72 COTTON CULTURE. 



faces is sufficient to give good drainage, yet not enough to 

 produce washing. The soil is deep, mellow, and warm, 

 and abounds in many places in small, white shells, showing 

 at once detritus and sea-water action. 



The diseases and enemies of the cotton plant have rarely 

 shown themselves on these lands. They are easy of culti- 

 vation, and not remote from market, though less accessible 

 than those of the Brazos and Trinity bottoms. At a low 

 calculation, there are a million of acres of this description, 

 east of the region of drought, as yet uncultivated, and held 

 at moderate rates. 



Then the bottoms of the Guadalupe, the Colorado, the 

 Trinity, and the Red River lands, comprise another de- 

 scription of cotton soil, in some parts superior, and in 

 others a little inferior to the black prairies. On the Gua- 

 dalupe lands, it is indeed remarkable how little rain gives 

 a crop. 



I have seen six hundred and seven hundred pounds of 

 ginned cotton per acre produced, without a drop of rain 

 on the plants after they were six inches high. The quality 

 of the staple thus grown is superior to that of a wet season ; 

 but corn is nearly an impossible crop under such circum- 

 stances. The Colorado River may be said to divide those 

 parts of Texas that are sufficiently moist from those which 

 suffer almost every summer from long droughts. 



The eastern part of Texas, that is, the lands drained 

 west into the Trinity, and east into the Sabine, is gener- 

 ally poor, covered to a great extent by the southern pine. 

 Yet one-third, perhaps, of this surface, where the pine is 

 considerably interspersed with oak, poplar, and magnolia, 

 will produce from three to four hundred pounds of lint 

 cotton per acre. 



The northern and western parts of Texas, comprising 

 probably two-thirds or three-fourths of the two hundred 

 and thirty-seven thousand square miles in the whole State, 

 are grazing and grain growing lands ; but one-fourth of the 



