The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1854-05-06


wettcst and drycst, coolest and hottest state
in the Union; and tho the indication of The
mercury may not bear out this statement, yet
the effects Of the climate upon man fully justi-
fy the old fellows assertion; all of which will
explain to the unnitiatcd, when get into the
prairics.
But set out to tell you about bees in Tex
as. Well, the climate the greater part of the
year is too dry in Texas and woods too scarce
to permit it to be first rate bee country.
Bees gather great part, if not ting greater
part of their honey from the leaves of trees,
beng sweet, grmmy deposit Familiarity
known as honey-dcm. In the prairie countries,
which in the spring and summer seasons are
ever covered with cattle, flowers are not so
abundant as formerly, and bees flourish but
ndiffcrently we'll. In the remote western
portion of the state, great quantities Of Cay
ennc peppers grows spontaneously, from the
blossoms of which bees extract great por-
ton of their honey. The honey of tins region
is very Indifferent am told: that in the east
crn portion, however, is finely favored, and
an excellent article.
The people here, work but little in compar-
ison with those of the old States, and live
corrcspondingy rough. Meat and bread
serve for the first course, and bread and meat
for the desert. They experience here the in
convenience of being far from navigation, and
have to depend altogether upon the rise of the
rivers, for many of the necessities and com
forts oflfe. Flour is scarce in this part of
Texas at the present time; in fact, there is
none in the country, and the people live prin-
cipally Oh corn. This they bake into a coarse,
hard kind of bread which for weight and hard
ness would answer the purpose of a brick bat
in street fight.
tits in Texas that the genuine 'corn-lolecr'
is found. The luXurics of civilization have
changed materially, this primitive bread by
adding to, and compounding with it, sundry
foreign ingredients, such as eggs, salaratus,
milk, ETC., but in Texas, the pure, indebted,
unleavencd, patriarchal bread is met with,
composed OF corn meal and water, very often
not even contaminated with salt. This stand
ing dish of the country, is usually baked in
diamond shaped cakes, specifically, about
the size of a wench's hand, and an inch and
half in thickness. A plate full of these hun
ger killers, another of fried bacon, with coffee
to wash them down, is the hospitality of Tex
nc oil nj ,ft
ceive at their hands, for and in consideration
of, from one to two dollars, for supper, lodg-
ing and breakfast, including horse feed.
But they give You the best they have, and
you shouldn't grumblc. Their table might
by supplied with Injuries in the way of vogc-
tables, with but little trouble on the part of
the inhabitants, but they are generally too
intolerably lazy to make this little necessary
cxertion. Potatoes, both sweet and Irish,
grow finely, and of an excellent quality in
Texas; also all kinds of garden stuff may be
cultivated with great success, and saved with
little trouble; at least that which is not in its
nature Immediately pcrishable, but it seems
too much labor for the people, and 50 they
let it go and take the corn-dodgcr and bacon
Milk is about as scarce an article in Texas
as anything else in the culinary line and tho
prairics are swarming, literally, with cows, it
is too much trouble to break few to milk
or if broken, to keep them in milk thro' the
winter season by little extra feed and care;
so they let the milk and butter go to the dogs,
and stick to the cdlh-dodgers and bacon
When the Texans are accused of lazincss
by travellers from the north, they at once
plead guilty. but excuse their fault by saying:
"Ah, if you were here while you would just
be as lazy as u.s." L. l.. +.