ng to the place, but I guess you brought most of 'em."

He was of the true Yankee type--the worst type on earth. So I cared
to say no more, but paid the bill and went elsewhere, finding
cleanliness, comfort, and as much courtesy as you look for in
America, in the next hotel.

"Denver" is a clean, commodious, and pleasant town enough. There are
many of the Yankee type there, but also some very nice people. We
spent some days inquiring about ranches, and then made trips out to
inspect them. I need not drag the reader with me on these little
journeys; we mostly travelled in a light one-horse van, taking our
food with us, and, as the weather was charming, camping out at night.
Except in the winter, when it is far too cold, at night in any case,
Colorado is just the country for this gipsy life. The atmosphere is
wonderfully dry, and there is no danger whatever in sleeping outside
without any shelter. This free kind of life has always had a great
charm for me, and, except in winter, Colorado is just the place for
it.

After some time I found a ranch to suit me. I bought it, the cattle,
and everything on it. The former owner and his family were not long
ere they left, and then my sons entered on their duties. They
understood the work, I did not, but I used to potter about and help
in any way I could.

The profits on a ranch are derived by breeding cattle and horses, and
selling the surplus stock, also from dairy work. Firstly, as to
breeding cattle. The procedure is different in different parts.
Climate principally regulates it. In Texas, a low latitude (33 deg.),
the winters are very mild, and the cattle there are never housed, they
wander over the vast plains the year round. In Wyoming, and Montana
and Dakota which join it, the cold in winter is intense, and the snow
lies long. When the land is snow-bound, cattle, of course, can find
no food for themselves, and during such time they have to be
sheltered (scarcely housed) and fed. To do this costs money, and it
goes without saying that in this respect the warm sites are the
better. More, in the cold localities many cattle are lost in hard
winters, simply frozen to death. But there is compensation as in most
of the actions of nature. The cold localities have better grass in
the summer.

In latitudes like Texas there is no necessity to grow crops for
winter food. In the cold localities much has to be done in this way.
Colorado is between these two extremes, latitude abou