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From Dallas we travelled down to Houston, through some of the richest 

 cotton land of the State ; over a million pounds' worth of cotton came from 

 a rich belt known as the Ellis district. Stepping out at mid-day at College 

 Station, we went to the State Agricultural College, where, while Dr. Howard 

 was on his business bent, I went round with the Director, Mr. J. W. Carson, 

 through the laboratories, o.ver the cotton mill, ard the small cotton factory, 

 In the laundry we found several gangs of students doing all the washing and 

 laundry work of the College. There are 800 acres of land on the farm, and 

 about 600 students come from all parts of Texas and the adjoining States. 

 There are so many that a large number are camped in tents in the park. 



We went from Houston to Galveston, where we spent some time at the 

 Medical School. Some very extensive experiments have been carried out in 

 dealing with yellow fever and the mosquitoes. This town was almost swept 

 out of existence on the night of the 8th September, 1900, when a tornado 

 swept the ocean right over it, and 79,000 of the inhabitants were drowned. 

 Since then the remaining citizens have built an immense sea-wall, from 10 

 to 14 feet high, right round the city, and pumped in 10 feet of sand, so that 

 the whole town has been raised, and rebuilt to this height above the sea-level. 



On the low flat land between Houston and Galveston there is a consider- 

 able amount of rice grown, chiefly of the Japanese and Honduras varieties. 

 There are some extensive fig orchards, and large areas of vegetable gardens ; 

 while at Webster nothing but strawberries are grown. There were a number 

 of pear orchards on the road, but all of them were badly affected with pear 

 blight ; every tree was full of dead branches. Most of the country in this 

 region is in the hands of Italian or Japanese settlers. One of the results 

 of an Italian settlement in a district is, I am told, that every bird, big and 

 little, is shofc and eaten, as in their native country. Returning to Houston 

 we left in the evening for Victoria, and after passing through a large sugar 

 plantation, soon came on to the open prairie- 1 . On the train we met the manager 

 of the Pierce Ranch, who wished to show Dr. Howard his imported Indian 

 cattle for report to the Minister fur Agriculture, so we dropped out at a way- 

 side station in the dark, and spent the night at the homestead, getting up at 

 daylight, and travelling about 25 miles in a motor before breakfast. 



These large Indian cattle came from the Montgomery district in northern 

 India, which is famous for its cattle, and Mr. Bindon made a special trip on 

 behalf of some Texan stockmen to India, where he purchased and shipped 

 them over to the States at considerable expense. The breeders claim that 

 not only does a cross with a Texan cow produce a large and much quieter 

 beast, but that the skin is covered with such a very fine short hair (unlike 

 the local Texan cattle) that they are immune from the attacks of cattle 

 tick. This was accounted for by a theory that the beast's coat was so short 

 that the larval ticks, if they succeeded in getting on to the animal, 

 always dropped off when th^y underwent their next moult, for there was 

 nothing for them to cling to when undergoing their transformation. Later 

 on in Jamaica, where a similar Indian strain was introduced many years 

 ago, and a very great number of the beasts in the " cattle pen " country 

 showed striking Indian characteristics, I was told by one of the oldest stock 

 breeders that he considered they had spoilt their cattle by the Indian blood, 

 for the flesh was not so good, being much coarser. Large quantities of rice, 

 cotton, and lucerne are grown on this estate ; some of it with State prisoners, 

 who are let out to the ranch-owners in gangs, in charge of a warder, who is 

 responsible for them, the rancher paying so much a month per head for his 

 State convict labour. 



