Page:Barbarous Mexico.djvu/283

Rh of Mr. Hearst's stock ranch, permit me to reproduce an item which was published in the Mexican Herald, August 24, 1908.

"With over a million acres of the finest agricultural and grazing land, with large herds of blooded cattle, horses and sheep, roaming over this vast domain, the big Hearst cattle ranch and farm in Chihuahua is the peer of any such estate in the world, whether it lies in the great corn belt of Illinois or Kansas, or stretches for miles across the wind-swept prairies of Texas or Oklahoma. Two hundred and fifty miles of barbed wire fence enclose a portion of this vast ranch and within the enclosure graze 60,000 thoroughbred Herefords, 125,000 fine sheep, and many thousand head of horses and hogs. A modern, up-to-date ranch and farm, whose crops are unexcelled in the world, and whose stock is famous from end to end of the Republic, this ranch is convincing evidence of the great future which is in store for the agricultural and stock raising industry of Mexico."

Thus spoke E. Kirby Smith, a well-known planter of Campeche, who is spending a few days in the city. Mr. Kirby Smith has just returned from an extended trip into Chihuahua, where he spent several days on the great Hearst ranch.

"This ranch," said Mr. Kirby Smith, "is typical of the great modern stock farms and presents a glorious picture as to what may be expected from enterprises of this character, if properly conducted, in this Republic. The stock is of the best. Imported jacks and stallions, thoroughbred brood mares and thoroughbred cattle dot the ranch from end to end.

"Vast amounts of corn and potatoes are raised, and in potatoes alone fortunes are going to be made by the farmers of northern Mexico."