384 Texas tn its Geognostic and Agricultural Aspect, (June, 
have been published from interested motives. Gold, silver, lead, 
and molybdenum are, however, found in the previously mentioned 
primitive mountain formation of the Highlands, where in later 
times, in Llano county, a silver mine is said to have been put in 
operation. Westward of the coal-formation, particularly along 
Red river and in the Staked Plains, lie very large beds of gyp- 
sum; but the future must reveal to us how large treasures in 
metals lie in the still unknown regions of the west, 
If we cast a retrospective look over the whole, we may assert 
with ail certainty that Texas is approaching a very promising fu- 
ture. It is a country in which, on account of its fine and favor- 
able position, not only all the plants of the temperate zone flour- 
ish, but also many of those of the tropics. The wine-culture, to 
which many a State owes its prosperity, is yet in the germ; but 
the results attained on a small scale hitherto, the great number of 
excellent wild grapes, as also the above-described constitution 
and combination of the soil,—are all speaking evidences of its 
adaptation to this noble fruit. 
Texas has its own pine-forests in the east, which will be fully 
adequate to supply the whole State with lumber, and to fence in 
the fields; in the interior it has its own granary; and when once 
her own hand has wrought her own iron with her own coal, then 
_ will she supply not only her own wants, but many of those of the 
outer world. 
Nowhere are there extensive swamps which makes residence 
unhealthy ; the country has also no sections which suffer from ex- 
cessive drouth. Winters have neither the northern cold, nor the 
summers the tropical heat; and pleasant breezes throughout the 
whole summer keep the air continually, not only in a refreshing 
condition, but contribute much to the salubrity of the country. 
Though we may not have to point out lofty, romantic mountains, 
still there are regions highly favored by nature, particularly those 
about San Antonio and New Braunfels, with their mighty springs, 
and their ever clear and refreshing water, that are especially note- 
worthy ; which places, if they were lying on the sea, would justly 
be called the Texan Nice. 
