San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1882-04-13
Texas As An Agricultural Country.

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question admitting OF dispute, and
the inducements of the state TO immi-
grants, not only OF small but large cap
ital, are being demonstrated by the Ia
bors and success OF steadily increas-
ing stream of settlers, attracted hither
by the cheapness of land, by the mild
climate, healthful conditions, variety OF
pursuits which are open to enterprise
on almost any scale, and by social sur
roundings of which the immigrants are
ready to testify in terms Of satisfaction
and praise when writing back to their
old homes. Yet still persons are found
from time to time reciting isolated facts
and making them the basis of denun-
citation of Texas; and their letters find
way into northern newspapers which
are not supposed to be especially well
| informed about Texas, and which,
therefore, at the best, may be expected
to print such matters with little dis
elimination. If especially interested
in any northern land enterprises, such
papers often base articles OF their own
upon few reckless assertions OF dis
satisfied person who has perhaps not
remained in Texas long enough to see
single crop made, and the comments
will, in many cases, show the interested
feeling with which one sided statements
are welcomed. In the cases where no
animus is visible, but where the effus-
ions of ignorance and prejudice are
simply received and printed without
comment, as often occurs in tirst-c class
northern papers, such matter still has a
tendency to create prejudice, for the
writer seldom states the extent Of his
experience and what is his own observ-
alton and what heresay, which he might
as well have written without ever being
in Texas, nor does he often show that
he has been successful elsewhere in a
pursuit of which he alleges the made
uuacy of the condition for its prosecu-
ton in Texas. There are men who
come down here with an idea that any
man can farm who never farmed be.
fore. Some of them know little less
than nothing. That is to say, they
have no practical experience, but they
have imbibed certain crude views as to
what should be done to raise crop,
and they would practice on these views
without regard to change of climate
and soil from the place of their first
slight observations. Consequently, If
they begin to farm they are fortunate
if they unlearn their unwise confidence
in their own knowledge in year or
two. They are likely to plant at the
wrong season, plant the wrong kind OF
a crop, not to cover their corn or gram
with regard to a southern sun end a
warm soil, and generally to neglect or
despise the methods which local expert
ence has taught their neighbors, and
which if they came with frank &C
knowledgement of entire ignorance
they could soon learn, and which the
real farmer with some variety OF expert
once and some grasp of mind for his
business would expect to have to learn
on changing his location from a ORTIZ
ern to a southern state, where the seas
ons are so different Some of TIE new
Corners who are heard to say that Texas
is no farming country have had fancy
that they could take the management
of farm, and get a good salary for 1t
though they never farmed before, and
they are disguised that they are not
taken at their word and allowed to di-
rect the operations of a number OF
hands before they have been in the
state long enough to raise a hill of po-
tatoes. They remind the Texas farmer
who knows them by their clothing
aud fair skins-of the fellow who came
along to farm house one day and
asked for work, saying he could do ev-
cry sort of farm work except blowing; |
he had never plowed. They would be
equally confident that they could man
age hotel, or bank, or newspaper.
It is not such persons who will ever be
to decide what constitutes
an agricultural country. They would |
be capable Of going out upon barren
hill, suitable only for sheep ranch,
and trying to raise figs and oranges
knowing, in fact, no more of the condl- |
tons of successful cultivation than lit
tie Johnnie, who raised fiat stone in
the tagged yard of his city home and
an orange pippin beneath Its
center, then replaced the stone and
watched for the growth of
an orange tree. They may chance to
take up their abode in some swampy
bottom and get the chills, and forth
with write their views of Texas as
health destroying fever and ague
breeding nest, forgetting that the wide
Empire State of the southwest contains
a great variety of climatic conditions,
and that they would as surely be wrong
in some respect in any one place as in
any other, unless it should please
to transplant them to some
favored Isle where men did not need to
observe and think and work. Yet
Texas has its distinctively agricultural
rs it has its stock country, and there
are good reasons why produce is some.
times high, even near productive lands.