Chapter 20

Joseph’s upbringing on the farm, combined with few opportunities to rub elbows with the Philadelphia elite gave him a different perspective of the ranch than Nate and Oliver, who were raised in the middle of social society and had no comprehension about the advantages of bonding with the land and had difficulty comprehending it.  He was in such awe of the ranch’s grandeur and smoothness of operation that he could not stop complementing it. He spent a great deal of time mingling with the ranch hands while asking questions about the ranch’s general operation and learning all he could about how a ranch differed from a farm.  

He was surprised to discover that, at one time, cotton was grown on the ranch.  Old man Kincaid got rid of it when he took Angus McCormick on as overseer.  Angus had no idea how to grow cotton, nor did he have the desire for it.  So, for the last fifteen years, the cotton fields lay fallow.  Although Jose