The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1883-05-31

| x IlldG Oll6 hdlloCtS N1Jy dIQ OCu-
yer markets might be equally good.
We examined daily papers from
each of those cities, dated May 5, 1883,
but foundno quotations on shipped Ye-
getableS. Experiments are being tried
onseveral grapes and many believe the
native Texas blue grapes will stand
the heat and make an admirable
winter pasture.
=" THE YIELD PER ACRE
May be averaged over the entire
county for the past two years as fol-
lows: Cotton, one-half bale;' corn,
twenty to twenty-five bushels; wheat,
/ twelve to fifteen bushels; oats, from
thirty to forty bushels; potatoes, from
! two hundred to three hundred bushels;
sugar cane, 200 to 800 gallons;
sorghum, 100 gallons; rice, sixty
| bushels. This is very low average
as many farms excel this average by
| ordinary cultivation. AS many as a
dozen persons gave us figures like
this: Raised on nine and half acres,
fourteen bales of cotton; on six and a
| half acres, eight bales. One acre and
"a half produced 1892 pounds of cotton
in the seed. Obtained from 500 to ZOO
| gallons syrup on one acre; sweet and
| Irish potatoes, 300 to 600 bushels. The
bottom lands have peculiar capacity
for producing sugar cane and cotton,
and the red upland is specially adapted
! to growing wheat and oats. The gray
and chocolate land makes good wheat
| and corn. and being more sandy
stands dry seasons remarkably. The
moisture readily finds its way up
through the pores opened by the sand.
/ Thessame advantage could be secured
to the red land by subsoiling. 1t is
worthy of remark that this
county never in any season made a
| disastrous failure in crops and in the
fearly settlements of the country peo-
| pie resorted here for corn in dry years.
i 1t was the Egypt OF the republic. We
estimate the cotton crop of last year
at sixteen thousand bales. The other
products being mostly consumed at
home are difficult to estimate.
Since syrup is an important new
product we carefully inquired of the
4 amount raised and think a safe cal
| culation will make last years crop
/ 100000 gallons. This syrup is con-
samed in the home market and sells
I at from fifty cents to one dollar and a
half per gallon. A speckled dried
pea and WhippoOrwill pea are raised
here and produce weD.- They are sold
by retail at from $1.50 to $500 per
4 bIlshel. -t--
/ Now that the reader is acquainted
with what is raised here. the strength
I Of the soil and its adaptability to diff
/ ferent growths, let us see what the
imports are, and this will enable any,
one at their leisure to estimate
the balance Of trade and figure
out the profits in raising what is
| imported We will give some figures
for the past twelve months at the
| only two stations on the 1nterna-
l.tional and Henderson and Overton
railroads, where shipments are made
for this county. The books at Hen
derson station show cars, bacon 15;
grain and hay IL; flour and meal 179;
vegetables 4; agricultural implements
| IL; wagons 14;s furniture z; lumber
4. In addition to this miscellaneous
freight was shipped, amounting in
pounds, to 6,445, IA. The books at
Overton station show cars, flour SO;
meal 5; bacon 3; corn q; miscellane-
Gus 12. Most of these things can be
produced or made here as cheaply as
where they are. The producer, then,
CAN 't' .''s's'' -''' >'
.. - MOVE TO ,RUsK COUNTY,
Knock, out the middle man and con-
tinue to make his present profit, and
obtain, without trouble, what the
railroad. the man to whom heIsells
and the local dealer, gets. This can
be forcibly illustrated in the case of
bacon. = The producers in Ohio and
Illinois sell to home pork packers
at Il six and eight cents a
pound. This meat is raised mostly on
corn that, costs at least % cents a
buShel. Then the cost of making
corn is. not greater, and bacon costs
from IL to 20 cents. In truth, most |
Of the pork here is raised without
corn. In winter the invariable mast,
consisting of acorns, chincapins and
hickory nuts is abundant, and the
spring supplements the mast with
wild deMberries, blackberries, null
berries, plums and grapes, and the
Bermuda grass makes excellent pas
ture for hogs. There is no difficulty
in curing bacon here, and more than a
third of the people now raise and |
cure. their own meat. The assessors
roll shows the number of hogs in the |
county last year to be 81 1888. Some
are improving their stock by intro
ducing the Berkshire and Poland 1
China. 1t may be added that there
are about 10000 head of cattle in the
county, 1000 horses and mules, 25O0 |
sheep and 900 goats. The best grades
of improved stock are being intro
.dueed. >, The Norman horse seems the |
,fayorite, while Jersey short-horned, |
milk Durham and Holstein stock are,
looked after by progressive men with
lively. interest. .t>a0,} 'H,''' A'
5it iCooPERs AND TANNERS ,i''ai'i
/ Could make money here. Cypress
barrels are shipped from New Orleans
and other places for the syrup made |
/ here, and the farmers tell us they pay
from So to So a barrel, and frequently |
have to wait md delay to secure
them. The cypress, white hickory and
white oak are abundant in the Tore
iska and Caney creeks, and the. wahoo,
almost equal to cypress, is on all the
streams. The red oak bark here is |
plentiful, and a tanner can buy a
tract of land with convenient springs |
at fifty cents an acre. The only COM
petition he will have in the sale of |
leather is many miles away. During |
the war tanneries were run here eX-
tensively. Any one desiring to i'm
migrate to Rusk county, who is
INDUSTRIOUS AND WITHOUT CAPITAL
need not hesitate to come. Land well |
improved, with fine gardens and COM
Portable houses; with tools, teams and |
food for teams, can be had for half the
crop, and provisions, Or money with
out interest to buy them with, will
be- promptly advanced by the land
owner. Where tenants are able to
furnish themselves, land can be had
for one-third of the grain and one
fourth of the cotton, or $3.50 to So
an acre; or land can be purchased
wholly on time, by paying ten per
cent interest. Industrious farmers
who came here penniless twelve or
fifteen years ago are well off. Some
persons are deferred from coming
here on account of the supposed dis
agreeable heat in summer. This
should not be the case, because this is
a most delightful climate in spring,
summer and fall. In summer the
average temperature is 500 Fahren-
sheit. This temperature is not disagree
able, since the face of the country is
constantly famed by a breeze from
the gulf, and a blanket at night is
necessary. This being an apparent
contradiction of science (the ordinary
breeze not existing over sixty miles
err1Jfl xryo 4ha Of