Misc. Records

Where to Emigrate and Why - Frederick B. Goddard, Peoples Publ. Co., 1869

TEXAS.

        TEXAS is by far the largest State in the Union. Its greatest length is, from northeast to southwest, more than 800 miles, with an extreme width of 750. It has an area of 274,354 square miles, or upward of 175,000,000 acres. A better idea of its magnitude may be formed when it is known that more than two hundred States of the size of Rhode Island could be carved out of its territory. Texas was admitted into the Union in 1845. Its population in 1850 was 212,592; in 1860 604,215.

        The settled portions of the State may be generally divided into three physical districts or sections, each with distinctly characteristics, and inviting the immigrant to essentially different systems of agriculture and employment, as follows First, the crescent-shaped zone or belt of country, lying low along the Gulf of Mexico, varying from thirty to one hundred miles in width, bountifully timbered, and producing cotton, sugar, &c. Next, the flower-embroidered prairie, the home of the grain-raising farmer, rolling away northward and westward, to lose itself in the grass-covered uplands and plains of the stock-raiser, that skirt the elevated and treeless table-lands of the "Llano Estocado," or other uninhabited regions of the West.

        This is not an arbitrary division. There are many products of general consumption and necessity, such as corn, potatoes, &c., which are common to all parts of the State; but certain sections are specially adapted to the raising of live stock, as others to grain, and others, again, to cotton and sugar. No is this adaptedness confined entirely within the boundaries indicated; as for instance, while the coast region produces more bountiful crops of cotton, and is naturally best suited to its

culture in many respects, it may be successfully and profitably raised in nearly all the counties eastward of the San Antonio River, and east of a line drawn from the town of San Antonio, in Bexar County, north, to Red River. It is said there is a larger area of rich virgin soil, adapted to the cultivation of cotton, in the State of Texas alone, than in all the cotton States east of the Mississippi River, and that in those counties lying upon the Guadalupe, Colorado, Brazos, Trinity, Sabine, and Red rivers, the best, par excellence, of the Texas cotton region, not one acre in a hundred has yet been cultivated.

        The "wheat region" of Texas is in the northern part of the State, and embraces some thirty counties, of which Dallas is the center. The average yield in these counties is stated to be about twenty-one bushels per acre. In 1866, the wheat product of this region alone was estimated at nearly two million bushels, while in 1850 the total product of the State was less than fifty thousand bushels. This cereal is grown to a limited extent in most of the cotton counties nearly down to the coast, but the region above indicated combines in a superior degree those advantages of climate and soil which adapt it to the perfect development of wheat. A great variety of other products flourish in this section. Barley, rye, and oats do equally well with wheat and corn. Sweet potatoes and the tame grasses are much cultivated, and yield well. Cotton, which, also produces well, is neglected, owing to remoteness from market and cost of transportation.

        There is no part of the continent, and perhaps no region in the world, more admirably suited to sheep husbandry or general stock raising than portions of Texas. Requiring no food to be gathered for their winter consumption, animals may here be raised upon vast grazing ranges, covered with the most nutritious grasses, almost without cost. Large fortunes have often been quickly realized in these pursuits from very small beginnings, particularly in the southern and western portions of the State, which are mainly devoted to these branches of industry, some localities being better adapted to horses and cattle, and others to sheep and swine.

        That portion of the State lying between the Rio Grande and San Antonio rivers, and southeast of the road from San Antonio to Eagle Pass, on the Rio Grande, is occupied by a hardy and active race of stock-raisers, who depend almost entirely upon their flocks and herds. The climate of this section, though hot, is exceedingly healthy, but decidedly unfavorable for agriculture, owing to the prolonged seasons of drought. When Gen. Taylor marched from Corpus Christi to the Rio Grande, in 1846, it is said there was not an inhabitant to be found between that river and the Nueces, but the whole region was roamed over by countless numbers of wild cattle and mustangs, which have since been killed, or caught and tamed. Judge Davis, of Brownsville, says these animals are now even more numerous than when in their original wild condition, and thinks southwestern Texas will one day export a half million beeves annually.

        This latter region is remarkable for its capacity for the production of salt, the soil for hundreds of miles from the coast being so impregnated with it that it is difficult in many localities to find water fresh enough to drink, even by digging.

        That portion of Texas best adapted to sheep husbandry lies between the Colorado and Nueces rivers, Kendall County being the present center of the sheep-raising interest. The southeastern portion of Texas, lying on the rivers Angelina, Neches, and Sabine, contains the finest pinery in the United States. It extends from Rush County through Nacogdoches, Angelina, Tyler, Hardin, and Jasper counties, to near the coast, occupying the most of southeastern Texas. The long-leafed pine is the principal species throughout the southern portion of the pine country. This species yields about one-third more sap than any other which has in this country been tested for obtaining turpentine.

        In regard to the transportation facilities of Texas, it may be stated that owing to the very limited river navigation of the State, railroads must be the main reliance of the people for internal commercial purposes. Several lines have already been constructed, starting from the Gulf coast, and extending toward the interior. These lines and their connections are being rapidly lengthened, while several others are in progress and projected. As the country becomes more populous, additional railway facilities will follow, and as the surface of the entire State is peculiarly favorable for their construction, the day is not distant when Texas will be traversed in every direction by these great iron highways.

        Some months ago a comprehensive and interesting description of the climate, soil, and resources of Texas appeared in the Rural New Yorker, a leading and influential agricultural journal. It is from the pen of HENRY S. RANDALL, LL.D. of Cortland Village, N. Y., an eminent author, with an established reputation as such both in the agricultural and literary world. Mr. RANDALL is President of the National and also of the New York State Wool-Growers' Associations, and few men have done more to give an intelligent direction to agriculture and husbandry. The following is the article referred to:―

        We have within the last few months received a number of inquiries in regard to Texas, which we have not had time to answer; and recently, an association, comprising several persons who propose to emigrate to that State, have addressed us interrogatories, full answers to which would embrace a description of the physical features and agriculture of the entire country.

        It would require a volume to give the information thus asked for. Texas stretches through ten degrees of latitude, is considerably more than five times as large as the State of New York, and more than three and a half times as large as all New England. Most of the noted kingdoms of Europe, like Great Britain, France, Spain, &c., do not approach it in extent. Vast regions of it are yet in a state of nature, the rest is thinly populated, and but small portions have been described, with any degree of minuteness, by competent and reliable observers. At best, then, we could give but a partial and superficial sketch; and our narrow limits compel us to confine ourselves to the most meager outlines. Those who have addressed us on the subject will find the best description which we have seen, of all the different counties collectively, in THE TEXAS ALMANAC for 1867 (8vo, 360 pages), published by and obtainable from W. Richardson & Co., Galveston, Texas. On this highly valuable work, on Olmsted's Journey through Texas, and some similar publications, and on letters received from a large number of intelligent private correspondents in different parts of the State, we mainly rely for the accuracy of the statements which follow.

        GEOGRAPHY.—The southeastern side of Texas fronts on the Gulf of Mexico, which opens its commerce to the world. It has a sufficiency of good harbors. Noble rivers leave few of its more fertile portions unprovided with accessible outlets to the sea during periods of the year. Its level surface will allow railroads to be constructed over a great part of it by the easiest grades. A low plain, from fifty to eighty miles wide, very slightly ascending toward the interior, belts the entire coast. From thence the surface rises and becomes first rolling, and then hilly, until it reaches the high table-lands of the Llano Estacado. The seaport towns of Galveston and Lavaca are respectively 10 and 24 feet above the level of the ocean. Houston, about 50 miles in a direct line from the coast, has an elevation of 60 feet; Columbus, between 80 and 90 miles from the coast, 250 feet; Gonzales, something over 100 miles from the coast, 270 feet San Antonia, about 140 miles from the coast, 635 feet.* The table-lands and the desert Llano Estacado (Staked Plain), usually rise from 2,000 to 2,500 feet. Some elevations in the northwest reach 5,000 feet.

* We give the distances from the coast, not by roads or river courses, but direct, as measured by the scale of miles on the new map of Texas, published in THE TEXAS ALMANAC for 1867.

        GEOLOGY.—The lower and rolling lands are alluvial. The hilly region is cretaceous, and abounds in excellent limestone for building. Beyond. this, primitive rocks appear in many places. The great plains consist of stratified clay and cretaceous marls. On the verge of these plains are deposits of gypsum extending over an area of thousands of square miles. Coal beds exist in different localities. Iron ores are found in inexhaustible quantities on the Llano River, and they abound on tributaries of Red River in northeastern Texas. Copper has been discovered in different places, and also specimens of the precious metals. The mineral regions of the State have been so little explored, that the extent of its resources in this respect are but beginning to be known. Various salt springs have been found, and salt of good quality, produced by natural evaporation, can be obtained in immense, if not inexhaustible quantities at the salt lagunes below Corpus Christi, and at the salt lake in Hidalgo County, forty miles from the Rio Grande.

        SOILS AND PRODUCTS.—In the north, the rich, black soil is especially adapted to the production of wheat, yielding in ordinary seasons, and under the very imperfect cultivation it receives, an average of twenty-one bushels to the acre. It is of superior quality, and very heavy—in occasional instances reaching seventy-two pounds to the bushel. The wheat region proper embraces about thirty counties, of which Dallas is the center.

        The eastern counties, unlike the rest of the State, were covered by forests. The most northerly of these are highly adapted to a diversified husbandry, including all the productions of more northern regions; and they have been favorite places of settlement by an industrious class of farmers from Kentucky, Tennessee, and the northern parts of Mississippi and Alabama.

        The southeastern and central-southern counties are the most fertile in Texas, and include the best cotton-growing region, of any thing like an equal area, in the world. The cotton counties proper constitute about one-third of the State. A very large portion of the choicest lands have not yet been cultivated. This region also includes several millions of acres of sugar lands, often quite equal to those of Louisiana. Sugar has been produced to considerable extent near the mouths of the Brazos and Colorado.

        The soil of western Texas, exclusive of the barren region between the Nueces and Rio Grande, consists generally of black, calcareous loam, and its pasturages are probably unequaled by any other natural ones in the world. They afford feed for a boundless number of horses, cattle and sheep throughout the year.

        We have thus far only alluded to staple commodities. Corn, wheat, oats, rye, barley, buckwheat, millet, sorghum, Irish potatoes, sweet potatoes, peas, beans, turnips, pumpkins, and garden vegetables of every kind produce remunerative, and some of them abundant, crops on all the good soils of the State,* and from many of them two crops might be taken in a season. Fruits can be grown in boundless profusion. Apples in northern Texas are thought to be as good as those of the Northern States. Peaches, nectarines, apricots, plums, quinces, figs, raspberries, strawberries, &c., of choice quality, can be grown throughout the State. Wild grapes are found everywhere, and the cultivated varieties are easily acclimated. Their production may be increased to any extent. Horses, neat-cattle, sheep, and hogs require so little artificial feed that they can be raised at the most trifling expense. Tobacco and rice have been but little introduced, but there is no doubt that they can and will be cultivated in extensive regions, and will become most profitable crops. All in all, there is not, perhaps, an equal area of land on the globe which possesses greater natural fertility and a better adaptation to the production of the necessaries, comforts, and luxuries of life, and the profitable staples of commerce.

* The barren lands bordering on the lower Rio Grande and the Staked Plains in the northwest will riot be taken into view in our account of the soils and products of Texas, or in any other parts of our description, unless they are especially mentioned.

        CLIMATE.—As a sample of the climate, we give the mean temperature of every month in the year 1859, as observed by Professor C. G. Forshey in Fayette County, on the Colorado, in latitude 30°: January, 50° 57' ; February, 62° 44'; March, 61° 50'; April, 65° 31'; May, 75° 61'; June, 81° 56'; July, 84° 76'; August, 84° 90'; September, 79° 42' ; October, 66° 29'; November, 63° 92' ; December, 43° ; annual mean, 68° 04'.

        "In point of climate," says Olmsted, "Texas claims, with at least as much justice as any other State, to be called the Italy of America. The general average of temperature corresponds, and the skies are equally clear and glowing. The peculiarities over other climates of latitude are found in its unwavering summer sea-breeze and its winter northers. The first is a delightful alleviation of its summer heats, flowing in each day from the Gulf, as the sun's rays become oppressive, and extending remotely inland to the farthest settlements, with the same trustworthy steadiness. It continues through the evening, and is described as having so great effect that, however oppressive the day may have been, the nights are always cool enough to demand a blanket and yield invigorating rest."

        The severe northers occur from December to April, and usually occupy not much over forty days. The rapid reduction of the temperature from 70 or 75 degrees, to 30 or 40 degrees, and the driving wind, are keenly felt. When most cold and violent, and accompanied with rain and sleet, they sometimes cause considerable destruction among domestic animals exposed to their fury. These instances, however, are rare, and the shelter of a grove or hill, or even a good farm wall, is sufficient to prevent such consequences. They are regarded as healthful and invigorating, and, notwithstanding the sudden change of temperature accompanying them, do not cause, or even exasperate, pulmonary diseases. It is claimed that consumption does not originate in the region where they prevail.

        HEALTH.―As in all new, warm, and highly fertile countries, the low, rich river bottoms—especially those of southern Texas, which are covered with a boundless profusion of semi-tropical vegetation—are not healthy to unacclimated persons. The higher lands between those rivers are usually considered healthy, where judicious dispositions are made by the emigrant; but the Northern emigrant runs some risk of undergoing a "seasoning" course of chills and fever. The hilly region of the west are as free from malaria as any other new countries we ever heard of— far more so, we judge, than were large portions of Ohio, Illinois, and Michigan when first settled. We have known of hundreds of people from the Northern, Middle, and Western States who have emigrated to the sheep-region presently to be described, and we scarcely remember of hearing of one who incurred any disease in the process of acclimation. Great numbers of invalids, especially of consumptive invalids, from the older Southern States, resort to the region around San Antonio for the improvement of their health. The native Mexicans used to tell a story in regard to its healthfulness which has a regular Yankee smack to it. They said some travelers approaching San Antonio met three disconsolate looking persons who were hastening away from the city. They asked them what was the matter, and where they were going. The three disconsolate looking persons replied that they had met with reverses, that they wished to die, and were going to some place where people could die.

        Yellow fever is imported into the coast towns, as it is imported into New York and Philadelphia, but it does not originate in them. Its ravages, as would be expected in such a climate, are sometimes severe; but it does not penetrate into the hilly region any more than it penetrates into the interior of New York or Pennsylvania.

        TIMES OF PLANTING AND HARVESTING.—Plowing can be done in every month in the year—an immense advantage over Northern regions in economizing labor. It is carried on in January and February for the field crops. Early garden vegetables are planted in January. In February, the prairies are green; corn is mostly planted; oats, peas, &c. are sown. In March, fresh  pasturage is quite abundant, the &c., takes place, about half the cotton is planted. In April, the remainder of the cotton is planted, sheep are shorn; potatoes, peas, and wild-berries appear in market early in the month. In May, the small fruits are harvested; apricots ripen toward its close. In June, early corn is ready for harvesting; peaches ripen. In July, cotton ripens but in the average of seasons the main crop does not open freely until the first of August. In the cotton districts, its picking, preparation for market, and hauling, consume the rest of the season, until about the close of November. December is a plowing, clearing, and picking-up month

        The above statements refer to average seasons in the central latitudes of the State, and to the ordinary farm culture of the main crops. Some of them might be grown earlier, and many would ripen if not put into the ground until months later. Most garden vegetables can be planted throughout the season, so as to afford a constant repetition of them for the table.

        WOOL PRODUCTION.—As all the inquiries we have received point particularly, and some of them exclusively, to this husbandry, we shall give some additional details in respect to the facilities for carrying it on in Texas. Sheep can be grown highly profitably, for domestic uses, on the moderately elevated, dry, sound lands of all parts of the State. But the sheep-region proper—that where the pasturage is best adapted to them, both in summer and winter, where they can in respect to health, be most safely herded in great flocks, and where, accordingly, the land being equally cheap, wool can be most cheaply grown for exportation—lies in western Texas. It is bounded on the east and west by the Guadalupe and the Nueces, and, so far as now known, on the north by the Colorado, say from Bastrop upward.

        South of San Antonio this region is generally level, descending with a moderate slope to the coast. It contains some excellent sheep pasturages as low down as the second tier of counties from the Gulf—and in one of these (Live Oak) is now located our friend, John McKenzie, one of the best flock-masters in Texas.

        But the hilly country, commencing five or six miles north of San Antonio, is regarded, par excellence, as the sheep region. The hills farther toward the north become more abrupt, with narrower valleys between, until large river bottoms are reached. The present center of its sheep husbandry is Kendall County, appropriately named after George Wilkins Kendall, who first practically demonstrated the special adaptation of the country to that husbandry on a large scale, and whose racy and able writings on the subject have attracted thither emigrants from all parts of the United States and. Europe. Mr. Kendall has exhibited the rare merit of showing both sides of the medal—of stating drawbacks as well as advantages, failures as well as successes—and it is this candor which has given such a wide influence to his writings.

        We have not space, nor is it now necessary, to describe the whole area of the sheep region as we have bounded it; and we shall confine our attention to a group of about a dozen counties lying around Kendall. The soil is generally good, dry, and sound. Streams are quite abundant, and they are generally as clear as crystal—the water pure and wholesome. Springs are frequent, and oftentimes of extraordinary volume. There is much valuable timber on the larger water-courses, and groves of post-oak affording mast for innumerable hogs, abound in the bottoms. The hills are usually mostly bare of vegetation, except grass. The last consists of varieties of the mesquite, probably the finest natural grass for sheep in the world, and quite equal to the white clover of the North. It is short, fine, exceedingly palatable and nutritious, withstands droughts well, and springs up like magic after every shower. It is not entirely killed down by the short winter, and with sufficient range (which is everywhere attainable), entirely subsists flocks throughout the year, so that no artificial food is provided for them. The hilly regions are destitute of fencing timber, and. the sheep are herded by shepherds and dogs. New lands, in the less thickly settled neighborhoods, can be obtained at from one to two dollars per acre. It is only necessary for the emigrant to secure a homestead, including enough land to raise his domestic supply of grain and vegetables. His sheep, horses, cattle, and hogs can be pastured on the outlying ranges without his buying the land or paying rent to anybody. Indeed, a single man may hire his board, and keep large flocks and herds without owning or hiring an acre ! This state of things will continue in portions of the sheep region beyond the lives of the present generation.

Sheep as a general thing are uncommonly healthy, and are in better condition the year round than ordinarily kept flocks in the North. Lambs obtain an earlier maturity. They are subject to scab, as must always be the case in an unfenced country, where scattering sheep are liable to spread it from flock to flock. But in escaping the foot-rot of the North the advantage still remains in their favor, for the former is the most easily and cheaply extirpated disease of the two in large flocks. It requires but two or three dippings, at short intervals, in a strong decoction of tobacco, to effect a thorough cure. With a proper dipping-vat, holding half a dozen sheep at a time, the process can be rapidly performed, and it requires no experience or skillful manipulation. Every flock-master can raise sufficient tobacco as easily as an equal patch of corn. The principal cost of growing wool, besides first purchase of flock, is resolved then into the cost of herding, of salt, of shearing, and of getting it to market.

        The cost of commencing a flock is comparatively small. The price of common sheep in Texas, several grades better than the old Mexican sheep, is not now, as appears by the statements of writers in THE TEXAS ALMANAC for 1867, higher than the cost of the common sheep in the North. These should be graded up by the use of Merino rams. To make the improvement rapid and uniform, the rams should be of perfect purity of blood, and those every way good enough for the purpose, and having reliable pedigrees, can be purchased in New York and elsewhere, in lots of five or ten, for one hundred dollars apiece. Those wishing to take out a few pure blood ewes of equal quality, as a nursery to raise rams from, can obtain them at the same prices.

        Sheep husbandry in Texas has some drawbacks. The Indians are somewhat troublesome in the frontier counties, though they  make their thieving excursions after horses and cattle rather than sheep, because the latter can not be driven off fast enough to escape pursuit. There is little doubt that these pests will be so far subdued or driven back, before the present Indian war closes, that they will occasion no further inconvenience.

        We have alluded to the northers. They do not, at worst, compare with the wild winter storms of the Northern States, in which the temperature often sinks thirty or forty degrees lower. As already stated, animals are easily protected from them. The shelter of a dense grove, or escarped hill, ordinarily renders even young lambs safe from such of them as occur in the yeaning season; though, as in the North, untimely storms of extraordinary severity sometimes occasion considerable loss. On the whole, we believe that the present percentage of increase in lambs is quite as great as in any part of the North, with all the artificial and costly shelter provided in the latter, and that with the rudest sheds the advantage would be in favor of the former.

        The droughts to which the sheep region of Texas is exposed constitute the greatest natural drawback on its advantages. These in occasional years are severe, but they have never in a single instance compared in intensity or duration with those which periodically visit the great sheep-growing countries of Australia and the Cape of Good Hope. We know of no years in which they have destroyed the grass sufficiently to cause the actual starvation of sheep. In the severest Texas drought within our recollection, Mr. Kendall carried through a number of thousand sheep without any material loss and without their becoming poor and weak. We watched the struggle with keen interest, for he kept us apprised of the state of things every week. There was alarm, additional trouble, and nothing more. The trouble consisted in driving the sheep farther out daily after feed; but this, if we remember aright, in no case exceeded four or five miles from their daily starting-point, and we think they returned to their pens at night, making the greatest distance traversed in going and coming eight or ten miles—not half the distance which sheep are ordinarily driven every day in summer to procure their food in a great portion of Australia, and not in the aggregate to be compared with the annual migrations of the sheep of Spain after pasturage.

        The only other drawback which we know of is distance from market. Boerne, the capital of Kendall County, is thirty miles north of San Antonio, and the latter is one hundred and fifty miles by the road from Port Lavaca, thirty of which are by railroad, San Antonio, the principal city of western Texas, already contains fifteen thousand inhabitants, and is growing and increasing in business with great rapidity. It is impossible to suppose, therefore, that it will not soon be connected with the sea-coast by railroad, and this must at no distant day be intercepted by railroads which will connect it with the other cities of Texas and with New Orleans.

        Were we disposed to wander from a cold profit and loss account and paint an arcadian scene, we should add a good many other touches to our picture of this region—its beautiful scenery, its crystal rivers stocked with fish, its forest abounding in deer, wild turkeys, and other game, its abundance of wild fruits, and that coincidence of climate and soil which renders life most agreeable, and its necessaries and comforts most easily attainable. But we will close with a remark of our accomplished and widely traveled friend, Mr. Olmsted. Speaking of western Texas generally, he says: " Of the genial portion (that is, exclusive of  the barren wastes bordering the Rio Grande ) I have already spoken with unfeigned enthusiasm. For sunny beauty of scenery and luxuriance of soil it stands quite unsurpassed in my experience, and I believe no region of equal extent in the world can show equal attractions. It has certainly left such pictures in memory as bring it first to mind as a field for emigration, when any motive suggests a change of my own residence."—H S. Randall, in " Rural New Yorker."

        Emigrants and others who seek information respecting Texas, will find in the "Texas Almanac," published by W. RICHARDSON & CO., of Galveston, detailed descriptions of all parts of the State, from the most reliable sources. The modest title of this creditable work conveys no idea of the mass of valuable information it contains. Each year from 300 to 400 pages of new and original matter are presented, comprising precisely the information necessary to form a just estimate of the climate, resources, and general advantages of Texas. In the "Almanac" for 1867 we find a detailed description of all the counties in the State, from which we select a few that most faithfully represent the leading resources of their respective sections, and by permission transfer them to these pages. We commence with a fair specimen of the coast counties:—

BRAZORIA COUNTY.

        COUNTY SEAT, BRAZORIA.—This county is tolerably well supplied with common schools in all the settlements. A high school for females is soon to be established in Grazoria, having been endowed by the will of Mrs. Perry. In Brazoria there is one Methodist and one Catholic church; at Columbia, a Methodist and Presbyterian church; also one at Sandy Point, and one at Liverpool, and four others in the county. There are a few fine springs of excellent water in the eastern part of the county, but none elsewhere, nor are there known to be any minerals or mineral springs in Brazoria. Products.—Cotton and sugar are the chief products for export. About four-fifths of all the sugar made in Texas is produced in this county. There are a good many expensive sugar mills and machinery. The other products are corn, oats, rye, millet, the Hungarian and other grasses, the native and California clover, all of which do well. Sweet and Irish potatoes, peas, beans, and all varieties of vegetables are grown abundantly.  Fruits.― Peaches, pears, figs, quinces, plums, &c. Black and dewberries grow wild in the greatest abundance, and strawberries are cultivated. The climate is salubrious and pleasant, being tempered with a sea-breeze day and night, often making covering necessary in the warmest season. The soil is of various kinds, and nearly all is the most productive in the world. The county is nearly twice the size of average counties, and nearly one-half of it is covered with the best timber. The prairie has here and there groves of post-oak, live-oak, and cedar, and affords the best kind of stock range, as the grass continues green nearly through the winter, while the contiguous woodlands and bottoms afford excellent shelter for the stock in winter. The herds of cattle are very large, and it is believed that the stock of Brazoria is equal in value to its agricultural products. The seasons are generally quite uniform, though subject to occasional excesses of rain and drought. The live-oak of Brazoria is the best in the country, and affords the best ship-timber in the world, nearly all of which is contiguous to navigable water. The average size of the trees is five feet diameter, and thirty feet high to the first limb. The rivers are the Brazos, Oyster Creek, Bastrop Bayou, Chocolate Bayou, and the Bernard, all of which are navigable for light-draught vessels. The Houston Tap and Brazoria Railroad has been in operation to Columbia for seven or eight years, and passes nearly through the middle of the county. The present crops are but about half an average, owing entirely to the impossibility of getting the negroes to work, for the season has been one of the best ever known. The negroes do not do more than about one-fourth as much as when slaves. The planters will not again contract with them, unless upon the distinct understanding that they may discharge them if they do not work better. The mortality among them, owing to dissipation and having no one to take care of them and their children, as formerly, has increased 25 per cent. But one or two plantations have as yet tried white labor. One of these, cultivated in cane, and worked by laborers just from the south of France, has produced better than it ever did when worked by the same number of slaves. These white laborers enjoy good health, and are well pleased with their change of country. The wood for fuel and firing is in great abundance. Live-oak and cedar furnish the material for building. Milk, butter, chickens, &c., are had in every family, at scarcely any cost. The range for hogs is excellent, as the mast is abundant. The cost of raising consists in the trouble of marking them. The usual markets are Houston and Galveston, each fifty miles distant from the county seat. The transportation is by rail to Houston, at $1.50 per bale for cotton, and by water to Galveston, by the canal, or on the Gulf, at 75c. to $1 per bale. The planters frequently ship their cotton from Galveston to Liverpool, and their sugar to New York.  The native wine grows luxuriantly, and nearly every family makes an excellent wine from the grapes for their own use. Land is worth from $1 to $50 per acre. The average value of good unimproved land is $8 to $10 per acre. The average yield per acre is, in cotton one bale, and in corn thirty-five bushels. One hand can cultivate, on an average, sixteen acres in cotton and corn. But the negroes now do as little work as possible. They, however, behave very well, so long as they are not made to work and have enough to eat. The time of planting corn is about the 10th of February, and of cotton the 10th of March. The corn usually matures about the 1st of July, and the planters commonly commence picking cotton about the middle of July, and the picking has to continue, as the cotton continues to open, till Christmas; and even then, when the planter has to begin to prepare his ground for another crop, the fields are often white with cotton, which is lost for want of hands to pick it. Cistern-water is universally used in Brazoria. The usual price of corn is 50 cents to $1 per bushel; potatoes, 25 to 50 cents. A good beef, weighing 500 or 600 lbs., is worth about $10; pork is worth 3 to 4 cents per lb.; butter, 15 to 25 cents; bacon, 15 to 20 cents, though these articles are sold by but few.—Texas Almanac.

COLLIN COUNTY.―A FAIR SPECIMEN OF THE BEST NORTHERN
COUNTIES.

        COUNTY SEAT, McKINNEY.—This is, perhaps, in point of soil, the richest county in the State. It is in the heart of the wheat region, and susceptible of almost entire cultivation. It may appear strange, but it is true, that all the land is fit for cultivation, except the very beds of the streams. The recent registry exhibits over sixteen hundred voters. The western part of the county is high rolling prairie, as rich as Texas affords. Quite a number of streams rise in this part of the county, running a little south of east. This part of the county is rather scarce of timber. The middle portion is equally rich in point of soil, and much more abundant in timber. The eastern part is still more heavily timbered, and, except the extreme east portion, is not so susceptible of cultivation, on account of the heavy timbered ridges and bottoms. Yet the soil is very rich, with a dense growth of hackberry, elm, pecan, ash, bois d'arc, redbud, &c., on the ridges, and bur, overcup, pine, and Spanish oak, walnut, ash, elm, hackberry, pecan, wild China, &c., in the bottoms. Land is held at moderate prices; unimproved prairie, at from $1 to $5; timbered land, from $4 to $10; improved lands from $5 to $15 per acre, governed by locality and character of improvements, those nearest the county seat commanding best figures. Corn, barley, oats, and wheat are the Principal crops raised. Cotton grows well; but wheat and barley are leading products. Apples, pears, and peaches also succeed well. The spring and well-water is generally limestone. Many cisterns are in use, and made underground in the rock, with little more labor and cost than the digging of wells. The grass is good, both on the eastern and western sides of the county, but the middle part not so good. Cattle do well, but the range is better adapted for horses and sheep. Weston and Mantua, two flourishing villages in the northern part of the county, are situated about six miles apart. These places are located in the heart of populous neighborhoods, and support good schools. Plano is a thriving village in the south part of the county, on the main stage line from Austin to Clarksville. Farmersville is situated near the Hunt County line, and is the nearest trading point for one of the finest neighborhoods of farmers in the State. A good school is sustained there. The county seat, McKinney, suffered much during the war, all the buildings on. one side of the public square having been destroyed by fire. At present there are eight dry-goods establishments, three grocery stores, and one drug store. One excellent school is well sustained in the town; also one mile from the town there is a most excellent academy, established since the war. There are several good steam flouring mills in the county. I know of no county in the State that offers superior advantages to the immigrant. It is settled by a thrifty, industrious, and intelligent population—a people who have been accustomed to rely upon their own exertions, and who are determined to overcome the difficulties produced by the change in the system of labor heretofore relied upon. A long residence satisfies the writer of the exceeding healthfulness of the county. McKinney is two hundred and forty miles north from the capital of the State. (To the above, from. Governor Throckmorton, we subjoin the following additional information from Senator Bumpass.) This county was first settled, some twenty years ago, by Collin McKinney, from whom both the county and county seat have received their name. The schools and churches of this county will compare favorably with those of any country in the world of the same age. The traveler is struck with the uniform moral deportment, quiet, industrious habits, and Christian devotion of the plain farmers of Collin. Hogs are easily raised, and every farmer has his own bacon the year round. The population is rapidly increasing, and soon the county will be densely settled. Our chief market now is Jefferson, Marion County, distant 140 miles, and reached by wagon at a cost of $2 per hundred for freight. The soil of Collin is a black, waxy character, mingled with loam, making it easy of cultivation. It is from two to twenty feet deep, and the more it is cultivated the better it produces. The oldest farms rent the best. One hand can cultivate fifty acres of land in corn, wheat, oats, vegetables, and Hungarian grass. There are but few Africans in Collin County, and what few are left are doing very well, but are decreasing by going back to Louisiana, Missouri, and Arkansas, from whence they were driven by the war. Most of our labor is being performed by white men, who own their little farms, and by steady young white men who are employed by our farmers, and are far preferable to black laborers. The following are the average prices since I have been in the State: Wheat, $1; corn, 75 cents; oats, 66 cents; barley, 50 cents; rye, 50 cents; sweet potatoes, $1; pork, 6 cents per pound; butter, from 5 to 12½ cents per pound; beef, 21 and 3 cents per pound; bacon, 12½ cents per pound; good average horses, $100; oxen, per yoke, $40; cows and calves, $12.50. The climate is delightful. We have some ice when a norther springs up in midwinter, but little snow. Collin is bounded on the north by Grayson County, on the east by Hunt, on the south by Kaufman and Dallas, and on the west by Denton. It lies mostly above the 33d parallel of latitude, and in one of the healthiest regions of country in Texas.—Tex. Al.

SAN AUGUSTINE, ONE OF THE EASTERN COUNTIES.

        COUNTY SEAT, SAN AUGUSTINE.—The county of San Augustine is situated between the bayou Apolygotch on the east and the Altoyac River on the west. In the central part of this county is a ridge of red lands, extending the entire length of the county; the nature of this soil is very excellent for farming, as it constitutes what geologists term a table-land of the richest upland in the State.  A great portion of this red land has been cultivated for 30 years, and still yields an abundant harvest of produce to the industrious laborer; the remaining lands are gray and very fertile. The county is bisected by never-failing streams, every three or four miles, running from the north to the south. The lands immediately on these streams are bottom, and are similar to the delta lands of Louisiana, being of the most fertile character, and containing the same growth, namely, cypress, magnolia, oak, hickory, walnut, wild-cherry, sumac, and cane-brakes, which were originally almost impenetrable, but are now much thinned by the cattle. The bottoms vary in width from 100 yards to 1,000 yards; adjacent to the bottoms are generally to be found hommocks, with timber of a smaller character to the bottoms, with the exception of the evergreens, cypress, canes, and white-oaks; these hommocks constitute the finest upland farms in the State, when the locality is free from liability to wash. Between the bottom hommocks and the next bottom and hommock are found the finest pineries in the world, both the long and short leaf; occasionally may be found flats, in these pineries, where may be seen fine post-oaks. The geological period is part of the limestone and the sandstone; in the latter are to be found large deposits of shells, denoting the previous existence of a vast amount of animalculae. The products are corn, cotton, wheat, rye, oats, potatoes, pumpkins, and peanuts. The yield of corn is from 10 to 40 bushels per acre; cotton, from 700 to 1,000 pounds per acre; potatoes, from 300 to 500 bushels per acre; wheat, rye barley, and oats yield from 7 to 20 bushels per acre. The above includes the bottom as well as the upland yield. The seasons in this immediate portion of the State are, and have been, better and surer for a fair yield than any portion of the State distant from the coast. Sugar-cane is successfully grown, and would be raised for export if the machinery could be had for the manufacture of sugar in large quantities.—Tex. Al.

WASHINGTON COUNTY.—A FAIR SPECIMEN OF THE BEST COUNTIES
IN CENTRAL TEXAS.

        COUNTY SEAT, BRENHAM.—Schools and colleges were wonderfully well maintained during the war; but now they fall short of the needs of the increasing population. There are several very excellent schools; a boarding and day school for young ladies (Live Oak Seminary, near Gay Hill), conducted by the pastor of the Presbyterian Church, is only one of several holding a high position for many years. Of colleges, one for boys and another for girls at Independence, under the auspices of the Baptist Church; and two of an equally high order, and similar, at Chapel Hill, under the care of the Methodist Church. The former includes a law school, and the latter one of medicine and surgery, which are fast becoming celebrated. Churches of every denomination are numerous all over the county. Of minerals and mineral springs there are few. Along the base of the hills ranging south and parallel to the river Yegua are salt and soda springs. Thick strata of lignite of excellent quality crop out, or have been cut through, in digging wells. Along the same range of hills are springs impregnated with sulphur; and offering evidences of the presence of petroleum, in the frequent gaseous bubbles and the oily scum on the surface. Not much probability of coal or iron. Abundance of limerock, yielding excellent lime. The county is unusually well watered; and good and permanent water-tanks can be anywhere made. In agricultural products this county is generally understood to be the richest in the State. The chief crops are corn (or maize) and cotton, both produced abundantly; wheat, barley, oats, the various millets, sorghum, the sweet and Irish potato, garden vegetables, &c., are all largely grown and yield well. The natural prairie grasses, when inclosed and mowed a few times, afford heavy cuts of good bay. The growing crops, considering all the difficulties in the way of labor, and the delays in cultivating, from heavy and continued rains, are unusually promising. The small grain crops were harvested with difficulty, and were limited in extent. No fodder (corn or tops) has been saved, and little hay cut. Cotton will be a fair crop, even should the worm sweep over it by the last of the month, August, which is now doubtful, at least so soon; inasmuch as the same Ichneumon has appeared which saved the crop in 1848. This is a small insect, somewhat like a winged ant; the female of which inserts her egg into the chrysalis of the cotton-worm, producing a larva which preys upon the other. Corn is a full crop, though the usual breadth has not been planted. The castor-oil bean, and other oil-producing seeds, yield great returns. Tobacco has been grown pretty generally by the negroes, and gives a large return of good leaf. But little rye, and no buckwheat or rice; although any and all grow well, the last with irrigation, of course. Hops, hemp, flax, indigo, madder, and other dye-stuffs can all be grown. With the exception of rather too frequent cold northers, during the late autumn, winter, and early spring, there is no more pleasant climate, especially upon the open prairies; though some claim the same, or even more, for the sheltered woodlands. The great general elevation of the county, gradually rising from the coast, thus bringing it within the reach of sea-breezes, modified and tempered, contributes much to the agreeability of the climate and general good health. The black prairie soil is notoriously rich and productive; many of the creek bottoms and timbered lands, have also excellent soil. The Brazos bottoms, at the east end of the county, are unsurpassed in productiveness. The county is well timbered; not over two-fifths is prairie. The La Bahia prairie extends the entire length of the county, and nearly along its center. The timber is mainly oak, of several species, affording abundant fencing and fuel, with various elms, ashes, hackberries, hickories, pecans, cottonwoods, box-elders, red-cedars, wild-peach, mulberry, &c., with occasional valuable cane-brakes; one beautiful group of magnolias and hollies; no pines. The Mustang grapevine ( V. Mustangensis) grows in vast quantities, festooning the live-oak, &c., in the most beautiful and graceful manner, and bearing heavy and regular crops of grapes, from which a good red wine is made. Of rivers, there are none within the county. The Brazos is the boundary on the east, the Yegua on the north. The valley of the bottom affords a vast range for cattle and hogs, and some good lands for cultivation. New Year's, Wolf; Mill, and many other small streams, have their sources in, and traverse portions of the county. A railroad, soon to be extended sixty miles farther, to Austin, taps the Texas Central Railroad at Hemstead. Brenham, the county seat, is the present terminus. This road is of great value to Washington County, and to all the country north and west. The pasturage is unsurpassed by any part of the State when the lands are inclosed, which is easily done by hedging, and for which the Osage orange (Machara Aurantiaca) and various roses, &c., have been used; but the best and surest is the white microphylla rose, known as Maria Leonida. Stock of all kinds thrives well; but the county, until each farm is inclosed, is over­stocked. The best building material in much of the county is stone. Good bricks are made. Houses are chiefly framed of cedar, and of pine brought from the pineries of Grimes and Montgomery counties, distant thirty or forty miles; excellent houses of hewed logs are common. The cheapness of living depends entirely upon ourselves. A kind and bounteous Providence gives food of all kinds in abundance. The fruits, butter, milk, cheese, poultry, and eggs, wine, game, &c., and their preparation and cooking depend upon individual efforts. Game, as deer, turkeys, grouse, quails, the great prairie hare, &c., are abundant. The most serious difficulty is, that the means of living are too abundant and too easily procured. Hogs are raised in great numbers, and cheaply; and bacon cured easily, with reasonable care. Our population is fast increasing; can not say at what rate; but the result will be to make this beautiful county a white man's country.

        The entire county is capable of being cut up into small farms; many owners are doing this, and making sales or renting to newcomers unable to buy; receiving from $3 to $5 per acre per annum for the cultivated land, generally 30 to 50 acres in extent, and with very moderately comfortable cabins, and but few other conveniences. Life and. property are secure, as much so as in any part of the United States. Our chief markets are Galveston, 130 miles, and Houston, 75 miles distant; accessible by railroad. Cost of freightage, three-fourths of a cent (4 farthing) per pound per 100 miles. The vine is cultivated successfully, and good wine is made. This will become a leading business in the county, as on all the calcareous lands of the State; and on the meanest sandy lands, employing the scuppernong—a white variety of the Vitis Vulpina. The prices of lands range from $3 to $25 per acre. A fair yield of cotton is 1,000 pounds per acre in the seed, or fully 300 pounds of lint; corn, 25 to 50 bushels; wheat, 10 to 30; barley, 25 to 50, as to seasons and cultivation.

        The experience of many years has proved that in this county at least, and, indeed, in a great part of the State, the white man or woman finds no difficulty or serious inconvenience in farm labor. The mornings, until 10 or 11 o'clock, during midsummer, and the evenings, after 3 o'clock, are pleasant enough out of doors; and during that time a fair day's work can be readily done. Much cotton, and that too, unusually well handled, is grown and picked in this county by white labor. The prices of staple articles of produce vary so much, one season with another, that it is impossible to particularize. But all such articles, as also stock of all kinds, rate high in this county, being accessible to ready markets, and traversed by several of the most frequent routes of travel in the State. The county seat, Brenham, being central, is a favorite starting-point for parties desiring to examine the State; there leaving the railroad for stage, hack, or saddle-horse. Mills for cutting and dressing timber, for grinding corn and wheat, and ginning cotton, are quite numerous; and a short time will see several manufactories of cotton and wool at work. —Texas Almanac, 1867.

COMAL COUNTY.-A WESTERN COUNTY.

        COUNTY SEAT, NEW BRAUNFELS, which is located on the west side of the Comal River, near its junction with the Guadalupe. It is one of our largest and most flourishing inland towns, and contains a population of about 3,500 inhabitants. The New Braunfels academy, which is located here, has now about 400 scholars, who are instructed in English and German, and there are four other schools in the county. The town also contains one Catholic church and two Lutheran. The population is mostly German, but nearly all speak English, and several Americans have lately settled among us, attracted by the fine climate, the rich soil, and the abundance of pure water to be found all over the county. There is about forty feet fall from the Comal springs to its confluence with the Guadalupe, and there are eligible mill sites all along its banks, for factories, sufficient to supply the whole State of Texas. Its water-power has been pronounced, by those engaged in manufacturing, as superior to any in the Southern States, and it will doubtless, ere long, attract the attention of capitalists wishing to invest in such enterprises. Already there is a large cotton factory which has been in successful operation for more than a year. There is also, on the same stream, a large sash factory, with a wool-carding machine, three flouring and grist­mills, two breweries, and one distillery. The county also, most of which is thickly settled, is well watered by the Guadalupe, which runs nearly through the middle, from northwest to southeast; also by the Cibolo and Blanco rivers, and by Curry's, Wasp, Sister, and numerous other creeks. There are some eighteen or twenty water-mills in the county, some of which are extensively engaged in the manufacture of flour for export; there are also several saw-mills. There is plenty of timber, which consists mostly of cedar, live, post, and black oak, walnut, hickory, elm, pecan, mesquite, &c. Rock, however, of which there is a great abundance, is the chief building material. Pine lumber is also hauled from Bastrop for building—distance, about fifty miles. The agricultural products of the county are, cotton, corn, and all the cereals. Corn generally sells from fifty cents to $1 per bushel, and wheat from $1 to $1.50. Every thing is sold for specie, but currency is freely taken at its market value. Sulphur springs are quite common; but, of minerals, only plumbago has yet been found. The formation is limestone. All kinds of fruits are raised in abundance, such as peaches, apples, pears, quinces, plums, and cherries; and the grapevine has been most successfully cultivated, producing a fine quality of wine, while the trees in the river and creek bottoms are literally loaded down with the Mustang grape, from which also a very drinkable wine has been made. From the facilities for irrigation, this county will doubtless be eventually the wine region of Texas. The labor is almost exclusively white, and can be had on reasonable terms. There are but few freedmen in the county. The entire population will reach about 6,000. The lands of the county, being mostly covered with mesquite grass, are especially adapted for raising cattle and horses; but sheep have been found the most profitable investment, as indeed they have proved to be in all this western section of the country. This year the pasturage has been unusually good. Game is very abundant. In the neighborhood of New Braunfels the cultivated lands are literally alive with quail, which afford excellent sport in winter. The mule-eared rabbits, which resemble the English hare, are also very numerous, and are taken with greyhounds. There are plenty of deer, panther, and bear, also the silver fox, raccoon, opossum, and a variety of other wild animals. Fish is also found in great abundance in all the streams. Lavaca is the shipping port, distant about 150 miles.—Tex. Al.

RED RIVER COUNTY.-ONE OF THE NORTHEAST COUNTIES.

        COUNTY SEAT, CLARKSVILLE.—We have a number of good schools and churches throughout the county. McKinzie's College, three miles southwest of Clarksville, is a fine institution of learning, and in successful operation. The agricultural products are corn, cotton, wheat, oats, barley, rye, potatoes, peas, and all kinds of vegetables. Climate, mild and pleasant. We have a variety of soil—prairie, river-bottom, and timbered land. The prairie lands are black, and of the richest quality; the river-lands are rich and productive, and have not been overflowed entirely since 1842. They came nearer overflowing this last spring than they have since that time. The timbered uplands are sandy, and some portions are productive. It is a fine country for fruits, vegetables, and grapes. Some fine pineries are in the timbered lands, which keep some six or eight steam saw-mills in active operation all the time. The lumber sent from this portion of the county is a considerable source of profit. The Memphis and El Paso road will run through the center of the county. We have plenty of timber for all purposes. Our best building material is pine lumber.  We have plenty of butter, eggs, milk, cheese, poultry, &c. It does not cost much to raise hogs; they generally live on the range until they are two years old; they are then put up and fattened on corn a few weeks. We are secure in life and property, and our population is increasing rapidly. New Orleans and Jefferson are our markets. We ship down Red River direct to New Orleans, when the river will permit. We make no wine, though I think it could be made. Lands are worth from $1 to $10 per acre. We make from 1,200 to 2,000 pounds of seed-cotton per acre; from 30 to 50 bushels of corn; wheat, from 15 to 25 bushels. A hand can cultivate from 15 to 20 acres in corn and. cotton; in corn and wheat he can cultivate more. The negroes do about half work since their liberation; their behavior is good. We have some white laborers, and they are considered better and more reliable. The customary price of corn is fifty cents to $1; wheat, the same; potatoes, $1; pork, five cents per pound; butter, ten cents per pound; bacon, twelve and a half cents per pound; oxen, $40 to $50 per yoke; mulch cows, $10 per head, with calf; sheep, from $1 to $2 per head.—Tex. Almanac.

DIRECTIONS FOR A. SMALL FARMER IN TEXAS.―BY A TEXAS FARMER.

        Sow as much small grain as you can conveniently. If you do not live in the wheat region, sow rye, barley, or any grain that will grow. It will more than pay the cost of sowing, in winter pasture; and, if you are scarce of corn, it will make a good substitute, if cut and cured before it is ripe. Prepare your corn land in winter, if you can do so. Stiff and clayey lands should be plowed with turning-plows, and deeply, too. Sandy lands, with sandy subsoil, should be plowed deep, but not turned over deep, with turning-plows. Plant early as the weather will admit of, or as soon as the spring opens, if you can know when that is. Plant in rows four feet each way, thin to two stalks in a hill; then you can cultivate with plow, and dispense with one-half or three-fourths of the hoe-work required in drilled corn. Some prefer the bedding-up system; others, flat breaking. For stiff and close soils, perhaps bedding up is best. For loose and sandy land, the other answers very well.  I have not space to enter into details of planting and cultivating, as I suppose all know, or should know, how to cultivate corn. Stir the land, and keep weeds and grass down, and you are tolerably sure of a crop. Plant enough corn to be sure of plenty for home use, raising and fattening pork included; and then, if that does not take all your time, plant and raise what cotton you can, never neglecting the improvement of your farm.

        Have a good garden spot, and plant all kinds of vegetables. The wives and daughters of small farmers (I mean no disparagement to others) are generally industrious, and it will be a pleasant recreation to them to cultivate it, especially if you will give them a part for the cultivation of flowers, and keep your horses and other stock out of the door-yard, so that they can cultivate flowering shrubbery. Make preparation for a large sweet-potato patch, never omitting the Irish ones, however. Make large ridges for sweet potatoes; then, in cultivating, scrape the ridges with a hoe, and the middles with a sweep, and they will require little or no hilling up; try it. Plant out till the middle or last of August. If you have a large potato patch, it will aid you very much in fattening your pork if your corn should be short. Potatoes have a long time to grow in, and there is apt to be rain enough some time in the season to make them grow. After your corn is laid by, or sooner, plow your stubble-land, and plant with peas; drill three feet apart, and cultivate once; you may also plant in your corn; they will produce from ten to twenty bushels to the acre, and besides having plenty for table use, if you like them, you will, perhaps, have enough to fatten all your stock; that is, farm stock, hogs for pork, &c. Have an acre or two for turnips. Rich bottom-land will do very well, if not best, even without manure. About the first or middle of September sow them, after thoroughly plowing your land. They often produce hundreds of bushels to the acre, and cattle may be wintered on them.

        Endeavor to have barns and. sheds to house fodder and hay as well as stock. Raise all kinds of stock needed upon the plantation. Raise every thing needed upon the farm, so far as you can do so.

        These directions are for those of limited capital. Those who prefer raising cotton and buying every thing are at liberty to do so.—Tex. Almanac, 1868.

        TITLES TO LAND.—Under this head we quote further from the Texas Almanac for 1868.

        There are at this day but two modes of acquiring land in Texas—by purchase from the party entitled, or by settlement under the pre-emption laws of the State.

Any one desiring to acquire land in Texas, either with a view to future settlement or for purposes of speculation, if he should do so by the purchase of inchoate rights in the form of land certificates, should consider the following questions: Under what statutory provision the right had its inception? What conditions were attached to the grant of the certificate ? Have they been fully complied with? Has any other certificate been granted to the same party; if so, for what consideration and for what quantity ? Has not another and a different certificate been issued, located, and returned to the General Land Office in the name of the same party for the identical consideration mentioned in this ? Is the certificate an original or a duplicate ? If an original, has not a duplicate been issued, located, and patented upon ? The answers to these, and other questions that with propriety might be asked, being satisfactory, the matter might be further considered as suggested by the following: Is the chain of transfer from the original grantee to the present holder regular? Whether the intermediate owners, or either of them, had sold or transferred to another party ?

        In case of purchase after the title from the Government has issued, there are many things for consideration, such as regularity of chain of title, priority of record, undivided interests, locative interests, statutes of limitation, &c., &c. To these and other questions connected with them, remotely or directly, it frequently requires diligent and patient investigation of the public archives and the county records to answer satisfactorily; and cases have sometimes arisen where the most patient search, with all the necessary facilities, has proven fruitless of satisfactory results. In some instances, defects of title are cured by limitation of time. To determine these cases, and indeed many other questions connected with the land system of Texas, requires at all times great care and consideration.

        With the acquisition of land by settlement under the pre­emption laws of the State but little trouble is experienced. The right being direct from the Government to the settler, the plain, uncomplicated statutory provisions apply. These are so simple and so easily comprehended that "he who runs may read."

        It is commonly understood that the most desirable part of the public domain of Texas has long since been appropriated by location and survey. This, as a general proposition, is true. Instances, however, are frequently occurring where outstanding, unsatisfied certificates are being located upon some of the most eligible tracts of land in the State, which were supposed to have been appropriated by location and survey years ago. Opportunities of the kind are seldom seen at this late day, except by those who have made the location of certificates their peculiar business.

        The March Report of the Agricultural Department says:—

        The decline in the value of farm lands in Texas since the census of 1860 appears not so great as in most of the Southern States, though the same causes which have been active in depreciating real estate in the latter have been seriously felt in many counties of Texas. Anderson and Victoria report an average decrease of 70 to 80 per cent; Dallas, Falls, Nacogdoches, Goliad, Blanco, De Witt, Colorado, and Lavaca, about 50 per cent; Collin, Cherokee, and Hardin, 25 to 33 per cent; Houston and Navarro, 25; Ellis, 20; Williamson 10 per cent. Bell, Gillespie, Lampasas, Burnet, Nueces, and Cameron report no material change since 1860, while Washington reports a general increase of 5 per cent, though in some localities it is over 100 per cent, and Hays and Coryelle about 10 per cent. From the estimates of reporters the average decline in values of farm lands in the entire State is from 25 to 30 per cent. Many correspondents express the opinion that the depreciation is but temporary, and that lands generally will soon command the prices of 1860.

        PRICE OF WILD LANDS.—Wild or unimproved lands range in price from 12½ cents to $10 per acre, and embrace a very large proportion of the total area of the State, less than two per cent being under cultivation in 1860, the census figures standing: improved land in farms, 2,650,781 acres; unimproved land in farms, 22,693,247 acres; wild or waste areas (including water areas, &c.), 126,541,412 acres. These lands, when owned by the State, may be had for the price of the certificate issued from the land office at Austin. Where lands are held by individuals under Spanish or Mexican grants, they may be bought in large tracts as low as 12½ cents per acre, while small tracts held under patents from the State are held at from 50 cents to $1 per acre. As a matter of course much of this class of lands is equal to any under cultivation, and capable of producing as good crops as can be raised in the State. Being found in almost if not all the counties in proportions greater than the improved lands, these tracts possess the peculiarities of soil and resources common to their respective locations. In Hopkins County, in the northern part of the State, the average price is about $3 per acre, the southern and eastern portion being timbered, the northern and western prairie. Ellis, Navarro, and Dallas, $1 to $5; soil black, waxy, capable of producing large crops of corn, wheat, rye, oats, barley, cotton, tobacco, &c. Anderson, value nominal, not exceeding 50 cents per acre, and capable of producing 1,000 pounds cotton to the acre, 40 bushels corn, 20 bushels wheat, 30 bushels oats. Hardin and Cherokee, $1 to $2; either timber or prairie, much of it very fertile. Houston, $1; will produce 25 bushels corn or 900 pounds seed-cotton to the acre. Trinity, generally held at $2 to $4, some large tracts to be had at 50 cents; lands good for cotton, corn, potatoes, tobacco, sugar, rice, &c. Falls, $3 per acre, suited to corn and cotton. McLennan, in tracts of 160 acres, $2 ; and $1.50 for larger tracts, one-third timber, two-thirds prairie, rich in quality. Bell County, $3, rich bottoms with or without timber, black loam with or without sand. Williamson County, $1 to $5 per acre, claimed to be equal to the best in Illinois, the soil on the prairies ranging from 3 to 15 feet in depth, underlaid with a species of potter's clay, 90 per cent good tillable land. Washington, $5 for light sandy soil, fitted for fruit culture, and $10 for good black land suitable for cotton. De Witt and Goliad, 50 cents to $5, embracing all varieties, from timber bottom and rich valley prairie, to light sandy post-oak and sandy upland prairie. Cameron has much back land that may be purchased at 12½ cents per acre, but generally in large tracts, five leagues (4,428 acres), or else in undivided rights in tracts of that size or larger; and even though the right be not over an acre, the owner has the run of the whole tract, in some instances over 100 leagues.

Transcribed by Kathy Sedler.