The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1882-01-01
TEXAS A WHEAT GROWING STAIR.

TEXAS WHEAT GROWING STATE.
TIE important position Texas will soon
assume as wheat growing State can
hardly be estimated. The cotton crop
has heretofore absorbed nearly every other
agricultural product, but the large area
sown in wheat this year will give some in
tercst to the following, on wheat growing
in Texas We compile from the Bureau OF
Statistics:
The grain growing capabilities Of Texas
are just beginning to be understood. Dur
ing the war some wheat was grown to meet
the necessities of the people, At its close
wheat was abandoned and cotton became
the chief product of tho State, sHd it was
not until few years ago that tl cultiva-
ton of wheat was resumed to an, rnsider-
, able extent.
There are SO counties in Texas capable OF
producing 20 bushels of wheat per acre,
which is below the average product. II
one-iifth of the area of these cOu' rs was
planted in wheat, il would yield ], 100000
of bushels; the value of which day is
Sil5000, 600, nearly four times the Y,luc OF
tho cotton crop.
WHEAT STATES COMPARED
Texas wheat, both in quantity nd ex-
cellcnce, is not eQualcd by the It IA
yored grain-growing regions of q nited
States. Gencsee county, New Y" from
1880 to 1913, stood first on va list;
the average yield during t"t time
county, Ohio, believe, stood second, and
the average yield was eighteen. The aver
age yield in the United States
| is fifteen bushels. The aver
age yield in Texas, in the thirteen counties,
| ID twenty-lour and one-thirteenth bushels
per acre, Thirty-fve bushels arc not unu-
sual.
THE sUPERIoEIrY OF TEXAS WHEAT IS:
/, Because it is drer, denser, and the
heaviest known, containing less moisture
than any wheat west of the Rocky Mount
aims, and therefore bears shipment through
the Southern States better than any other
for the reason stated being made from
wheat weighing from sixty-iour to sixty
eight pounds.
2. 1t contains more muscle-producing
qualities.
g. Reaching market from four to siI
weeks earlier than any -four made east of
the Rocky Mountains, it meet, in market
last years crop and therefore beats it.
The average wheat known to commerce.
to the bushel, and contains about nine
pounds of water. Just in proportion as the
measured bushel of wheat increases
in specific gravity, it holds
greater proportion Of the
nutritious quality Of wheat and a less
quantity Of water, and the less water it
contains the better it is adapted for South
ern shipment when ground into -four.
IT is q well-known fact that No. Texas
wheat weighs sixty-one pounds to the
bushel No. from siIt~-three to si1ty-four,
and No. over 49,. give pounds.
The qualities of our wheat are
of soil and climate under which it is
produced, and as our farmers increase in
numbers, and improve in experience.
the average quality Of wheat will DO inn
proved.
VALUE OF WHEAT.
Wheat stands at the head Of all cereals in
point OF value, and as an article of food
Tor man, has, in its introduction as such,
may be added that ancient and modern
writer's agree in associating the improve
ment attained in the culture 81 wheat with
the advancement of civilization itself
The largest wheat producing States in
the Union are classed as follows: Illinois,
81 100000; Indiana, 100000; Ohio,
4G,0oo,0 600; Michigan, $4,000, 600; Minnesota,
$4,000, 900; Iowa, 81 100000; California, so, g,
100000: Missouri, 25,0O0,0O0; Wisconsin,
5000, 900; Pennsylvania, 100000. Tho
total crop of the United States is 459 600, 600
bushels, grown on about $4,000, 900 acres OF
land, making an average of thirteen bushels
TO the acre.
In view of these facts the question natu-
rally arises Have we in Texas this element
so productive of wealth, intelligence and
power? and can we develop it so as to
compete with other wheat-grow-
ing portions Of our country? 10 which
the answer may DO given that
thirteen counties in Texas, after only three
years cultivation, produced in 1873 1888
00O bushels of wheat-nearly one.third as
much as Illinois produced in 1850 after u
culture of nearly forty years,
| The wheat counties of Texas are fifty in
number, with an area of over q ,l20,QOO
acres, and with one-iourth in cultivation
will produce, say only ten bushels per acre,
more than the State of Illinois The aver
age is fifteen bushels in Texas, aud with
one-half the wheat lands in cultivation,
which Will be the case inside of five years,
will give a greater yield than the States of
Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Minnesota conf
bined, and with its vast network OF
railroads which DIRE being completed
through the wheat region, will furnish the
advantages OF cheap trsnsportion to the sea
coast fer foreign markets, and at least a
saving of three times the distance from
thor States, which of itself will place Texas
i'll the van of leading wheat countries of the
world, Goulds Southern railway system,
the Gulf, Colorado Il Santa Fe, Chicago,
Texas 4 Mexican Central, Texas Trunk,
Dallas Il Wichita, East Line 4 Red River.
Texas Il st. Louis Houston & Texas Cen
trail, Texas Central, 1T. Worth 4 Denver,
all penetrate the wheat region,
and with one-fourth of a cros will
require 5000 cars to move the coming
wheat crop, estimating GEO bushels as a car
load This will give some idea of why the
railroads are building in North and North
western Texas. Just think OF 5000 cars.
which would give each road four daily
freight trains with Is cars to a train, TO
remove this large amount Of grain 1t will
require at least three or four more elevators
In the city Of Dallas, which will OF course
become the largest distributing point in the
State.
PROVISIONS