February i, 1883.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



(^^^ 



CEYLON PLANTERS IN TEXAS. 



The following ,ire extracts from pi-ivate letters from 

 a former Ceylon planter to a friend in our island : — 

 "Jacksboro, Texas, Oct, Gth, 1882. 



"Here we are I hope at a resting-place at last; at 

 any rate Ihe above will find us. We are in treaty 

 for acres 160—5 miles from here ; if we get that it 

 will give us access to several thousand acres of splendid 

 pasture. I only trust we may get it, but it wauts 

 great care the most of the state is taken up by 

 speculators : and the land laws are most complicated. 

 The fortunes made hereabouts sometimes in a few 

 days are marvellous, I need hardly tell you by people 

 who have been about for some time and know the 

 country : crowds of what were only cow-boys a few 

 years ago can speak of their thousands of % or cattle, 

 and there the cattle ai-e, it is no idle boast. If we 

 get this land, on sheep alone we seem certain of 50 

 per cent per annum, pretty sure of 75, and clear 

 of disease may double in the yenr. Such is the testi- 

 mony of ranchmen we have met in our wanderings : 

 they told us what they started with and shewed us 

 their sheep. One of the mosi trustworthy, a Mr. Keel, 

 bought 500 ewes and 10 rams; by the end of the year 

 he had from two clips cleared the purchase money S2 

 per head, and had 97 per cent increased in stock. 

 What you think of even half ihsuf. good, ain't it ! ! ! 



" We have had, are having, and will have, the hard- 

 est, roughest and dirtiest time of it I ever had all 

 my life: nothing to eat but fat bacon and sweet 

 potatoes or home-made bread, sometimes a bed some- 

 times the floor, with clothes you had to keep on for 

 warmi-h, but dare not t.ike off your own for filth. One 

 handkerchief is doing duty yet after three weeks, but 

 it smells sweet to some of the pillows; fleas, bugs and 

 musquitos kept us lively sometimes. This place is 

 called clean and is so for Te.xas, but (here is- only one 

 wash basin and one towel for dozen?. Oh for our own 

 shanty : rough ii may but clean it shall be ; our food 

 must be plain, but it won't be floating in the infernal 

 grease everything is. After leaving the train and tak- 

 ing to the saddle we must have ridden at least ."00 

 miles, often without food all day: it was impossible 

 to keep to the so called roads, but we fortunately 

 ahvays came to a house and never had to sleep out 

 all night. It is a grand grazing country and no mis- 

 take, and land could be had dirt cheap if we only 

 knew where to go, as »e shall do in a year or so. 

 School lands con be rented or purchased for 1$, 20 

 years to p-iy, so that is tine land for 3 cents an acre, 

 and quit when grass i-uns out. We see bright pros- 

 pects ahead, grin, and try to bear it. I am just u|i 

 after a sharp dose of bilious fever frrim bad water I 

 believe, for it seems a lovely climute (one year's record 

 enclosed, Government account) : — 



1881. inches. Highest. Lowest. Average 



.September Rain 632 Temp. 101 

 October „ 317 „ 91 



November „ -87 „ 80 



December „ 177 „ 77 



January „ 1'96 „ 7.5 



February „ 4 04 „ 74 



March „ 79 „ 86 



April... „ -54 „ 93 



M,ay ... „ 2-72 „ 95 



.Tune... „ 208 „ 109 



.Tuly... „ 10-51 „ lOG 



August ., 3-90 „ 97 



86 



38.67 



I got above from Government office here. In such a 

 climate fruits of many sorts might and do grow, but 

 one in 1,000 seem lo prefer living in a pig-sty ; a 

 good house, a clean one, a flower or a fruit tree 

 would be a waste of time and money. That Texas is 

 a place to make money there is no doubt, that at 

 present it is a place tn settle down in I can't see: it 

 seems too wild but on that point I withold my judg- 

 ment until, as, would say, I am competent to 



give an opinion. Don't think I have forgot the other 

 sidethe fortune picture, a severe winter may kill your 

 sheep, etc., etc., etc. When I get that laud and a 

 good bunch of sheep all I want to make me happy 

 is the old Observer; as yon love me send it: I am 

 dying to know all about the old puckam." 



" Jacksboro, October 17th, 1SS2. 



" While I am waiting for a waggon to take out 

 some lumber I just drop in here, and will write a 

 note to you to put off the time. 



"We concluded the bargain viith that land I men- 

 tioned in my last, and have got one of the flnest 

 runs about. We only went expe.rienee and sheep now; 

 of grass there is an unlimited supply. The more I see 

 of it the better pleased I am, although we have not 

 been over it again, for the best of all reasons we 

 have had no time. We have built a large house two 

 rooms and ver.andah 18 + 24 the whole thing and by 

 jappers that 's a bhj house, when you have to build it 

 yourself ; help as you may have heard is almost im- 

 possible to get, and I can .assume you we have had 

 a great piece of luck in finding a man, his wife and 

 stepmother squatted in an old house on the laud. 

 A peculiariiy of the country is that it is always cool 

 at night ; now it is getting cold, and I hope soon to 

 see an end of the fever, of which there is a great deal 

 about ; dirt I am certain causes 9-lOtha of it." 



In this connection we may quote the following from 

 the Field:— 



"■We have it on such high authority as "St. Karnes' 

 that laud can be had for from 15s. to 30s. an acre, on 

 which he can fatten Texas .steers, costing him in September 

 but £5, to an exteiit that enables him to get £10 for them 

 the following May, and at an expense certainly not greater 

 than £2. 10s. to £3, it does not seem a very forlorn country, 

 to say the least of it. Now, Sir, I will say a word or 

 two about our own immediate crops and laud. All the 

 world knows we have had a big wheat crop, and preseut 

 appearances point to a very large crop for 1883, as we 

 have had a splendid autumn, and glorious rains. But other 

 things besides wheat were grown, the next farm to mine 

 — an Englishman's — producing fifty bushels of oats to the 

 acre, and realising more than the ground would fetch on 

 which they were grown. I have been feeding my cattle 

 since October on turnips, many as large round as saucers, 

 that were grown on ground from which I harvested twenty- 

 three bushels of wheat per acre. While in the way of 

 vegetables, potatoes ranging from 1 lb. to 2 lb. are common, 

 and they are now worth SI per bushel. But far above and 

 beyond all else is the salubrity of the climate, for, to use 

 an Americanism, a man always feels "good," for most 

 assuredly it is the place where "good digestion waits on 

 appetite, aud health on both." To give an idea how things 

 are going here, I may mentiou that the farm adjoining 

 my own was bought five years ago for S6 per acre, and 

 baa just changed hands at $10 per acre, minus buildings; 

 while in the next section, a farm has just been sold for 

 double -what it cost five years ago. We have a good market 

 for our produce, and good roads on which to liaul it. 

 Wheat is now worth, in Peabody, from 60 cents to 65 

 eents a bushel; corn, 32 cents per bushel; butter, 23 cents 

 a pound; eggs, 20 cents a dozen; turkey, 9 cents a pound ; 

 chickens, 7 cents ; good cows, in calf, are worth .$50 ; spring 

 calves, from ,fil0 to §12; fat hogs, SS'SOc. per lOdlb. on 

 foot. I may say that everywhere are new houses and 

 better buildings going up. aud a better class of ])eople 

 fast pouring in. — W. H. Btunoft (Cre.swell, Marion co., 

 Kansas.)" 



