The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-05-18
THE TnxAs cnoP.
Views Of Q wen Known Alabama Cot
ton MAN.
Houston, Tex,
May IA 1909.


Houston, Tex.
May IL. 1909.
Having Travelled over the most Of
the territory mentioned, and my OBJ
servation and views so near concide
with fheirsl with their permission
am quoting the letter OF one OF the
large exporting firms OF this state
issued to their customers May 18th.
-we are inclined to believe that
the cotton trade does not realize the
true condition Of the start of the crop
In this State. which In our opinion. is
the poorest we have had for several
years.
Our representative, who is now in
speeding the crop, having gone south
as far as Corpus Christi. then north.
bv San Antonio to Red River. and is
now coming down through N. e. Texas
to Houston. writes us from Palestine,
that he has found all that part of
the state. west of line from Victoria
County to Lampasas County, thence
to east line of Grayson County. abso-
lutely without any rain since last
November, and many OF the counties
none since August, very little blowing
has been done and no cotton planted.
East of that line. there have been
fair rains. though not general; in many
counties rain has fallen over half the
county. while Drought prevails in the
other half: planting has everywhere
been delayed. and the earliest IL two
weeks. while the greater part Is four
weeks late with the temperature en-
tirely too low, plants generally look
stunted and unhealthy. ~
Our representative spent several
days on this trip, inspecting Johnson.
Hill, Ellis and Kaufman. four of the
largest cotton counties. and in which
rain had been reported. He found these
rains had been exaggerated. that the
drought was as severe In those coun-
ties as in the most arid section OF the
State. in fact SO serious has IL become
that merchants are refusing to make
further advance on crops.
As we have advised in our previous
letter. the winter has been unusually
dry, Except In few counties in N. T..
Texas bordering on Red River) wher-
ever rains have fallen they have come
very late. and almost invariably have
been followed by very drying winds.
and they have not been of much help.
1t is now the middle of May, a
time when all of the crop should have
been planted, 3-4 should be up at least
1-2 been chopped to a stand. Instead OF
this. we find not more than so per
cent planted. of which possibly IA II
I'D, on which cultivation Is just COM
mencing half the remaining 20 per
cent In In the dry belt where large
part of the land has not yet been
broken, no cotton planted, and none
will be planted until rain comes.
In our opinion. we can see nothing
in the situation 10 indicate a crop for
this state greater than in 1906. with
the probability of q much smaller
yield. How far this defcit in Texas
will be Offset by increased yield in
other states. we cannot tell. but our
reports from none OF the other states
are very brilliant. and 1t now appears
to us as IL the total crop for this sea-
son is going to be between eleven and
twelve million bales, nearer the for
mer than the latter figure.
There Is no cotton left In farmers
hands. and considering the lateness and
conditions as above stated. 1t looks
like much higher prices will be paid.
before spinners can supply themselves.
from the new CROP
Yours very truly.
D. g. Boyd.