TEXAS 



fall and the air is very pure, so that diseases are almost 

 unknown. 



7. The Rio Grande Valley is much warmer in the 

 same latitude than the Pecos valley, otherwise the horti- 

 cultural conditions are pretty much the same. 



At El Paso and Ysleta, a little way south on the 

 Texas side, considerable quantities of vinifera grapes 

 of table varieties are grown under irrigation and shipped 

 to other Texas and 

 to northern cities 

 in August and 

 September. Pears 

 and plum s are 

 also grown to 

 some extent. 

 Farther down on 

 the Rio Grande, 

 at Del Rio, Eagle 

 Pass and Laredo, 

 grapes, figs and 

 onions are con- 

 siderably grown 

 and shipped to 

 the larger Texas 

 cities and the 

 North. The 

 grapes are of the 

 Old World varie- 

 ties, and ripen in 

 June; con s e - 

 quently have no 

 competition and 

 bring tine prices. 

 The conditions 

 are such that im- 

 mense quantities 

 of as fine grapes 

 of this class can 

 be grown in this 

 part of Texas as 

 in the best re- 

 gions of Cali- 

 fornia, and the 

 cost of getting to 

 market is not 

 more than half as 

 much. Undoubt- 

 edly the triangu- 

 lar region be- 

 tween San An- 

 tonio, Laredo and 

 Del Rio will in 

 the near future 

 have extensive 

 commercial vine- 

 yards of vinifera 

 grapes. 



The Spanish 

 taste in home 

 grounds among 

 the wealthy of 



southwestern Texas, who are chiefly stock-growers and 

 merchants, prevails largely. It consists of a plaza, 

 or open square in the center of the residence, having 

 fountains {where water is to be bad abundantly), and 

 borders, beds and vases of rare tropical and subtropical 

 flowers, shrubs and fruits. Around this highly artistic 

 garden the house is built, often of adobe, sometimes of 

 stone, cut and carved, in large rooms adjoining and 

 opening into each other, all on the ground-floor and one 

 large door opening out to the street or small front yard 

 from a big hall, sometimes having grand arches and 

 marble columns. No windows are in the outside walls, 

 except perhaps in the front, the rooms all being lighted 

 from within the plaza. Thus great seclusion is secured 

 and a perpetual conservatory scene is had from every 

 room. Paved walks, usually covered, run around the 

 plaza next the rooms and similar walks cross through 

 the plaza. 



The plaza-park prevails also in the finer hotels, as 

 seen in some at San Antonio; and these, on an enlarged 

 scale at, various places in the denser parts of the city, 

 give a very refreshing appearance. In the central and 



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1789 



western parts of the state the northern and eastern 

 style of park, cemetery and private grounds decoration 

 is mostly copied, as is also the architecture. Some 

 very creditable examples are seen in Dallas, Waco, 

 Austin, Paris, Sherman, Gainesville, Fort Worth and 

 other places. 



There are numerous small, and a few fair-sized 

 nurseries scattered over the state, chiefly in the Red 



2492. Texas Horticulture. 



Circles indicate localities devoted to grape cidture; black dots to strawberries; broken 



horizontal lines indicate areas suitable for apples; vertical lines for peaches. 



River Valley and eastern Texas, as at Houston, or near 

 there, Brenham, Austin, Dallas, McKinney, Ft. Worth, 

 Denison, Bonham, Paris, Tyler, Gainesville. 



Plant and cut-flower business is developing rapidly 

 in the larger cities. 



Seed business is almost entirely commercial or job- 

 bing, few being engaged in growing seeds of any kind 

 as a business and the supply comes from northern and 

 eastern growers. 



The Texas State Horticultural Society, organized in 

 1883 or 1884, is in a flourishing condition and meets 

 annually with the Texas State Farmers' Congress, at 

 College Station. There are several local horticultural 

 societies in the state, and some 40 or 50 Fruit- and 

 Truck-Growers 1 Associations for commercial purposes, 

 with one general head to look after freight rates, dis- 

 tribution of products and placing in market. No state 

 aid is given to any of the horticultural societies, yet 

 during the last twenty-five years great developments in 

 the various lines of horticulture have been made. Along 

 with these developments have come varieties specially 

 suited to the climates and soils, as few of the eastern 



