The Brownsville daily herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1897-1910, 1907-10-01
BEST COUNTRY
ON EARTH
r. L. Bats of Austin Speaks Well
of Brownsville.
Finest Sugar Ever Grown in This cOun-
Try on the Piper Plantation. Three
Miles from Brownsville. Now
IS Feet High.

lam just back from the Browns
vile country, where 1 have had
some professional engagements and
where 1 am interested in farm. 1
have been in Texas all my life, and
| I have been over most of the State.
The lower Rio Grande Valley is
the best part of it I have seen. 1
do not think there is any better
country on earth. The entire valley
has been built up by deposits from
the waters of the river, and the
soil is as rich as soil can be made.
| IT is full of si1t-of life-and is
easier to cultivate than any land 1
have ever before seen. The section
is seui-arid, but Notwithstanding
the absence of rainfall it IS not ex-
traordinary to see mosquitoes the
trunks of which are six feet IN cir
conference, and clumps of prickly
pears ten and twelve feet high are
common. While very good cotton
crops are sometimes made without
irrigation, I do not think much OF
Hand along the lower coast that can
not be irrigated. There is plenty
of water in the Rio Grande for the
irrigation of all the surveys abut-
ting upon it. The water carries
vast Quantities of silt, rendering
every watering a fertilizing pro-
cess.
The growth Of the country has
been retarded by the absence of
railroads and of the necessary cap
ital to put in irrigation plants.
The enterprise of Col. Yoakum has
furnished the necessary railroad
facilities, and the excellent oppor-
tunities for profitable investment
in irrigation projects are being
eagerly sought. The great irriga-
ton enterprise of Mercedes, on the
branch of the railroad, is Temporal
rily embarrassed by the demand OF
the government that the company
restore the river to its original
channel, but as soon as this diff
Guilty can be gotten past large II
rigated area will be opened up at
that point. The Brownsville Irri-
CATION Company has already under
its sytem of canals some eight or
nine thousand acres of cleared
land. The Santa Maria Company
has small plant, but along its
canals marvellous results are being
produced in the way of truck. The
San Benito Land and Water Com
pany, with headquarters at the
new town of San Benito, on the
main line, has completed some
thirty miles of canals and laterals,
and will be in position by the
1st of January to water the 49,
600 acres of land which it has
placed on the market. There
are a number of small private
plants. The plantation of Piper
Bros, two or three miles below
Brownsville, has its own pumping
station. This farm has on it at
this time perhaps the finest sugar
cane ever grown in the United
States. Some of the cane is now
between twelve and fifteen feet
high, and it has three or four
months of further growth. The
Weld will certainly be between sew
enty and eighty tons. and the net
profits will not be less than $50
per acre. Because of the great
profits. the section will doubtless
be principally devoted to cane,
truck and fruits, but corn, cotton
and alfalfa are successful and prof
liable crops. 1t is just as easy to
raise bale and half of cotton on
an irrigated Rio Grande Valley
farm as it is to raise half a bale on
the best black lands of Williamson
and Travis Counties, though at
present that land can be bought
for less than the best lands in
49,, oo,,,1E;ae TIoc1aorad lands