EAST TEXAS. 2? 



itself every year but should not be pastured too late in spring, else the 

 the seed crop will be lost. For best results, either for hay or pasture, 

 the soil should be disced or harrowed early in the fall before the seed 

 sprouts. 



"The seed should be sown at the rate of four to six pecks per acre on 

 land that has been put into good condition and is free from weeds. The 

 best time to sow is just before the fall rains set in, or from the first of 

 October on. Bur clover or some other legume should be sown with 

 Rescue grass, though on fertile lands and under best conditions the 

 grass is apt to crowd the legume to the wall." 



THE RICE BELT. 



Between the Long Leaf Pine Belt and the Gulf of Mexico is the 

 famous rice district. This district is known as the Coastal Plain, and 

 is made up of all the different kinds of soils drained by the rivers pass- 

 ing through it. In a bulletin published by the Department of Agricul- 

 ture entitled "Soils of the United States/ 5 in a description of this dis- 

 trict, it is said : 



"The soils are for the most part composed of sands and light sandy 

 loams, with occasional deposits of silts and heavy clays. The heavy 

 clays are found principally near the inner margin of the Coastal Plain. 

 The silts, clays and black calcareous soils, upon which the rice and sugar 

 cane industries of Southern Louisiana and Texas are being so exten- 

 tively developed, have no equivalents in the Atlantic division." 



For the year 1909 Texas had 237,586 acres in rice, 106,920 acres of 

 which were in Jefferson, Liberty, Orange and Chambers, Jefferson alone 

 containing 56.321 acres. That year the average production per acre 

 was 37.8 bushels. The yield in Jefferson was nearly 40 bushels per 

 acre. Jefferson is not only the banner rice-producing county of the 

 State, but excels in the production of oil. 



The per cent of increase in acres, in the production in rice, in Texas, 

 from 1899 to 1909, was 2627.4, which is larger than the increase in 

 acres of Kaffir corn and milo maize in the Panhandle. 



SHOULD BE CLASSED AS EAST TEXAS. 



The counties of Freestone, Leon, Madison, Walker and Montgomery 

 topographically belong to East Texas. They are situated immediately 

 west of the Trinity river, and were originally covered with a heavy 

 growth of timber, the pine forests having extended north into Leon. 

 The Trinity river and its tributaries furnish an abundance of water. 

 The soil of the uplands is a deep, sandy loam, and in the bottoms a very 

 rich alluvial soil prevails. In the Trinity river bottom, however, the 

 land is a black sticky soil and very fertile. It is the washings of centuries 

 from the fertile black prairie belt above, and at some future time, when 

 the waters of the Trinity will be confined to the channel by a, system 

 of levie?, its value will surpass all other lands of the State. 



Walker county attained a conspicuous place in the progress of Texas 

 before the Civil War. Huntsville, the county seat, was the site of 

 Austin College and Andrew Female Institute; the former was under 

 the supervision of the Presbyterian Church and the latter under the 



