranged for automatic self-feeding, j practically eliminate labor cost and permit the operator to do other i chores while the next day’s feed is being ground. In purchasing an electric feed grinder, the motor costs far more I than the grinder, Ives points out, so provisions should be made to see that the power unit is made port able and may be moved from one job to another. A three-horse-power electric motor, in addition to grind ing feed, will saw wood, elevate grain or corn, run machines in the farm shop, hoist hay and even shell com. Vhen put to work, highline current is the best hired man on the place. If left in the wires, it will “eat its head off.” lilli ■jlllllj A TEA IN THE TIME OF ROSES (See Recipes Below) Household feus =, 15] /itjManor- One Out of Four Farms Served by Power Lines About 1,700,000 farnts, 25 per cent of all the farms in the United States, had high-line electric service at the beginning of this year, more than twice the number having service when the Rural Electrification ad ministration was established in 1935, REA announces. Electric service was extended to approximately 225,000 farm families , and other users or about 1,000,000 persons last year—one for every 30 seconds ticked off from the begin ning to the end of the year. Users receiving service from REA financed systems now total about 400,000. Of the 688 such sys tems, 500 are in operation with more than 180,000 miles of lines ener gized. Construction was equivalent to one average system completed per ! day, averaging about 400 miles of line per work day. During periods \ of favorable weather, construction j has averaged more than 500 miles i per working day, and at times it ex ceeded 560 miles per working day. [ The 180,000 miles of REA financed lines now in operation are sufficient ! to span the continent from Wash- i ington to San Francisco 60 times. , An additional 60,000 miles are still 1 under construction. The average size REA financed system has an investment of $400,- 000, and serves 1,200 users from 400 miles of lines. Farmers’ co-opera- 1 tives constitute 88.4 per cent of REA I borrowers. Cow Now Has ‘Rights’ Under Britain’s Laws Talk about constitutional rights— cows in England, at least, can do just about as they please. No worrying about stop lights or parking tickets or being bawled out by traffic cops. The high court of appeals in Eng land has held that a cow had the constitutional right to stand in the middle of the road and chew her cud, and let traffic go hang or go around. At least the court said that cows do not move in straight lines and no driver could be expected to make them go in straight line or stay out of the road. The decision was made in a case where a motorist had collided with a cow and claimed damages to his car. In announcing hie decision, the lord justice said that cows have “strayed about the road for time immemoriaf and will probably continue to do so. Agricultural News In recent experiments, cows pro duced more milk if given injections of a pituitary gland extract. • • • A motor of Vt horse power is a hired man that works for the un usually low figure of about a cent an hour. • • • Good, high-quality roughage has long been recognized by dairy farm ers as the cheapest source of feed for cows. It’s the custom, in a great many clubs, to draw the season to a grace ful close with a charming spring tea. If you’re chairman of the re freshment committee for that de lightful social function of your or ganization, why not plan to make “In the Time of Roses” the theme song for your tea? Use roses here, there and every where ... a rose-pink damask cloth with rose pattern; rose- sprigged china; a great bowl of real roses for the cen terpiece, and can died rose petals to decorate the tiny cakes. When you plan the refreshments, allow at least three sandwiches and two little cakes (or cookies) for each guest, and a pound of mints or salted nuts for each 25 guests. If the tea is a large one, you’ll need two platters of sandwiches, two of cakes and one dish each of mints and nuts, on the table at one time, and make sure that for each platter on the table there’s at least one full one in the kitchen to take its place. Choose an interesting variety of dainty sandwiches for your tea. Oblong brown bread sandwiches with cream cheese and marmalade are good, and combine effectively with round white bread sandwiches, with a blend of tuna fish and may onnaise between them. Very thin, dainty slices of an unusual bread are excellent for plain bread and butter sandwiches. An assortment of dark and light cookies, and very small cakes pro vide the sweet touch for your menu. And tea you must have, of course. Tea, when properly made, is one of the most invigorating drinks you can serve. It is most important, especially when making tea for a group, to measure the amount of tea used and to brew it just long enough and not too long in order to insure its best fragrance and tang. (Three to five minutes is generally conceded to be just about right brewing time.) Bishop’s Bread. (Makes 1 loaf) 3 eggs 1 cup sugar U4 cups flour 1% teaspoons baking powder % teaspoon salt 2 cups nut meats (broken) 1 cup dates (sliced) 1 cup Maraschino cherries Vs pound sweet or semi-sweet chocolate Beat eggs until light, and add the sugar, beating just enough to mix. Sift flour, baking powder and salt and add the nuts, dates, cherries and chocolate which has been broken into pieces , . about the size of a five-cent piece. Add to the first mixture, and mix just enough to blend the ingredi ents. Grease a bread loaf pan thor oughly and line the bottom with wax paper. Grease paper and pour in the batter. Bake in a moderately slow oven (325 degrees) for about hours. Cool and slice very thin. Butter Ovals. (Makes 30 small cookies) l h cup butter 3 tablespoons superfine powdered sugar 1 cup flour 1 cup nut meats (broken) Cream butter, add powdered sugar and blend well. Add flour slow ly and mix thoroughly. Fold in nut meats. Shape into small crescent shaped rolls about the size of a small finger. Place on greased bak ing sheet and bake in a moderate oven (350 degrees) for approximate ly 20 minutes. Roll in powdered sugar while warm. Little Swedish Tea Cakes. 1 cup butter Vs cup sugar 1 egg 2 cups cake flour V4 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon vanilla extract Cream butter and add sugar slow ly. Cream well. Add well-beaten egg and blend. Sift flour once be fore measuring and then sift again with salt. Add and blend in flavor ing. Place a rounded teaspoonful of batter in very small greased muffin tins (1% inches in diameter). Press batter up sides and over bottom so that there is a hollow in the center. Fill this hollow with an almrind fill ing (about 1 teaspoonful). Almond Filling. 2 eggs Vs cup sugar V\ teaspoon salt Vi pound finely ground almonds Beat eggs until very light and add sugar, salt, and ground almonds which have been put through food chopper twice. Bake 30 minutes in a slow moderate oven (325 degrees). Black Walnut Bread. (Makes 1 loaf) 1 cup milk 1 cup sugar 1 cup black walnuts (rolled fine) 3 cups flour 3 teaspoons baking powder Combine milk, sugar and wal nuts. Sift flour and baking powder together, and blend with the first mixture. Pour batter into small, greased bread pan. Bake in a mod erate oven (350 degrees) for 60 to 70 minutes. Dream Bars. (Serves 6-8) IVi cups flour 1% cups brown sugar Vs cup butter Vs teaspoon baking powder 2 eggs (well beaten) Vs teaspoon vanilla extract % cup coconut Mix 1 cup flour with 2 tablespoons brown sugar. Cut in butter. Pat into greased square pan and bake 10 minutes in a mod erate oven (350 degrees). Add baking powder to remaining V* cup flour and sift. Beat eggs and add the remain ing 1% cups brown sugar, beating thoroughly. Then add the flour and the vanilla extract. Spread this mix ture over the partially baked butter and flour mixture. Sprinkle with co conut, return to oven, and continue baking approximately 25 minutes longer. English Currant Bread. 2 cups bread flour 2 teaspoons baking powder Vs teaspoon nutmeg Vs teaspoon salt Vs cup sugar 2 tablespoons butter % cup currants Vs cup pecans or other nut meats (broken) 1 egg (well beaten) Vs cup milk 1 teaspoon orange rind (grated) 1 teaspoon orange juice Sift all dry ingredients together. Cut in shortening. Add currants and nut meats. Combine egg and milk and add to first mixture. Add or ange juice and rind. Mix well. Place in well-greased - loaf pan. Bake in moderately hot oven (400 degrees) 40 to 45 minutes. Strawberry Jam Gems. 2 cups general purpose flour Vs teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon baking powder V\ cup shortening % cup milk Strawberry preserves Sift all dry ingredients and blend in shortening. Add liquid and knead lightly for a few seconds. Form small biscuits with finger tips as for yeast dough mixtures. Make small indentation with spoon and put 1 teaspoon strawberry preserves in each indentation. Stretch dough over opening and place in greased muffin tins. Bake in hot oven (450 degrees) until brown. Serve hot like biscuits. On the Refreshment Committee? Let Eleanor Howe’s cook book, “Easy Entertaining,” help you plan your parties. In this practical, in expensive cook book you’ll find a wealth of suggestions for making your parties a success—tested reci pes that are unusual and delicious; menus for almost every social oc casion, and general hints for the hostess, too. Get your copy of this cook book now. 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Mother’s in Earnest As she bent her fair head over the book, her mother watched her fondly; yet there was a thoughtful look in her eyes. “Mother,” said the girl presently, “it says here that Philip means a lover of horses and IF alter a conqueror. I won der what George means?” “I hope,” replied her mother firmly, “that George means business!” . What Love WiU Do! “Here’s a wonderful thing,” said Mrs. Browne. “I’ve just been reading of a man who reached the age of forty without learning to read or write. He met a woman and for her sake he made a scholar of himself in two years.” “That’s nothing,” replied her husband. “I know a man who was a profound scholar at forty. He ^met a woman, and for her sake he made a fool of himself in two days.” “What do yon do with your old clothes?” asks a newspaper. Take ’em off at night and put ’em on again in the morning. OUTSTANDING BLADE VALUE 10 for 10 Cents cumas co.. sr. louis, mo. School of Patience No school is more necessary to children than patience, because either the will must be broken in childhood or the heart in old age. —Richter. >^'11 '^HRST CHOICE OF MILLIONS. ^ Bcf THEIR FIRST THOUGHT FOR — COLDS DISCOMFORTS. JOSEPH ASPIRIN Home Happiness To be happy at home is the ulti mate result of all ambition.—Sam- • uel Johnson. Dr. Hitchcock’s All-Vegetable Laxative Powder — an intestinal tonic-laxative—actually tones lazy bowel muscles. It helps relieve that sluggish feeling. 15 doses for only 10 cents. Large family size 25 cents. At all druggists. Dr. Hitchcock's LAXATIVE POWDER YVNU—7 25—40 ( Not on the Surface He who would search for pearls must dive below.—Dryden. Watch Your Kidneys/ Help Them Cleanse the Blood of Harmful Body Waste Your kidneys are constantly filtering waste matter from the blood stream. 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