Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1888-03-30
FARMING IN TEXAS.
Al Old Settler and Fumsr In Tie
Panhandle Relates Els Ex' sarl.
eRee en- His 0na Farya.
The varfous GraipF, Vega ahlea and Fruits
Thas Gan Be Grovn-The ssa
sans-Hsw 70 Plant

To sse Editsr Of the Gazette.
have been requested by several Of my
friends to give you my experience and
| knowledge OF this country, as an the
Oldest settler and farmer In the Pan
| handle, and I have concluded to do so for
the benefit of those who may choose TO
| make this, the Panhandle, thsir future
hone.
1 came west In 1874 and stopped al
Dodge City, Kan. 1 left my family and
started with an OUTFIT to hunt butyslo, snd
We got as far south 81 the Canadian river
that season. And when / saw this coun-
try I became excited over Ii, 20 Va
boys in camp accused M, and /
expect thst wss, for 1 though,
and ssid: ,"This Is the country l az
hunting for, and right here am going 70
stay" In the winter OF 1875, brought
| my family down on she Csnsdisn river
and took 8 claim, built house, and in
the spring broke about twenty acres OF
land and planted garden, and raised
pl nty Of as hde vegetables on shat new
land as ev saw In any country; but
my corr did not do much good that year
broke my lard in March, and lesrn By
experience thst no prairie land broken In
March or April will bring good corn the
first yesr. Il grows up 20 weeds too
much, as the ploughing doeB net destroy
the wild vegetation.
This Canadian farming I have been
| telling yCu about was on ligh. colored
ssndy soil, what we call bottom weed
land.
The next move made wss to Gasebv
creek, nine miles from Fort Elliott, and
took claim on land covered with mes
quite grass, just the same or about tue
same as the plains lend. planted corn
After the first yesr it done very wei, and
l made about thirty bushels per acre, and
the vegetables did exceedingly we'll.
The fault had with that kind OF land
for corn wRs that ii suckered too much,
there would be from two to ten stalks or
suckers to every hill OF corn. l was very
careful not to plant more than three
grains Of corn to the hill.
There was where l became convinced
that this mesquite grass land would be the
boss, small grain land In the world on the
account OF Its spreading SO much.
L cannot tell what oats will yield per
acre, fer there has not been but very
smsll patches sowl until the last two
years and We have had no wsy of th1esh-
ing or handling them-only to pound out
enough with stick for little seed for
the next season. But judging from crops
have seen snd helped to take care of in
other countr'es, believe thst they will
yield from 30 to rs bushels per acre.
Not having machinery to handle small
grain with, farmers hsye not sowed bus
very small patches of wnel', Only for e1-
pertinent. l tried 9 small patch OF wheat
snd Ii done splendid. l Can say they
were the longest and largest heads Of
wheat ever saw ID any country.
IhxVe helped TO take care OF wheat
crops In other counties thas averaged
forty-two and one-half bushels per acre,
and the little patch raised here looked
full as we'll II not better than thas.
Millet Will make crop every year. Il
never fails, and will produce from enc TO
one and one-hslf toEs per ecIe on SOC
lard, acd from one and j half to two and
a half tons on old lsnd. Sorghum cane
is 9 sure crop, and think
the hnest and most prof able
feed man can raise for uost
all kinds CT stock. Sweet potatoes and
all kinds OF vines do better here than l
ever saw In any other country. As for
telling you the rumber Of bushels per
acre OF sweet potstoss, cans do that
for do not know the amount of land ex-
acsly, but IS for size it Is NOS very un-
common thing to see . sweet poIsto
weigh up In the teens. Irish potatoes !
do not think q sure crop. Some yeers
they do tolersbly we'll, that Is make
from seventy. five to loo bushels per
acre and sometimes We don't make our
seed. They oil 80 to vine but by mulch
ing rs We csll Il, that Is to cover The |
ground from eight to ten inches with old |
hay or straw, when planting, Is the suress |
chance for q crop. do not know of the |
nrst mans failing that has used that. |
Cab5ega does well here. Lest year put |
out about one eigth Of an scre snd sold |
about 500 worth, afser about ane-third |
of them rItted on account OF too much |
rain. Some heads weighed twenty
pounds. Aud this country bea's the |
world f2r tomatoes.
About the sessons-during the fall and |
winter months we don't have much rain.
During the time have been In this coun.
try there have on:y been three winters
that could be called very hard caee, ard
they were 1880, 1881 and 1886. These
three winters slow fell Ia N Jvember anG
remsined on the ground from one to three
weeks, and then We had nesrly one
month Of fine weather, and about the
lst OF January the weather sei in
very cold with from six inches to one
foot Of snow, which lasted about one
month. Those three winters were very
much the same, and some winters We
have had no snow at all. Our latest frost
in spring Is about the LIST of April, and
the earliest killing tros. about the Is n 10
25sh OF Octobsr. May, June, JalY and
August are the months We get most of
our rain In, although we have light show
ers at sill seasons, but generally do
not smnunt to much. think the sea
IONS are getting more regular here th,n
hey used to be Blk or eight years sgo.
Then we could only get from twenty to
thirty bushels OF corn to the acre and
now we get from thirty to fifty bushels of
cora to the acre. Part Of this increase In
crop Icy to having little more regular
seasons and part to hGvirg better ma
:binerv to cultivate our land with. You
IAN plant here any time from the first
of April till the ftsi Of July.
Every person raises good corn very near
IS good ons tim. as another, but as
general thing the surest time to plant L.
.bout the middle OF May.
will give you my idea about the great
3tsked Plains. think they are the test
or farming and In very short time Will
become the nness farming country In the
western world. I have studied 8
great deal on the way Of farming
sem, and the conclusion / have come