Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1884-08-26

transacted upon this Monday than d,,-
ring The whole month beside. Indeed
the stock trading on Lexinptonls conri
day developed such proportions tbat
the city authorities recently frlt I'M
PEELED to prohibit the show of stock IN
the main streets, especially since the
new stone court house, of metropolitnn
dimensions, IL, approaching compIe-
ton. Farmers are obliged now to take
their stock on court day to the yards
In the outskirts OF the city, and there
is much grumbling over the innoya.
ton. tt 8FN I'''
A THE0Ry OF SOIL INFLUENCE.
A bluegrass country Is good, but
some are better than other portions.
The clay of dull, deep.red hue nav
not show at n glance much room far
drawing distinctions, but the Kentuck.
ian VIII point to one lot and tell yo,,
that Is iirst-class blue grass, aud 10
another, and pronounce that second
class. He will go on and present at
least four classes of blue grass soil. and
the stranger, with his ewes on the
ground. will never understand where
Is the difference, until the native ex.
plains that 1t is only on the best of this
soil that the walnut flourishes, while
the maple, the hickory and other for
est growth show the gratiations of rich
ness and strength. They believe
strongly, these people, that the blue
shell-beaiing limestone which under
lies the red clay of all this region fur
nishes peculiar elements to all kinds of
vegetable growth, and that the grass
and the grain absorb from this disin-
tegrating stone some properties which
are In turn taken into the systems of
the stock. In short, they hold that
the conditions CT blue grass growth
adding climate to the soil, are not
equaled anywhere.
THE LABOR PROBLEM.
AT one time since the war blue grass
farmers viewed with alarm the ten
dency of the negroes to flock into
the towns and to skiik work. Their
fields began TO suffer. In their neces-
sity they gave up to some extent their
grain growing and turned the land
into grass. At the same time there
sprang up in Lexington trade in
agricultural machinery. an FIVE
years. said Roy S. Cluke, business
man of this city, "there has been more
labor saving machinery sold to farm
ers in this part of the country than in
any twenty years previously, and in
earlier times the farmers had more
money and We're lavish with it, too
You see that Kicker? / was at the St.
Louis fair last fall and saw one in
operation there. This spring brought
one here to show our people, and
have sold sixty of them already. They
take the hay from the swathe and put
it on top of the stack without any in
termediate pitching.n From the ten
dency to flock into cities and from the
Kansas exodus fever also, the negro
population has been reduced 1000 men
in this county of Fayette alone, but
the employers have so far accommoda-
ted themselves to the change that the
loss of labor is not felt. Selcbinders,
steam threshers and rickers are caring
for the grain and grass crop, and ns
enough of the negroes remain TO do
stable work for "de hosses,n the pros.
perity of the country continues upaf.
fected by the transformation Of ''lhe
quarters into chicken houses and pig
pens.
NO PLACE FOR TYRos.
Rich as the blue grass country II, It's
fertile acres are not for the fool Pen.
ist0n, who struck $600,000 in the Ha
vana lottery, came here and saltec
down good portion of the money in ;
farm aud went into stock raising with
a handsome credit in the bank. Ir
three years his last dollar and his las
acre were gone. Now he Is tendinl
bar in n Philadelphia beer saloon. 81
saw one of the Jobs put up on him right
here in Lexington" said n native
"Peniston had set his mind on buy ing
tnll al Ia In /.
have got the horse for $1,000 at private
bargain, but he didn't know 1t, and
when three or four fellows who were
in the scheme started some lively bid.
ding, he let them run the figures up Ia
$4,000 on him, and paid the exorbit.
ant price while the whole of the town
was laughing at him
Ashland, the home of Henry Clay,
has undergone such changes that little
more than the name Is preserved to re-
vive old associations. Portions of the
great estate were Topped of from time
to time, and finally the homestead
passed into the hands of the college
The regents held the property and
leased it for some years. There came
time when the institution needed 9
considerable sum of money, and Ash
land was sacrificed. The house, witt
400 acres, went for $5O,O0O, which
amount was hardly more Than hal
the estimated value. There is onl,
one redeeming feature to the transac
ton, and that's, the old place has coma
into the possession of Mcdowell. VIII,
married a granddaughter of Henr!
Clay. He has spent $50 900 in modern
iZing aud improving the estate.
Metcalf. of New Mexico, the copper
mine millionaire, has recently secured
the d ID. Bell place Of 3e5 acres, ut 1
cost of $l25 an acre.
Aleck Brvan's 600 acres were pur
chased by Foster, of Ohio, at 500 al
acre.
Patterson, of Pittsburgh, pays JohI
Brooks $3.50 an acre for 800 acres.
These comparatively recent transsc
tions are noted simply to show tn
figures at which the blue grass stocf
farms are changing hands.