Texas

Soils.

The Coastal plain has for the most part a light sandy soil, but there is a fertile alluvium in the river bottoms and good clay soil on some of the uplands. The eastern part of the Prairie plains is a belt known as the Black Prairie which has a rich black soil derived from Upper Cretaceous limestone ; immediately west of this is another belt with a thinner soil derived from Lower Cretaceous rocks ; a southern part of the same plains has a soil derived from granite; a large area in the north-west has a reddish clay soil derived from Permian rocks and a variety of soils— good black soils and inferior sandy and clay soils—derived from Carboniferous rocks. A very thin soil covers the Edwards pla teau, but on the Llano Estacado are brownish and reddish loams derived from the sediments of a Neocene lake.

Flora and Fauna.

The arboreal flora of Louisiana and Ar kansas extends into north-eastern Texas, conformable with the Coastal plain, where, immediately south of the Colorado river, the great pine belt of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts terminates. The flora of the Great Plains region, consisting principally of nu tritious grasses, enters the north-west portion of the State and extends south to the Edwards plateau and east into the Prairie plains region. The peculiar plants of the Rocky Mountain pla teaux penetrate into the Trans-Pecos region, while north Mexican flora crosses the Rio Grande in the south-west. The central re gion is a transition ground where these floras find representation generally in deteriorated and dwarfed species. The long-leaf pine is the dominant forest tree on the uplands of the Coastal plain, north of the Colorado river, for i oo m. or more from the coast ; further inland and especially in the north-eastern corner of the State it is succeeded by the short-leaf pine. Between the rising swells of long-leaf pine lands are thickets of hawthorn, holly, privet, plane trees and magnolias. Loblolly pine, cypress, oaks, hickory, ash, pecan, maple, beech and a few other deciduous trees are interspersed among both the long-leaf and short-leaf pines, and the proportion of deciduous trees increases to the westward. In the broad river valleys of the eastern part of the Prairie plains region are forests and isolated groves consisting principally of pecan, cypress, cottonwood and several species of oak. A low growth of mesquite and other shrubs and vines is found on upland areas in the eastern half of the Prairie plains. The western half of these plains has only a few trees along the water courses, and some scraggy oak, juniper, mesquite and cedar in the more hilly sections. In the canyons of the Edwards plateau grow the pecan, live oak, sycamore, elm, walnut and cypress ; on the hilly dis sected borders of the same plateau are cedars, dwarf and scrubby oak, and higher up are occasional patches of stunted oak.

Only a few of the large wild animals remain, but animal life is still varied, for it includes and is a meeting ground for species common to northern, eastern and western United States and many species of Mexico. White-tailed Sonora and grey mule-deer, and a few antelopes are found in the south-western counties. Louisi ana bears still inhabit the inaccessible cane-brakes near the coast, and in the western mountains black and cinnamon bears are oc casionally found. Coyotes, jack rabbits and prairie dogs are com mon on the plains. The Texas game birds consist chiefly of plover, snipe, teal, mallard and wild geese. Alligators are found in the low coast region and are especially numerous in the Nueces river. The horned-toad is the most common Texas lizard, except in the western counties where rock lizards are numerous. Among venomous snakes the coral snake is common along the coast, the copperhead along the wooded banks of creeks and rivers, the cottonmouth in all parts of the State, except the most arid, the "side wiper" or massasauga and ground rattlesnake in all sections.

Climate.

In the region of Galveston, along the northern sec tion of the coast, where southerly and south-easterly winds from the Gulf prevail throughout the year, the climate is warm, moist and equable, but the moisture decreases westward and south-westward, and the equability, partly because of northerly winds during the winter mo*s, decreases in all directions in land. The mean annual tempetature decreases to the north-west ward with an increase of both altitude and latitude, ranging from 73° F in the lower Rio Grande valley to 55° F in the northern portion of the Panhandle. Along the coast the average number of days during a year in which the temperature falls below the freez ing-point is only three or four, but in the Panhandle this average is from roo to 115. The average annual rainfall decreases quite regularly westward and south-westward from 46 in. at Galveston to 9 in. at El Paso. In middle, eastern and north-eastern Texas the spring months are the wettest and winter months are the driest. In western and south-western Texas the summer months are the wettest and spring months the driest. In these sections irrigation or dry-land farming is necessary for the best results in agriculture. The average annual snowfall for the State is about 5 in. ranging from 19 in. in the northern portion of the Pan handle, to scarcely any along the coast and lower Rio Grande.