In today's Texas, with its growing urban populations and big-city 
lifestyles, it is worth remembering that in 1850 only 10 percent of 
Texans lived in towns with as many as 100 people. The rest—of 
various ethnic and racial groups—lived off the land, which was 
blessedly suited to a profitable variety of crops and livestock and 
also provided an abundance of wildlife free for the taking.

    In Texas Roots, C. Allan Jones reminds us that the economic 
wealth of modern Texas arose from its agricultural heritage, a rich 
mixture of practices and traditions including:

	 • Caddo hunting, gathering, gardening, and farming
	 • Irrigated agriculture at Spanish missions 
	 • Hispanic ranching 
	 • Slave-based plantations
	 • Small-scale farmers and ranchers

    Through time, people adapted the agricultural technologies, 
laws, and customs of New Spain, Mexico, Europe, and the South 
to their own practical, institutional, and legal needs. The result was 
a particularly Texan system that would serve as the foundation for 
the state's economic strength after the Civil War.

    Texas Roots spotlights the connection between Texans and 
the land, bringing alive an aspect of the state's history that
contributed immeasurably to its identity and prosperity.

_________________________________________________________

C. ALLAN JONES, director of the Texas Water Resources Institute, 
lives in College Station, Texas.


Number Eight: Texas A&M University Agriculture Series


What people are saying about this book

"It is detailed, thorough, and crammed with information on farming 
and stock raising. . . . It is also an attractive-looking book, carefully 
designed with appropriate and helpful illustrations—most of them 
pen-and-ink-type sketches."—Western Historical Quarterly, Autumn 
2006