Omaha daily bee., 1909-10-17
IIQgl

49, the country produced enough
~ Aeep its hundreds. today the small far
mer is feeding thousands. And In this
great development OF a new empire Ne
braska is taking a very prominent part.
From Nebraska TO Texas is a long Jump,
but the pioneers who carved an empire
out Of a desert have produced a genera
ton Of young men OF the same blood and
IL is such as these that will make Texas
one Of the greatest producing states in
the union.
An advance guard OF Nebraskans has
already reached the new empire and a visit
TO the Gulf Coast Country now is like
a visit to near neighbors.
A number OF Nebraskans Just returned
from the Gulf Coast Country where they
went to inspect some land recently bought
by the Valley Fruit Farm and Garden
company OF Lincoln, and every member
Of the delegation returned thoroughly CON
WINGED that Texas Is the coming state OF
the union. for climate, health and pro
ductiveness and that the possibilities OF the
new country are unlimited.
This delegation saw orange trees sup
porting $500 oranges each. They saw famIl-
les making a living and doing we'll on five
acres Of land. which had been set to
oranges, figs, peanuts and vegetables.
They saw larger tracts planted to cotton,
rice and corn. They saw banana plants
with bananas growing; they saw lemon
trees growing fruit twice as big as the
average size oranges sold in Nebraska.
They saw dates growing; they saw cam
phor trees growing and they saw tea grow
ing. They caught oysters out Of Palacios
Bay and they ate fish caught in the same
bay. They saw artesian wells flowing
on the open prairie and they saw Nebras-
kans at every stopping place. And every
Nebraskans they saw was prospecting.
Tha Nebraskans also discovered that lie
is not necessary for a man to sit around
and do nothing while waiting a year or
two for his figs and oranges to bear. Be
tween the rows of trees the farmers were
growing vegetables of, all kinds and some
thing Tipens every month in the year.
The Bermuda onion Is one Of the staple
crops and It was claimed in Texas that
the Bermuda onion there out "Bermudas,
Bermuda" Thousands Of dollars are made
each year off of these onions. Labor is
cheap and the boss simply rides around
and sees that the work is done properly.
II took a very short time for the Ne
braskans 10 discover why the country has
not been developed like the states OF the
north and a little incident that occurred
a. Houston tells the story.
Prefers to wait for Rain.
The Nebraskans boarded a street car to
visit an orange grove in the city which
one Of the party knew about. En- route
there a prosperous looking Texan sug-
gested to the visitors that IL they were
sightseeing they should have taken a car
to another part of the city. When in.
formed they were going to view an orange
grove the Texan smiled;
II have been here for a long time" he
said, "and this is the first l ever heard Of
oranges growing in Houston. 1 guess some
real estate dealer has been stringing you"
In a ride of fifteen minute the Ne
braskans reached the home Of G. MART.
where for years he has been cultivating
orange trees. He had more than an acre
planted in oranges and figs. Mrs. MartI
escorted the visitors over the place and
when asked why the oranges looked so
small she said;
we have had no rain for three months
and the GROUND is just baked to a cr.sp."
Then Mrs. Marti took her visitors across
a 200-foot space and showed them an ar
tesian well Of which she was very proud. It
had never occurred to the owners to pump
water to the grove and neither had the
ground been plowed or cultivated for years.
In Houston the Nebraskans found a beau
tiful city which evidently had grown in
spite Of itself but it is awake now. The
streets are narrow and across from one
of the prominent hotels was the station.
Around the fence enclosing the station
were a score of negroes. loafing or sleep
ing. Transportation Of baggage was done
mainly on two-wheeled carts with a botA
tom, but no end. drawn by hungry-looking
mules and driven by negroes that looked
like the mules. And they never hurried
but they charged by the Job and not the
hour which helped some.
And then the Ice wagon came along. The
name Houston Ice company was painted
on the side. The wagon was a little frame
box with a top set on wheels and three ne
Groes rode In a doorway which opened
toward the horses. In the wagon was a
little chunk OF ice-but the sign read Ice
zoe a hundred"
Japanese Making Good.
At Alvin the Nebraskans got their first
glimpse of real fruit growing. There a
Japanese has 400 acres of land OF which
100 acres Is under cultivation. He employs
twenty-one Japanese helpers. Seven acres
this man has planted to orange buds which
he has grated to the trifoliata plant. His
entire crop has been sold, the price rang
ing from 50 cents TO 70 cents for each tree.
Ills income from this seven acres was
about $4,000 for the year.
In addition to the oranges, Mr.. Arai was
growing figs, tea, onions, camphor trees,
beans and eucalyptus trees. Tea. he said,
grew better in Texas than in Japan. Mr..
Arai imported his orange trees from Japan
as he did his figs. and the other fruit he
was growing.
1t was at this same place that the dele
cation met up with James Reese who own
a farm near Lincoln. Mr., Reese has been in
Texas for several years:
mo, I win never leave" he said In an
swer TO the inquiry when he expected to
come back home MY health Is too good
here for me to even think OF leaving" Mr.,
Reese Is the owner Of a fruit farm.
Hospitality Imported from Nebraska.
From Alvin the delegation went to Bless
ing. a brand new town with cement walks
and several new buildings, some con-