The Brownsville daily herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1897-1910, 1908-11-21


ting cent in this section" saiC
H. o. Barber of Lincoln. Nebras-
/ l-2. About a year ago ] had bust.
! 7 ess in Corpus Christi and bought d
( homeseeker's ticket to Brownsville
by way of Corpus, because it was
cheap, and l like to get all l can foI
my money. l had an old friend here
and l thought ! would run down
| spend a day with him and then re-
turn home. The second night / was
here l heard man, whose name,
afterward learned, was Copeland
talking about a great cabbage crop he
was raising on an old rice field near
town. told my son, who was with
work he did.
bage patch, and so we decided 20 stay
over another day. We went out to
the Copeland farm and found the cab
bage crop had not been rlisrepre-
serted On our reurn to the city We
accidentally met Col. Alba Haywood
anG accepted his invitation to go with
him ia an auto to San Benito. Vel,
to cut a long story short, the Bar
bers, father and two sons, nov own
eight or nine hudred acres of fine
land near San Benito and we are
very proud of our holdings. My sons
have moved to San BenitO, are haV-
ing the land cleared and will plant
five hundred acres in sugar-cane and
two hundred in alfalfa next year. They
are rot going to fool with vegetables
much, and have only fifteen acres
planted in onions which viii be ready
for shipment eearly in the spring.
They are going to stick to the staples
and if they grow vegetables at all.
it will be as a side issue and at a
time when they are not grown in 9TH
er portions of the Union and viii
consequently bring a good price Our
land is as good as we care to have.
is all under irrigation and, what is
exceedingly gratifying to me, it is
thoroughly drained, due to Sam Rob
ertson's wisdom and ability as an en-
gineer who knows his business. My
boys are perfectly delighted with the
situation and having had practical ex-
perience in farming. they are expect
ing big results from their sugar and
alfalfa. When ] tell my friends in
Nebraska what a great country this
is, they laugh at me, but when | per-
suade them to come down here and
see for themselves (and which I
sometimes do. for they know not one
foot of my land is for sale.) they in
variably invest more or less money in
land and become as enthusiastic over
the Valley as / am. | have visited
every portion of the United States
and the Valley of the Lower Rio
Grande is far ahead of anything |
have ever seen, and it seems to get
better ali the time MIR. Barber ex-
poets to leave tomorrow for Lincoln,
but will return again early in Jan
uary and will be accompanied by
several of his friends who, he says,
are beginning TO get the fever Mr..
Barber is a big grain-dealer and mill
man of Nebraska and his business in
terests are very large So infatuat-
ed has he become with the Valley
country. however, that il would not
surprise The GOssiper if he should
dispose of his interests in the North
west and spend the balance of his
days on his plantation near San Be
nito
I'm not exactly a tenderfoot, re-
marked F. E. Scobey of Mercedes |
when The Gossiper asked him if he |
had been long in Texas Continuing |
he said Il came to Texas first some |
sixteen years ago and located in San |
Antonio. The doctors said had weak /
lungs, consumption, or something OF |
hat kind. and advised me to seek |
/ more congenial climate than that OF /
ohio. where I was born and reared. |
took their advice and | hardly think
would be taken for a consumptive |
low. The truth is, I'm in perfect 1
health and don't feel as though I had
sver been sick a day in my life.
haven't spent all the past sixteen
ears in Texas. though, but have di-
rided my time pretty evenly between
Texas and Ohio,spending a few years
irst in one and then a similar period /
n the other But I think | am back
n Texas this time for keeps, for
lave found a country that exactly
uits me and which | didn't know
ealIy existed until the railroad was
,uilt By the way, do you know
eel a peculiar interest in the Browns
lille Road? Well, ! do, and / will
ell you why. The man under whose
supervision the road was built. and
Tho has been its general manager
yer since. was born in my native
own of Troy. Ohio, and ! knew him
hirty-fve years ago. His father was
heTifT of the county and my first
'ork was as messenger boy in his
lther Office I have kept track OF
he son. have felt much qualification
{ his rise in the railroad world be 1
ause like myself. he was a Trojan /
nd was early thrown on his own re- ;
1urces to hustle for himself When i
heard the road he controlled was
pening up a country practically un- [
Hown to the outside world, had a ,
ocular desire to see this New Ell {
Orado, specially as had been early |
ivored with a copy Of Billy Doh {
rty's Cuff Coast Magazine Well. | S
anne to the Valley of the Lower Rio {
rande, invested my money in the {
Iercedes country and hre ! am to-
al and here ! shall remain / am
1rry Mr. Miller is going to sever his {
)nnection with the Brownsville I
Dad, for ] know that the Valley viii 7
use one of the best friends it evrte