Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1924-12-21

Tie home last year produced more than
$500 in the three crops he raised.
On January ) lie planted the patch in
irish potatoes. They were dug on
April y and shipped to San Antonio.
where he received 50 per hundred
pounds for them. this crop bringing
$50. The day the potatoes were dug
he planted the patch to sweet corn and
sold SGT worth Of roasting ears while
it still was soft. When the corn dried
he hauled a large load to his barn.
enough to feed his team for several
weeks. On September Is the half-acrc
was planted in peppers and this was
the crop which made the record money.
Off that patch he gathered $50 bushels
of peppers and sold them for d little
more than S700.
His One Sorrow
The sorrow CT Mr.. Franklin's life
is that he has not been able to make
his old friends back home realize the
real opportunity that exists in the Val
ley and that even his children have
failed to move to this section.
Other men have achieved success in
the Valley from very modest begin
nings, as any man can find who will
drive up and down the roads and talk
to the men he meets.
W. j. Munnis, who lives en- the same
tract of land with Mr.. Franklin and
only 4 few miles from him, moved to
the Rio Grande country in August
1921. from Munscy. Indiana. He had
practically nothing left after he had
made his first payment on his ten
acre block. His payments also were
divided over a period of five years and
he also has them paid at the end Of
three years and has made wonderful
progress besides. He now is remodeling
the small home he bb.;. on til. place
after he moved to the Valley and has
a daughter attending Baylor college al
Bolton. He also has planted at acre
in grapefruit and an acre in oranges
and lemons. His plans are to event
ually plant s acres Of his ten in citrus
to use the oher two acres as q
garden spot and to pasture a COW.
Mr.. Munnis, also like Mr.. Franklin
thinks the Valley is the greatest place
en- the face of the earth.
Claude Spears, located on the AL
Parker tract north of La Feria, came
to the Valley in January. 1922. He
bought ten acres, planted four Of it in
citrus, paid half on his land and went
to work. He camped the first four
months and then built a small home.
According to him, anyone can make
money in the Rio Grande Valley by
the use CT ii small amount of brains
and by doing a little work. But he
has lnDa r,A.o tL,1 I,@4fa .,1-l. IIA
has worked hard, his neighbors testify,
and has made his work pay immense
returns.
Meets Notes Before Maturity
To the present time not a single note
has past. due, all of them being paid
before maturity, and the four acres of
fruit planted the first year will pay
Of the remaining indebtedness in 1925,
he believes.
But in the meantime he has bought
another ten acres of ground next to his
original ten and it is the notes on this
and the original tract which the citrus
is to pay for.
His first crop was one acre of Gu
cumbers and they made enough profit
to pay his first note. Since that time
HC Hdo HCNCl I0iSC ~ StOD lndl u HOL
make some money, he says. During the
time he has been farming in the Val
ley he has made every foot of ground
work fer him. As an illustration of
this, he now has min acres of his 20
in cabbage but at the top end of this
field there is a small, high place which
is difficult TO water, and rather than
let it lay idle has planted it in turnips
and is raising them dry. lie now has
fine large roots and soon will be mar
keting this crop eff of ground that a
less progressiv man might have let
lay idle.
Mr.. Spears was a freight brakeman
in Louisiana for a number Of years and
after that a clerk in a sawmill com
missary. He never had farmed before
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