lint. After ten years' cultivation the product per acre is 400 pounds of seed-cotton. Cocklebur and hog-weed are troublesome, but crabgrass is the worst. About 15 per cent. of this land lies "turned out"; but when out four or five years it generally produces as well as originally. Slopes are seriously damaged by the washing and gullying of the soil, and the washings, if sand, damage good valley land by covering it. A little hillside ditching has been practiced, which successfully checks the damage. This is a good cotton region, neither low nor upland having the preference, and each has peculiar advantages. Some laborers have this season (1879) produced 10 bales each. Could the cotton-worm, worse than all other drawbacks, be gotten rid of, there would be very little uncertainty of crops on account of droughts.

Cotton is shipped in December to Galveston, by wagon and rail, at $3 75 per bale.

HOUSTON.

Population: 16,702.-White, 9,465; colored, 7,237.

Area: 1,170 square miles.-Woodland, nearly all; all oak, hickory, and pine region.

Tilled lands: 73,884 acres.-Area planted in cotton, 26,819 acres; in corn, 28,966 acres; in oats, 617 acres; in wheat, 29 acres.

Cotton production: 9,730 bales; average cotton product per acre, 0.36 bale, 540 pounds seed-cotton, or 18 pounds cotton lint.

Houston county lies between the Neches and Trinity rivers, which form respectively the east and west boundaries. Its surface is rolling and mostly well timbered, having small prairies interspersed throughout, and comprising about one-tenth of its area. In the eastern part of the county short- and long-leaf pine is said to predominate, while post, red, and black-jack oaks, hickory, etc., form the prevailing timber growth of the remaining portion of the uplands. On the bottom lands of the streams the growth is white and water oaks, elm, walnut, mulberry, etc.

The county surveyor, B. F. Duren, writes as follows regarding the pine region of the county:

The pineries in the eastern portion of Houston county comprise both the short- and the long-leaf species, though mostly the former. The belt extends northward along the Neches river as far as Anderson county; is about 10 miles in breadth on the east, but narrows down to three at the Anderson county-line. The timber in this belt north of what is known as the old San Antonio road is not considered valuable.

The prairies are small, and belong to the brown-loam class that occurs in so many of the counties of this part of the state. The timbered uplands have a predominance of gray sandy lands, throughout which are interspersed bodies of red loams, underlaid by red or yellow clay subsoils. The cultivated lands of Houston county comprise 9.9 per cent. of its area, and average 63.2 acres per square mile. The acreage of cotton comprises 36.3 per cent. of these, with an average of 22.9 acres per square mile, but that of corn is still greater.

ABSTRACT FROM THE REPORT OF C. E. DOUGLAS, OF CROCKETT.

The kinds of land are: (1) gray and red uplands, lying in patches and occasional large bodies of 1,000 acres or more, forming the divides between the rivers and large creeks, and constituting about 65 per cent. of the county area; (2) dark loam of the bottoms and second bottoms of the Trinity and Neches rivers and tributaries (which are numerous), occupying about 25 per cent. of the area; (3) about 10 per cent. of dark-colored prairie soil scattered over the county. The chief crops are cotton, corn, potatoes, oats, sorghum, and West India sugar

cane.

The gray and red upland soil bears a natural growth of red, post, and black oaks, hickory, mulberry, dogwood, sumac, etc. The soil is from 4 to 18 inches deep; the subsoil is heavier, generally a yellow clay, though frequently a stiff, impervious red clay, containing hard "black gravel", and underlaid by clay, sometimes rock. Tillage is easy in dry, and not difficult in wet seasons. The soil is early and warm, and for the most part naturally well drained, and is apparently best adapted to cotton, although with sufficient moisture all the chief crops succeed well.

More than three-fifths of its cultivated area is planted in cotton. The plant usually grows 4 feet high, but on fresh land and in very wet seasons it inclines to run to weed. In the first case early planting and topping is the remedy; there is no remedy for the second. The seed-cotton product per acre on fresh lands varies from 800 to 1,500 pounds, from 1,425 to 1,545 pounds making a 475-pound bale of lint, which frequently rates highest in the market. After ten years' cultivation (unmanured) the product varies from 500 to 1,200 pounds, 1,425 pounds then making a 475-pound bale of lint that is shorter than that from fresh land, but is bright in color and classes well. Some of these lands continue their original yields for twenty years (unmanured). The iron-weed (perennial) is most troublesome, but does not occur on all parts. About 1 per cent. of such land lies "turned out"; it grows up in weeds, and is expected after a rest to produce very well. Lands wash readily when improperly plowed, but very little damage is done to either slopes or valleys.

The soil of the bottoms is a mellow loam, varying in color from brown to black, and is 5 feet deep. The subsoil is a heavier bluish and yellowish clay, containing soft "black gravel", and is underlaid by clay and marl. The soil is easily tilled where drained; it is early or late, warm or cold, according to seasons, and is well drained. Its natural growth is white and water oaks, elm, black walnut, mulberry, etc. It is best adapted to cotton, corn, and sugar-cane, and three-fourths of its cultivated area is planted in cotton. The plant attains a height of from 6 to 12 feet, the medium most productive. Fresh land, wet seasons, and late planting incline it to run to weed, and early planting and thorough tillage constitute the remedy. The seed-cotton product per acre of fresh land varies from 1,200 to 2,200 pounds, about 1,545 pounds making a 475-pound bale of good lint. After ten years' cultivation (unmanured) there is little apparent deterioration if rotation of crops has been practiced, 1,425 pounds then making a bale of lint as good as that from fresh land. Very little of such land lies "turned out", and it produces very well when again cultivated. Hog-weed, butter-weed, etc., grow very rank, but are less troublesome than old stalks.

The prairie soil varies from a sandy to a clayey loam, and from gray to brown, mahogany and blackish in color, and is from 2 to 3 feet deep. The subsoil is heavier, rarely impervious, contains hard, soft, and angular "black gravel", and sometimes pebbles, and is underlaid by gravel and rock. When the soil has once been pulverized, it is easily tilled in dry seasons, but with difficulty in wet seasons. The soil is early, warm, generally well drained, and best adapted to cotton and small cereals, and one-fourth of its cultivated area is planted in cotton. The plant grows from 3 to 5 feet high, is most productive at 5 feet, and is rarely inclined to run to weed. The seed-cotton product per acre of fresh land is from 500 to 1,000 pounds, 1,425 pounds making a 475-pound bale of good lint. After ten years' cultivation (unmanured) the product is from 300 to 800 pounds, the ratio of seed to lint and quality of staple being about the same as on new land. Iron-weed is most

troublesome. Very little of this land lies "turned out", which produces well when again cultivated. When improperly plowed, slopes wash and gully readily, but are not seriously damaged, nor are the valleys materially injured. To prevent such damage nothing but judicious plowing is practiced. An occasional drought and a wet spring are, perhaps, the only circumstances adverse to the cotton-grower here. Cotton is shipped during the gathering season, by rail, chiefly to Galveston at $3 50 per bale; also to Houston at $3, and to New Orleans.

LEON.

Population: 12,817.-White, 7,707; colored, 5,110.

Area: 1,000 square miles.-Woodland, nearly all; all oak, hickory, and pine region.

Tilled lands: 68,073 acres. —Area planted in cotton, 23,578 acres; in corn, 25,490 acres; in oats, 725 acres. Cotton production: 7,360 bales; average cotton product per acre, 0.31 bale, 465 pounds seed-cotton, or 155 pounds cotton lint.

Leon county is bounded on the east and west by the Trinity and Navasota rivers, the divide between their respective tributaries being on the west near the latter. The surface of the county is somewhat rolling, and is well timbered with post and black-jack oaks and pine and hickory on the uplands, and cottonwood, elm, walnut, hackberry, etc., on the streams. The uplands are interspersed with brown-loam prairies, their combined area covering, it is estimated, about 100 square miles. These prairies are well supplied with grasses, and are very generally devoted to the grazing of stock. The timbered uplands have usually gray sandy loam soils with subsoils more or less clayey; those of the bottom lands are a black loam, quite deep, and rather subject to overflow.

Leon county is sparsely settled. The lands under cultivation comprise 10.6 per cent. of the county area, and average 68.1 acres per square mile. The crops of the county are corn, cotton, sugar-cane, small grain, fruits, and vegetables. Cotton, comprising 34.6 per cent. of county area, has an acreage of 23.6 per square mile, its growth and yield per acre, and the methods of its culture, etc., being the same as in the adjoining counties.

FALLS.

(See "Central black prairie region ".)

ROBERTSON,

Population: 22,383.-White, 11.386; colored, 10,997.

Area: 870 square miles.-Woodland, nearly all; oak, hickory, and pine region, 840 square miles; brown-loam prairie region, 30 square miles. Tilled lands: 117,990 acres.-Area planted in cotton, 49,854 acres; in corn, 34,255 acres; in oats, 1,407 acres; in wheat, 67 acres.

Cotton production: 18,080 bales; average cotton product per acre, 0.36 bale, 540 pounds seed-cotton, or 180 pounds cotton lint.

Robertson county lies between the Navasota and Brazos rivers, which form respectively the east and west boundaries, Calvert, the county-seat, being situated on the divide between their tributaries. Its surface is undulating, with a small area of mesquite prairies on the north around Bremond and on the southwest near Hearne. The rest of the county uplands are well timbered with post and black-jack oaks and hickory, and have a gray sandy soil (in places little else than deep white sand) and a red or yellow clayey subsoil. Between Hearne and Bremond there is seen the red ferruginous sandstone strata belonging to that belt which passes from the northeastern part of the state southwest into Guadalupe county. The red iron-ore hills that characterize this belt in other counties are not so prominent here. Brown coal or lignite (Tertiary) is found beneath these lands at a depth of 30 or 40 feet, and is said to be of good quality. The prairies are scarcely under cultivation. They have rather a stiff loamy soil, sandy near the timbers, and are largely covered with a low mesquite growth. They belong to the brown-loam belt that borders the central black prairie region in the counties north of Robertson.

The river lands are broad, heavily timbered with walnut, pecan, ash, elm, etc., and have reddish loam soils of great depth and productiveness. It is claimed that they will produce an average of 40 or 50 bushels of corn and 1,500 or 2,000 pounds of seed-cotton per acre in fair seasons. The county is very well populated, and the lands under cultivation average 135.6 acres per square mile, or 21.2 per cent. of its entire area. Cotton is the chief crop, comprising 42.3 per cent. of tilled lands, and averaging 57.3 acres per square mile, there being but five counties with a greater proportion of tilled lands devoted to its culture, and but three having a greater acreage of cotton per square mile, viz, Washington, Fayette, and Johnson.

ABSTRACT FROM THE REPORT OF H. D. PENDERGAST, OF CALVERT.

Bottom land includes one-fourth of all that is cultivated in the county. The soil is an alluvium, from 2 to 10 feet deep, varying from gray sandy to red and black waxy. Its growth is pin oak, ash, walnut, and pecan. The subsoil is frequently sandy, and sometimes clayey. Tillage is easy where sandy, but difficult in wet seasons where the soil is clayey or waxy. The soil is well drained, and is equally well adapted to cotton and corn, which are the chief crops of the region. More than one-half the cultivated area is planted in cotton, the height attained by the plant varying from 4 to 7 feet, but it is most productive at 5 feet. In wet seasons it inclines to run to weed on any soil here, which may be checked by ceasing to cultivate, and might be prevented, if the wet weather could be foreknown, by shallow cultivation. The seed-cotton product per acre of fresh land is 1,125 pounds. By ten to twenty years' cultivation (without manure) production has declined about one-fifth on the sandy and not any on the clayey soils, nor has the staple visibly changed in quality. Crab-grass, cocklebur, and dewberry-vines are the most troublesome as weeds. The lowlands are slightly damaged in some places by washings from the uplands. The upland slopes, however, do not readily wash and gully anywhere in this region. No efforts have been made to check the slight damage on the lowlands.

The upland cotton-growing soil is gray or chocolate colored, from 5 to 12 inches deep, has a red-clay subsoil, and bears a growth chiefly of post and black-jack oaks. About half its cultivated area is planted in cotton. The plant usually grows 3 feet high, or from 5 to 6 feet in wet seasons, the higher the more productive. The seed-cotton product per acre of fresh land is from 800 to 1,200 pounds, with the general ratio of 3 pounds of seed-cotton for 1 of lint, rating as low middling. The production declines about one-fifth in ten years' cultivation (unmanured), but the ratio of seed to lint and quality of staple do not apparently vary. This region is too far north to suffer from the caterpillar, and is not often affected by drought.

Cotton is shipped from October to February, about one-fourth of which goes to Galveston at about $3 75 ber bale, the balance to New York, or to the mills, at about $8 per bale.

MADISON.

Population: 5,395.-White, 3,693; colored, 1,702.

Area: 460 square miles.-Woodland, nearly all; all oak, hickory, and pine region.

Tilled lands: 24,268 acres.-Area planted in cotton, 9,158 acres; in corn, 9,694 acres; in oats, 322 acres. Cotton production: 2,656 bales; average cotton product per acre, 0.29 bale, 435 pounds seed cotton, or 145 pounds cotton lint.

Madison, a narrow county lying between Trinity river on the east and Navasota on the west, has a somewhat rolling surface, partly of open prairies and partly of timbered post-oak uplands, and is watered chiefly by the tributaries of the Trinity, the divide being in the western part of the county. The streams have a dark-loam soil, are well timbered with oak, hickory, pecan, ash, and walnut, and are subject to overflow. The rivers are bordered by low prairie valley lands or "second bottoms ", with little or no timber growth, and have a black waxy soil, similar in character to the black upland prairies.

The upland prairies cover a large part of the county, and have soils varying from black waxy or clayey to brown loams, as is usual with the prairies of this portion of the state. They are interspersed with sandy post and blackjack oak uplands, the soils of which are from 6 to 10 inches deep, with clayey subsoils. One of these prairies is said to extend east and west through the county with a width of 10 or 15 miles. The lands under cultivation average 52.8 acres per square mile, or 8.2 per cent. of the entire area of the county, while 37.7 per cent. of these lands (or 19.9 acres per square mile) is devoted to the culture of cotton. The acreage of corn is the greatest. yield per acre of seed-cotton was in 1869 very much below that for the state.

The average

ABSTRACT FROM THE REPORT OF P. K. GOREE, OF MIDWAY.

The lowlands consist of the bottoms of several creeks and of Trinity river, and also of black prairie second bottoms lying along the river, interspersed with sand ridges and pecan groves. Two-thirds of the upland is prairie, with a blackish, gravelly loam soil, and one-third is woodland, chiefly with a whitish, coarse sandy loam, in places sandy, in others more clayey. The uplands are rolling, and the slopes are inclined to wash and gully, but are not yet seriously damaged. Nor are the valleys materially injured by the washings, but are as often improved. Very little effort is made to check the damage.

The prairie soil is from 8 to 20 inches thick; the subsoil is a putty-like, impervious clay, containing hard "iron gravel" and some other pebbles. Tillage is easy, except when very wet or very dry; in the latter case the soil becomes very hard. The soil is early, warm, and portions are well drained. The chief crops are corn, cotton, and oats, from one-half to three-fifths of the cultivated part of this land being planted in cotton. The plant grows from 3 to 4 feet high, but is most productive at 4 feet. It inclines to run to weed during wet seasons, and should not ordinarily be restrained, but bolling should be favored by cultivation. The seed-cotton product per acre of fresh land is from 800 to 1,000 pounds, 1,600 pounds making a 475-pound bale of low middling to middling lint. During twenty years' cultivation (unmanured) the lands improve each year. After that time 1,545 pounds make a bale of lint, which is perhaps not perceptibly different from that of fresh land. Crab-grass is most troublesome on this and the soil next to be described. None of this land lies "turned out", but a vast amount is being brought under cultivation.

The woodland lies chiefly along the small streams which drain the prairies. The soil is 3 feet deep. The subsoil is an impervious yellowish and sometimes blackish clay, containing variously colored, hard, rounded, and angular pebbles. The soil is early and warm when well drained, and is easily tilled, except in wet seasons. One-half of its cultivated area is usually planted in cotton. The plant grows from 4 to 8 feet high, and inclines to run to weed in very wet seasons; but topping would remedy this if done at 4 feet high. The seed-cotton product per acre of fresh land is from 400 to 1,000 pounds; of old land, from 400 to 800 pounds, the staple being first-class alike from old or fresh land. A very small proportion of this land lies "turned out", and is somewhat improved by rest. On the river bottom crops are much more liable to be injured by excessive rains and backward springs than on the uplands.

bale.

Cotton is shipped as soon as baled by wagon to Huntsville, and thence by rail to Houston or Galveston, at a cost of from $5 to $6 per

WALKER.

Population: 12,024.-White, 5,257; colored, 6,767.

Area: 760 square miles.-Woodland, nearly all; all oak, hickory, and pine region.

Tilled lands: 51,129 acres.-Area planted in cotton, 20,162 acres; in corn, 17,512 acres; in oats, 387 acres ; wheat, 15 acres.

in

Cotton production: 6,441 bales; average cotton product per acre, 0.32 bale, 480 pounds seed-cotton, or 160 pounds cotton lint. The surface of Walker county is more or less rolling, and is mostly covered with a timber growth of long-leaf pine, red, post, and black-jack oaks, and hickory on the uplands, and interspersed with brown-loam prairies on the west. It is watered chiefly by the Trinity river and its tributaries on the north, and a few small streams on the south which flow into the San Jacinto river. The lands are sandy loams, with red and yellow clay subsoils overlying concretionary clays and sandstones (Grand Gulf).

A large bluff of the latter occurs on the Trinity river at Riverside, and is quarried for small buildings and other purposes. It has an exposed thickness of about 75 feet, is coarse and gritty, and lies in layers of varying thicknesses, with occasional strata of clay-stone. The rock itself also sometimes incloses white clayey concretions.

The river bottom lands have dark-loam soils, with the usual bottom timber growth, and is bordered by small black prairie valley lands, or "second bottoms". The lands under cultivation in this county comprise 10.5 per cent. of its area, with an average of 67.3 acres per square mile. The crops are corn, cotton, oats, sugar-cane, vegetables, and some fruits. Very little wheat is planted. Cotton growth, yield, methods of culture, etc., are very much the same as described in Madison county.

SAN JACINTO.

(See "Southern prairie region".)

GRIMES.

Population: 18,603.-White, 8,323; colored, 10,280.

Area: 780 square miles.-Woodland, seven-eighths; all oak, hickory, and pine region.

Tilled lands: 79,877 acres.-Area plantel in cotton, 35,984 acres; in corn, 29,072 acres; in oats, 555 acres; in wheat, 70 acres.

Cotton production: 11,701 bales; average cotton product per acre, 0.33 bale, 495 pounds seed-cotton, or 165 pounds cotton lint.

The surface of Grimes county is rolling, about one-eighth being prairie, and the remainder being timbered with post and black-jack oaks, hickory, short-leaf pine, dogwood, etc. A low-water divide passes north and south through the county, and on the west, forming one of the boundaries, is the Navasota river (with short tributary streams), which unites with the Brazos near the southwestern corner. On the east the county is watered partly by some of the headwaters of the San Jacinto and partly by tributaries of the Trinity river.

The prairies occur in areas of from 50 to 100 or more acres throughout the county. Their soils are mostly of the stiff, black, waxy character of the southern prairie region, underlaid by the calcareous concretionary clay's of the Port Hudson age. They are not much under cultivation.

The timbered lands comprise two classes, which are intermixed, viz, the post oak and the black-jack and pine lands. The former is considered the best, and has a depth of a few inches to a clayey subsoil, while the black-jack lands are sandy to a depth of several feet. A high yield is claimed for both varieties.

The river bottom lands, with their dark and reddish alluvial soils, are the richest and most productive. They extend through the county with a width of 1 or 2 miles, and are heavily timbered with walnut, pecan, ash, etc. Grimes is principally an agricultural county, though but 16 per cent. of its area is under cultivation, averaging 102.4 acres per square mile. It is one of the chief cotton counties of the state, that crop averaging 46.1 acres per square mile, or 45 per cent. of the tilled lands.

Corn is the second crop with regard to acreage, and has an average yield of from 9 to 15 bushels per acre. In addition to the abstract given below, Mr. Blackshear has sent the following in regard to the features of the county:

Navasota river has a bottom of from one-fourth to 14 miles in width, with a belt of sandy, timbered upland about one-fourth of a mile wide, bordered by a prairie which gradually rises for 200 yards to a rocky bluff from 10 to 15 feet high, almost parallel with the river for many miles. Large prairies extend from this bluff to the middle of the county, becoming smaller eastward. Brazos river has a bottom proper, varying from 1 to 3 miles in width, with a belt of sandy uplands from 1 to 2 miles wide, interspersed with small meadow prairies, level and flat, rather sandy, and usually wet. Sandy post-oak lands lie in the eastern and northern parts of the county; pine lands also in the eastern portion.

ABSTRACTS FROM THE REPORTS OF P. D. SAUNDERS, OF GIBBONS CREEK, AND OF ROBERT D. BLACKSHEAR, C. H. EHINGER, AND A. R. KILPATRICK, OF NAVASOTA.

The kinds of soils cultivated in cotton are: Bottom lands of the Brazos and Navasota rivers and a few large creeks, the blackish prairies, both sandy and stiff hog-wallow lands, and the light soil of the gray, sandy, hilly, timbered lands.

The bottom land embraces one-fourth the area of the county, but not one-half of it is cultivated. The soil is an alluvium, with varying proportions of sand, orange-red to dark chocolate in color. The subsoil is lighter in color, until at a depth of from 5 to 25 feet it is composed of sand, associated with white, black, and reddish pebbles. When this soil is broken in winter or spring tillage is easy throughout the year, and the soil is early and well drained by natural ravines. Its natural timber growth is pecan, elm, hackberry, ash, hickory, and black, red, and post oaks. It is apparently best adapted to cotton, corn, and oats, but with proper cultivation it also produces potatoes and pease successfully.

Two-thirds of the cultivated portion is planted in cotton. The plant attains a height usually of from 3 to 7 feet, but is most productive at 7. It inclines to run to weed in wet weather, which is remedied by topping. The seed-cotton product per acre is from 1,800 to 2,500 pounds, from 1,545 to 1,780 pounds making a 475-pound bale of lint, which rates as good middling to fair. If rotation of crops is practiced, twenty years' cultivation shows no decline in the quantity of production and very little change in the quality of staple. Cockleburs, tievines, and careless-weeds are most troublesome. Very little of such land lies "turned out", and rest improves its yield, but increases the labor in getting rid of sprouts. It is slightly improved in some places by material washed from upland slopes.

The prairies comprise two varieties, viz, black sandy prairie and black hog-wallow prairie. The first is a fine and coarse sandy loam; the second is a tenacious, adhesive, clayey loam. They vary in depth from a few inches to 4 or 5 feet, and occur in all directions for 20 miles in spots of from 50 to 500 acres or more. The timbered lands, alternating with these prairies, bear a natural growth of elm, ash, pecan, and post, pin, and black-jack oaks. The prairie subsoil is a heavy clay, varying in color from red to yellow, and is sometimes a joint clay, underlaid by alternate strata of sand and gravel in some parts, and in others by limestone, varying from 1 foot to 20 feet in thickness. The prairie soils, unless baked too hard, are easily tilled in dry weather, but, are difficult to till in wet weather. They are early and warm when well drained, and are well adapted to all of the crops produced here.

From one-half to two-thirds of the cultivated area is planted with cotton, and the plant usually attains a height of from 3 to 5 feet, but is most productive at 3 feet. In favorable growing weather, with good tillage, and in wet weather, the plant inclines to run to weed, which is remedied by throwing the dirt from the row and by topping the plant. The seed-cotton product per acre varies from 1,000 to 1,600

pounds, from 1,425 to 1,655 pounds from both fresh and long-cultivated land making a bale of middling lint. If rotation is practiced, production does not decline in quantity after twenty years' cultivation. As the soil gets thinner, the stand of cotton is left closer or thicker and the width of the row is diminished, so that the production holds out. None of this land lies "turned out", but it improves by rest, and is not much injured by weeds in the interval. The most troublesome weeds on this soil are blood, careless, bur, and purslane, besides all weeds which infest southern farms; grasses do not give much trouble. Serious damage is done to slopes by washing and gullying of the soil, but the washings improve the valley lands and render them mellow and easy of tillage. To check the damage some farmers practice horizontalizing with success.

The fine gray sandy loam is from 5 to 18 inches thick, and comprises one-half the area of the county and seven-eighths of the land under cultivation. It has a subsoil of red and yellow clay, impervious in places, which becomes very hard when dried in the sun. It contains occasionally black and white pebbles, and is underlaid by sand, gravel, hard sandstone, and limestone in various localities, and at depths varying from 3 to 10 feet. Tillage is generally easy at any time, and the soil is early, warm, and well-drained. Its natural growth is ash, hickory, dogwood, French mulberry, some short-leaf pine, and post, black-jack, and many other oaks. It is apparently best adapted to cotton and sweet potatoes, and one-half its cultivated area is planted in cotton. The plant attains a height of from 2 to 4 feet. In wet weather plants are inclined to run to weed, which is remedied by topping and by frequent stirring of the soil. The seed-cotton product per acre varies from 600 to 1,000 pounds, 1,545 pounds making a 475-pound bale of lint, the staple rating as middling. Five years' cultivation reduces the product per acre to nearly one-half, requiring a very little less to make a bale, and the staple is a grade lower because shorter. Crab and crow-foot grasses, cocklebur, careless-weed, and May-pop vines are the most troublesome as weeds. None of this land has yet been "turned out", except that which was abandoned when laborers emigrated to Kansas. It improves much by rest and greenmanuring. Many slopes are seriously damaged by washing and gullying of the soil, but the valleys are improved by the washings. Some horizontalizing and hillside ditching have been done, which check the damage except during heavy rains, when the water breaks over the dams.

The cotton crop is sometimes damaged by late and by early frosts. If planted early, and the spring be wet and the nights cool, the crop is likely to suffer from "red or sore shin" and aphides. The best time for planting here is from April 1 to 15. The crop also sometimes suffers from drought, but that cotton can grow with very little moisture was shown by the production of one-fourth of a crop in 1879 in this locality, when no rain fell between April 23 and November. Scarcely 2 bushels of corn were raised per acre. It is thought by the best farmers that a wet or very rainy May is conducive to the early appearance of the cotton-worm, whereas if we have a dry May the worm does not destroy the cotton before September or October. As evidence of this, in 1846, the first year that the cotton-worm appeared in this county, it rained the entire month of May, and the cotton crop was destroyed by the 15th or 25th of July. The yield for that year was about a 500-pound bale to 40 acres.

Cotton is shipped in November and December, or as fast as ginned, from Navasota to Houston and Galveston at from $1 75 to $2 50 per bale, respectively.

WALLER.

(See "Southern prairie region ".)

BRAZOS.

Population: 13,576.-White, 7,325; colored, 6,251.

Area: 520 square miles.-Woodland, probably one-half; all oak, hickory, and pine region and prairies. Tilled lands: 61,803 acres.-Area planted in cotton, 28,044 acres; in corn, 16,542 acres; in oats, 626 acres; in wheat, 8 acres.

Cotton production: 9,743 bales; average cotton product per acre, 0.35 bale, 525 pounds seed-cotton, or 175 pounds cotton lint.

Brazos county is triangular in shape, and lies within the angle formed by the junction of the Brazos and Navasota rivers, the west and east boundaries. The surface of the country is undulating, and about equally divided between prairies and timbered lands. The bottom lands of the rivers, and especially of the Brazos, are broad, and well timbered with a large growth of ash, pecan, elm, cottonwood, pin oak, hackberry, etc. The soil of the Brazos consists of the usual red loam that occurs in other counties along the river, and is very highly productive and largely under cultivation. A yield of 40 or 50 bushels of corn and 2,000 pounds of seed-cotton per acre is claimed for them. The upland prairie lands have a brownish loam soil more or less sandy, interspersed with areas of a black waxy nature, and underlaid by clays.

The timbered uplands have a timber growth of post and black-jack oaks and hickory, and a sandy and gravelly soil, quite deep, with a red or yellow clay subsoil. These lands are easily cultivated, and with the prairies yield about 800 pounds of seed-cotton per acre in fair seasons.

Brazos is better populated than most of the counties of the state, and is chiefly an agricultural county. The lands under cultivation average 118.9 acres per square mile, or 18.6 per cent. of its area.

Cotton is the principal crop of the county, comprising 45.4 per cent. of the tilled lands, with an average of 53.9 acres per square mile, a number exceeded by only six counties in the state.

ABSTRACT FROM THE REPORT OF J. W. BICKHAM, OF BRYAN.

Cotton here is a sure crop, but on account of accidents of weather and insect pests, etc., is not always a full crop. All the uplands, including creek bottoms, are well adapted to cotton, and embrace a variety of soils, including the prairie, which is a mixture of the black sandy and waxy soils. The timbered part is also sandy, and equal in area to the prairie, and bears a natural growth of post and blackjack oaks and hickory. The bottoms have a growth of pecan, ash, and hackberry. These kinds of soil prevail in all the upland counties of this region. Depths of soils vary from 6 to 30 inches. Tillage is easy, except when some parts are too wet. The soil is early, warm, and well drained, and best adapted to cotton, and at least one half the land is planted in the latter. The other chief crops are corn, potatoes, and hay.

The cotton-plant attains a height of from 3 to 6 feet, but is most productive at 4, and inclines to run to weed in wet seasons, or when stripped by the boll-worm. No remedy is known here. The seed-cotton product per acre of fresh land is from 1,000 to 1,200 pounds, 1,600 pounds making a 475-pound bale of low middling lint. After twenty years' cultivation the product is from 800 to 1,000 pounds, 1,545 pounds then making a bale of lint, equal in quality to that from fresh land. No land here is "turned out", but some of it would improve by a few years' rest. Slopes do not readily wash and gully, and valleys are not injured but improved by the washings.

Cotton, as soon as ready, is sold in Bryan and shipped to Galveston.