Newspaper Page Text
2
For the Georgia Grange,]
Do Not Leave Georgia.
Mr. Editor: I am glad to learn that
so large a number of persons are not
removing from the State this winter as
did during the one of ’72. lam grat
ified to ascertain that our people—par
ticularly planters—have determined to
make another trial before they go to
newer States under the expectation of
doing better, with all the uncertainties
attending a removal, and the sacrifices
and the privations which it must in
volve. I trust that in a few years they
will greatly aid in representing the
wealth of the State. By wealth, Ido
not mean particularly banks, or money
factions, but represent it by cotton,
wool, corn, wheat, oats, hay, live stock,
manufactured articles of prime neces
sity and innocent luxury ; by manufac
turing establishments increasing under
the application of skill a hundred fold
the value of the raw material upon
which they operate; and by improved
and cultivated farms abounding in all
the substantial comforts of life, and by
healthful and enlightened labor ren
dered more and more productive.
Why leave Georgia ? She now has a
Governor whose virtues in private life
are unassailable, and whose general
reputation places him out of the reach
of slander. The humble do not charge
him with pride, for he is polite and ac
cessible to all classes of his fellow
citizens ; and the proud cannot hate
him for his familiarity, for he never
compromises or forgets his dignity.
Fault-finders cannot censure him, for
they have been unable to discover any
thing which can be considered any error
•in “head or heart.” His administra
tion is just such a one as we need, and
daily adds to his popularity.
She has judges of talent, discretion,
and humanity, and with these qualifi
cations, firmness, independence, and a
fearlessness of consequence in the dis
charge of duty.
Statesmen, rich in the gifts of ge
nius, and the virtues of patriots, who
are able to defend and support their
opinions with eloquence, and enforce
their reasoning with the charms of fin
ished composition.
Lawyers, who know the rights of the
people, and the value of freedom and
good institutions to all. They have a
full understanding of the value of civil,
religious and political liberty, and fear
lessly declare their opinions; are skilled
in the technical proceedings of the law,
to defend the accused,and to prosecute
for the rights of the injured and op
pressed.
We have a wise and pious clergy,
whose lives are spent in giving stability
to morals, and elevation to hopes; who
brace the mind of suffering humanity
by the precepts of wisdom, and smooth
the bed of the dying by the promises
and consolations of inspiration.
Learned physicians, who readily ex
pl dn nature’s mysteries, record her
laws, and give lasting benefit to man
kind.
Men of science, whose influence has
entered the workshop of the mechanic,
travels on the high road of business,
and is causing the obstinacy of ignor
ance, and the indifference of busy thrift
iness to yield.
A press, composed of men of energy,
taste, and talent, by moans of which
every event, every discovery, every ex
periment, every plausible undertaking,
of every individual in every other State,
yea, country, is speedily published.
Our State press exposes defects, sug
gests improvements, rebukes ignorance,
and diffuses useful knowledge.
We have teachers of pure taste, ac
curate erudition, logical acuteness and
dignified rectitude of principles and
character, who have inaugurated school
systems full of present efficiency, and
yet capable of expansion and improve
ment adapted to the wants of an in
creasing population, and their demands
for better institutions and higher
knowledge.
Farmers, who are taking pleasure in
making labor, actual, personal labor,
once again respectable. They are learn
ing the value of this labor as an ele
ment of State wealth and happiness,
and if they are true to themselves, and
to purposes now being formed by them,
will make the agricultural estate have
its full share of political influence.
The) are qualifying themselves more
than ever for their business -are 'earn
ing that the laws of nature can not be
THE GEORGIA GRANGE.
violated with impunity, are adopting
the principles of modern husbandry,
the principles of a rotation of crops and
seasonable manuring. Under their
more faithful and enlightened agricul
ture, the fertility of the soil of much
of the State is not only being kept up,
but continually increasing. In many
cases impoverished lands have been
restored by them, and waste lands have
been redeemed and made productive.
The rich and poor are equally pro
tected by law through the State. The
weak are defended against the usurpa
tions of the violent, and merit and
abilities are once more becoming the
only claim to the favors of the public.
Encircled with the blessings of health,
and comparative plenty, crimes in so
ciety are becoming less in number, and
society is’advancing to a higher state
of peifection.
We have an extent of soil on which
we can raise almost every product con
ducive to subsistence, comfort, health
and luxury We have markets as good
as any part of the country presents.
Lines of inter-communication rapid,
easy and certain.
We have lands, on which by reasona
ble toil and frugality, industrious men
may rear, educate and endow a family.
I know that it is natural for man to
“garner up” his affections for his birth
place and say too much. And yet I
have not mentioned Georgia’s societies
every day springing up for the diffusion
of knowledge and charity ; her numer
ous institutions for the promotion of
the fine arts, science and letters; her
factories of various kinds, her work
shops, her churches and her ardent
and steady perseverance in the cause
of knowledge and humanity. Do
not leave the State, better times
are ahead, and soon she will begin to
move with mighty strides, and soon what
ever she grasps will be held. Remain
here, and beautify the borders of old
Georgia, adorn her hills with grapes,
fruit trees anid grain, her valleys with
grass and clover. These red old hills
and waste valleys,were to our fathers, a
bountiful mother. Let us too, seek her
favors, be more dutiful children than
were our fathers, give to her restoration
and nourishment, and we will find her
kindness ample.
Remain in Georgia, and let us all
urge upon our Legislature to make the
agriculture of the State an object of its
special care—make some particular pro
vision for the future improvement and
success of this interest.
I will refer to but one means to en
courage this industry—the State should
make arrangements to collect, diffuse,
exact, and full information in relation
to its agriculture, and for that reason a
department of agriculture should be
specially maintained at the seat of
Government of Georgia, whose object
should be to promote its interests, and
with liberal appropriations to assist its
inquiries. The actual condition of its
agriculture should be, from time to
time, ascertained by authority, and
spread before the public. Information
pertaining to agriculture and all rela
ting to it, correspondence, both at home
and from other States, should be col
lected, so as to take advantage of every
discovery and improvement, if consider
ed necessary the obtaining of seeds or
plants of an improved character and
their distribution, with an infinite va
riety of other mattter pertaining to the
subject ; all thiswoul dprove eminently
useful.
But I cannot trespass on you at
greater length, for you have not the
space in which I could do even the
shadow of justice to this subject.
!•***♦* *•
A Kimi and Ippreciativc Suetter.
\\ e take the liberty of quoting the
following from a private letter, written
by one of the best citizens of Georgia,
and a prominent Patron :
“I have received every number of
The Georgia Grange. I am greatly
pleased with it, in every respect. It is
fearless, frank, and direct, in the advo
cacy of the interests of our Order, and
speaks for us and our objects, with a
power no other journal in the State has
yet exhibited. It is fresh and newsy, full
of valuable information for the intelli
gent agriculturist, and should be, and
doubtless will be. the officially recog
nized medium of our Granges through
out the State.
Every Patron in Georgia ought to
take it ; every Grange ought to form a
club, and send in the list of names at
once, and so get the Grange at the re
markable low dub rates.
I am getting up a fine club for you
in this neighborhood, and ail who have
seen The Grange are anxious to sub
scribe for it regularly.”
IV . ftwn’r 10. 1873.
For the Georgia Grange.]
THE FAR WEST.
Contributed by a Traveler.
COLORADO.
Julesburg is in the northeast part
of Colorado, three hundred and fifty -
five miles from Omaha. Time by rail,
eighteen hours. The road is excellent.
Each train is furnished with from
eight to ten passenger coaches, wide
and commodious, nicely finished and
furnished. The track is smooth and
level, being in the valley for a distance
of about three hundred miles.
This road extends through the entire
length of Nebraska, a distance of about
four hundred and fifty miles, (except
where it touches the northeast corner
of Colorado, at Julesburg) and thence
into Wyoming, and across the Rocky
Moi n ains. The country through Ne
braska is mostly a vast rolling prairie,
with little or no timber. This country
a few years ago was thought to be only
adapted to grazing purposes ; but as
the Union Pacific Railroad rolls on
westward the tide of emigration, and as
the country is being settled up along
their line, farms, houses and towns are
springing up like magic, and Nebraska
will, at no distant day, take her place
as an agricultural State. There arc no
settlements as yet farther west than
about two hundred miles from Omaha,
or, rather, that is as far as the settled
country extends. The scarcity of tim
ber must certainly be a great drawback
to this country, but, under the provi
sions of the “ timber law,” many settlors,
in fact all who can, are taking timber
claims, planting and making prepara
tions for raising quantities of timber.
“timber,” “pre-emption” and “home
stead” LAWS.
The “timber law” gives the settler
the right to one hundred and sixty acres
of land additional, by his planting and
raising timber upon a certain number
of acres. “Homesteads,” are homes of
one hundred and sixty acres of land,
given away by the government to any
settler who will live upon and improve
them —that is, building so much of a
house, etc., and cultivating so many
acres each year. These improvements
are generally very weak. And at the
end of five years, if he has complied
with the requirements of the law, and
can prove up all these things, and
states further that he has settled it
with the intention of making it his
home, upon payment of the fee for survey,
etc., he obtains a deed from the Gov
ernment to the same.
The difference between “pre-emp
tions” and homesteads is this : In pre
empting a claim, the settler moves
upon it, improving, etc., same as in case
of homestead, but, at the end of six
months, instead of five years, if he has
complied with the requirements as be
fore, upon payment of two dollars or
one dollar and twenty-five cents per
acre, he obtains a deed, by paying fees
for survey, etc , as before, instead of it
•being given to him. It is the intention
of these laws that the lands of the pub
lic domain should be for the use and
benefit of actual settlers and their fam
ilies. But, as is well known to all,
most of the valuable lands, as soon as
the country begins to be settled up,
fall into the hands of sharpers and
monied speculators.
As to “Raidroad land grants,” we
will take the Union Pacific for instance.
The Government grants tojthis company
the land on both sides of their line of
road, for a distance of twenty miles out
each way, to aid them in building their
road. Then a settler is allowed to
homestead or pre-empt eighty acres,
instead of one hundred and sixty, in
side of the twenty mile limit, and, if he
pre-empts he pays two dollars and fifty
i cents per acre, instead of one dollar and
twenty-five cents. So that Government
gets its money back, in selling the land
inside of the railroad limit at double
price, as only one half of thy land then
belong to it. Every even section is
Government and every odd section is
railroad land. The lands belonging to
the company are sold at prices varying
from three and four dollars to ten and
twelve dollars per acre, owing to the
distance from the road.
JULESBURG.
This station was, a few years ago a
considerable town, being then the west
ern terminus of the railroad. But no
signs of it now remain, unless it be the
scattered fragments of wagon-irons,
■ stoves,barrels.etc..and these remindone
more of where an army had been en
camped than where a town of several
j hundr 1 inhabitants had stood.
1 At Julesbug we are in the native
country of the Indian, the buffelo, ante
lope, deer,wolf, jack rabbit, prairie dog,
etc., and in our way up the Platte saw
these animals (except the Indian) al
most in hundreds, especially buffalos,
antelopes, ducks, geese, etc., by the
thousands.
The Union Pacific Company graded a
railroad, last spring, from Julesburg up
the South Platte to Golden, a town not
far from Denver and the mountains, a
distance of about one hundred and fifty
or two hundred miles. This road they
expect to put in operation early next
spring. They have their station and
town sites all located; and land sharks
and squatters are pouring in and enter
ing the lands all along this new line of
road, and especially close to the station
sites, in a lively way, so that “ claim
shanties ” built mostly of sod can be
counted by the dozens, but inhabitants,
or rather families, are-“few and far be
tween.’’
THE VALLEY OF THE SOUTH PLATTE.
The whole of this country west to
the Rocky Mountains is an undulating
plain, destitute of any vegetation ex
cept the short grass, and certainly
must be worthless except for grazing
purposes, as it is too high and rolling
for irrigation. The soil is very sandy,
the sand being of a light color. The
river and creek bottoms are the only
lands that can be cultivated, and these
only by letting the water over them in
ditches leading out from the streams.
When thus properly irrigated, the farm
ers claim to raise as fine crops of the
most of garden and field vegetables
upon these lands as any country in the
world —such as cabbage, different kinds
of pumpkins, squashes and melons,
beets, onions, turnips, Irish potatoes,
etc. Their wheat, for quantity and
especially quality, they claim to be
equal if not superior, to that of any
other country. As we did not visit the
part of the Territory where the coun
try has been in any degree settled up
and under irrigation, we cannot testify,
as an eye witness as to what they can
or can not cultivate and raise success
fully. But from the reports of those
who had visited the fair at Denver, and
others who had seen their productions,
wo have no right to dispute or even
doubt these statements. At Beaver
Colony we saw the melons, squashes
and potatoes raised from late planting
and badly irrigated land. The melons
were fine and large, the potatoes me
dium. The gentleman who raised them
was selling potatoes at three cents per
pound—Sl.so ger bushel.
Passing up this valley, you may also
see fine herds of cattle and sheep, and
upon an average of every ten to fifteen
miles you pass a ranche. These cattle
seemed in good condition, living the
the year round on the short and dead
looking, but most nutritious, buffalo
grass. The sheep also looked uncom
monly large and fat.
THE CLIMATE
of Colorado certainly is as healthy as
any in the United States, if not more
so. We think that no one could fail
to notice, and feel, the exhilerating
effects of its dry, rare and pure atmos
phere, which is warmed and softened
by the rays of a genial and, most of the
time, cloudless sun. In our opinion, it
is the place for those having weak or
affected lungs. X. L.
>.>4
l or the Georgia Grange.]
Observations In Texas.
i.
THE CITY OF GALVESTON.
Galveston is situated on Galveston Island
(which is about thirty miles long and one and
one-half miles wide) at the entrance of the bay
of the same name, and is decidedly the most im
portant seaport city in Texas. In proportion to
its population, it is the most important commer
cial city in the Unitel States; its exports last
year amounted to near thirty millions. The duty
paid on foreign imports is about half a million 1
annually. Its trade with Europe is very large, 1
and is increasing rapidly. Steamers ply reg
ularly between Galveston and Liverpool. A regu
lar line of steamers run between Galveston and ’
New York, New Orleans and also to all the Texas
ports. A line has recently been established be
tween Galveston and Baltimore. This is the
largest cotton market in Texas, and will soon
rank among the first in the United States. The
population is about thirty thousand.
Many orders direct from the manufacturing
houses of Europe are executed in Galveston : in
fact, I met a number of cotton buyers in the city
from Europe, who spoke in high terms of the tine
quality of Texas cotton. The merchants and
business men of this city are industrious, ener
getic and reliable. The city has a large num
ber of chartered and private Banks, which do a
very heavy business. There are several Fire and I
Marine Insurance Companies, and the Texas i
Mutual Life Insurance Company, which are well
supported. There are several large iron found
ries. a large rail shop, and many other manu
facturing establishments. Messrs. Allan. Pool
A Co. are engaged largely in canning beef for
the European markets, which finds a ready sale,
and is becoming a very important article in the
commercial world. I expect at an early day to
give an account of the process of canning, etc.
Few cities on the continent, of the size of Gal-
veston, can boast of more fine and elegant
churches. It looks as if the people took a pride
and deep interest in the erection of edifices of
this character, and, while an interest is taken in
building fine churches, the subject of education
is not overlooked, as there are many fine schools
in Galveston. It also has a fine Mercantile Libra
ry, containing many thousands of volumes of
useful and well selected books.
Several times during my stay in Galveston, I
visited ’Change, where I found one of the most
elegant and well fitted up rooms I ever saw.
The markets not only of the United States, but
of Europe, are received here hourly, during the
business hours. I never met more intelligent
merchants than I did in this city. While on
’Change I had the pleasure of meeting Dr. E. E.
Winn, formerly of Atlanta, but now a cotton fac
tor of the firm of Winn,Connor & C0.,0f this city,
and was glad to learn that the new firm was do
ing a fine business.
The Tremont Opera House is one of the finest
of the kind in the South, and will compare favor
ably with those of New York.
The best hotel in the city is the “Washington
Hotel,” Col. John Summers, proprietor. It is
situated near the packet landing, is in a central
part of the city and convenient to all business
points. When you enter this house you will
meet with a cordial and old-fashioned welcome,
not only by Col. S. but his efficient and gentle
manly clerks, Messrs. Pool and Miller. The ta
ble is provided with the choicest viands, vegeta
bles, etc., that the Galveston market can afford;
with an efficient steward and good waiters in the
dining-room, you will receive every attention you
desire. The rooms are large, well ventilated,
well furnished, and kept in perfect order. Try
the'Washington Hotel when you go to Galves
ton.
Galveston beach is an object of very great in
terest, and is equal to any beach in the world.
During the summer months it is a great resort ;
its perfect safety for bathing purposes, its de
lightful sea breezes and its fine temperature dur
ing the warmest seasons, make the beach itself
a most delightful summer resort. It also affords
one of the most beautiful drives I ever saw, the
sand being so hard and compact that carriages
and horses make no impression upon it what
ever.
Galveston is well lighted with gas, and street
railroads penetrate every portion of the city.
The health of Galveston is excellent. I was in
formed by the most reliable citizens that there
had not originated a case of yellow fever in the
city since 1867 ; during that year it was very bad,
! but since then the low marshy ground on the
Island has been filled up, and a perfect sewerage
adopted. In fact, during the fall, when yellow
fever was in Columbus, Calvert and some other
localities, Galveston was the great resort of the
people from those places. When I consider the
fine sea breeze and pure atmosphere of Galves
ton, I cau not see any cause why it should ever
be visited again with that terrible scourge.
The Press is well represented. There are sev
eral weekly papers and two dailies published in
the city, but the News, which was started here
in 1852, is the great newspaper of Texas; go
where you will in Texas, and you will find the
daily, tri-weekly and weekly News. In fact, the
News to Texas is what the Louisville Journal was
to Kentucky in the palmy days of Geo. D. Prentice,
and the Richmond Enquirer to Virginia, in the
days of Thomas Richie. Live Oak.
Observations in Texas.
ii.
I propose writing a series of articles for your
valuable paper on my observations in Texas, dur
ing the month of November last.
Texas extends from the 26th to the 36th paral
lel of North latitude, and lies between the 16th
and 30th meridian of longitude west from
Washington. A country so located, must neces
sarily embrace within its limits every desirable
variety of soil and climate. The leading cereals
of the Northern sections of the United States,the
most choice fruits and products of the Middle
States, and quite a variety of the fruits of the
tropics do well in Texas.
In point of climate, embracing an area of 268,-
684 square miles, Texas is unsupassed by any
State in the Union. There are no extremes of
either heat or cold in any part of the State. The
climate and seasons are eminently adapted to the
production of sugar, cotton, corn, tobacco, wheat,
oats, rye, millet, Irish and sweet potatoes, and
all kinds of garden vegetables. Fruits do re
markably well in Texas ; apples, peaches, grapes,
etc. There is a peach called the “Archer’s Early
Colorado," which is the earliest peach in the
United States; it ripens on the 15th of May; it
is of medium size, and has a beautiful and deli
cate red tint, ■and is most delicious. In the way
cf garden vegetables, you have beans nine or
ten months in the year, tomatoes seven or eight,
beets the year round, new potatoes from May to
December, and strawberries six months in the
year.
The soil varies in fertility according to location.
A large portion of the country is prairie, and as
rich and productive as any land of that character
in America. There are considerable portions of
the country, bordering on bayous and rivers, of
the most inexhaustible fertility. Tins soil is
mostly alluvium, resting on a stratum of marl
and clay, and is from seven to twenty feet in
thickness.
That portion of the State adapted to the rais
ing of wheat, embraces an area of fifty thousand
square miles, and will produce, upon an average,
twenty bushels to the acre, but a very small por
tion of this laud is cultivate!. Wheat, in Texas,
ripens in Mav, and can bo harvested and sent to
the Eastern' market before the wheat scarcely
commences growing in the great wheat-growing
regions of the other States.
A stranger, when he reaches Texas, will hear
the people speak of the State by divisions—East •
era, Central. Western and Northern Texas.
EASTERN TEXAS.
Eastern Texas is understood to embrace the
territory from the Sabine to the Trinity rivers. Its
physical features are distinctly marked from the
other port! ms of the State. It is spoken of as
the great timbeiei region of the State. There
are but few prairies, and they are confined nearly
entirely to the counties along the Gulf of Mexico;
the forests cover four-fifths of its surface. These
forests contain a great variety of timber,such as
white oak, post oak, hickory, pecan, ash, walnut,
poplar and elm. Large bodies of pine are found
in all portions of Eastern Texas. The valleys
of the Trinity. Neuches,Sabine and other streams
from their mouths a long distance up are heavily
timbered with a fine growth of cypress; some
cedar also is found in this region. There is not
a finer or better timbered country in the United
States than 1 have here described. Its lumber
interests is becoming very important, and, with
the promised increased railroad facilities, it will
soon be one of the most extensive timber regions
of the country. The soil of the uplands is of a
fight, loamy texture, on a basis of red clay ; in
the valleys it is mostly a deep.vegetable mould. ;
very rich and productive, yielding five hundred i
pounds of cotton to the acre, and fifty and sixty j
bushels of corn. There are extensive canebrakes t
along the Trinity river, and the soil is very rich ■
and inexhaustible. The up lands are quite pro- I
ductive, and are easily cultivated.
The other products of Eastern Texas are su- I
gar, rice and tobacco, all of which yield well and ;
are very remunerative crops. In Tyler, Polk 1
and Harden counties, a variety of very fine to- |
bacco is raised, and I was informed that it is .
equal to the best tobacco grown on the James riv
er in Virginia. Crops never fail in this section J
of the State.
The price of land ranges from one to teu dol
lars per acre. Building is cheap, owing to the
great abundance of building material. This is «
the most populous part of the State, and the 1
people are industrious, well educated and refin
ed. You can see in all the towns and villages
plenty of school-houses and churches, which ap
pear to be well supported.
CENTRAL TEXAS.
Central Texas embraces territory between the
Trinity and Colorado rivers. This division of
Texas has many advantages over any other por
tion of the State, from the fact that it contains
the largest cities in the State and the largest
and finest navigable streams, while, at the same
time, it has greater railroad facilities than any
other section of the State. The people are
industrious and progressive, and the country •
here is growing and being more rapidly developed ;
than any other part of the State, In my judg
ment, it is destined, for all time to come, and as
it is now, to be the controlling section of the
State.
Central Texas contains as rich lands as can be
found in any country beneath the sun. Through
its centre, for a distance of five or six hundred
miles, Hows the Brazos river, whose wide bottoms
are famous for fertility.
Central Texas embraces a large portion cf the
wheat section. Its broad undulating prairies
are covered the entire year with grasses, full of
nutrition, where cattle, horses and mules will
fatten the year round. It is a farming, planting
and stock-raising country; there is no portion
of it that is not adapted to farming, planting and
stock-raising. .
The larger part of Central Texas is prairie,
but there is timber enough along the bottom of
the streams to furnish sufficient timber for
fencing and fuel. In some portions of Central
Texas a very fine stone, for building purposes,
is found in very great abundance; of this stone
the Capitol at Austin is built. I was shown a
number of very handsome buildings of this ma
terial.
The prairie soil is black and very rich. The
climate *is verv fine: a more salubrious atmos
phere I never breathed. No extremes of heat
or cold are felt here.
The price of lands vary so greatly that it is
difficult to fix a price; but I will say prices range
from one to thirty dollars per acre. Locality and
improvement have much to do in this matter.
The great Central Railroad and its branches
penetrate a large portion of this division of the
State, and arc rapidly developing its resources.
In a subsequent article I will give a general de
scription of this important road, in connection
i with all the railroads of Texas. This division of
the State embraces the important cities cf Gal
veston, Houston, Austin, (the Capital) Waco
and many others.
WESTERN TEXAS.
This division embraces that vast region from
the Colorado to the Rio Grande. It is very prop
erly recognized as the stock region of Texas.
- The mesquit grass in all its varieties flourish
here, and covers the large prairies: horses,
mules, cattle and sheep, keep fat on it the year
round. The prairies of Western Texas cover at
- least four-liths of its surface.
In some districts the post oak and mesquit tree
. can be found, but the timber is almost entirely
confined to the valleys of the streams, which are
■ densely wooded. Live oak timber, so valuable
s for ship building, grows throughout Western
Texas. The pecan tree grows here to enormous
size. While Western Texas is known as a stock
growing section, it is also a fine agricultural
country. The bottoms of the streams are very
. rich and productive; in favorable seasons the
crops are astonishing. There are few better
1 farming lands in any country than on the Gauda
-1 loupe, San Marcos, San Antonio, Medina, etc.
> If you wish to raise horses, mules or cattle, you
, caii not go amiss in Western Texas. If you
wish to raise sheep, the mountainous region
above San Antonio is the place. For a healthy
climate, Western Texas will compare favorably
with any country in the world.
San Antonio is the largest city in Western
Texas, and has a population of 18,000 or 20,000.
It is an a itive,progressive city,lightedwith gas,has
a number of churches and institutions of learn
ing. New Braunfels, the county seat of Corral
county, is a German settlement of about 6,000
population, with the industry and energy ho
universally possessed by that people. They have
made that city so productive as to be almost
independent of the outside world. Its woolen
fabrics, manufactured there, are of the finest
quality. The city has fine water power.
Lavaca and Indianola are situated in Calhoun
county, on Lavaca and Matagorda Bay, and are
places of considerable commercial importance,
which is increasing, as quite a large portion of
the trade of Western Texas is carried on through
these ports. Packets ply regularly between them
and Galveston.
NORTHERN TEXAS.
This division includes some two or three tiers of
counties along the Red river. It is very simi
lar to upper Central Texas in climate, soil and
products. It is a fine and rapidly developing
portion of the State. The Red river cotton val
ley is*renowned, and much of the great wheat
region also belongs to this division of Texas. It
is about equally divided between prairie and for
est. This portion of Texas is being rapidly tilled
up, and it must eventually be well
is well adapted to the cultivation of the cereals
produced in the Northwest, and its soil and cli
mate are all that could be desired.
SOCIETY OF TEXAS.
I am well aware that a great many intelligent
people think that the society of 'I exas is not
good, and that it would be an unsafe country to
settle in, especially with a family of children.
Now, so far as I observed the people while in
Texas, I saw very little or no difference in the
society there and in Georgia. True, I was not on
the frontier; my traveling was confined to steam
ers and railroads, but I am prepared to Hay that
the society of Texas is not behind the standard
of excellence of the other States of our country,
and that the rights of person and property are as
well respected and observed as in any other
State. The immigrants to Texas from ourjown
county have almost invariably been monos in
dustrious habits, good morals, and certainly of
average intelligence. When you wish to investi
gate the condition of the society of that country
call to mind the character of your acquaintances
who have gone there, and that will give you a
general idea of the class of immigrants to Texas.
I met as finely educated ladies and gentlemen,
and as refined in every respect, in Texas as I
met in any State.
GENERAL REMARKS.
Texas invites immigrants. A year or two de
voted to agriculture, and availing yourself of the
liberal laws, will secure to the emigrant a good
home, laud, stock and everything necessary to
smooth his pathway through life. Lands are ob
tainable on ths most reasonable terms. The
prudent capitalist can find no more secure and
profitable investment than in Texas. To manu
factures Texas offers the best field of invest
ment of any other State. Industrious and relia
ble mechanics and laborers can find no such en
couragement elsewhere as Texas offers, They
are needed in the factories, workshops, on the
railroads, in sugar, cotton, corn and wheat fields,
and in the stock region. Wages are higher than
in any other locality; they are paid in gold. Ex
pense less than any other section of the coun
try. The world might be searched over, and you
will find no country like Texas for the industri
ous poor man, and the sun, in its course, visits
no brighter spot
Live Oak.
An unstamped letter was deposited in an In*
diana postoffice last week, and underneath the
address was the indorsement, “Let her slide,
P. M., she’s all hunk, inside air one of them •
post hole keerds.”
It is somewhere related that a poor soldier,
j having had his skull fractured, was told by
; thedoctor that his brains were visible.
“Do write to father,’’ he replied, “and tell
i him of it, for he always said I had nobrains.
Jones complained of a bad smell about the
i postoffiee, and asked Brown what it could lie- .
Brown did not know, but suggested that it
might lie caused by the dead letters.