COTTON CULTURE. 169 



ated, however, with respect to moisture, especially the 

 western part. The seasons of Alabama are such, that all 

 crops that can be cultivated in that climate grow well and 

 come to maturity. In Texas, particularly Western Texas, 

 there is moisture enough for cotton and for grass, but 

 three years out of five the corn crop is a failure for want 

 of rain. The objection suggested to the best lands of 

 Alabama, that they are difficult of access from the North, 

 applies with still greater force to the cotton region of 

 Texas. Railroads from Yicksburg and Memphis have 

 partially penetrated to those regions from the east and 

 north-east, but land carriage of a crop so bulky as cotton 

 for a distance of four hundred or five hundred miles is so 

 tedious and expensive as to be well nigh impracticable on 

 anything like a large scale. On the other hand these 

 lands, considering their very fine quality, are cheap ; they 

 can be obtained for about a hundred per cent, less than 

 lands of equal intrinsic value in the older States. From 

 ten to twenty-five dollars per acre, according to situation, 

 will place the capitalist in possession of lands admirably 

 suited to his purposes. How far cheapness on the one 

 hand outweighs remoteness on the other, and to what extent 

 intrinsic value is offset by difficulty of access, are matters 

 about which good business men will differ. If a perma- 

 nent investment is sought, and it is proposed to unite 

 manufactures with agriculture, the want of fuel would be 

 eventually a more embarrassing question in Texas than in 

 Alabama. According to Haldeman's revised edition of 

 Taylor's work on the Coal Regions of the United States, 

 coal exists on the Trinity River two hundred miles above 

 Galveston, near Nacogdoches, and also near Austin, in 

 considerable quantities; but like the carbonaceous de- 

 posits of Alabama, those of Texas have never been work- 

 ed, and it is doubtful whether they will be able to supply 

 the place for fuel of the pine forests of which there is 

 great extent in the eastern part of the State. 

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