San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1881-10-13

consistency IL want Of labor. From
this estimate should be, perhaps, de-
Quoted the fact that extraordinary win.
ters occur, which kill Q good deal Of
cane. II can, however, be raised and
made on small scale, a. some families
make for their own use, on horse mill
and common evaporator both sugar
and strip.
These are the staple crops. Wheat
I do not beleave will ever succeed.
PorAroEs
Of both kinds grow luxuriantly, and it
would be hard to estimate their product,
as several crops may be grown, and
planting done without much regard to
season; and SO Of all vegetables, cab.
bage being particularly fine.
FRUITS.
The principal fruits of Brazoria
county at present are the peach and fig.
These are limited in their productions
only by the planting. One has only
to place in the ground. The peach
bears and is gone early. / found none
in August, though there had been a
large crop. The fig, unlike other fruits
here, is continual bearer; like the
tomato its fruit is in all stages till frost
kills the crop. All that is necessary
to propagate the fig is to stick a slip
in the ground. I do not know that the
fruit can be used except by immediate
consumption.
STOCK.
It may seem superAuous to speak
of the stock resources of any part of
Southern Texas. In this county, how
ever, there are thousands of horses,
cattle and sheep, reared and fattened
on the prairies and in the timber, that
are never, under any circumstances, fed
a single grain. I also saw many hogs
in both the prairie and timber; they
were large framed but thin, and are
never fed. When the live oak and pc
can mast ripens they will fatten, and
that is all there is about it. Poultry is
raised with so little trouble that it seem
ed to be the staple meat diet of the
people.
I have not spoken of timber; but
when live oak becomes valuable and in
demand, there is mine of wealth to
be opened in Brazoria. There are
many enterprises which invite to this
country beside the tillage of the soil.
A canning establishment, for instance.
that would utilize the almost perpetual
fruits and vegetables, the fish the oys-
ters of the coast, and the beef of the
pralries, would certainly be surrounded
by inexhaustible resources.
HEALTH.
From a great deal of conflicting tes-
timony conclude that ague and bill
ious fever prevail in some localities,
but not in more malignant form than
in Indiana, and subject to much the
same conditions. They are confined
pretty much to certain seasons of the
year, and as at home worse in wet
years. From epidemics and other dis
eases it is very exempt. For drinking
and culinary purposes cistern water
must be used.
I desire here to correct one natural
misrepresentation. It is understood that
the country bordering on the tide water
streams must be low and level, as rivers
conform their beds to the surface of the
and tide waters can only ascend
through a very slightly elevated land.
ALI Underwater streams have seen be-
fore have low and marshy banks till the
elevation of the land begins, when nav
igation and tide ends; but it is not so
with the .Brazos in this respect It is
The anamoly of rivers. The land as
,ecds by gradual slope from the very
gulf at the rate Gust guessing by the
eye) of one foot at least to the mile,
while the Brazos maintains. its level
with the gulf, and deep channel at
hat, by being sunk constantly deeper
below the surrounding country. I can
not explain the phenomenon. geologic
lily, but take the conditions as they
Ire, conditions enabling people to dwell
IN the banks of a navigable tide-water
stream, in dry and elevated country.
So uniform is the slope from the gulf
hat I believe person well versed
could judge of his distance from the
mouth by the depth of the bank.
Finally, the dwellers of this country
could, with little trouble and expense,
within few miles from home, enjoy a
summer resort, which, for surf-bathing,
ach-driving, fishing, hunting and sea
oreeze, could hardly be exceled on the
continent. J.L.F.
''The Sweet By.and.By."
Many of our readers have doubtless
heard the song which is known as "The
Sweet By-and-By." Few of them how
,very, know its history. The words of |