The Minneapolis journal., 1905-11-19
Figures That Give an Adequate
Idea of the Immensity of Texas
and of It's Resources From Ag-
riculture.
MILLIONS OF BALES OF Il
COTTON RAISED EACH YEAR
Wheat, Corn, Oats, and Live
Stock Bring a Vast Sum of
Money Into the State Yearly
H. Big Endowment of Schools.
BY HERBERT VANDERHOOF,
Special Corresoondence

BY HERBERT VANDERHOOF.
Special Correspondence
FORT WORTH, Tex, Nov. 14.-Every-
booy knows that Texas Is big state
the largest in the unlon-but lew have
taken lne pains to realize its actual SIZE.
pare ngures convey but a meager IDEA OF
distance or space. 1t is only by compare
son that we get the relative importance
OF things. Compared with European ter
,rltory, Texas Is more than twice the size
OF England, ireland, Scotland, and Wales;
d 1ouFth larger than the German empire,
ana equal In area to France, Hollanu, Bel
slum, Switzerland, and Denmark. Com
pared with other states of the union, it is
larger than Georgia, Florida, Alabama,
mississippi, and Louisiana combined.
Mlchlgan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin,
ana Iowa could be dropped within her ter
rllory and still leave unoccupied space to
make several states Of the New England
type. 1t Is larger than the whole OF New
Ensland, with New York, New Jersey,
delaware, Maryland. West Virginia,
pennsylvania, and Ohio added
Across the state from Texarkana to Ell
faso is as far as from Chicago to New
Xork, and from Texline to Brownsville is
as far as from Chicago to New Orleans
NMhen Texas is as thickly populated as
New England 1t will support population
OF 73,142, 900.
Texas Is first and last an agricultural
state. On no other equal area Of the
American continent has nature bestowed
SO much and withheld so little. In the
adjustment of climatic conditions, in the
arrangement OF the surface, in the depo-
sltlon OF soils, and In the distribution of
the water supply, the primal purpose seems
10 nave been the perfect adaptation OF the
state to agricultural production Nor was
this adaptation limited to special lines of
production. The list embraces most of
the products Of both the temperate and
tropical zones. 1t Is true that the cli-
mate, soil, altitude, and water supply
nave marked, as with a pencil on map,
the wheat, the rice, the cotton and the
lrult districts, yet over large portion of
the state wheat, oats, corn, cotton, fruit,
and all kinds Of vegetables can be seen
growing side by side in the same field -
There is but little waste land in Texas
with the exception of the trans-Pecos
region and the semi-arid plains of the
extreme west, cultivation is not only easy,
but the returns are abundant and re-
liable. :.
Rich and Varied Soils. -
Soil is the farmers stock in trade. It
is his capitalize basis of his prosperity.
In no other respect is Texas more blessed
both rich and varied. In connection with
climate equally varied, It gives to the
farmer choice of products ranging from
wheat and oats to rice and sugar cane,
from apples to figs, from corn to cotton.
II fertile soil be the first essential to
successful agriculture an adequate supply
OF water is the second, and q proper tenn
perature is the third. T.. , ~. E.. i,
The average rainfall in Texas Is marked
by distinct zones and decreases from cast
to west al the rate Of five inches for every
sixty miles. 1t is fifty inches along the
eastern border from the Red river to the
mouth Of the Sabine, twenty-five inches
through the west central region along the
Tooth meridian fifteen inches in the val
ley Of the Pecos and the Staked Plains,
and ten inches in the trans Pecos and
along the border of New Mexico. :4,.. .g
From the standpoint Of the tiller Of the
soil, temperature is the most important
Of the several factors that 60 to make up
climate. And it is the extremes of tenn
perature, not the "mean annuals," that
count. The mean annual temperature
along the coast from Galveston to Corpus
Christi is about 70. This decreases about
degree for every forty miles as you pass
to the north, with slight increase to the
west. On the Llano Estacado the NEAR
annual is SO and in the extreme norther!
part of the Panhandle it sinks to 81.
The agencies which dominate the tenn
perature are the gulf, the winds, ant
evaporation.
Texas as a Cotton State.
In 1901 Texas produced 3,8O6, ,565 bales o
cotton-nearly one-third of the cottoI
production of the world. For the last 81,
years the cotton product Of the state ha
averaged 3000,0 bales or a. bale TO
every man, woman, and child in the state
This at the average price of cotto1
amounts to $1,000, 900. Add to this tn
value of the by-product, estimated a
$20,000,000, and we have total of $155,
100000 from the cotton crop alone.
Notwithstanding this brave showing
cotton is the most unsatisfactory GRO
produced in Texas. The trouble is cotto1
has been king. And universal experienc
has demonstrated that agricultural mon
archs are failures. While corn was kin
il Illinois, Iowa, and Nebraska the peo
pie had to pay tribute to other states
While the Northwest was under the rul
Of king Wheat" despite the show &
broad fields and the glittering statistics
pageant Of average yields" and "tota
profits" the nose of the farmer rename
on the grlndstone, and the mortgage
went unpaid. King rule is an explode
economic theory. 1t is only under tn
crops, that the tiller of the soil will b
able to reap the greatest reward for hi
labors. S--z... t.-.-.s
Wheat Growing in Texas.
Texas is not strictly speaking whea
state. It's northwestern part alone
adapted to the growth Of this Norther
cereal. Yet the crop Of 1903 exceede
$4,000, 900 bushels of wheat and 80, ,OO0, ,0t
bushels Of oats, H&
There is in the state about &c. .0oO. 90
acres of land that will grow good whea
With this acreage the total yield, base
on the present average production Of fou.
teen bushels per acre, would amount
S64, 100000 bushels--one-haI of the pres
ent output Of the United States And ye
Texas is not wheat state. ~ F
Owing to the fact that the greater pa,
OF the rainfall in the Western plair
comes in the spring and fall at the tims
when most needed for winter wheat, til
grain belt is rapidly invading the sem
arid zone. The history of the risetof wiz
ter wheat in Nebraska will be repeated
northern Texas. Ten years ago Nebra SIX
did not produce enough wheat to suppl
her local -four mills: Last year the crc
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