Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1897-12-15
LETTER FROM TEXAS.
Where Jack Rabbit Warns His Feet-A
NOrther.

9"uhb hoi0 oiohc, uCuiiy tWO uulltb
from anybody, and the wolves are hold.
ing their nightly concert a short dis.
tance from the house, and I'm baking
my shins in the same stove bake my
biscuit, sweet potatoes, pudding. and
where fry my fri,ters, sow belly, rab.
bits, and boil my turnips, beans, etc.
l passed by a part of the Sugarland
plantation last Wednesday and saw the
convicts cutting and windrowing sugar
cane; that is cutting and piliug two
rows together in the middles. Sargent
Smith told me they had just got tele.
gram that norther was coming down
this way and they wanted to cut and
windrow all they could before it froze;
they have 1900 acres in cane and a
great deal Of it 10 still standing and
looks as green as a cornfield in July
and as dense as canebrake, 80 thick
and heavy one can't see ten steps into
It, They are working 425 convicts with
one guard to each ten, and the way
they cut cane is amusing to see. They
crush 100 tous day at the mills, and
the Sugarland plantation only furnish
es about one third Of what they crush;
1t is brought in from many plantations
in the Brazos river bottoms and the
mill pays 30 much a ton for 1t, and 1t
is said to pay better than cotton, altho'
the Sugarland plantation plants hun
dreds OF acres in cotton, corn, etc.
Corn 10 never shucked here as it is in
Tennessee and the Northern States, but
10 bought and sold with the shuck on,
measured in a -four or sugar barrel,
each barrel is called one bushel.
Well, the norther got here Thursday
night at 10 O'Clock and it was certainly
cold one and blowed hard and cut as
1t went. 1t had been raining some and
the air was damp, it was very warm
until the norther came last night, FRI
day. The ice froze one half of an inch
thick and the cold wind blew regular
gale all night, some sleet fell and ev.
erything was froze up tight this morn.
ing, but it was noderating and the air
is still tonight and by tomorrow nigh t
or Wednesday it will be warmer and
spring like again. Such is the winters
we have here, often lasting three days,
sometimes a week, and seldom two
weeks, then warm and pleasant. bu t
while it is cold the wind blows hard
from the north and cuts as it goes.
Range cattle 20 to the timbers and
stock confined in fields low and stand
by the side of the barb wire fence,
which is very poor protection.
la February, '95, big snow came
here that stayed on week or two and
thousands of cattle froze and starved
to death, but such a winter and snow
as that had not been before within the
memory of the oldest inhabitant.
think the hay season has about closed,
although some may be cut yet. but 1t
will be for home use and very poor at
that, but will be little better than
nothing.
will say to brother Dhale that I've
not quit farming, but Cyclone Ranch
is the name gave the farm on which
live after l was blown away last
spring Our worthy President Of the
B. A. d. S. called one of his farms
Wolf Ranch, and farms here have diff
ferent names to designate them. like
farming here but the crop this year
did not pay, as cotton was poor yield
and the prices so low. | hope to be
able to give more minute description
OF the Sugarland farm and mills soon.
JACK RABBIT.