, 1880-04-18
The Paradise Of otton-Growing, Fro
ducing a Million Bales
Last Year.
German coIonists, and the Many Good
Things They Have Accom- !
plished.
Their Demonstration that White Men
South Can Work Their Own
Farms.
Magnitude Of Texas, and It's Capabilities
Deficiency OF Rainfall at
the West

The Extensive Railway System Of the State
"A Raid upon the National
Treasury.
A GLANCE AT EASTERN TEXAS.
Editorial Cosrrsposdeaee Of The Chted9o 1Ftoune
SAN ANTONIO Tex, April u, 16So.-Enter-
Ing Texas at the singnlarly-named Town OF
Texarkana (abbreviated compound for Texas
-Arkansas-Louisiana at its northeast cor
Der, proceeded southwest by rail, along
down the Northern d. International Railway,
to the handsome Village Of Palestine, about
100 miles, and there halted for rest after the
long run OF 600 miles from Chicago. From
the crossing Of the Red River, some twenty
miles northeast Of Texarkana, to Palestine,
III Central Eastern Texas, the road passes
thTougha
PRETTY DENsELY WOODED COUNTRY,
composed Of yellow pine, red and black oaks,
ellns, and some other inferior varieties OF
trees. The forest was all out In leaf. and
Illuminated by the dogwood bushes In full
bloom. The country was quite level, and
muc1F Of it covered by water from the recent
heavy rains. No hills, or rising ground, or
rocks, or stones wereseen all day, from beyond
the Red River to the stopping place at night
The soil Of this whole section is as red as
vermilion, showing that it Is imp1egnated
with heavy solution Of oxidized iron. Red
River is well named, for redder banks or
retlder earth can probably nowhere be found.
From inquiry and observation find that
all Of Eastern Texas is covered with forests
of the kind described,-the prevailing tree
being pine, of which there are several va1ie-
tics, but the yellow is the only one esteemed
OF much value for any purpose. The Others,
If cut into lumber for building or fencing,
warp ard twist, make poor arewood, and rot
quickly. Ali Of Texas east of the Trinity
River Is
4 FOREST COUNTRY,
and much of that between the Drazos and the
Trinity is also covered with trees. The
wooded portion OF Texas-that IS, the block
of country continuously covered by forests
is somewhat larger than the State OF Alfssis-
sippi, and bears pretty close resemblance
thereto in the character Of the soil and
climate, in its water-courses, In its natural
productions, as well as in its forests. Those
who have passed up and down through
Western Tennessee and Mississippi, and
noted the " lay Of the land,'' the general fiat
ness Of the country, the sandy, loa,ny, friable
red soil, so easily washed and torn into gull
lies by rains, can form very fair idea of all
Eastern Texas from the Indian Territory to
the Gulf, between the SABINE River On the
east and fifty miles beyond the Trinity
on the west There Is none too much Of
heavily-timbered land in Texas, for west
OF the forest-belt lies vast expanse Of open
and undulating plains, hundreds Of miles i'll
extent, where trees are almost as scarce as on
the prairies Of Illinois, Iowa, and the great
plains beyond the Missouri River; and every
tree that can be spared from the timber-sec-
tons Of Texas will be needed in the future
for brick-burntng, building, fencing, and fuel.
THE FUEL QUESTION.
>. The locomotives of Texas are fed with
wood, most of the time; and they eat up the
trees on tens of thousands Of acres every
year. All the stationary steam power in the
State is supported OH wood fuel. and the
townspeople and farmers burn nothing else,
because 1t is cheaper than coal, which has to
be imported from the North for great dis
tance- Some beds Of coal have been found
far up the Brazos River, but it has little or no
rock roof to support it, but instead Is covered
with clay, which must be stripped of to re-
move the deposit Of coal. However, future
1N0A~%ttS may AAoNO*NA "O4hS%UAN 0EpOc1LS VI
coal. The State has never had geological
survey, and its mineral resources are butlittle
known. III the central and northern portions
of Texas, the rapid fall Of the streams will
furnish large amounts of water-power for
milling and general manufacturing pur-
poses, and this water-power will have to
answer as a substitute for coal; but it Is
said there is plenty Of coal in the Indian
Territory, north Of Texas, which the rail-
roads can bring down when it Is wanted in
the future, as wood becomes scarce and dear,
which will not be for many years to come
THE GREAT COTTON REGION
of Texas embraces the whole Of this timber
country which have been describing. and
portion Of the prairie country to the west
of it, or all those portions of Texas lying
east OF the Brazos River, together with
strip along the Gulf coast extending south
west to the Nueces. This area, covering
perhaps "a, 600 square miles, taken as n whole,
is as well adapted to cotton-growing as Illinois
as whole is to corn. As large per cent Of
the arabic land will produce a bale Of cot
ton 600 pounds) to the acre with good cu1-
,tivation as of the land of Illinois that grows
sixty bushels of corn when we'll worked;
regarded rs the general average crop, in the
same way that thirty to forty-ive bushels OF
corn per acre may be considered all average
yield in Illinois. I hear planters talk of it
not being an unusual or remarkable thing for
100 to 500 pounds of cotton to be produced
on an acre in the Red River Valley or along
the Trinity, or Sabine, or Nueces River; but
these yields must he taken III the same sense
rs those Of 100 to 130 bushels Of corn per
acre grown on our prairie.
In travelling through this isheavily-ttmbered,
fiat, stoneless, red-clay country, 1t is difficult
for Northern man to believe that he is In
THE VERY PARADISE
OF the cotton-growing section of America;
but such unquestionably is the fact Last
year, 1873, fully 4 million bales Of the downy.
fioecu1e1t staple were "taRen out Of the
woods" Of Eastern Texas and which has
realized the growers, railroads, and merchants |
over 50 millions Of dollars. Taken |
the cotton-gTowing area of Texas !
not far from ol1e-third OF the cot
ton lands of the whole South. The amount |
of cotton hereafter produced In Texas de- |
pe11ds on price. II the price should rule high, |
the product would be doubled or quadrupIed |
III a very few seasons Not one available |
acre i'll twenty has yet growu pound of the |
staple Not one acre in ten Of wooded land |
which produces cotton has yet been cleared, |
,ut remains covered with the virgin forest: