EAST TEXAS. 23 







WHEAT. 



It is remarkable that this product, once a staple crop in East Texas, 

 should become obsolete. In the counties of Anderson, Cass, Cherokee, 

 Henderson, Panola, Eusk, San Augustine, Smith, Titus, Trinity and 

 Upshur, as given in the Texas Alamanac of 1858, wheat was a staple 

 crop, and it was grown extensively in many other East Texas counties. 

 It was known to produce from 15 to 25 bushels per acre, but was sup- 

 planted after the war by cotton which, at the fabulous prices then given 

 for that staple, made its production more profitable. Hence wheat was 

 soon a forgotten crop, and the plant is a stranger to our people, thou- 

 sands of farmers having never seen a stalk of that once celebrated and 

 most highly prized crop. 



At one time tobacco was rapidly forging to the front also as a staple 

 crop. In a report by A. M. Truit, of Shelbyville, July 1, 1858, Texas 

 Almanac for 1859, I find this important item in a list of exports from 

 Sabine Pass: "115,800 pounds of tobacco." In the same report Mr. 

 Truit, in noting the staple crops of Shelby county, mentions tobacco 

 as one of them. At that time he had resided in Shelby county for 

 twenty years and was thoroughly familiar with the agricultural condi- 

 tions of that county. 



During the Civil War tobacco was produced on a majority of the 

 farms of East Texas, and considerable progress had been made in the 

 art of curing it and preparing it for use. It is now pretty generally 

 known that thousands of acres of land, including large areas in Nacog- 

 doches, Houston, Anderson, Cherokee and Rusk are peculiarly adapted 

 to the best quality of the Cuban cigar tobacco. 



BERMUDA, BUR CLOVER AND RESCUE. 



Bermuda grasp, Bur clover and Rescue grass will eventually become 

 the basis of the prosperity and wealth of East Texas. This fact cannot 

 be doubted by any one who knows the value of these plants and who 

 has watched their development in this section. Bermuda had to fight 

 its way at every step of its advancement, the prejudice of the cotton 

 farmer against it being unalterably stubborn and unshaken. But in 

 spite of that prejudice it has gone from one triumph to another until it 

 is a remarkable fact that now and then it has a friend even among the 

 slaves of the one-crop idea. It made its appearance in this country 

 just before or during the Civil War. From the very start it was irre- 

 sistible. Every device known to the farmer was resorted to for its ex- 

 termination. The negroes dreaded it almost as they would a scourge. 

 The faster they stirred the soil the more vigorously' grew and spread 

 the Bermuda. It encroached upon field and meadow until soon large 

 areas were abandoned, and stock turned upon it. as the last desperate 

 aqt of the farmer toward the destruction of an advancing foe. Horses 

 and cattle ate it and soon grew fat, hogs thrived upon it, every animal 

 and fowl that eats .grass eats it ravenously. After more than a half 

 century of warfare it has made friends, but so deep is the prejudice of 

 some good men against any hindrance to the growth of cotton that they 

 still hate it and would destroy it if possible. 



Bur clover^ is just beginning to introduce itself in different portions 



