Dallas herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1849-1873, 1871-07-15
Reunasks on Gresisy's speech
ut the state Pair.

~ t.s Eii,E efiir Rlllss iisTsia'
GENTs The following syllabus
OF Horace Greeley's speech at lhs
onening Of the State Fair, at llons-
ton recently, together with a lew
remarks is respectfully ofiered io'
/ the rerusal OF the farmers OF Texas
! \ glance at the prOgresslf g chan
yes from savage To civilized life
primitive agriculture and us devel'
opnent; spcculations on the teach
! ings of Science which enables Us 10
harness tho clements aud make
them perform the various labors OF
man The folly of permitting wa
Ter TO flow away without arresting
its course and applying Il TO the
purposes Of irrigation; value OF ir'
iigation 10 grass crops glance a,
lahcient irrigation borrowed from
Ithe natural overflow of the Nile
irpracticable idoab about wells IN
Inc highest farming situation for
pGrposes of Irrigation artesian
wells and ignorance manifested ~
relation to the Numerous attempts
10 bring water TO the surface ty
thih species Of we'll in Texas, (WeS'
tern ;jadvantagcs Of machinery !
steam as applied to machinery Gu
loriam on electricity and probabili'
~ az its supercedinc steam MS n
| mot6r; drainage rcsnarks on. the
culture of cotton, And highly valua,
bic advice 10 vary tho products oil
the soil by establishing manuiactur'
ing interests among us, and thus in.
crcasc the demand OF provisions and
othcr products advice to take n
good newspaper published Mt homo,
and An intimation that he can point
us ont Il good one if we desire more
than one picture of agricultural
life and its future; value OF knowl;
edge; preservation and increase oil
forest trees; regret ut reckless DO,
strAction OF timber; maXlms ana
cohclGding remarks.
II seems to me like sending Goals
TO Newcastle to send to New Nefk,
for \ republican chief, who has been
all his life devoted to politics, to N
form tho people Of Texas on the
subject of farming. In the lengthy
Discourse of six and a half columns
tbcfc Is not, will venture to affirm,
one ttactical, available idea that is
new. Mr.. Greeley maniicsts an eX-
trc,nc ignorance Of the experiment
al knowledge acquired by the
heoplc of Texas during tho past
thirty years. He does not seem to
know that obtaining water BY sink
inc wells in many portions Of Ten:
as, . even for household purposes is
extremely uncertain. Nor does ne
seem to have heard O. Nnumer-
ons failures to construc. trtcslan
wells in Western Texas. His pro
posed means of irrigation are Sim
ply impractiGablo. Any we'll IN
formed farmtt could assure, him
that the end He PROPOSES to attaln
can only be accomplished by sub
soil ploughing and extensive artlfi-
cial tanks. In tegard to his sclen-
tifc spcculation5 any one WHO has
road the Scientific American for
tho last fifteen yc;!ts and hotcd his
absurd advocacy Of Hot ar En-
oincs, increased speca of cars on rail-
roads to seceral hundtea m'les per
houf. and numerous other discus
siotl5 which have appeared in the
colImns of thb TriBthc, and been
sevGrcly criticised BY Munn & Co.,
of The former paper; ~iIl give them
but little weight. The establish
meht of manufacturing interests is
Ger tainly important to the people OF
Texas, but farIiierS tire not manu-
facturers and cahttt be expected to
initiate an institution so foreign to
tht6ir own pursuits: Mrt Greeley re
wis probably. Invited 70 Texas
thrbugh political tii5tivcs. 1t was
thoitgRt that his visit would per
hats induce him to dispute, on his
retI!lh, the many slanders so freely
published in the Republican papers
III regard to crilio in Texas, and
set tRo matter right before tho nn-
msrHHs readers Of the Tribune. lie
may have had his own political
vi6&s to subser11e, yet on the whole
his visit may prove of some benefit
To- TcANs. But 60 far as his lecture
Oh agriculture is concerned, | will
Undertake to find fifty farmers in
Dallas eoHnty, Tiio can condcnso on
fourth of d shOot of paper moro
genuine, practical knowledge de-
rived from observation and expert
cnce of the greatest value to eml-
grants. than is contained in tins