The Fremont weekly journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio) 1867-1877, 1875-04-30

We are premitted 10 make some OK
tracts from q private letter recently re-
ceived from former resident, and we
give them the more willingly as many
are DESTROYS of hearing something from
tho ''lone star" State;
KRRR o., TExAs, April 4th, 1875
This great expansive country has q
tendancy to make one lawless I do be-
lieye. You seem lost as it we're, a mere
inhnitesimal speck, in the vast realms OF
nature by which you are surrounded,
and feel like basl5ing in the sunshine, or
lettering in the shade Just as birds and
nninlals do. ftNk 't
This is very backward spring for
this country, our neighbors say, fully al
month later than is usual, but presume
that in contrast with this date in Ohio it
is early still. The new grass is ankle
high. Where ever you look, on the
hills or in the valley, it is one vast ex-
panse of green. Trees are in full leaf,
and flowers OF every hue, and Of delight
fiji fragrance greet one on every side.
Many Of the choicest cultivated varieties
of the north, grow wild here in endless
profusion, The verbena is as common
as dandelion in Ohio, but ] have found
Ionly one color-purple. 1t is in full
bloom now and very fragrant. Our
folks have planted their corn, and are
preparing ground for cotton There
has been one disagreeable feature of the
spring high winds. During themonth
Of March we had great deal of windy
weather, not cold winds, but disagreeable
because they turn things topsy turvy
I'VE had but two cold northers during
the winter. One froze the ground pos
sibly two inches deep. This was the
only time the ground froze at all. These
nOrthers never last more than twenty
flour hours, sometimes less. In spring,
Isummer and fall, they are simply cool
linvigorating wind that blows steadily
from the north; in the winter they are
some times very cold while they last.
We have to draw upon recollections of a
year ago for snow, as we had not as
; much as fake here. Since I wrote
r you last, one of our neighbors, Mrs.
Storms, told Will that she took from one
hive of bees, in one summer, two hund
red pounds of honey. She says her bees
I do splendid, only when the millers gel
, among them, and then, as neither her
/, self nor husband know what to do, they
first let them alone, and If the bees die
get more. Thirty or forty miles west
s of here, there are caves of rock, filled
s with wild bees. Men go out there in the
fall and get barrels of honey. 1 have
no doubt but Allen could make hives oi
the soft stone if he were here, as YOU
can make almost anything of it. 1 dc
1 not know as you would be contenteC
q here. You are both so ''wedded" tC
Erie county, that have always though
you never would be happy out of it. ]
3 have no desire to influence any one *
e come, but just state facts relative X
country, soil and climate, so far as
am able, and leave every one to theil
own choice. ,,
1t is not claimed for Western Texas
that it is first-class farming country
The soil is black limestone loan, ricl
d as any in the world, but owing to irreg
y ularity in the seasons, crops are Otter
\ injured by drouth and frost. Whea
: starts SO early in spring that a late severe
= frost is sure to injure it. Farmers guart
, against that by pasturing it down during
= early spring. But taking one season
with another, there seems to be a good
deal of produce raised. There is nc
scarcity OF grain or provision of any
/ kind, except potatoes. The sweet pota
1t to is the standard here and it is custom
d ary to leave them in the ground all win
% ter and dig as wanted. In the early par
of winter there were heavy and continu,
u GUS rains, and the potatoes all rotted
IL a
n quantities raised, but this spring there
were not enough for seed. We get gro
! ceries at the same prices as in Ohio by
|, going to Herrville eleven miles. Al
VI Centre Point they charge a little more
IL have four fresh milk COWS, and we
f just luxuriate in rich cream and golden
+. butter. have not made any to sell yet
IL as we let the calves suck in order to have
d the cows come up regularly, not having
= the pasture fenced, and you may be sure
q those calves get their share. They are
: fat as moles. Well we attach more i'm
portance to the calves than to the milk
;, only what we want for our use any way
d as stock raising will be our chief bust
It ness. AS stock country, this is unri
4 vailed. Cattle, sheep, horses, and hogs
can be raisedand kept without cost Mr.
= Kelley has kept hogs over winter with
n out feeding them at all and they are fat
g now. We wintered COWS, calves and OK
. en-, or rather they wintered themselves
and all are in good condition. Some Of
our COWS would make good beef now.
We have twenty head of cattle, and ex-
= pect to own many more before this year
is out. The Camp Verde land is moi
for sale yet, and we will not buy until il
is, as tits our first choice for location.
must not omit telling you, how ac-
, ceptable the corn and fruit I dried al
1 your house last summer have been.
But for that, and some other fruit that ]
brought, we should have been without
entirely, 1 mean without anything but
Ipoor dried apples and peaches. We can
get these at the stores, but like all OF
their kind, sold in stores, they are very
inferior,in quality. Fruit culture is in
its infancy IN this neighborhood- Dew
? berries grow wild, and promise a plenti-
! full crop unless nipped by frost. Wild
cherries, plumes and grapes also abound,