The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1897-02-07

ions, $3.50 to $500; strawberries, $3.50 I
$500; peas. 800 to $500; snap beans, s1o'
sweet potatoes. $3.50; irish potatoes, s15t
radishes. $3.50: spring turnips. 500; cault
flower. $500; cabbage. $500: peaches, s15(
plums. $3.50; pears In full bearing from sac
10 $500.
One among the many advantages enjoye4
by the fruit and vegetable grover in thi
region Is that his produc. always goes upoI
q bare market. Another is the prolouge,
season. for from February to the middl
OF June the markets are bare and the de
mand exceeds the supply Up to that date
each season. everywhere. the buyer is cage
TO get; after that competition IS sharp
supply exceeds demand. the producer /
eager to sell. Another advantage is tn
raridity with which trees au | vines mature
when growth is rapid aaj almost ccase.ess
saw II two-year-old grape y,ip. Que siugl,
branch OF which made al feet Of growth las
year, and the vine bore n heavy crop.
measured a two-year-old peach tree,
seeding. very symmetrical. with IN,
spread OF limb. The diameter Of tho truni
one foot above the ground was ) inches
ana II Is not yet two years ST ice he SEED
was planted. The growth II vines ard tn,
yield Of melons, squash. cantc.oupes. GU
cumhers and the like IS simply surprising
along the Brizos are lDca,ed some of til,
largest and riches. cotton aud sugar planta
1 N'F'T 80 H"1 ,NsAt1 .StdAtcs lul sOiJt u TIT
largest cotton gins. sugar houses and re.
, iineiies are located here. From tnp Drazos
to the Colorado tEa soil Is ash:Niai ana OF
great depth and exceedingly fertile, Sugar
cane, cotton and corn are principal produc.
tions. and o. these enormous crops are an
nually produced. a failure OF crops is not
known. In no part of the United States
can the host quality of beef and pork lie SC
cheaply produced. 49,
In the New England States many an in
telligent. energetic man. with forty. sixty
or eighty acres OF poor, u%nkindly soil in q
rigorous climate, By hard work and strict
economy, is making little II anything more
than a bare living. That same man, prac-
icing methods equally progressive and
equally adapted to the environment, with
twenty acres of good land, well located In
the coast country. would soon acquire a
competence and at the same time enjoy
equal social privileges for himself and fam
lily.
With twenty acres OF good. wild land,
well located In the coast country. costing
from $500 to $500. and with improvements
costing s'000-the annual fixed cost OF liv-
ing and everything being cqual-aay intel
lisent. energetic man. prac'icing the best
methods In fruit and vegetable growing
can, in a term Of Ave years. put away in
bank or other Investment Ave times the
sum the SINE man can put away In that
time win eighty acres OF good, wild land,
equally well located. In Nebraska or Cen
trail Iowa, costing $4,000. with $1,000 in i'm
provements. farming the land and market
ing the crop, as is commonly done by good
farmers In those States.
Besides. while the twenty-acre field Is
being used for vegetables, strawberries and
small fruits. it is being converted into an
orchard OF bearing pear, peach, plum
and fig trees. which insures a large, per
AAAA. nA.,.A A-I tIAA 4 -I, ~
the twenty acres should be double that OF
the eighty-acre farm at the end of five
years.
These facts are little known. When the
resources and industrial possibili-
ties Of this coast country become generally
the price OF land will equal. II not
exceed. the prices current in California.
and for the best of reasons. The land Is
richer. and far more readily brought into
"A high state of cultivation; the cost Of i'm
provement is less. the fruit markets com
mon to both are 1900 miles nearer, and on
account of the porishablc nature of veg
etables, berries and small fruits, California
can never become a competitor. Besides,
the area of good land west of the Rocky
having climatic conditions suit
rd TO the production OF vegetables and
small fruits for tho February, March, April
and May markets is limited, and as our
population increases and transportation Is
perfected the demand will more aud more
exceed the supply.
The country between Galveston and
was only a cow mans country"
and it was to the interest Of the ranch men
to have IT understood that the land was
unfit for agriculture.
Five years ago the people who inhabited
region began 10 test the ~adaptahility
of the soil for vegetable and fruit growing.
rhe result was satisfactory beyond eXpecta-