96 



THE IRR1 GA Tl ON A GE. 



he character of the grass and other crops' 

 as well as for the condition and probabil- 

 ities of rapid rise in value. Many of the 

 great fortunes the world over have been 

 won from judicious investments in real 

 estate and the opportunities are as good 

 today as they ever were, and in the case 

 of a cattle ranch the land is paying you a 

 high annual interest while it is growing in 

 value. 



The Englishmen and Scotchmen who 

 have been so successful in the cattle busi- 

 ness in America have made their pur- 

 chases of land chiefly in the South and 

 South west, and this to avoid the blizzards, 

 the deep snows and the rigorous winters 

 of the North that are so prejudicial to 

 cattle breeding and raising. And now the 

 popular trend is in that direction for gen- 

 eral farming and live stock. 



In all that I have said I have kept far 

 within the line of facts and by this short 

 story relating to climate, sun, soil and 

 manifold productions, I have explained 

 why the aristocracy of England have 

 bought and continue to hold -20,000,000 

 acres or more of American land. There 

 was no other way for them to invest their 

 money to equal advantage, equally sure 

 and remunerative, and there is no avenue 

 now open for the investment of Ameri- 

 can or European money, enterprise and 

 industry that is at all comparable to the 

 virgin land of the Southwest. We cannot 

 reasonably complain of the English ari- 

 stocracy for acting sensibly and making 

 the most of conditions. But we can avail 

 ourselves of the blessings that God has 

 showered upon us with such bountiful 

 hand. 



As Texas is now occupying an unusual 

 share of public attention, especially 

 amongst immigrants and home seekers, it 

 may be interesting to examine, generally, 

 its chief characteristics and finally lead 

 up to some local conditions and no con- 

 sistently determine whether or not it is a 

 promising and desirable country for set- 

 tlement. Oilicial figures places its area 

 at 260,901 square miles of land and 3,310 



square miles of water surface, consisting 

 of lakes and bays, making a total of 264,- 

 211 square miles, equal to about 8.7 per 

 cent, of the entire area of the United 

 States and territories. It is much the 

 largest state in the UnkA, being six times 

 larger than New York and seven times as 

 large as Ohio, and 100,000 square miles 

 larger than all the Eastern and Middle 

 states, including Delaware and Maryland. 

 Compared to the countries of Europe it 

 has 34,000 square miles more than the 

 Austrian Empire ; 62,000 more than the 

 German Empire, and nearly 70,000 square 

 miles more than France. And yet Texas 

 has only 2,235,523 inhabitants and less 

 than six per cent of the area is in cultiva- 

 tion. If Texas had the density of popu- 

 lation that Illinois has, it would have 

 14,650,000 inhabitants; if as densely pop- 

 ulated as New York it would have 26,750,- 

 000; as New Jersey, 63,800,000; or as 

 Great Britain and Scotland, 85,422,000 

 inhabitants. 



It has a wider range of climatic condi- 

 tions than any other state in the Union 

 except California and a greater variety of 

 valuable products than any of her sister 

 states. 



It is located between the 25th and 36th 

 parallels of North latitude and the 94th 

 and 106 meridans of longitude. The dis- 

 tance between the extreme northern and 

 southern points is nearly 750 miles, and 

 about 800 miles from east to west. Gen- 

 eral custom has divided the state geo- 

 graphically into five parts, namely : Cen- 

 tral, Northern, Southern, Eastern and 

 Western Texas, but the dividing line is 

 imaginary and not well defined. 



The State Commissioner of Agriculture 

 describing its topographical characteris- 

 tics says "that portion of the state lying 

 east of 96th degree of longitude and north 

 of the 30th parallel of latitude, and known 

 as 'East Texas' is characterized by a long 

 range of hills running in an irregular line 

 from northeast to southwest, containing 

 large deposits of brown hematite iron ore. 

 it is also marked by a heavy growth of 



