Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1929-09-29
OK CART GOES
WAY OF MANY
old METHODS
Ranch Equipped With
Tractors, Electricity
and School for EN-
ployes
BY BEss GARRETT

BY BESS GAkHEIIf
Methods OF cotton farming I'm the
trade territory or MatamDr05, Mex
leo. have undergone startling
changes during the past eight
years. The gate plough and OK cart
are fast being replaced by tractors
and trucks From small patches of
cotton cultivated In the most prt-
manner have evolved mo-
dern plantations OH 5tupendOus slime.
The cotton industry IS fast be-
coming one or prime Importance.
In this trade territory which ex-
tends from Camargo on the North
To the mouth on the Rio Grande
river and eighty miles down into
the interior, more than eighty thou
sands acres OF cotton were plant
ed this season Most or TINS Is
along the river and down I'm Che
San Fernando section. I'm spite OK
drought conditions and
heavy holl WeevII lnfeEtnti0n more
than fifteen thousand bales have
been ginned. I'm 1926. which Was
q banner year for cotton in this
entire section, thirty-six thousand
bales were ginned-
Plans for tremendous Develop
ment along the river are now n
der way. Capitalists I'm Mexico
City are preparing to put In I'M
mense irrigation systems III snrn-
raj places on the Rio Granue and
down ON the San Fernando RIVER.
Poison is being introduced gener-
ally. With an adequate water
supply and proper control or the
weevil pest, Mexico will take her
place in the sun as a cotton produc-
ing country
Delightful Trip
A trip through this cotton grow
ing belt is filled with surprises,
and proves altogether delightful.
One may stfll find the pcOn who
insists that the native plough.
which is made Of a queer shaped
piece or wood and for some reason
derives its name from the cat, serv-
ed his fathers well. and refuses tn
take any chances with m0cern
machinery.
On the other hand. Eeventy-onH
miles from Matamoros on tine El
TETON ranch, owned by Simon and
Robert Garcia of Matamur0s, four
thousand acres Of cotton IS being
cultivated this year hy the most
improved models of modern ma
chinery. There is not a mule ON
the place. Fourteen tractors furn-
ish the motive power.
This ranch is nm amazing place.
Twenty-Five thousand acres uR
rich tillable soil. identical with that
I'm the famous Corpus Christi cot
ton belt all OF which VIII ID Tn cuI-
tivation within the next few years
i1 Garcia Brothers carry OUT their
present plans. They bought rhis
place Ia the raw about four years
ago.
AT the headquarters OF this IA
cienda one finds a beautiful resi-
dence or Spanish design with cleo
tricity, running water ana. all
modern c~onVenienceS. This lH thn
home OF the overseer. Near here
Is q new little school house punt
last year for the children uF rtn
sixty families who live on the
ranch; living quarters for these
families, a modern four stand gin.
and splendid sheds and barns. III
TETON AK ga place or wonder.
Rice Formerly Grown
Nor As this the only mndnrn
plantation I'm the vicinity or Mnta-
moros. The Fernandez estate. las
Rusias. about three miles from thm
city pioneered In this modern era
Or cotton growing. This fs one nf
the largest and richest plantations
IN Northern Mexico and has BEEN
III the Fernandez for many wears.
sugar cane and rice were formerly
grown there, about eight wears nan
Juan Fernandez assumed mmrammnr-
snip and began growing cotton NV
modern methods.
His success inspired others. Jesus
Lopez Cisneros has more than seven
hundred acres OF cotton ON hiE place
located about twenty-five miles from
Matam0ros: and Servando Hernan-
dez. twenty miles down. has in thin
same acreage. DR.. "A. Pumarejo forty
two miles away has three hundred
acres I'm cultivation. Luis CISnRrnM
has In three hundred acres on his
ranch twenty-five miles from Mata~
m0r0s. and thus 10 goes.
On the large ranches modern
methods are being used almost ml~
together. Many or these places have
their own gins. modern machinery.
and are poisoning literally. After thm
cotton Is ginned. or II the place has
no gin brought To MAtamornH bv
truck and ginned, IL III shipped wv
rail to Veracruz and Tampico ana
from these ports 10 Europe.
OK Cart Seen
Trucks are used for most of this
transportation. though one may BtKIl
see the old OK cart piled with sacks
or cotton trudging Co the nearest
village or ranch headquarters. The
cotton IS brought by the gins I'm the
bulk, which gives them the seed. The
farmer then buys back his seed ur
other planting the next year.
One of the largest gins ever buIlt
IN this section is the eight stand
electric gtn by the Cross Brothers,
which is located I'm Matamoros. This
gin has q compress attachment. gp
that when the cotton comes cunt MN
Is not only gtnned but compressed
and ready for shipment to- foreign
ports.
The Cross family have lived In