San Antonio Daily Light

FROM NORTH TEXAS.

Cotton Acreage Decreasing and More Grain Planted.

A LIGHT correspondent coming down from Fort Worth last week says:

"This year's crop outlook along the Missouri, Kansas and Texas railway between San Antonio and Fort Worth is exceptionally promising. There have been good rains all along the line and a feeling of security is manifest among the merchants in the various towns. A drummer showed me an envelope full of exchange on New York which he had collected of the merchants in one small town. They had the money all the time, he remarked, but they were afraid to let it go, until they saw that the crops were safe.

"One thing is especially noticeable, namely, the decrease in the acreage of cotton and the increase of that of oats and corn. The Southern planter may be slow to find out that he must become a farmer: that instead of raising the one staple article he must direct his attention to a variety of crops; that instead of selling cotton and buying flour and bacon, he must raise all the necessaries of life upon his own soil. The cotton planters say that they raise cotton because it brings cash! But what good if the cash which the cotton brought goes out of the back door for flour and bacon? Besides that, hogs bring cash too; so does corn; so does oats. The latter will almost always bring thirty cents and corn in Texas is low at 40. At present we pay 70 cents at San Antonio. The corn crops and the oats crops, it is said, are rather uncertain. Southwest of San Antonio where the rains are generally tardy, those two cereals are uncertain, but when it does not rain. cotton will shed its squares and do no better than these. With a moderate season oats will do well. With rains it will bring 60 bushels to the acre in our rich black land. Corn will rarely fail absolutely and even at 15 bushel it is better than 4 cents cotton. But with moderate rains it will bring 35 and 40 bushels. Whether it is being put into high priced pork or sold as horsefeed it will bring no less cash to its producer than the fleecy staple."