The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1876-09-14

ton. Its growth and its uses have marked
the era of our grandest civilization.
: The general government, through its
agricultural bureaus, watches with anxious
eve the rainfall in June, and learns with
dIsmay the appearance of the caterpillar in
July. And well msy the government feel
q deep interest in the cotton crop pros
poets of our Southern States. Europe is
the chief purchaser of this great staple
and two hundred millions of dollars in
gold is derived annually from this source
alone to pay interest on American bonds
held by European capitalists.
Nor is this interest, felt in the cotton
producing States, confined to the amen
can Union The failure of our crop threat
ems with idleness half the ships Of com
merce, and half the inhabitants of the civ
ilized world look 70 our cotton fields for
raiment-
THUS every consideration invests the
cotton culture with absorbing interest, and
every effort Of industry and art, to increase
and secure this great crop, is looked TO
with anxious national concern. Such Is the
adaptation of our soil and climate to the
production of cotton, ranking in staple the
finest in the worlds markets, that one 9th
of her territory could produce all annual
crop greater than is now gathered from all
the cotton fields on the globe. And yet
we have more than hundred million Of
acres untouched by the pillow. The time is
coming, Mr.. President, and that right
rapidly, when we shall hold the balance OF
power in the cotton exchange of the conti-
uent, and our voice be heard throughout
the world with respect.
GRAIN.
~ u !
for raising all the cotton required to supply
the looms of the world. her soil and eli
mate have not less eonclusively shown that
she can produce the cereals to feed the mil
hons of the earth's inhabitants in large de-
gree. The grsin-growing capabilities of
Texas are just beginning to be tested. Fol-
the past few years wheat was only grown
To meet the necessities of limited sections.
In the more recent periods the product has
been wonderfully increased, and the yield
last year in thirteen of the best grsin-grow-
ing counties of Texas amounted to ten mil
lions of bushels. Heretofore we have re-
garded the great Northwestern States as
the only source of supply for our bread and
meat stuffs. Now that we are connected
by great lines of railway with the North
western States, we have begun to reverse
the old course of trade; and last year over
four millions of bushels of wheat were act
ually shipped to Kansas City and st. Louis
for market.
We are vet deficient-but will not always
be SON improved facilities for manufac-
turing flour, as compared with the great
mills of the West. And hence this very
grain in many instances was reshipped to
Texas in.the form of flour, just as the thou
IL. of hoes fho lnxuor nj iac
of the State were shipped the last winter
to St. Louis to be sold to US again as bacon
and lard.
The area of Texas peculiarly adapted to
wheat and all the cereals is larger than the
great States of Missouri, Illinois and Indi-
ana combined.
The wheat crop of the United States in
1860 was estimated in round numbers at
173, 900, 900 of bushels. Of this Illinois
produced. "a, 900, 600, Indiana II, 900, 900,
and Wisconsin II, 900, 900.
What could Texas do If one-fifth of her
wheat-growing counties (say fifty in num-
ber) were planted in wheat alone?
There are fifty counties of the one hun
bred and slxty-eight organized couAties
capable of producing twenty bushels to the
acre, which is below the average product.
If but one-fifth of the area of these coun-
ties were planted in wheat, it would yield
lis, 900, 900 bushels, the cash value of which
is four times greater than the value of the
cotton crop. Texas wheat, both in quality
and excellence, is not equaled by that of
the most favored growing regions of
the United States.
IT Is SUPERIOR,
First-Because it ia dryer, more dense,
and the heaviest known, containing less
moisture than any wheat west of the Rocky
Mountains. ..
SecOnd-Because it contains more muscle
producing qualities.
Third = Because it reaches market from
four to six weeks earlier than -four made
elsewhere in the United States.
Let me give you an example in point.
Flour from Dallas county, Texas, made
from this years wheat Q876), was sold in
the Galveston market on the nineteenth of
May, and was from crop yielding thirty
three bushels to the acre. These facts have
been officially furnished to me, as also most
valuable commercial statistics hereafter
gwen of our trade, by the president of the
Chamber of Commerce of Galveston, Hon.
A. NJ. Hobby, gentleman noted for the
accuracy and extent of his commercial
kno Wedge, as he is also in other walks a
distinguished citizen of Texas. .s
Just in proportion as the measured bushel
increases in specific gravity, 1t holds great
er proportion of the nutritious quality of
wheat and a less quantity of water; and the
less water it contains better adapts it, when
ground into -four, for shipment to warm
and tropical climates. No. 8 Texas wheat
will weigh sixty-one pounds No. 2, sixty
three to siXty-four, and No. /, sixty-five
pounds to the bushel. These qualities of
our Texas wheat are manly due to the
chemical peculiarities and adaptation of
soil and climate to its production.
In quantity the difference is not less
marked. Genessee county, New York,
from 1880 to 1S48. / believe stood first on
the list; the average yield during that time
was twenty bushels to the acre. Stark
county, Ohio, ranked second, with an sv-
erage yield of eighteen bushels. The aver
age yield in the United States is fifteen
bushels. The average yield in thirteen
counties in Texas, from which statistics
have been obtained, exhibits the following
table:
Acres Yield per Acre.
EaSat ,.,.., s9iS AZ Z
Oats -. ,000 IS IL
/ have thus, Mr. President, sllqded at
some length to the grain growing capabili-
ties of Texss-snd, particularly, of wheat,
which stands first in the list of cereals in
point of value, and as an article of food
for man. Since its introduction as such it
has kept equal pace with his civilization.
! am not less proud, Mr.. President, of the
wheat and pottpn-sroYipg States of the
Union thar Of thelF great commercial and
manufacturing sisters. One is the indis-
pensible complement of the other. Nine
tepths of the commerce of the world is en-
braced in the two terms-food and raiment.
But among the three emblems of industry
the plOo, the loom, and the qngR-the plow
represents tbs largest interest. Thus,
while ! behold with pride the States which
separately contribute by the product of one
of these to our national prosperity, ! turn
with not unbecoming admiration to Texas,
which contributes the products of al, to
the general veal.
RAIN FALL.
Having referred TO productIveness oil
soil, and sslubrity of climate, it may not
be without interest to sllude to the rain
fall. without which the sterility Of Sahara