■ flfiffl ■ ■ ■V ',•-' ' Glass. Book. - :k:;:. J ""\ • rUiE/islC'iss Hi F-'tM l';iss ■': \ -■&:-. .ate Governor of Louisiana. ;„'-,„„ I, Ml NO s Urvuy>u $ 500 00 This is a statement of the needs of an emigrant to Louisiana who is determined to get all the good of the benign State and United States land law, with the least possible expenditure of money. The statement is fair, and every item can be bought for the money. With the assistance of a hired man three months he COST TO START A FARM. can build his cabin, .dig a well, (fifteen feet deep), fence in twenty acres, plant ri^e, corn, potatoes, peas, pumpkins and five acres in cotton, and a patch of sugar cane for the children. The emigrant's farm house is built very quickly and with little cost of the trunks of small, straight pines or cypress cut close by. The body of the house is made of the logs, like a pen — the ends notched so as to fit and the openings between the logs plastered with clay. The raft- ers are made of green poles and the roof covered with clap-board split from oak, cypress or pine. A temporary chimney may be made by plastering a skeleton wooden frame with clay mixed with moss. Lumber for floor, doors and shutters may be split from cypress or bought at the nearest saw-mill, and bricks may be bought or made. There is a large and prosperous German settlement at Fabacher, in St. Landry parish. The settlement was made about ten years ago. They clubbed together in building, and many of the families were located in their houses in forty-eight hours after arriving on the land. In the estimate of expenses for the first year I have put down provisions for only six months. It is supposed that milk butter, and eggs with vege- tables^ which grow quickly, will add materially to the fare of the family; fish and game will also help to feed the family. Potatoes will be ready for the table in April, mustard, radishes, peas and corn six weeks after plant- ing. Rice will be harvested in August and cotton picking will commence. This crop can be picked by the good wife and children, and the yield will probably be three bales to five acres, worth $135. Ten acres of rice would yield an average of 12 2 barrels, worth $4 per bar- rel, amounting to $500 net, which, together with the proceeds of his cotton, would give the settler a larger cap- ital than that expended to obtain a home and 480 acres of land. It is supposed that the corn, peas, pumpkins, and potatoes raised can be used to advantage on the farm. 2S LOUISIANA The rice-straw is also a valuable forage, and with the cot- ton seed saved will keep the sheep in good order during the winter. The wool and lambs and calves will also add to the profits of the year. The farmer finds himself in a good position to enlarge his fields and extend his operations for another year. Thus, from year to year, with the na- tural increase of stock, and with industry, prudence and economy added to the growing value of his farm, com- forts gather around his home, luxuries are added, and it does not require a prophet to foretel that in twenty years time the poor emigrant will become a rich and prosperous farmer. FENCING IN THE PRAIRIES. The prairies of Louisiana are divided from one another by many streams, large and small, bordered with a heavy growth of timber and the traveler is never out of sight of forests; thus the problem of fencing large tracts is not so difficult to solve as in the boundless, naked prairies of the West. Many new-comers use the barbed wire on posts or plant cherokce-rose hedge; the .rose hedge can be con- tracted for at the rate of sixteen dollars per mile. It will turn stock in three years. The material for a double wire fence will cost about $100 per mile. Five cypress pick- ets will make nine feet of fence; they can be bought for four dollars per hundred, and will last fifty years. TJIE ADVANTAGE OF THE LOUISIANA PRAIRIES OVER THE WESTERN PRAIRIES. The farmer here can work every day in the year. In the West he can only work six months of the year. In Louisiana it is neither so hot in summer or so cold in winter as in the West. The season is so long that meadows may be cut four times a year. The climate is so mild that it docs not re- quire half the expenditure for clothing and houses as in the West. ADVANTAGES OF LOUISIANA FARMING. 29 Stock requires no shelter, and will thrive on the wil" range of natural grasses, giving a greater and more regu- lar increase than in colder climates. Vegetables are in season every month in the year. The Louisiana prairie is .not subject to "northers" in winter, drought in summer, nor to the devastation of grasshoppers, potatoe bugs or chintz bugs. There is ample forest growth near at hand for building, fencing, and firewood, and frequent navigable streamr competing with the railroads and keeping down tho cost of transportation of produce to market. WHAT A MAN CAN MAKE ON A LOUISIANA FARM. After a farm has been fenced and improved, and ma- chinery bought, it is almost incredible what a man can make of agricultural products in this State. One hand with a screw pulverizer and sower attached can put in two hundred acres" of rice. At 12 J bbls. per acre, this would } r iekl 2,500 barrels, worth $4 per barrel. Total value, $10,000. Of course this crop could not be harvested by one man, but the headers and bind- ers are now being adapted to the harvesting of rice, and it need not cost more .to harvest, and prepare for market than wheat. Nearly all of the State lands, being low, are eminently suitable for the cultivation of rice. Where con- venient to water, rice fields are irrigated, and no cultiva- tion is required. A farmer with the aid of new improved machinery might easily put in one hundred acres in rice, ten acres in corn, and five acres in cotton, without having tha cultiva- tion and harvesting interfere with one another. LUCERNE AND GRASSES IN LOUISIANA. The following extract is taken from Howard's Manual, the third edition of which is before me. It is recognized as authority in the South: LUCEKNE. Lucerne hay is extremely nutritious, and is relished by hors?s, cattle and sheep. So far as the observation of the wiiter extends, it is pre- ferred by the domestic animals to any other kind of hay. 30 LOUISIANA. The product of lucerne is enormous. Five tons of excellent hay may- be cut from one acre of ground planted in lucerne. It is estimated that fodder, green and dry, may be obtained from an acre of lucerne suffi- cient for the support of five horses during the entire year; this includes the great bulk of green food during the spring, summer and autumn. In latitude 32° lucerne is not green during the months of December, January and a part of February. In the low country, along the Gulf coast, it would probably be green all the year. It is ready to cut fully a month in advance of red clover. The rap- idity of its growth is only exceeded by asparagus. The root is perren- nial, lasting ten or fifteen or perhaps more years The roots become as large as small sized carrots. Five acres of lucerne on this farm was destroyed by Sherman's horses and cattle. After that the ground was left riddled with holes, giving it the appearance of a locust year. The sueceeding crop of corn was very heavy. This might have been expect- ed in view of the fact stated by Ville, that lucerne absorbs more ammo- nia from the atmosphere than any other crop. Lucerne seems to be indifferent to the texture of the soil, provided it be dry and sufficiently rich. The writer has seen it grow luxuriantly on the sands of the seaboard, and the clay of the blue limestone country. But two things are required, the soil must be rich and dry. Great efforts have been made to introduce lucerne into the Northern States and England. The soil and climate of England is not suited to it, and the Northern States are too cold. Lucerne is a child of the sun. It is a plant of a warm climate. It grows as well in the Southern States as in France and Italy. It is com- paratively insensible to drought. • THE JOHNSON GRASS, Sorghum Hdlapense, rises with a stem from four to twelve feet high, according to the soil on which it grows, erect, smooth, leaves linear, flexuous, graceful, curling down at the ends like Corn, flowers in a panicle at the top, at first green, changing gradually to brown. It is perennial in the South and will yield the enormous amount of two tons at each of four cuttings. Mr. Howard says in his Manual : "Mr. N. B. Moore since 1874 has de- voted himself steadily to the culture of this grass, and from his farm of 100 acres he has derived an annual in- come of from $7000 to $10,000. This grass is propagated both by seeds and roots, which resemble those of the wild cane, and penetrate the ground to the depth of thirty inches. Mr. Post says : It not only thrives well on bottoms, but it will grow just as well on upland, and, though on poor upland it will make but little hay, it makes fine pasture. It likes dry, hot weather, and while all other grasses seem to feel the affects of the hot sun, this retains its deep, rich green color, being but little effected by the drouth. This is because oi its long roots, which, like clover, run deep for moisture, often reaching GRASSES. SI two and three feet below the surface. Breaking up the land everv few years gives it all the culture needed, while a liberal top dressing of stable manure or some good fertilizer rewards the grower abundantly. To dairymen it is invaluable, making the richest milk and butter, being of such a rapid growth a less number of acres for the same amount of stock is required. Where the hay made from this grass has been sold for years the livery men prefer it to timothy; stock men also, but they complain their stock eat too greedily. BERMUDA GRASS. This grass grows everywhere in the South. It takes hold readily upon the poorest hill-tops aud gulleys, and upon the richest bottom lands All kinds of stock eat it with avidity. It runs upon the surface of the ground, sending out roots from every joint, and thus propagating itself, forms quickly a dense sod, yielding an immense amount of hay or green food. The closest cropping and tramping does not hurt it at any sea- son. One hundred pounds of the green grass will cure fifty pounds of perfectly dry, sweet hay. Mr. Howard, in his manual, says: I think it very doubtful whether there is an acre of land in the South thoroughly set in Bermuda grass (if proper use be made of it), that is not worth more than any other crop that can be grown on it. If I am right in this broad opinion, our efforts should be to propagate it. I am planting it every year on such land as does not pay for cultivation. I cannot better illustrate the grazing value of Bermuda grass, says Mr. Howard, than by an instance "in my own experience. Nearly thirty years ago I bought an old plantation near my place in Hancock county, Ga. It was bought at a low price on account of its being infested in places with Bermuda grass. I permitted a man to use thirty acres of it which were set in Bermuda grass. He had at the time, a cow,'a calf, sow, ; pigjs, and a brood mare. He cultivated a little crop of corn, but never had enough to feed his family. His stock lived upon that thirty acres of Ber- muda grass, except for a short time during the winter, when they had access to other parts of the plantation. He remained upon his place for five or six years. At the end of that time he had twenty-five head of cattle, severity-five hogs and five horses. I offered him for his increase $1000, which he refused. So much for the grazing value of Bermuda grass. I cannot give a better illustration of the manurial value of this grass than by reference to the crops made on this thirty acres of land after the man referred to left the place : First crop cotton— half a stand on account of the mass «of undecom- posed sod ; 1800 pounds seed-cotton, 600 pounds of lint. Second year, 2800 pounds seed-cotton per acre. Third year, sixty-five bushels of corn per acre ; manured with cotton seed. Fourth crop, forty-two bushels of wheat per acre. The average product of this land without the grass would have been not more than one hundred pounds of seed cotton, fifteen bushels of S2 LOUISIANA. com, or ten bushels of wheat. I know of no crop that will improve land more, and certainly none that will give so large an increase with bo little labor. . A gentleman in this county informed me a few days since that he had just cut from one acre of Bermuda grass eight two-horse wagon loads of excellent hay. . The Bermuda and crab grass are at home in the South, clear down to the gulf shore. They not only live, but live in spite of neglect; and, when petted and encouraged, they make such grateful returns as aston- ish their benefactor. I have known $114 worth of Bermuda grass sold from seven-eighths of an acre in one season. Mr. Edward Atkinson thinks that by a proper rotation of crops, with sheep, Bermuda grass, cotton and cotton seed meal, the worn out lands of the older Cotton States would be entirely renovated, and reveal a mine of wealth to the South hitherto unknown. There is little need in Louisiana for artificial pasturage, summer or winter. We have many grasses with only local names, besides, the broom sedge, the carpet grass, Bermuda grass, the ksjndesa striata and the white clover, the wild rye, the prairie grass, the gazon (paspalum) the gamma, all growing with luxuriance in the woods and open lands, and crab grass in the stubble and corn fields gives a summer and fall pasture which cannot be sur- passed. This is a point of superiority of the South over the North. The Northern farmer has nothing to corres- pond to our crab grass. We are fortunately exempt in Southern pastures from perennial weeds. On the whole, the drawbacks to successful grass culture in Louisiana are as few as in any part of the world. WIN TEE GRASS. j Howard's Manual.] One of the most marked and singular advantages of the South is its ability to grow grasses which may be pastured in winter. It is a bless- ing of climate which we have not yet appreciated. The raising of a full supnly of horses, mules, cattle, sheep and hogs-for our own con- sumption, is an absolute essential of skilled agriculture. For all of these, except the hog, grass either green or cured is necessary. The cost of cutting and saving hay has been greatly reduced by the use of improved implements. Still it is something. Besides the cost of the hay is the cost* of the barn to storeit. in, and in addition the cost of feed- ing it out. A barn sufficiently large to hold the hay l'or a considerable stock is an expensive affUir. Nearly ail of this expense is saved by good winter pastures. The stock upon them do their own mowing, and are their own barn. Exceptional periods occur, as in a heavy freeze or severe storm, when some hav mtst be fed. By the aid of the ■winter grasses it is perfectly practicable to raise colts, cattle and sheep throughout a large portion of the South without any ether cost than G J? ASSES. 38 the interest on land and the value of the salt. The first object of the farmer who designs to giow the grasses should be to sow those which are green all the winter. "Boughness," as it is called, may be tempo- rarily secured by sowing corn, peas, millet and oats. But there is no adequate substitute for winter grass pastures. Oats, barley and rye may be grazed, but the stock must be taken from them at a season when the necessity is most pinching, and besides they must be sowed annually, which is expensive. They are decidedly to be preferred to no winter pasture, but are very inferior to permanent grass pastures. The following is taken from the valuable work of Dr. D. L. Phares on Southern Grasses : THE MEADOW OAT GEASS. This grass deserves to be placed at the head of the winter grasses for the South. It has the double advantage of being a good hay as well as winter pasture grass, it does not answer well on moist land. Kich upland is the proper soil for it. On such land it will grow from five to seven feet tall, completely hiding a man walking in it. It will grow on more sandy land than most of the artificial grasses. The yield of hay per acre is large and the quality excellent. It matures rapidlv. Seed sown in the spring will produce seed in the fall; the seed is ripe when the stalk is green. This. is a great advantage in being able to save the seed and hay from the same crop. The amount of green food yielded by this grass during the winter is greater than from any other grass. M. MACULAT A— {Spotted Medick.) This is a valuable plaut. It was brought from Chili to California and thence to the United States under the name of California Clover' or Yellow Clover. Many mistook it for Lucerne, and still so call it. This has only two or three yellow blossoms in each cluster, while lu- cerne has many blue blossoms in an elongated head. I have grown this plant about twenty-five years. It furnishes good grazing from February till April or May, a small lot of ground feeding a large number of cattle, sheep, etc. Cattle do not like to eat it at first, but it is easy to teach them, and they acquire a great fondness for it. But all the grass-eating animals, including geese, know and eat lucerne greedily at first sight. Horses that refuse the Spotted Medick when green, eat it readily when wilted or dried. The last lot I sowed was in 1859 or 1860. Every year many persons passing the public roads near this lot stop and admire the luxuriant growth. For a number of years my live stock had access to it from December to March or later with much profit. On removing them it shot up and spread out rapidly in April and May, in the latter month maturing an immense quantity of seed and then dying. In June the crab grass (Punicum Sauguinale) sprang up on the same ground, and in August this grass, while in bloom, was mowed. In October I had a secoud lighter mowing. In a few weeks the Medick would be up and in full possession of the ground till the next June. Thus for years I had the latter for grazing in winter and spring, and in August and October took off two and a half or three tons of hay per acre. The hay is better than you ever get from the West. After a luxuriant crop of Medick the ground is very loose and in a condition to produce a good crop of anything. One may* cultivate the land every year, and make better crops of corn and cotton than on ground not occupied by the Medick, and still have the benefit of the latter for winter and early spring grazing. ACBOSTIS VULGABIS. This is the Red Top Grass or Herd's Grass of Pennsylvania and the Southern States, and the Bent Grass of England. It grows two or 5 34 LOUISIANA. three feet high, but I have mowed some even four feet high. It makes food hay in the South aud good pasture on lands moderately moist, t grows well in marshes and is not injured by overflow, even though somewhat prolonged. It may be sown the same time as orchard grass, two or three bushels to the acre. POA PKATENSIS. This is also called Smooth Meadow Grass, Spear Grass ; in Kentucky, Blue Grass. The first year after sowing this grass is so small that some persons have given it up as a failure and have plowed it up. The sec- ond year there is some growth, but this grass does not attain perfection until the third year. It grows as well here, and I think better, and during the first and second year makes a much better show than in the far-famed Blue Grass region of Kentucky, or anywhere else that I have seen ; I would say that it should give from three to four tons of hay to the acre. HOLCUS LANATUS, known as the velvet grass, feather grass, tohite timothy of the Old World and the velvet Mesquit e of Texas. This grass grows luxuriantly all the winter in Louisiana. Dr. Phares says: Its nutritive properties consists wnolly in mucilage and sugar, while animals relish more the grasses whose nutritive matter is partly sub- acid and saline. That it is not from deficiency of nutritive matter, but rather excess, will be evident on comparing this with other grasses. •Let us take the orchard grass in bloom . One acre of orchard grass yields green grass 27,905 pounds, which dried gives 11,859 pounds, containing 1089 pounds of nutritive matter. An acre of Holcus, same kind of land, gives green grass 19,057 pounds ; dried, 6193 pounds ; nutritive matter, 1191 pounds. As this grass in its ffreen state contains less water than others, it yields an immensely arger percentage of nutritive matter than Orchard and others, though not in so desirable a proportion and condition to suit the taste of ani- mals. It ought to be specially valuable for milch cows and sheep, and for lean horses that it is desirable to fatten. Fed green, it would be better for work stock than any other green grass. FOOD CROPS. Notwithstanding the planters of Louisiana have in the past adhered to her staples of sugar, cotton and rice, the smaller farmers have a more diversified system, many of them raising all of their home supplies except tea and coffee. Under this salutary system the small farmer is absolutely independent, and it is still the custom in the southwestern part of the State for the clothing of the en- tire family to be spun, woven and made at home. FOOD CROPS. 35 The negroes throughout the cotton belt have mostly- moved to the alluvial lands, where they receive higher wages, and have left the uplands to the intelligent white farmers, native and foreign. The result is seen in the increase of the cotton crop of the South to over 6,000,000 bales. With the uplands of our State settled by intelligent white immigrants, cultivating smaller farms, with better plowing, fertilizing and a more intelligent system of cul- tivation, using all the appliances of modern husbandry, our production of the staples could be readily doubled on the area now devoted to them, leaving the farmer leisure to devote to cereals, fruits and home comforts. Our white farmers have already successfully demon- strated that cotton, sugar, rice and tobacco can be grown by them in this State without the constant drudgery that was once thought necessary for their production. They find leisure to beautify their homes and surround them with comforts and even luxuries, while laying by money for a rainy day. But it is frequently asked by Europeans: Can "white men" labor under a summer sun in the Southern States? I answer that "white men" do labor with remarkable success in midsummer in the Northern States, where the heat is greater and the days longer, and what is to pre- vent them from laboring in the South, where the heat is less and the days are shorter and the nights of more re- freshing coolness? Out of the whole number of laborers now employed South in the cultivation of cotton, it has been estimated that fully one-half are white men. SUMMER HEAT NORTH AND SOUTH. The Northern summer is short — much shorter than in the South — but it is much hotter while it lasts, and plants get their required amount of sunshine in a smaller num- ber of days, Observations on temperature made by scientific men since 1819 have been preserved in the Smithsonian Insti- tute, and published from time to time and transmitted S6 LOUISIANA. by its secretary to the Agricultural Bureau, and embodied in its report. From an examination of these tables it will be seen that the proposition which I have advanced is in- contestably true. In one of the recent reports the fact is stated and philosophically accounted for as follows : "For though there is absolutely more heat at the latitude of New Orleans during the year than at Madison, Wisconsin, yei there is more heat received at this latter place during the three months of midsummer than in the same time at the former place." In the same report, and accompanying it, is a table showing the sun's diurnal intensity at every ten degrees of latitude. It further says : "On the fifteenth of June the sun is more than 23° north of the equator, and therefore it might be readily inferred that the intensity of heat should be greater at this latitude than at the equator ; but that it should continue to increase beyond this even to the pole, as indicated by the table, might not at first si j lit appear so clear. It will, however, be understood when it is recollected that though in a northern latitude the obliquity of the ray is greater, and on this account the intensity should be less, yet the longer duration of the day is more than sufficient to compensate for this cfTjct and produce the result exhibited." IGNORANCE IN AMERICA RESPECTING CLIMATE. Much greater ignorance is apparent even in America on this subject than would at first appear. Wealthy South- erners imagine that if they can only grow sufficient cot- ton or sugar to take them North during the summer months, where during June. July and August they can manage to keep cool, they will be healthy during the re- mainder of the year ; and while sweltering in Northern watering places, and "roasting" in Northern cities, they console themselves in enduring the great heat by the mis- taken belief that it is an unusually heated term for that climate, and that it must be much warmer at their South- ern homes. On the other hand, Northerners who have spent the THE GREAT WEST. 37 winter in the South in search of health or profit, hasten away at the first warm breath of summer, impelled by the same delusion. On the twenty-eighth day of June the thermometer in Havana and Mobile was at 82°, in Key West and New Orleans at 84°, in Buffalo at 87°, but in New York city at 94°. By comparing the telegraphic advices from various portions of the country and the West Indies, it will be perceived that New York on that day was, ther- mometrically (although not geographically), nearer the equator and the torrid zone than either Florida or Cuba by fully 10°. Could Southern tourists, in search of cool and more invigorating climates, have returned on that day to their homes in Louisiana, they would have felt as if they had been transported several degrees to- wards the north pole and the frigid zone from the lati- tude of New York city. THE GREAT WEST. The following is an extract from the report of Professor J. Henry, the learned secretary of the Smithsonian Institute, made for the benefit of the Agricultural Bureau in 1856, and reported to Congress — and to be found in the Agricultu- ral report of that year, page 480. We commend the en- tire report to emigrants wishing to come to America : The general character of the soil between the Mississippi River and the Atlantic is that of great fertility, and, as a whole, in its natural condition, with some exceptions at the West, is well supplied with timber. The portion, also, on the western side of the Mississippi, as far as the 98th meridian, including the States of Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri; Iowa, Minnesota, and portions of the Territory of Kansas and Nebraska, are fertile, though abounding in prairies, and subject occasionally to droughts. But the whole space to the west, between the 98th meridian and the Rocky Mountains, is a barren waste, over which the eye may roam to the extent of the visible horizon with scarcely an object to break the monotony. From the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific, with the exception of the rich but narrow belt along the ocean, the country may also be considered, in comparison with other portions of the United States, a wilderness, unfitted for the uses of the husbandman ; although in some of the mountain valleys, as at Salt Lake, hy means of irrigation, a precarious supply of food may be obtained, sufficient to sustain a considerable populution, provided they can be induced to submit to privations from which American citizens generally would shrink. The portions of the mountain system further South are generally inhospitable, though they have been represented to be of a different character. In traversing this region whole days 38 LOUISIANA. are frequently passed without meeting a rivulet or spring of water to slake the thirst of the wear y traveler. It is true that a considerable portion of the interior is comparatively little known from actual ex- ploration, but its general character can be inferred from that which, has been explored. As has been said before, it consists of an elevated swell of land, covered with ridges, running in a northerly direction inclining to the west. The western slopes, or those which face the ocean, are better supplied with moisture, and contain more vegetation than the eastern slopes ; and this increases as we approach the Pacific, along the coast of which, throughout the whole boundary of the United States to the Gulf of California, exists a border of land of de- lightful climate and of fertile soil, varying from 50 to 200 miles in width. The transition, however, from this border to a parallel district in the interior, is of the most marked and astonishing character. Starting from the sea-coast, and leaving a temperature of 65 degrees, we may, in the course of a single day's journey, in some cases, reach an arid valley, in which the thermometer in the shade marks a temperature of 110 degrees. We have stated that the entire region west of the 98th degree of west longitude, with the exception of a small portion of western Texas, and the narrow border along the Pacific, is a country of comparatively little value to the agriculturist ; and, perhaps, it will astonish the ^reader, if we direct his attention to the fact that this line, which passes southward from Lake Winnepeg to the Q-ulf of Mexico, will divide the whole surface of the United States into two nearly equal parts. This statement, when fully appreciated, will serve to dissipate some of the dreams which have been considered as realities, as to the destiny of the western part of the North American continent. Truth, bowever, transcends even the laudable feelings of pride of country; and in order properly to direct the policy of this great confederacy, jk is necessary to be well acquainted with the theatre on which its future history is to be enacted, and by whose character it will mainly be shaped. This report was made twenty-five years since, and it has been proven to be true, to the sorrow of many thou- sands of immigrants who are now seeking to get away from those vast rainless, treeless, arid deserts, where they have been scorched by the sun's fierce rays in summer and their very marrow frozen in the long winter; where a rain sufficient to insure the growth of crops is surely fol- lowed by the plague of grasshoppers, chintz bugs and Colorado beetles, and a continued struggle for one-half the year is required to keep life m man and beast during the winter. The lands are largely owned by railroad companies, by whom they have been advertised all over the world, and made attractive on paper and maps. Millions of acres have been sold to settlers from the East and Europe, and millions more are for sale, and are still advertised as a "good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills — a land of THE GREAT WEST 39 wheat and barley, and vines, and fig-trees, and pome- granates — a land of oil, olive and honey — a land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack anything in it ; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass." We do not pretend to say that there are no good lands in the West, but we do say that all such lands are long since occupied, and the tide of emigration has rolled up to the extreme western limit, to the dry-line and the alkaline deserts, and is now flowing back and tendiug to- ward the southwest, a section which even to Americans is a terra incognita, where immigration has not been desired or invited till recently. In this connection I reproduce the following letter from a Kansas farmer : Phillipsburg, Kansas, June 5, 1880. Commissioner of Agriculture, State of Louisiana: Dear Sir— I have resided in this (Phillips) county, Kansas, for the last eight years. When I landed hei^e in 1872 the face of the country- was magnificently carpeted with a rich coat of buffalo grass, about two inches high, just after a good rain. The birds were singing and all nature appeared to be alive. I located on a homestead of 160 acres, and with two teams commenced to turn up the virgin soil to the blue vaults of heaven. Believing that I had struck the Eldorado of the West, or the place where the world was finished from the plastic hand of an Omnipotent God, and by him pronounced good— filled with hope, in- spired with the surrounding scenes of nature, I began to lay the foun- dation of a future home. One huudred acres of land were broken in 1874 and planted to corn on my farm, and not one grain of corn was raised— not -i cob on the place matured, for the grasshoppers came and totally destroyed the entire crop. In 1875 I planted seventy- live acres of corn and gathered 150 bushels, the grasshoppers getting the rest, and likewise for four years in succession the grasshoppers did the gather- ing. Still hope has tilled the bosoms of the farmers witb energy. At seasons when there are no grasshoppers- there is generally a trem«n- dous dry time. I have never seen a half crop raised yet in this coun- try. At present we have had no rain since November, 1879, that was sufficient to wet the ground one inch deep at any time. Thousands of acres are this season lying vacant in this county, from the fact that the ground is so dry that it cannot be plowed, and the crops cannot be planted. Hundreds of families are to-day living on the hospitality and generosity of their neighbors. Hundreds are leaving their claims. Last week one farm of 160 acres, with a house on it, ten miles from the county seat of this county, sold for the sum of $2 05. Another farm of 160 acres, within four miles of Phillipsburg, that cost one year ago $300, was sold this week for a sewing machine worth not more than $30. Thousands of farms are here for sale ; everybody discouraged and no buyers. Still our soil is as pi-oduetive as that of any land beneath the Abroad canopy of high Heaven, but the trouble is we cannot get rainfall enough on it to develop it. The settlers here are generally honest, intelligent, industrious and 40 LOUISIANA. energetic, and very poor. They hope that next year they will raise a better crop than this year, and so on. They are living on hope de- ferred. My experience is this, that Kansas, like Palestine, the wandering Elac'e of the Jews, has been wonderfully overated, having the largest istory for so small a place on the globe. Three-fourths of the farmers in this county have spent more money than they have made since they came here, while working har i and practicing economy, living, like Marion, on corn bread and water, in- stead of roots and water. Last season I was down in Graham county, this State, forty miles southwest of this. There are some 15U0 negroes from the South located there, on nice land, living in holes in the ground, without a door shut- ter, without a window, without teams, without money, without timber, using weeds for fuel ; without water, save as they would carry it from the creek from one to miles distant; living on bread and water, and some of them were actually eating the buds of the wild rose, hav- ing gathered them and mashed them np. This statement is not overdrawn : in fact, it is really worse than I have stated it. The wheat crop here is a failure this season ; our gen- eral yield is from two to twelve bushels per acre. Now, sir, I desire to change my domicile. I want to find a place where a person can make an honest living. I want to know what inducement your State offerg to immigration. If necessary, I can brinq; 100 families, as one-half the people here would migrate if they knew where to go and what they could do when they got there to make a living. What can a person do there, with sav from $500 to $1500? What can land be bought for, and oh what terms and conditions, in your State? What crops can be raised, and what are the prices of pro- duce or crops when raised? What is the health of the country? How is the best way to come to your State? How are your crops? How is your fruit? How is your land, and what is the prospect for a poor industrious man to make a living in your State? Hoping to hear from you soon in this matter, I remain, yours re- spectfully, J. D. BBADLEY. GENERAL ADVICE. The immigrant who is absolutely destitute need not hesitate to come to Louisiana. He can obtain employ- ment immediately at remunerative wages by applying to the office of the Commissioner of Immigration in the State-House in New Orleans. There is always a demand for agricultural laborers all over the State, but the de- mand is increased and the wages doubled during the har- vest of rice, cotton and sugar, which extends from August 1 to February 1. GENERAL ADY1GE. 41 THE WHEAT HARVESTERS OP THE WEST would find it greatly to their advantage to come to Lou- isiana after the wheat harvest is over at home and assist in saving our crops. They could either ship as deck- hands on a Mississippi river steamboat or buy "round trip " return tickets by railroad, as is the custom of many young men of the West who visit us annually, some of them finding wives and homes in our hospitable State. HOW TO GO TO LOUISIANA. Louisiana can be reached by railroad from any part of the United States, but we would advise those coming from New York to take the Cromwell Line of steamers — those from England, the Dominion Line of steamers, and those from Germany, the North German Lloyd Line of steamers. The United States lands and the State lands within the borders of Louisiana are ample and sufficient lor homesteads for many thousand families, and although some immigrants of extraordinary vim and energy have entered upon homesteads without any capital, and suc- ceeded in establishing comfortable homes, we would not advise an immigrant to attempt to enter a homestead without a few hundred dollars to start with. Our State and people desire that the immigrant shall prosper, and become the owner of the soil he cultivates, and an independent American citizen ; but if he has no means to buy plows, stock, cows, sheep, hogs and poultry, cart and farming implements, it would be better for him to hire to some farmer already established or to "work for shares" until he has a start of from $300 to $500. THE FOREIGN EMIGRANT need not hesitate or wait for a colony before coming to Louisiana. He will find on arrival some of his country- men already here. Our population is essentially cosmo- politan. Every fifteenth person in the State is a foreigner, and representatives of every nation on the face of the globe are within our borders. LOUISIANA Write to the Commissioner of Immigration, New Or- leans, Louisiana, for special information, and learn before you come all necessary facts. To reach Texas from Eu- rope or New York it is necessary to come by way of New Orleans, and to pass by railroad through Louisiana a dis- tance of 200 miles. This section of Louisiana, possesses all the advantages of Texas as a stock country, without its disadvantages, and contains some of the richest land for farming purposes in the world. MANY WESTERN FARMERS suffering from lung diseases and rheumatism have fled from the bleak western plains to our sunny climate. They fouLd a safe asylum and recovered health and strength. More than this, they have found friends among our peo- ple. They have built themselves houses and gathered comforts and luxuries around them, and now literally sit under their own vines and fig trees. THE CLASS OP PEOPLE MOST NEEDED IN LOUISIANA are farmers, men who will rent or buy the land and culti- vate it; laboring men and women, who will work for monthly wages; mechanics of nearly every trade; men with capital who will engage in the stock business, build mills and manufactories, occupy the "turned out" cotton and sugar plantations and reclaim the millions of acres of rice lands on the sea-coast. There is a limited demand for teachers, male and female, especially in the rural dis- tricts, or for professional men, book-keepers, clerks and in- door men generally. The men most needed are those that can turn the virgin soil and produce something from the ground. Our country is too accessible and has too many natural advantages for us to pay the passage of any or invite the masses of unproductive people upon us; we only want those who, with their capital or labor, will not only be self-supporting but add to their own and the wealth of the country, and become good and law-abiding citizens amongst us. A PROSPEROUS COLONY. 43 We need only more producers, more people to settle up the public lands, more bone and sinew and brains to reap the full reward of intelligent and progressive hus- bandry, to make Louisiana the garden spot of the world. Slavery is gone and forever. The civil and political rights of white and black are perfectly protected, and our State constitution is more free and liberal than that of Massa- chusetts, To the farmers of the older Cotton States, and those of the North and West, and especially to the ex-United States soldiers who fought us during the war, we extend a cordial invitation to become citizens of Louisiana. A PROSPEROUS GERMAN COLONY. Fabacher, St. Landry Parish, La., August 17, 1881. W. if. Harris, Commissioner of Agriculture, New Orleans, La. Dear Sir— I take the liberty to write you a few lines to let you know how the German settlement in St. Landry is progressing. It lays about twenty-nine miles from Opelousas, La., west, and about sixteen miles from the Mermentau River, where the New Orleans and Texas Railroad crosses the river ; there is a station about sixteen miles from here on the railroad. About nine years ago myself and Mr. Jos. Fabacher started the German settlement. We are from New Orleans, but were born in Ger- many. I am from Baden and Jos. Fabacher from Bavaria. Mr. Peter Klein, Christ Ruppert, John Frey followed the year following; they are from Bavaria. They had nothing when the 'came here and to day each of them have about forty head of cattle and horses ; they homesteaded some land and they are doing well. Messrs. John Linden and Theo. Flesh arrived here about eight years ago. They are also doing well ; they homesteaded some land. Fred. Zenter, from Prussia, arrived Here also about six years ago; he also homesteaded a piece of land and is doing well. Mr. Vettus Will' ert, with his family, from Austria, arrived here about six years ago ; he was like the rest, without means. So was John Meyers, from Prussia. Mr. Frank Krayter, also from Austria, about two years ago, homesteaded a piece of land ; he is doing well. Each and everyone of the parties mentioned to-day have plenty of cattle and horses to do their work with ; they have each planted about forty acres of rice, and never buy anything on credit; pay cash for everything they need. They all raise plenty of corn, Irish and sweet potatoes, sugar cane and oats. Mr. G. Miller keeps the Point-a-Loup Springs, one of the finest watering places in the South. A good many people are cured every year of rheumatism by these excellent springs. "They are nine miles trom the German settlement. There are eight families from Polish Prussia, who arrived about three years ago about twelve miles from here; they are also prosperous. We have a saw mill, grist mill, a sugar mill and two rice threshers. We have also a Catholic church and public schools. It is one of the healthiest places in the world ; we don't know anything about sickness. Up here the country is a rolling prairie, with plenty of timber. Hogs are plentiful ; they don't need any care; there is an abundance of acorns to fatten them in winter. 44 LOUISIANA. Messrs. James Little and Chas. Swanton, from New Orleans, settled here this year; they are also doing well. The country is also well adapted to sheep raising. I believe we will have a rice mill at Opelousas. Mr. Jos. Block told me he would put one up this season. If that is the case, we will have a glorious time up here. I forgot to mention we also have a postoffice ere. There arrived about, six months ago some young men emigrants from Pruss'a. They will homestead some land ; as soon as the Parish Court sits they will declare their intention of becoming citizens and settle themselves. Nobody leaves the place who ever comes here. They are all delighted with it. I forgot to mention Louis P. Chambers and Louis Chamber also settled here some six years ago. They are from Alsace, and John Friden from Prussia; they are, like the rest, doing well. Tobacco grows well here. The people raise all the tobacco they need. By information received from some of the within mentioned parties there will arrive from Bavaria some emigrants next fall, relatives of them. The rice crop is magnificent; oats did well this year; so did Irish potatoes. A good deal of the latter are planted and up for this fall. Sweet potatoes, cane and tobacco look well. Very little cotton is planted, but what is planted looks well. This is about all I can write you about the German settlement. Hoping the perusal of this letter will not worry you, I remain, re- spectfully yours, etc., ZENO HUBEKT. EXTRACT FEOM THE EEPOKT OF DR. JOSEPH JONES, PRESIDENT OF THE BOAED OF HEALTH. To His Excellency, Louis A. Wiltz, Governor of Louisiana: Sm-r-The Board of Health of the State of Louisiana have the honor to submit, through your Excellency, to the General Assembly of Lou- isiana, the annual report for the year eighteen hundred and eighty. Louisiana has been free from epidemics of contagious and infectious diseases during the year 1880. * * * « * * * * * * It is worthy of note that in this great city, with 216,000 inhabitants, extending twelve miles along the banks of the Missiissippi Kiver, during the year 1880, only two deaths were reported by the physicians of New Orleans as due to yellow fever, and one of these was an imported case from the bark Excelsior. During the entire year 1880 less than one dozen cases of fever were reported by the entire medical profession of New Orleans, in which a consultation was requested with the President of the Board; and in each and every case submitted to the Board of Health the malarious nature of the fever was recognized. The annual death-rate per 1000 inhabitants was far less for the ten Individual months of 1880, recorded in the preceding tables, than for the similar months during the twelve years— 1869-1880, inclusive -as will be manifest from the following comparison : METEOROLOGICAL REPORT. 45 DEATH BATS FEB THOUSAND INHABITANTS. Arerasre 12 yean. 1880. 1869-1830. January 24.77 aa 24 Fe ruary 24-33 27-38 March 22-34 2966 April 25-01 29 82 May 32-27 85-51 June 31-83 34-18- July 23-41 82 53 Au US' 22-61 37-06 Sent-mber 25-00 40 80 October 25-88 37.57 The National Board of Health and its agents and employes have as- serted through the columns of the daily press, through the pages of the Bulletin of this National Board of Bealth and of the New Orleans Medical and Surgical Journal, edited by one of this organization, that yellow fever was propagated by the bark Excelsior, and that an indefi- nite number of cases occurred in and around New Orleans. If tha statements of the members, agents and employees of the Na- tional Board of Health be true, the mortuary records of the city of New Orleans should manifest the havoc created by this disease, the Board of Health and the entire medical profession of Louisiana to the con- trary notwithstanding. A critical examination of the mortuary records of New Orleans shows that the annual mortality per 1000 inhabitants was greater in the month of June, 1880. than in the corresponding month in 1874, 1875, 1878 and 1879 ; 32 deaths were caused by the various forms of malarial fever, 5 by typhoid, 6 by scarlet fever, 23 bv measles ; in July the death rate fell to 23.44, against 31.83 in the preceding month, and was lower than in any similar month during the preceding twelve years, 1869-1880 ; the death rate was even lower in August, being only 22.61, and lower than in the same month during the period embraced from 1869 to 1880 ; in September the death rate was only 25.00, and was less than that of any similar month, with the exception of September, 1879 ; and in October, when a death from yellow fever was reported, the death rate was only 25.88, and was lower than the similar month, with the exception of 1876 and 1877, in both of whnh years the mortality in October was slightly less. During the year 1880 the monthly rate of mortality in New Orleans compared favorably with those of all large cities in America and Jiu- rope, and an illustration of an important fact was offered, that in the absence of epidemic diseases the death rate of New Orleans may be actually lower in the hot months than in the colder months of the year. METEOBOLOGICAL BEPOET. New Orleans, December 31, 1880. 2b the President and Member* of the Board of Health of the State of Louisiana : Gentlemen— I have the honor to submit the meteorological report for the year 1880 and to present, in connection therewith, the following tables of meteorlogical observations made by the United States Signal Service station of this city. Tables Nos. l to 12. The daily meteorological record of the year 1880, tabulated according to months. Table No. IS. The meteorological summary of the year 1880, with a record of the velocity of the wind, number of rainy days, total rain- fall and monthly observations. Table No. H A comparative meteorological summary of the annual means, eto., from 1873 to 1880 inclusive. 46 LOUISIANA. Table No. 15. A comparative table showing the means of the hottest and coldest days and the dates of the first and last frosts of each year from 1873 to 1880, together with the number of thunder storms, and days on which lightning was observed during the last three years. Table No. 16. A table showing the direction of the winds least likely and most likely to be followed by rain for each month of the year, prepared from observations made at the United States Signal Service Station of the city during the last eight years. TEMPEEATUBE. The annual mean temperature of 1880, was 69.5° F. against 69.9° F. in 1879. The hottest day of the past year was the 5th July, when the mean temperature was 85.7° F. The last frost appeared on January 24, and the first on November 16. The first ice of the season formed on November 19. three days after the first frost. The weather during the last week of December was extremely co !d, the mean temperature of the c ldest day, December 29, being as low as 26.2° F. In the meteor- ological tables (Nos. 1 to 12 inclusive) is given a complete record of the daily temperature, the maximum and minimum, with the mean of these two observations. During the month of June numerous thunder storms occurred, and the latter part of the month was cool and pleasant, KAIN-FALL. During the year 1880 the total rainfall was 69.86 inches, against 51.27 inches in 1879 and 66.16 inches in the yellow-fever epidemic year of 1878. Thunder storms during the past year were frequent, and thunder and lightning were observed on eighty-two days. In 1879 thunder was noted on forty-one days, and in 1878, the epidemic yellow-fever year, only on thirteen days. The number of days on which rain fell in 1880 was 185 against 134 in 1879 and 122 in 1878. As to what constitutes a rainy day is not settled, but the fall of .01 inch of rain, as suggested by Mr. G. J. Symons, the well known English observer, is generally adopted. The Signal Service, however, calls those days rainy days only on which the fall of rain can be measured. Owing to the proxim- ity of New Orleans to the Gulf of Mexico, the annual rainfall is gen- erally heavy, but it never equals the famous rainfall recorded in met- eorological works to have taken place on the Khasia Hills of the Bay of Bengal, where one year the annual rainfall was 600 inches, about 500 inches of which fell in seven months, during the southwest mon- soons. According to Buchan, the United States are chiefly depen- dent for their rain, not on the Pacific Ocean, but on the Gulf of Mex- ico. In his work on meteorology, he says that "the high range of the Rocky Mountains in Central America [North America] plays an impor- tant part in the rainfall. In the northern parts they drain westerly winds of their moisture as they cross them. Further south they pre- sent a barrier to the passage of the easterly winds which blow across the Gulf of Mexico, which are partly on account of the heated plains of the States, turned or drawn to the northward, and spread themselves over the States, especially over the low basin of the Mississippi. Thus, then, the greatest part of the moisture will be drawn into the valleys where the heat is greatest, and the least part into the high mountainous regions, where respectively it will be disengaged and fall in rain. If this be the case, ttien the greatest quantity will fall in the valleys, and the least on the higher grounds— a mode of dis- tribution the opposite of what obtains in Europe. That such is the case, the following remarks by Blodget on the rainfall of America, given in the Army Meteorological Begister, will show : ' for much the larger area of the United States, and for all portions east of the Rocky Mountains, the distinguishing feature of the distribution of the rainfall is its symmetry and uniformity in amount over large areas. The quan- tity has rarely or never any positive relation to the configuration of the surface which would identify it with Europe and the North Pacific METEOROLOGICAL REPORT. 47 coasts ; and in contrast to these it has a diminished quantity at greater altitudes generally, and the largest amounts in the districts near the sea level. It also differs from these districts, and from large land areas generally, in having a larger amount in the interior than on the coast, ior the same latitude, at least as far north as latitude 42°.' The rainiest districts are Florida, the low flats of the Mississippi, then along the course of its valley, then in Iowa, that remarkable depression at the head of the river; and the least quantities on the Allegbanies, espe- cially their higher parts, and the high grounds of the Missouri district. " The heaviest rainfall during the year 1880 occurred on the 8th of March, when 2.81 inches of rain fell. The next heaviest rainfalls were on May 27th, of 2.06 inches, and on December 27th, of 2 inches. Owing to the favorable spring and summer, the crops of sugar and cotton throughout the State promised to be abundant until the month No- vember, when a series of storms visited many portions of the State and caused great damage. During the thirty days of this month rain fell on twenty-two, on nineteen of which the rainfall measured 6.04 inches. HUMIDITY. By reference to table No. 14 it will be seen that the annual mean relative humidity of 1880 was 73 per cent., against 70 of 1879 and 74 of 1878. Eelative humidity, or, as it is also called, the humidity of the air, means the degree of its approach to complete saturation, dry air being assumed as o and saturation as 100, and should not be confounded with absolute humidity. The Signal Service report for 1880 is not yet published, and for the sake of comparison the following table from the report of 1879 of the annual mean relative humidity and the annual mean temperature of several points in the United States, is annexed : tear 1879. a CO a ■*2 o in © eS CD A a o a o 2 ft M O o 3 CO CD > Pi > U • P £> CO 2 CO 3 o l-J (-H O 61 CO a CD 09 CD CD O X ft fc o 02 > S si 02 £ A O <3 02 O £ CD Annual menu lelnive humi-'ity 73-0 73-2 75-7 70.2 68.8 64.7 05,8 62.6 50 5 70.3 70-0 70.0 68-4 RR.9 70.0 Annu 1 mean tempera- ture 69-6 66-8 69.4 66-3 65-8 61-3 59-7 55.8 21.3 49-5 67-0 66. 5 64-8 53-5 51.6 WINDS. The annual mean maximum velocity of the wind was thirty-six miles per hour, and the general direction of the wind was from the south- east. The greatest velocity was attained in May, of thirty-six miles per hour, when the prevailing wind was from the east. WEATHER INDICATIONS. The attention of the Board is called to table No. 16, prepared by Sig- nal Officer Dunne, from a record of observations made during the last eight years. Although not properly within the scope of this report, l have deemed it to be of sufficient importance to have it inserted for future reference. I have the honor to be, gentlemen, your obedient servant, JAMES S. ZACHARIE, Clerk. AVERAGE RAEFFALL OF DIFFERENT STATES. Kansas, Texas, Indian Territory, 20 to 32 inches in rain. Maine, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, 32 to 44 inches of rain. Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, 44 to 56 inches of rain. Louisiana, 56 to 65 inches of rain. 48 LOUISIANA II^J I © © © © © © 3 00 »o © iiaMisttOOOHHweooooooooo 'laoooisooiaiooiooiaioioaiooiaoioiocioiaooeeoo | »a 'UBaW | ww'HH^w'm'ffiiB^Meowiodooom^HoJooH^^ecN'NgfH'ji | vg I Sot- c ~b- t- t~ o oo i>t»acoi>ta^oo«>io'otocc'P co t-'0'0'o a J. © T^-Tcwwi «c»-*ioi>oobQO-*5«o i o m Q M o O « o w H W 3 •uth l>.QO'*TtlOOC5fflT)t»OM'*®C i IHOOtt-"^'*t»00!t>COlOe5lO •XBJ\[ ooooMoortHOLioootSHOot^^ioioHtonnaKSWt-t-ooit^w »OC-t»00Q0i0I>t-t»00t«t»!0l>tDl0C»t-C0»C0®l-t»l>t»t»O®t» o a •IPS UIBJI (MOiOOCOtMOOOOCOOCDOOOOlOrHCOOOOOOOTHOOOS OOOO-^OOOOOOOtHOOOOi-HOJJCOOOOOOOOO •uBaj\[ loioioujoiooooifloooiooiaiooooiooiooioiooioio •eSuBji HoownoHOH'fffl^ooowfJinioiMoooniNHiMwaiiHio '™M •XBJ\[ fn IClM'00C5Oi-iC1«'fllfJ«3l> 11H M I CO ^< 'IPS ureg; oiooooifloiooioioooooffiiooaaouiocoooiooioiB " m39TV[ I rHwt*ooososQOt-t»efiQOe»e»i>«ca^cor5TH«c«*5e!iciOSTi(t>-C3' v it--«d I to o ootoaototoatotoio io_o_co o_co_M)_«o_«£! coj.re_-# •># lo iii 10 to <£> o I - '■* C (M W ^ r-l O MaOHiMCO-*U5tOt»OOOSO i-l t-It-It-It-It-it-it-It-i -H_CM CM CM CM CM CM ioi.oioc<5mninm»ooroioinwoocoHH (0®t-t-t>SNNt-t-l>l>Nt-t>t-t»b>M>t-t»COI>t-t»t-t-t»COQ0 id ■aSu^y; 10L'5T|l'<*10MMm!»tOOHniM'*XMW(MlO'*^'il(MHrtHOO>(SeO T-H •HTM mWWdt>00ffl01OO^«nc1Kl»Nt.OHH(fl«WOOOM -#10 »o 53®tD®tSCOffl(OI>l>t»l>COttlMfflCDffltOt>l>t>l>l>l>l>t»t>l>l>t- 00 •X13M ui^ •ui?8j\[ •e.su'Ba: "- 1 O10O19U5OOOU510U510OO10L0 101I3OO10OOOI0SOO c3"0 fflcoio«wcoowiOHLoi>csiomcoi>(Otoco(Moi>i>t>t — +iot-o CD Ot-tr~t~t~tr~lOlCgDCOLOi^>OI^-t^t^l^~t^gOt~t^t ^t~t-E--iCr-t>t~t~ cot>csic»HiMoo!Mwt>03coiMcqmwHn;coH(MNOM03HSo T-H T— It— It— It— It- IHr- ICMCMt— It— It— I i- It- I HHHt- ItHt— IHt- I t-H t— I •HTM •Xt3J\[ t- Ui 04 CN"0 OHO!»MSIHHCOt-C5ilOH-*NOH(SH CO 05 O H W C- -* >o tffl I s - 00 oot-t»j>aotoooaiO)Hffl 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 t- C~ CO t- CO 00 t- t- t~ fr- b- E»t--C~C-C-tr-E-t~E~Ot-C O no-*H(S e» i-i coajr-i-<00050THC1 « I i-i(Nt-i-IOO©t>-C~-*c03»0000~0 O i> w •— ; — ; r-iOi-ieoooo-^'Wioio^ooooooooooocooooooo c3 I ousiooiooousoooaioiflociouooifloiooioooiaoiou) HTM W |O(MH©l>OjiO'-IHl>Q0H(M^CJ'nn'*mH«C0!M(MKlfMHO^iM ! 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CD . O O aScaa^a^a «SPa)3t»pc oadOa«d« «o § S « S"< § ® P^^PhsPjtP umuTLurpi; | § C O 00 CO CD I P * cm 55 ■Ss. ca ^a ?o -* 03 >H (N - ^ t>- fcC >s § >* bD >> &-. rantaix^j^ | umuinnj^ HITlUIIXBp^ "W$\K CO'rCOCTJO^^CC - p_ - - t- t- t- 00 ? -/- CO GO CO OC JC CO x 1 : .-( ^d 09 • • • • J9qm909(i 1 • oon • ■ • j9qut9A0£j | : C O CM J^qo^oo | : OriOl - • • jgqmwuisg | ; O OlO oo-. ^ri : «-lc»<0 -*iH CH a*m i : • CS t-t- AJtsn.iqaj; : Cb-H : CT-*0 : >riO rH Aaenuef | ; CMCH 03 O M Ph ft O CO H H -«1 '^e«i January 80 February 10 February 8 February 6 January 2 February 11 February ,7 January 24 ■WJij CcB00O-<«OCD WCNnCOH t,Ari aa'a'aaa'aa CBCOStBOcpCvCB OOCDOOOOO Jz5^p^^^izi^ H co W P Hi o o RH -9motu -J9q» n«9j\[ ©OlOt-CSIC-IOfc- OCJCOCDCit-COlO C5 QC- 00 CO CC CO X' 00 •ayax. 1873 1874 1875 1876 .877 1878 1879 .830 TABLE SHOWING DIRECTION OF WIND LEAST LIKELY AND MOST LIKELY TO BE FOLLOWED BY RAIN FOR EACH MONTH OF THE YEAR; N. O. DIRECTION OF WIND. MONTHS- DIRECTION OF WIND. MONTHS- Least likely fol- Most likely fol- Least likely fol- Most likely fol- lowed by rain . lowed by rain. ^ io wed by rain. lowed by rain. January N. to W. E. to S. July NW. to NE. E. to 8. February N- to W. E. toS. AugT18t N. to W. E. to Si- Majcb. N. to W. SW. to RE. Septem'r N. to W. ne, to SE. April May N. to E. S. to W. October N. to W. E. to 8- N. t» W- E. to 8. Novemb'r N. to W. E- to 8. J itno JNW.teNJd. E. toS- Decemtfr N. toW. SE. t« SW. METEOROLOGICAL. S3 L'flaj M.OHS o uitti qoiqAV uo sAupjo jsqumji (•sq^paip unq pura saqouj) — "Av.oas patera jo urei jo itmoray ■q^uoca Suunp a^iooj -9A tanui'ix , Bj/\[ O P O M H-*ttKO»«JH-^fH«OtO I Ol •S8XIXH jo jaqrana' yb^oj^ 'U0T^08J -ip Suqi , BA9a < j fs'H • •HSH • • • ■ ■eoueiejjia •umraraipi •ranniix'Bj\[ i -^> T3.d O CO s SP ^a CD d) g «! •SUOT^'BAJaS -qo ' i^oot; H go ■< rt A ■*O5O)O5'*0000HHl»-*W moKNooomootDio-^oo OS ->*H t-l010Ht-5DHH«310a! «^t>(M!DHI>m00O'*O f-i c8 _, $ god ■flag's ^g^So-SO^g ri ©,5 & W §3 E3 CD O O CD 3S 5 O o> s ® la * -3 "ffi 5 ^ «5 i| 3 a I S 3 »o « a .-s - P ^ ■*> a p a o ,_ ft S co -0 .2 6 0. in w T* I Oh h r* P E ? S3 t-3 1=1 3 < | ft g _ft ^ 5 ^ 03 p Cu i-l |2i I I I S> P £> 3 hs ^ 5j. LOUISIANA. CAPACITY OF LOUISIANA FOR POPULATION. Louisiana has only about 21 inhabitants to the square mile. France 178 inhabitants to the square mile. The same ratio of population would give Louisiana over seven and one half million of inhabitants. "With the manufac- ture of our agricultural products at home, there is no question of the capacity of the State for supporting even a population of fifteen millions. CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF LOUISIANA, 1879. BILL OF RIGHTS. Article 1. All government of right originates with the people, is founded on their will alone, and is instituted solely for the good of the whole, deriving its just powers from the consent of the governed. Its only legitimate end is to protect the citizen in the enjoyment of life, liberty and property. When it assumes other functions it is usurpa- tion and oppression. Art. 2. The right of the people to be secure in tneir persons, houses, papers and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated, and no warrant shall issue except upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched and the persons or things to be seized. Art. 3. A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be abridged. This shall not prevent the passage of laws to punish those who carry weapons concealed. Art. 4. No law shall be passed respecting an establishment of re- ligion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to as- semble and petition the government for a redress of grievances. Art. 5. There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in this State otherwise than for the punishment of crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted. Prosecutions shall be by in- dictment or information ; provided, that no person shall be held to answer for a capital crime unless on a presentment or indictment by a grand jury, except in cases arising in the militia when in actual service in time of war or public danger, nor shall any person be twice put in jeopardy of life or liberty for the same offense, except on his own ap- plication for a new trial, or where there is a mistrial, or a motion in arrest of judgment is sustained. Art. 6. No person shall be compelled to give evidence against him- self in a criminal case or in any proceeding that may subject him to criminal prosecution, except where otherwise provided in this constitu- tion, nor be deprived of life, liberty or property without due proess of law. Art. 7. In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy public trial by an impartial jury, except that in cases where the penalty is not necessarily imprisionment at hard labor or CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE. 65 death, the General Assembly may provide for the trial thereof by a iurv less than twelve in number ; provided that the accused in every instance shall be tried in the parish, wherein the offense shall have been committed, except in cases of change of venue. . Aet 8 In all criminal prosecutions the accused shall enjoy the right to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation, to be con- fronted with the witnesses against him, to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to defend himself, and to have the assistance of counsel and to have the right to challenge jurors per- emptorily, the number of challenges to be fixed by statute . Art. 9. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines be imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted. All persons shall be bailable by sufficient sureties, unless for capital offenses where the proof is evident or the presumption great or unless after convic- tion for any crime or offense punishable with death or imprisonment at a \RT 10 The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be sus- pended, unless when in case of rebellion or invasion the public safety m ART e il U1 All courts shall be open, and every person for injury done him iu his rights, lands, goods, person or reputation shaJ have ade- quate remedy by due process of law and justice administered without denial or unreasonable delay. \ur 12 The military shall be in subordination to the civil power. Irt' 13 This enumeration of rights shall not be construed to deny or impair other rights of the people not herein expressed. FRANCHISE. ^rt 185 Every male citizen of the United States, and every male person of foreign birth who has been naturalized, or who may have legally declared his intention to become a citizen of the United states before he offers to vote, who is twenty-one years old or upwards, pos- sessine the following qualifications, shall be an elector and shall be entitled to vote at any election by the people, except as hereinafter provK e ^ aU be an ^ ctual res i c i ea t of the State at least one year next preceding the election at which he offers to vote. _ . 2 He shall be an actual resident of the parish in which he offers to vote at least six months next preceding the election. _ _ 3 He shall be an actual resident of the ward or precinet in which he offers to vote at least thirty days next preceding the election. Art 187 The following persons shall not be permitted to register, vote or hold any office or appointment of honor, profit or trust in this State, to wit : „ A , . . . Those who shall have been convicted of treason, embezzlement or public funds, malfeasance in office, larceny, bribery, illegal voting, or other crime punishable by hard labor or imprisonment in the peni- tentiary, idiots and insane persons. • Art '188 No qualification of any kind for suffrage or office, nor any restraint upon the same, on account of race, color or previous condi- tian shall be made by law. PROPERTY EXEMPT FROM TAXATION. Art 207 The following propertv shall be exempt from taxation, and no other, viz : All public property, places of religious worship or burial all charitable institutions, all buildings and property used ex- clusivelv for colleges or other school purposes, the real and personal estate of any public library and that of any other literary association used by or connected with such library, all books and philosophical apparatus, and all paintings and statuary of any company or associa- tion kept in a public hall ; provided, the property so exempted be not 56 LOUISIANA. used or leased for purposes of private or corporate profit or income. There shall also be exempt from taxation, household property to the value of five hundred dollars. There shall also be exempt from taxa- tion and license for a period of ten years from the adoption of this con- stitution, the capital, machinery and other property employed in the manufacture of textile fabrics, leather, shoes, harness, saddlery, hats, flour, machinery, agricultural implements and furniture and other arti- cles of wood, marble or stone ; soap, stationery, ink and paper, boat building and chocolate ; provided, that not less than five hands are employed in any one factory. POLL TAX FOR SCHOOLS. Art. 208. The General Assembly shall levy an annual poll tax for the maintenance of public schools upon every male inhabitant in the State over the age of twenty-one years, which shall never be less than one dollar nor exceed one dollar and a half per capita, and the General Assembly shall pass laws to inforce payment of said tax. LIMITATION OF TAXATION. Art. 209. The State tax on property for all purposes whatever, in- cluding expense of government, schools, levees and interest shall not exceed in any one year six mills on the dollar of its assessed valuation, and no parish or municipal tax for all purposes whatsoever shall exceed ten mills on the dollar of valuation. HOMESTEADS AND EXEMPTIONS. Art. 219. There shall be exempt from seizure and sale by any process whatever, except as herein provided, the "homesteads" bona fide owned by the debtor and occupied by him, consisting of lands, build- ings and appurtenances, whether rural or urban ; of every head of a family, or persons having a mother or father, a person or persons de- pendent on him or her for support ; also, one work-horse, one wagon or cart, one yoke of oxen, two cows and calves, twenty-five head of hogs, or one thousand pounds of bacon or its equivalent in pork, whether these exempted objects be attached to a homestead or not, and on a farm the necessary quantity of corn and fodder for the current year, and the necessary farming implements to the value of two thousand dollars. LEGAL PROVISIONS OF GENERAL INTEREST. No greater personal rights are granted to immigrants in any part of the world than in Louisiana. Every man thinks, speaks and votes as he pleases. If he is injured in person, property or character the law affords a certain and speedy remedy, and will rigorously enforce his rights. The laws grant a lien upon property in favor of laborers, mechanics and landlords. There is no imprisonment for debt, and a reasonable amount of prop- erty is exempt from seizure and sale. There is perfect freedom of re- ligious opinion and tolerance of all sects. The people choose their own officers, and the ballot of the poor man is as strong as that of the rich. Any citizen of the State, although born in a foreign country, can hold office. The homestead exemption will prevent any creditor from taking away the home of your family. No person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law. Every person has the right to defend his own case either in person or by attorney. Every person charged with an offense against the laws of the State has the privilege and benefit of counsel, is entitled on demand to a copy of the accusation, a list of the witnesses on whose testimony the charge is made, and shall have compulsory process to obtain the tes- THE QUESTION OF WAGES. 57 timony of his own witnesses; shall be confronted by the witnesses tes- tifying against him, and shall have a public and speedy trial by an im- partial jury. The State tax, for all purposes whatsoever, shall never be more than 60 cents on the $100, and the Parish tax shall never be more, that $1 on the $100. Perfect freedom to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience is guaranteed to every citizen. No inhabitant of this State shall be molested in person or property, or prohibited from holding any public office or trust, on account of his religious belief. No law shall ever be passed to curtail or restrain the liberty of speech or qf the press. The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be vio- lated ; and no warrant shall issue except upon probable cause, sup- port ed. by oath or affirmation, paticularly describing the place or places to be searched, and the person or things to be seized. The social status of the citizen shall never be the subject of legisla- tion. The right of the people peaceably to assemble, and by petition or re- monstrance, apply to the government for a redress of their grievances, shall not be denied. No conviction shall work corruption of blood or forfeiture of estate. Private property shall not be taken nor damaged for public purposes without just and adequate compensation to the owner. No ex post facto law, or law impairing the obligation of contracts, shall be passed. Differences between citizens may be legally decided by arbitration without going to law. The military shall be in subordination to the civil power, and no sol- dier shall in time of peace, be quartered in anv house without the con- sent of the owner. Gambling is forbidden under heavy penalty. Any person convicted of giving or taking a' bribe, is forever disquali- fied from holding office. Grand jurors are drawn from the body of the people, and must be ex- perienced, intelligent and upright men. Traverse jurors are drawn in the same way. and must be intelligent and upright men. The laws of the State, protect laborers on buildings, streets, roads, rail- roads, canals and other similar works, against the failure of contrac- tors and sub-contractors to pay their current wages when due, and make the corporation, company or individual for whose benefit the work is done responsible for their ultimate payment. THE QUESTION OF WAGES. The laborer on a sugar plantation in Louisiana, during the cultiva- tion of the crop receives 75 cents per day, and during the "rolling" or sugar making season $1.50. In addition" to wages, he is furnished, free of charge, rations, house, fuel and garden plot. The following esti- mate will furnish a comparison of wages paid north and south. 8 58 LOUISIANA. ON LOUISIANA SUGAR PLANTATION. 9 month's labor (234 days) at 75 cents per day $175.50 3 month's labor (78 days) at $1.50 per day 117.00 12 month's rations at 12J cents per day 45.60 12 month's rent of cabin 25.00 12 month's fuel 10.00 12' month's rent of garden plot 5.00 Total wages of laborer one year $378.10 ON LOUISIANA COTTON PLANTATION. 12 month's labor at $15.00 per month ....$180.00 12 month's rations, fuel, cabin and garden rent 85.60 Total wages of laborer one year $265.60 COMMON LABORERS WAGES AT THE NORTH. 313 days' labor at $1.10 per day $344.30 Deducting house rent $75.00 Deducting fuel 25.00 Deducting food .100.00 200.00 Net wages of laborer one year $144.30 It will be seen that the money realized by the laborer, on the Louis- iana sugar plantation amounts to the sum of $292.50 and on the cotton plantation, to $180.00. To each of these amounts should be added $85.60, the value of necessaries furnished the laborer without charge. Under the tenant system which prevails generally in the cotton region, and is extending also to the sugar plantations, the amount received by the industrious laborer is even greater. Besides the pecuniary advan- tages, the climatic advantage, reduces the cost of food and clothing far below what these items must cost the farm laborer of the North. MINERAL RESOURCES OP LOUISIANA. BY JOSEPH JONES, M. D. The cretaceous, tertiary and post tertiary are the only formations which appear in Louisiana. The cretaceous strata appears in a very few isolated outcrops in St. Landry and "Winn parishes, and has been pierced in several localities in boring artesian wells. The tertiary forms the basis of the upland region of the State. The post tertiary forms almost everywhere the surface, and is of the greatest practical importance to the agriculturist. The cretaceous strata probably underlies the whole State, rising nearer the surface than elsewhere in Winn parish, Chicot and Petit Cretaceous limestone of good quality for burning into lime, and of sufficient hardness to be used as a building stone, outcrops in St. Lan- dry, about seven miles west of Chicot, and upon several points upon lower Saline Bayou. The cretaceous strata have been penetrated in boring artesian wells at Drake's salt works, on Bayou Saline, King's, in Castor, and the sul- phur well in Calcasieu. MINERAL RESOURCES. 59 SULPHUR AND GYPSUM. A remarkable deposit of sulphur occurs at Calcasieu. The following is a section of the well : 1. 160 feet blue clay and layers of sand, 2. 178 feet sand. 3. 10 feet clay rock (soapstone.) 4. 40 feet blue anthiconitic limestone, fissured. 5. 60 feet gray limestone. 6. 100 feet pure crystalline sulphur. 7. 137 feet gypsum, with sulphur. 8. 10 feet sulphur. 9. 540 feet gypsum, grayish hue. The first four strata were all more or less oil bearing, The sulphur is of unequaled thickness and purity, and the gypsum is also of superior quality. This deposit alone is capable of supplying the entire country with sulphur and gypsum. From the sulphur may be manufactured sulphuric acid, so impor- tant in the arts and agriculture. SALT. Salines occur in various portions of the State, and the rich supplies must necessarily excite the attention of capitalists. North of Eed Kiver, in Bienville and Bossier parishes, there are im- mense quantities of saline waters and saliferous deposits, the latter being especially found in the beds of ancient lakes. In the low flat beds of these basins, which lie below the ordinary level of the country, the wells are sunk to a depth of from twelve to twenty feet, where the salt water percolates through the soil and furnishes an abundant daily supply. This is boiled in kettles, and each well furnishes from twenty to twenty-five bushels of salt per day. In a line beginning about twenty miles west of the mouth of the Atchafalaya, on the coast of Belle Isle, and running nearlv due east, are ranged five islands, Belle Isle, Cote Blanche, Week's Island, Petit Anse and Miller's Island. The islands rise from the low marsh and prairies by .vhich they are surrounded, and form mounds of various sizes. The chief of them is Petit Anse (Avery's Island), which is 185 feet above the sea-tide level, and contains an immense deposit of common salt. Petit Anse is situ- ated in Bayou Petit Anse, six miles from the north shore of Vermilion Bay, which is an arm of the Gulf. It is fifteen miles to the mouth of that bay, where there is a fine land-locked harbor of eight feet depth. The following are the general results of my chemical analysis of Louisiana rock "salt : Louisiana rock salt presents the form, appearance and optical properties of pure chloride of sodium. The large crystal- line masses are so perfectly transparent, free from all extraneous mat- ter, and uniform in their structure and density, that they would be suitable in all respects for the most delicate philosophical experiments upon the transmission of light through different media. The sample of Louisiana salt submitted to analysis, as well as the largest masses, weighing several tons, are the purest and finest samples of rock salt that have ever come under my observation. One hundred grains Louisiana rock salt yield upon analysis : Chloride of sodium 99 G17 Sulphate of lime , .3ig Sulphate of magnesia 0.062 Moisture (dried at 300 degrees) 0,093 The Louisiana rock salt contains less than one-half of one per cent. (0.473) of those substances which may be considered as foreign, viz : moisture and sulphates of lime and magnesia, which are found in GO LOUISIANA. greater or less quantities, according to their purity, in almost all sam- ples of salt. The absence of both chloride of calcium and chloride of magne- sium is important, as these salts abstract moisture readily from the atmosphere ; and when existing even to a limited extent in salt, impair more or less its value by rendering it more hydroscopic. Meats cured with salt abounding with the chloride of calcium are more prone to absorb moisture from the atmosphere. PETROLEUM. The oil springs of the Louisiana Petroleum Coal Oil Company are situated in Calcasieu parish, about sixty miles from the coast. The oil spring contains large masses of asphaltum, which were formed by the oil becoming inspissated. Carburetted hydrogen gas passes out of the springs in a forcible and continuous stream, and when conducted in tubes can be employed for illuminating and heating purposes. It is supposed that petroleum underlies this section of country, and that in the hands of experienced engineers quantities of this valuable material will be oblained. COAL. Lignite deposits of various degrees of purity and value underlie nearly the whole upland country, from the Sabine to the Ouachita rivers. The coal makes an excellent fuel and has been used in Shreve- port. PEAT. Valuable deposits of peat are found in many places near the coast, and will, when reached by railroads, furnish large supplies of fuel. IRON. Iron ore of good quality is scattered in immense qualities over an extensive surface of Louisiana. South of Red River iron ore is found from Ouachita to Badian River, and from the Arkansas line it extends nearly to Red River ; south of this it appears in De Soto, Natchitoches, Rapides and Sabine. Bienville parish is singularly rich in iron ore. Lime and inexhaustible forests of pine and oak, from which the neces- sary flux and charcoal may be obtained, accompany the beds of iron ore. GYPSUM, This valuable fertilizing material is found in large quantities in the saline basins of North Louisiana, and the fertilizing properties of the waters of Red River have been justly attributed to the vast stores of this material washed down by its numerous tributaries. We might also enumerate marls, and pigments, and clays of fine quality, and the nitrate and carbonate of soda amongst the mineral resources of Louisiana. AVERAGE TEMPERATURE AT NEW ORLEANS. As an indication of the temperature of New Orleans, we give the fol- lowing report from the signal officer in charge in that city : i March. Spring 58.8^ April. ( May. ( June. Summer 71.2 ■{ July. ( August. ( September Autumn 81.0 J October. I November. ( December. Winter 67.1^ January. ( February (Signed) L.. DUNNE, Sergeant Signal Corps, U. S. A. New Orleans, March 24, 1881. ANALYSIS OF MOLASSES. 61 ANALYSIS OF NORTHERN, CUBA AND LOUISIANA MOLASSES. Composition of 100,000 Grains, or very nearly One Gallon of Louisiana, Cuba and Northern Molasses, by Joseph Jones, M. D. t of New Or- leans, La.: Specified gravity— grains Both varieties sugar. . Crystallyzable and uncrystallyzable Crystallyzable sugar Uon-crystallyzable Sugar Acetates and carbonates of soda and potas sium Carb. , glucate and acetate of lime Sulphate of lime Chlorides of sodium and potassium . . . Acetate glucate and sulphate of iron. Total salient ingredients. Wei ght of one gallon _^ -100,000 grains contaiu- ° w5 76 297 69 778 16 921 123 204 223 3 a 1,366 66.66S 43.13+ 23 531 5D1 905 363 1.054 175 550 3 000 96 446! 95 648 MO 55 556 58,889 26.665 697 1.113 370 1,277 288 3 750 97,419 57,142 28 571 38 871 241 358 612 783 500 2.500 96 075 fcS 1391 57.142 26,373 30 769 626 468 801 1012 490 2.500 9J 491 The percentage of the different ingredients may readily be deter- mined in this table simply by cutting off the last three figures. The following conclusions have been drawn from my chemical an- alysis of the different variety of molasses : 1. The Louisiana molasses is decidedly superior in appearance and taste to the other varieties of molasses offered in this market. 2. The proportion of crystallizable sugar is greatest in Louisiana molasses, whilst the proportion of uncrystallizable sugar is the least. The Louisiana molasses is, therefore, the most valuable and the best suited to the purposes of the candy manufacturer, confectioner And baker. 3. The Louisiana molasses contains far less inorganic salts than the other varieties of molasses. Thus a gallon of Louisiana molasses does not contain over four hundred grains of salt, while the Northern molasses contains from twenty-five hundred to three thousand seven hundred grains. This is a point of great interest, not only because these salts interfere with the crystallization of the cane sugar, but also, because they act as purgatives upon the bowels. The Louisiana molasses may be considered as almost entirely free from these impurities. 4. The Louisiana molasses is entirely free from iron salts, whilst in the samples of Northern syrups the salts of iron vary from 280 to 500 grains per gallon. These salts of iron are injurious to the health, and especially to children, and at the same time they blacken and injure the teeth. 5. In every respo^t the Louisiana molasses is superior to each of the other samples of molasses, and combines richness and purity of com- Eosition with an elegant appearance, pure taste and wholesome action, louisiana molasses is fourfold more valuable than the Northern molasses. B2 LOUISIANA. THE NEW ORLEANS PACIFIC RAILWAY, AND ITS RELATIONS TO THE IMMIGRANT. The commercial value of every thing depends upon its availibility — upon the power it possesses of being easily converted into commodities not enjoyed by its holder. Gold, in the hands of a solitary castaway upon a desert island, becomes dross, and the most fertile lands in the world, when inaccessible to markets, become of little more value than the adjacent swamps. To their possessor they contribute none of its luxuries, and with little stimulant to realize from his labor more than a scanty subsistance. The question must have arisen in the mind of even the most casual reader of the foregoing pages, if these statements are true why is it that one of the oldest, and most fertile States in the Union ; a State pos- sessing a climate unsurpassed for salubrity and one also having a com- mercial metropolis, that thirty years ago was the rival of New York- should, at this late day, be inviting the immigrant to settle within its borders, and at the same time offering to him inducements, both in the price of its lands, and every substantial comfort of life, that is un- known in the rigorous and inclement Northwest? The answer to this very question was the initial idea that resulted in the building of the New Orleans Pacific Railway. It was known to the projectors of this magnificent enterprise that no State of the Union pre- sented so many and so varied attractions to the husbandman ; that its soil was deep, rich and easily cultivated ; that its climate, in point of healthiulness, has no equal on the continent ; that the products of its soil could never be a glut in any market, because the demand for them was wide as the bounds of civilization, and that it was capable of sus- taining a population equal to that of Illinois or Ohio. Notwithstand- ing all these positive advantages, the tide of immigration has con- tinued, mainly in an unbroken current, to the northern territories and chiefly to those regions iri Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Montana where, owing to the severity of the climate, the farmer is compelled to rely mainlyfor his accurnmulations upon two or three of the most hardy cereals. The reason for this is that the northern, and, by na- ture, more uninviting region, was supplied with a constant, safe, cheap and rapid means of transit to the great distributing points of the coun- try. While Louisiana depended principally upon a slow and, at some seasons of the year, a precarious means of transporting the products of the soil to market. This recognized fact was the inception of the New Orleans Pacific Railway, an enterprise which, however it may result to its projectors and builders, is destined to have a more important influence for the good of the State at large than any other similar work now in contem- plation. It will open to the settler millions of acres of the most pro- ductive land in the State ; it will build thriving villages along its en- tire line; it will increase, to an incalculable extent, the number of manufacturing industries, and it*will not only furnish to the settler a rapid means for the conveyance of his surplus crops to market, but will also create hundreds of local markets along its route. The im- portance of this great trunk line, in directing the attention of those who are contemplating the building for themselves new homes, is a fact not easy to estimate, and a few of them may be considered in de- tail. The road runs from New Orleans northwesterly for more than three hundred miles through the Red River and Mississippi Valleys, and traverses the parishes of Caddo, De Soto, Natchitoches, Rapides, Avoy- elles, West Baton Rouge, Iberville, Pointe Coupee, St. James, St. NEW ORLEANS PACIFIC RAILWAY. 63 Charles, some seventeen parishes in all. Upon its line are some of tho most important towns in the State west of Red River, and among such are Shreyeport, Mansfield, Alexandria, Plaquemine, Donaldsonville and others of lesser note. These places afford growing and permanent markets for most of the produce that is grown in their vicinity. But in importance as a market, New Orleans cannot be overestimated. This city has a population of 215,000, every soul of whom is not only a non-producer of agricultural products, but at the same time a large consumer of them. Take the item of grain alone, and New Orleans furnishes a market for domestic consumption alone of 3,440,000 bushels, the statistics of this country showing the consumption of grain to be about sixteen bushels per capita. In this amount is included, of course, the quantity fed to such domestic animals as are employed by the peo- ple, as the oats and corn to the horses, as well as that consumed by man, ana in cities the consumption of grain by domestic animals is larger than in the country, where more bulky feed is given which will not bear the expense of transportation as well as the cereals. Add to this consumption of the grains, the meats of various kinds, vegetables, fruits of every variety, milk, butter and cheese, and it ought to require no very lengthy argument to convince the settler that by locating upon the line of the New Orleans Pacific Railway he will always have, almost at his door, a cash market for every product of his field. As the tendency of popul^'Ton in this country is to the cities rather than to the country, it is evident tuat the demands of New Orleans will more than keep pace with the supply. No one need be told that those nearest to market are always in the best position to take advantages of its fluctuations, and are better able to realize the highest prices for their products, than those more remotely located. However important New Orleans may be as a domestic market, it is daily acquiring a prominence as an exporting point that bids fair to make her the chief commercial city south of Baltimore. Already the large shipments of grain down the Mississippi river are creating na- tional comment, and causing serious apprehensions at those Northern cities which have heretofore enjoyed a monopoly of the trade of the great valley. Whatever adds to the commercial importance of New Orleans, is a direct benefit to the agriculturists of the State of Louis- iana, for the greater its importance the more it will be sought by foreign traders, and the more reliable it becomes as a market. The maintainance of permanent deep water at the mouth of the river, as- sures to the city an importance that no gulf port enjoys, or can rival. The New Orleans Pacific Railway gives to Arkansas, Northern Louis- iana, Northern Texas, and in fact the whole cotton belt west of the Red River, the shortest possible routes to tide water, and the cotton, grain, and tobacco that has heretofore been compelled to seek an outlet, via St. Louis, at New York, Baltimore or Philadelphia, will, upon the completion of this line, be saved the expense of transporta- tion by rail for nearly 1,200 miles to reach tide water. The producer pays the cost of transportation always, and the cotton-grower who sends his bales by the longer route receives just so much less for his Sroduct, as it costs him to transport it to market. Cotton grown in 'orthern Texas brings the same price in New Orleans, and no more, as cotton grown in Southern Louisiana, but the producer nearest to market makes as additional profit, the difference in freightage be- tween the longer and shorter distance. This tf itself is an item, which, like interest, is small where taken in isolated cases but in the aggre- gate and computed year after year, becomes an enormous sum. It is an item fully worth estimating in selecting a spot both for a home and to prosecute the business of agriculture to the best advantage. The settler upon the line x>i the New OFleans Pacific Railway, will 64 LOUISIANA. always have the choice of two « routes to market. It is an old adage, that competition is the life ol^traVIe, and in no department of business does it apply with more force, than to that of the common carrier, it is an axiom." that the cheaper route always fixes the price for the con- veyance of freight. Take the rates of freight on grain between Chi- cago and New York, and they are just one-third less m the summer, when the Lakes and Canals are open, than in the winter when they are closed, and the rule applies with equal force in the winter as be- tween the the different lines of roads and as in the summer between the roads and boats. The winter rates are always based upon the shortest route, and longest lines carry for the same rates as the shortest. The advantages 6t Southern over Northern water routes is that they are always open, and no danger can exist that colds or frosts will ever close the Red and lower Mississippi Rivers, so as to give to any railroad the monopoly of the carrying trade for any portion of the year, and the history of transportation routes in Europe, as well as in this country, shows that when railroads aud water courses are in com- petition, the rates of the cheaper system always maintain. The advantages which these two competitions offer to the emigrant are of vast moment, and, as between giving to a region thus amply provided with the means of transportation, in preference to settling™ one where only one system, and that usually a new and imperfect one, is in vogue, it would seem that common foresight and prudence would, other things being equal, select the former. Again, the territory along the line of the New Orleans Pacific Railway offers to the settler the advantage of a perfect social system, which is of itself the growth of years and the result of vast expenditures of money. In Louisiana, laws are old, well settled and defined by a long Mne of judicial decisions, as thorough as in any of Northern or Eastern States ; an educational system is in force that has been tried for years, and has become as nearly perfect as that of any State in the Imion; school-houses are built and the advantages of higher education are ample in all of the larger places in the State. Roads are laid out and worked, and the meansx>f communication between districts are equaled only in the older and richer States. Churches of all denominations are everywhere to be seen, and nothing is left to the immigrant- but to locate his land and begin his labors in a region abundantly supplied with all the essentials of cultivated and refined life. What a contrast is such a commencement with the taking of a homestead in one of the Northern territories, where nothing is to be seen but a broad expanse of barren prairie, without a school-house or village in sight; without roads, without settled and defined laws for the protection of person or property ; in such a case the settler is as isolated as Crusoe on his island. ' He is without neighbors or associates, and his family must be reared without schools and newspapers, and among associates who have sought the frontier because land was cheap. There is, in fact, no other inducement for the immigrant to seek such a home. However congenial such an isolated existence may have been to one like Laniel Boone, who always moved further into the wilderness '"where neigh- bors were within twenty miles of his cabin," it is questionable whether a man has the moral right to so isolate his family that they are com- pelled to forego all social pleasures and live deprived not only of moral and religious" instruction, but of that social intercourse which is de- manded by man's own nature, and constitutes the highest enjoyment of life. J There are few roads in the country that open up so much valuable territory as the New Orleans Pacific Railway, and the settler is not compelled to locate within sound of its locomotive whistle to receive all the advantages it will confer on the people. The road crosses a large number of streams, tributary to the Red and Mississippi Rivers, which are, to a greater or less degree, navigable, and penetiate far into NEW ORLEANS PACIFIC RAILWAY. 65 the country. These streams furnish facilities for reaching the railroad, which are of vast importance for the conveyance of the products of the soil, especially the more bulky, like cotton, tobacco, and the various grains, which are not easily transported by domestic conveyance. The land upon these streams is of a rich, alluvial deposit, and is widely noted for its fertility. Among the streams thus intersected are the Grand, the Atchafalaya, Teche, Cosatche, and others of lesser import- ance. The navigation of these streams is open the whole year, and it is worthy of mention that they are in their best condition for such use at those seasons of the year, the spring and fall, when there is the greatest demand for their employment. A good deal of stress is laid upon the fact that the New Orleans Pacific Railway furnishes an outlet to market for the product of the soil, bu^ the corollary of that proposi- tion may be urged with equal force, viz : that it also furnishes the set- tler with a means of obtaining from market those commodities and appliances which he demands, both for domestic consumption and for the prosecution of his labors. The road places him near a point where he can purchase his agricultural implements, seeds, clothing and groceries, at substantially first hands, and, at the same time, so near his own door that the cost of transportation is merely nominal. The management of the New Orleans Pacific Eailway recognizes the fact that the best business of a raihoad is a large and steady local traffic ; that, while through business brings large returns, it varies with the seasons and with the years, and requires constant care to secure and retain it, while the local traffic is steady and brings a per- manent income, increasing as the country developes its resources. While the management does not claim to be governed by other than business principles in building and operating its line of road, yet those principles are of such a nature that any one can see that it is for the best interest of the road to have tne rich fields along its line settled upon by a progressive, thrifty people who will cultivate the soil, develope the industries of the State, and build upon its line such thriving villages and towns as spring up along the routes of railroads upon the western frontier. It is for the best and most permanent in- terest of the road to offer every inducement to the immigrant and to use every effort, consistent with its business, to sustain him and to in- duce others to follow his example. This can only be done by a liberal policy in the transportation of the immigrant and his property to his new home, and by the adoption of such fair rates for the conveyance of both freight and passengers as shall be just to both him and the road itself. To such a policy, dictated, not only by common sense, but by justice and right, the New Orleans Pacific Eailway pledges it- self. Situated as both are, there can be no a itagonism between the road and its local patrons, for a system of extortionate rates would retard the development of the country and directly effect the volume of its local traffic and its receipts. Not only to the agriculturist does the New Orleans Pacific Railway present a means of improving his condition, but to all classes of labor- ers who are seeking new fields for employment. The building of a great line of railroad, creates an unusual and permanent demand for uearly every variety of labor. Villages spring up which demand lum- ber, brick and other material as well as the okill required to put them into buildings ; manufactories are built which use machinery and re- quire skilled labor to operate it ; goods are wanted and merchants and capitalists are demanded to provide them; and additional educational facilities are needed and teacht.s are sought to direct and control them. There is, in fact, no more inviting region in the United States than the valley of the Red River; and nowhere is there a greater de- mand for labor of everv form. The building of the New Orleans Pacific road, has already stimulated enterprise along its entire line, and 9 66 LOUISIANA. everything indicates an improvement and development, within the next few years, that will make the Bed Eiver Valley the garden of the South. The State Commissioner of Immigration at New Orleans; the officers of the New Orleans Pacific Eailway, or of the South-Western Immi- gration Company will gladly give to such as desire, all the information possible regarding the lands in any portion of Louisiana, and will ex- tend all possible facilities to enable such as are seeking homes in this region, in making a judicious selection. THE CITY OF NEW ORLEANS. The largest, most beautiful and most wealthy city of the South is New Orleans. Its streets are replete with elegance and its culture is equal to any in the world. An admirable view of its society, social and commercial pros- pects is presented in the following article, which we re- produce from the New Orleans Democrat: We are and must of necessity continue to be an agricultural people. It is true that the wealth of our forests and the useful minerals are varied and almost inexhaustible, and that the water-power of the State is nowhere excelled within an equal area on this continent ; yet the great variety of soils, yielding so generously to the labors of the hus- bandman, supplying all his wants; the mild temperature of our cli- mate, free from the rigidity of the Northern winters and from the ex- treme heat of the Southern summers, and our geographical position placing us in easy access to all the great markets of the world, must make agriculture our chief interest. Nature has not only indicated unmistakably the part we must, as a State, perform in the onward march of the world's progress, but with lavish hand has bountifully supplied us with every essential facility and means to encourage and aid us. Not only can we produce all the leading staple crops required for the sustenance of man and beast, but those articles of high com- mercial value and importance are found either to exist or the capacity for producing them in the greatest abundance and profusion. And when these truths in regard to our State shall become known abroad and appreciated at home, it will be found that no people on earth are better able to take care of themselves than the people of Louisiana. Nature has not only given us the capacity and ability to produce, but has generously provided manufacturing. Take, for example, the man- ufacture of cotton. In Massachusetts, New Hampshire, or other of the New England States, much of the pfoilts of manufacturing is absorbed by idle looms, locked up through long winter months by ice, or in the necessarily heavy outlay in heating apparatus required to keep them in motion. Fuel is abundant and cheap, and so is labor for operating. The extent and capacity of our water power is almost incalculable ; and these valuable and wonderfully munificent gifts of nature are not con- fined to any particular locality, but are scattered throughout the State. Now that the animosities and prejudices engendered by war are hap- pily subsiding and yielding to a more fraternal spirit; now that the delicate social and political relations between the races are being ad- TEE CITY OF NEW ORLEANS. 67 justed upon a better understanding of their nature; now that our gov- ernment, like the gracious atmosphere, is beginning to throw its foster- ing and protecting influence over and around all alike, we can con- fidently indulge the hope that an era of unexampled prosperity wil soon smile upon our beloved State. Already are these advantages be- ginning to attract attention and to awaken a widespread interest. The now of immigration to the North and West will necessarily turn south- ward. The rapid advance in the price of lands, which places them be- yond the reach of those of moderate means; the limited variety of products, with low prices and heavy tranpsortation to very distant mar- kets; the scarcity of timber; the constantly recurring failures to which the farmer is subjected from the ravages of insects and drouths ; the long and severe winters in which a large provision must be made for the keeping of stock ; these and many other disadvantages not known to our State, must soon enlist the attention of the intelligent immi- grant. Thousands of the better classes at the North are anxiously look- ing to the now quiet and peaceful South as a hope of escape from those disruptions of social order which unfortunately threaten to be a source of perpetual danger, not only to their industrial prosperity, but in- volving seriously the personal safety of the citizen. The turbulent spirit of their society must give it an unrest which will impel its more peaceable and law abiding people to seek that tranquility and repose now so happily prevailing in our State. And with our millions of acres of uncultivated lands which can be bought cheaply, and a population sturdy, honest, intelligent, law abiding and hospitable, to extend to them a warm and cordial welcome, the day is notdistant when Louisi- ana will receive its full share of immigrants with their energy, enter- prise and capital, that has in the past given such wonderful impetus to the progress of the young States of the Northwest. However flattering the present prospects may seem regarding the State at large, they can scarcely be said to equal those of its capitol city— the long acknowledged metropolis of the South — New Orleans. After nearly two decades of business adversity— periods which her commercial rivals have not failed to take advantage of, the Crescent City once more fairly mounts the crest of the wave of prosperity, and like a well-manned ship sets her prow toward the haven of success. With a harbor wherein may enter the largest ocean ships afloat ; a banking capital which may be increased as the occasion de- mands; ample and cheap tonnage to meet any possible requirement; and with unequalled facilities for the prompt and economical loading of vessels, New Orleans as a shipping port will, in the future as in the past, continue to challenge and defy competition. The capital of the associated banks of New Orleans at this time is about $5,000,000, while the clearings for the year ending August 31, 1880, exceeded those of the previous year by $60,360,486.42, a result to be partiaily attributed to the large improvement in the grain trade. It will be proper to state in this connection, however, that a very large amount of business during the year has been represented by private capital, and therefore does not figure in these clearings of the associated banks. In view of the an- ticipated increase in the trade of the citv during the season now open- ing, it is apparent that an increase in our banking capital must take place, although no urgent necessity at present may exist. The city of St. Louis, which has heretofore overshadowed us as a grain mai ket, and which has of late made some pretensions as a cotton market, has a banking capital of about $10,000,000 embraced in twenty-five banks, an amount that will be required by New Orleans to meet the demands growing out of its vastly augmented cotton and grain trades. An idea of the amount of tonnage that may be relied upon at the port of New Orleans maybe gathered from the statement furnished by the customs officials for the year ending July 31, 1880. From this it appears that 1,321 vessels were entered, having a total tonnage of 1,244,046 tons, 68 LOUISIANA. while the number of vessels cleared was 1,336, with a total tonnage of 1,267,652. This statement includes coastwise vessels, American vessels from foreign ports and foreign vessels from foreign ports. As already intimated, no matter to what extent the exports from this port may be increased during the present season, there need be no ap- prehensions felt on the score of ocean transportation. With freights at |d b \ steam to Liverpool and f c to New York on cotton, and 8d on grain to Liverpool, shippers may rely upon having ample opportunities and speedy dispatch for their outward cargoes, while thu following tariff of charges render New Orleans incomparably the cheapest shipping port on the American continent: On cotton— Compressing 50c per bale, stevedoring 55c per bale for steamer, from 60 to 7uc for sailing vessels. including rolling. On grain--Trimming grain $1 50 to $2 50 per 1000 bushels, "stowing sacks of grain 4c per sack, filling and sewing sack l\ to l|c per sack, including needles and twine ; lining ship lc per bushel. The rate of pilotage is as follows : Bar pilotage for steamers and sail- ing vessels, in and out, $4 50 per foot ; river pilotage, for steamer up and down, $80. Quarantine fees $20, harbormaster's fees $15 to $20. The eitv levee dues for steamer are 15c per ton register, for sailing vessels 20c per ton up to 1000 tons, and all over 1000 at 15c per ton. Grain ves sels loaded' on the Algiers side of the river are required to pay only one-third of the city levee dues. The rate of towage is 40c per ton register. During the past year there has been an important increase in the exportation of cotton seed oil and oil cake ; the former reaching a total of 5,491,487 gallons— an excess of 1,858,296 gallons over the ex- ports of 1878-79. while the latter amounted to 163,906,963 pounds, being an increase of 41,312.263 over the exportations of the previous year. For the same period is also noted an increase of exports in wheat to the amount of 2,898,106 bushels ; in corn of 4,832,550 bushels, and in cotton of 99,994,827 pounds. Not only as-a domestic market and point of export does New Orleans offer advantages to those of the Southern and Western States who desire to sell their produce or ship it to foreign marts, but as a port of entry and? as a purchasing point, it has advan- tages fully equal or superior to those of any other American seaport. Connected as it is with English and continental ports by steamship lines and fleets of sailing vessels engaged in the cotton trade, and with all the chief cities of the North by regular steam lines that equal in capacity and elegance any of the coast lines of the country, it affords everv facility both for the importation of foreign wares at cheaper freights and the purchase of domestic goods at rates as low as can be obtained elsewhere in this country. Our merchants, buying from first hands, can offer as favorable terms as those of any other city on the continent. The supremacy of New Orleans as a cotton market is well evidenced by the number of cotton buyers from England and the con- tinent who are permanently established here. Ee presenting as they do the leading cotton firms of the world, their presence from year to year is an assurance that the Crescent City presents facilities for the Surchase and shipment of cotton which they cannot afford to forego, he superior depth of water furnished by our harbor, enabling ships of the largest class to load to their utmost capacity, insures the cheapest freights, while our port charges, as previously shown, are much more reasonable than those of other American ports. COTTON MANUFACTURE. 69 THE CAPACITY OF NEW ORLEANS FOR COTTON MANUFACTURE. To the President and Members of the Chamber of Commerce of New Orleans : The undersigned, a committee appointed by the president of the Chamber of Commerce to inquire into and report upon the capacities of New Orleans for the manufacture of cotton goods, have had the same under consideration, and respectfully submit the following re- port: Eegarding the industrial employment of all the inhabitants of a city as essential to its prosperity, your committee are of opinion— 1. That the retardation of progress which has befallen New Orleans, in oommon with all other cities chiefly dependent on the factorage of annual crops, with the resale of commodities produced elsewhere, is due to changes in the modes of conducting internal and foreign com- merce. . 2. That to recover her former rate of progress it will be necessary for New Orleans to encourage the mixed industries of commerce and manu- 3. That in adopting these mixed industries New Orleans possesses peculiar advantages for manufacturing into cloths and yarns the great staple of cotton, of which she is admitted to be the principal market in the world. As the capital invested in cotton spinning was in 1875 $20,368,000 and the product $20,225,000, it follows that the gross profit on investment was 96 per cent. It is to be remembered that the expense account which is to be deducted from this product is chiefly composed of wages, so that this immense addition to the value of the raw material accrues to the capital of the community in which these manufactures have been made. From this argument it would appear : 1. That merely mercantile profits upon this resale of commodities have diminished with the improved agencies of competition. ■?.. That city aggregations of people must be furnished with means of • i ployment adequate to self-subsistence. J 1 he inquiry then logically arises, Can New Orleans bring herself within this principle of self-subsistence for her population ? We pro- pose to show that she can do so. While such are the evidences of § reparation for engaging in the production of general manufactures, ;ew Orleans holds control of a single raw material which is sufficient to support, by direct and individual employment, a population of one or more millions. NEW ORLEANS AS A MANUFACTURING CITY. We will consider cursorily the advantages possessed by New Orleans in the three elements of manufacturing production. 1. Subsistence.— The cost of food in a city seated at the mouth of a great river which brings the animal and cereal food of a vast and fer- tile interior in unlimited abundance, surrounded by a soil so prolific that her market is green at all seasons with vegetable food, while poultry, eggs and fish are marketed from the adjacent country, ought to be very moderate. Operatives employed in indoor industries may be subsisted upon these supplies on favorable terms. 2. Bents.— Beal estate in New Orleans has declined greatly in value. The accessibility of the whole city to water supply, of coal, and of raw material, renders the purchase of front sites on the river or canals easy, nor could such localities be, as in some other cities, monopolized. 3. Fuel and Clothing. —The mildness of our climate diminishes of 70 LOUISIANA. course the cost of clothing, as of fuel for domestic purposes. The sup- ply of coal or wood for steam motive power is literally unlimited. The coal of Illinois, Pennsylvania and Virginia is brought to our wharves by the river current, while that of Canada and of England may be brought in ballast or cargo by vessels loading out with cotton or grain. The semi-bituminous coal field of Alabama belongs to the same meas- ures with that of Cumberland or Maryland. It has been proved by analysis and use to be among the very best steam coals for stationary or marine engines. It lies along the thirty-third degree north latitude, and between the eighty-seventh and eighty-ninth degrees of longitude, making a mean diagonal between these mines and our port of about 275 miles, with a water delivery during the greater part of the year, or a down grade or gravity delivery by railroad, now under construction from New Orleans to Tuscaloosa. The average cost of these coals may be placed at $4 50 per ton. Wood as fuel may be brought at the cost of cutting and transportation not to exceed $3 per cord. 4. Inducement to cipital investment in manufactures. —The American tariff, whether for revenue or for incidental protection, would seem to be permanent, and offers inducements to infant industries. It may be especially mentioned that the duty on manufactured cotton fixed by the celebrated compromise of 1842 has during the unobstructed ascen- dancy of the protectionists, been changed to a specific duty of more than five cents per yard, constituting a protection on some qualities of goods of more than 40 per cent, ad valorem. In like manner the pro- tection on silk goods of American manufacture has been placed at more than 50 per cent, while that upon woolen cloths are satisfactory to the manufacturers. To these considerations may be added the fact that by article 207 of the constitution of Louisiana, 1879, it is enacted as follows : "There shall also be exempt from taxation and license for a period of ten years from the adoption of this constitution the capital, machinery and other property employed in the manufacture of textile fabrics," and numerous other articles enumerated. It is also said in the Fall iliver report: "During the war the manu- facturers were compelled to put up with the 'bad short staple cotton' of Asia. The English manufacturers loaded this cotton with flour and China clay, rising to the extent of 40, 60 and 100 per cent of the original weight." We may remark that the manufacturers of Orleans cotton need no sizing at all for such a purpose. The effec*: of loading English cottons has been to impair the markets of China and elsewhere for English goods, and has compelled the counterfeit of American trade marks. 5. Value of cotton stock on the spot.— The advantage to the spinner of a stock held by the shippers represents an economy of insurance and interest too obvious to be disregarded by practical men. FEW ORLEANS AS A MANUFACTURER OF COTTON GOODS. In considering this particular proposition, involving consequences of such importance to our city, your committee have made the most sedu- lous and impartial inquiries practicable. Aware that a practical examination of successful enterprise would strengthen the general reasoning already employed, your committee addressed a request to the house of Lehman, Abraham & Co., of our city, to allow them to inspect the Lane cotton mills. In immediate and polite response the manager, Mr. Boatwright, was instructed to extend us every facility. We have, therefore, to acknowledge the very instructive attentions of this gentleman, from whom we derived the information which follows. The Lane Cotton Mills have been in operation for more than twenty years, and have withstood the vicissitudes of war and the troubles of trade with no other suspension than that occasioned by a military order. They contain 8000 spindles and seventy-live looms. They em- COTTON MANUFACTURE. 71 ploy about ninety operatives. The wages are from the small sums paid beginners to $1 a dav paid women at the looms and spindles. The time is nine working hours a day. These operatives are all na- tives of New Orleans. Their exemption from epidemic disease is shown by the fact that there was but three cases of fever in the mill in 1878, none of whom died, nor was the mill stopped for a single day. The cost of coal used was about $3 30 per ton on the barge. The raw cotton is supplied from the city as required at the mill, and no stock is kept on hand. The consumption of cotton is something less than 2000 bales annually. The orders for cloth and yarn seem sufficient to take the goods as fast as they can be made. Apparently the rate of profit upon this investment is satisfactory, since the proprietors are erecting an additional mill, about 140 by 78 feet, to contain 8000 spin- dles, 64 carders and 320 looms. It will give employment to about 350 hands The motive power will be an engine of 225 horse-power. The new mill will cost about $140;090. We have thus in our own city an example of snccessful enterprise. Let us examine still further the inducement to similar investments. In 1879 England imported raw cotton valued at $176,316,000, 71 percent, whereof was derived from the United States and 925,000,000 from the port of New Orleans. Of this stock England exported $251,957,000. As the consumption of England, including, we suppose, her colonial possessions, is estimated to equal the values exported, the total value manufactured would be $503,914,000, exclusive of yarns. The total value, then, imported from the United States was spun and woven into goods worth $365,000,000, while those imported from New Orleans were made to be worth SUV 1,500, ouo, exclusive of yarns. Here, then is an increase of more than 490 per cent, occasioned by the mere conversion of the staple into cloth, and this by means, in part, of such an opera- tive class as New Orleans has to subsist. The combination of re- sources, shown to be within the ability of New Orleans to command, would have given to New Orleans more than $135,000,000 in place of the $35,000,000 exported on account of the shipper. New Orleans, perhaps, exported to other countries and to the States of the Union as much as that to England. Practical minds will also show that while the raw cotton exported belongs to the planter or shipper, the additional value imparted by the act of manufacture would belong to the people of the city itself. We will, therefore, add some of the peculiar advantages possessed by New Orleans over other cities for the manufacture of this great staple. 1. Superiority of staple. The following table from the British Mail, of August, 1880, will show the superior value of the New Orleans cotton staple : Cotton— London— ty ft), fair to good fair- Saw ginned Dharwar 5 1-16@5 7-16 Machine ginned Broach 5 13-16 Madras-Tinevelly 5i@5| Western - kt(a>5l Northern ts.@5| Coconada -• 5£@5J Bengal - ± 5M<3($4 7-16 Rangoon ---- 4|@4£ Scinde ± 5-16^4 9-16 Do. Sealsland Is. 4d.@ls. 8d. Comptah Dhollerah 4 15-16(^5 5-16 Oomra.... 4 15-!6@5 5-16 Liverpool middling upland 6 13-16 Do. Orleans - 6 15-16 72 LOUISIANA. From this it appears to be 14 per cent, better than the best of other products and 40.37 per cent, better than lowest grades of India cotton. The Secretary of State has recently said in a letter to the Speaker of the House of Bepresentatives : "It maybe safely assumed that the consumption of cotton in England will at least remain at its present proportions for some time to come. And it may be also assumed that England must rely on the United States for her chief supply of this staple, all efforts thus far to develop a cotton supply elsewhere to com- pete with the American article having proved futile," 2. Advantages of Climate. -It has been with some surprise that we have seen the singular assertion made by Mr. Atkinson, a statistician of reputation, that a "cold climate" is essential to the successful manufacture of cotton. "We would reason that the filaments of cotton would be more nocculent in a dry and cold atmosphere, and that they would be more disposed to separation. On the other hand, we would suppose that in a warm and even humid air these fibres would be more soft, more pliable and less liable to waste. Upon such reasoning we are not surprised that the cotton mills of Massachusetts maintain an artificial temperature of 70° throughout the year. In examining the subject further we find that England enjoys the climate most favorable to this industry, and it is somewhat attributable to the gulf stream, which, on its return towards the tropics, not only gives a warmth but a moisture to the island of Great Britain and Ireland, to which the ex- traordinary freshness of the turf of those countries has been attributed. Com. Maury long since compared the gulf stream to a warming appa- ratus. The centennial report of Fall Biver says : "One of the tradi- tional claims of England to an advantage over other countries in this pursuit (cotton manufacture) has been the sea-girt position twhich as- sures a constant humidity, that is an essential in a greater of less de- gree in all the stages of cloth production, and of course the atmosphere of the region in and about Fall Kiver has far from the same degree of moisture that is permanent in England and a still less constituent pro- portion than that of the Irish coast, exposed immediately to the dense fogs of the gulf stream, and especially created, if we credit the super- stition of the Belfast people, by a beneficent Providence for the man- ufacture of linen." We are sustained in the belief that warmth and moisture are favorable to the success of this industry by the practical observations of the Fall Biver manufacturers. They regard the cli- mate at Newport, B. I., as the most favorable for textile work, and claim for their own locality a vicinity to the ocean and a mildness of at- mosphere superior to that in the interior of Massachusetts. To this we add the testimony of Mr. Lowry and Mr. Boatwright, each at dif- ferent times managers of the Lane Cotton Mills. They agree that the climate of New Orleans is very favorable to textile work. There are occasional days of excessive humidity in the winter, which may be cor- rected by proper apparatus for the purpose. 3. Workshops for repairing or constructing machinery,— There are in New Orleans some first-class machine shops with every facility for the manufacture or repair of any work whatever. When it is mentioned that we have in the vicinity of New Orleans some twelve hundred sugar, rice, cotton and lumber mills ; that we have more than one hun- dred steamboats plying on our rivers and a fleet of steamers all re- quiring the service of first-class workshops, there can be no doubt of our capacity to conduct any work of reparation which may be needed by any additional machinery. REDUCTION ON FREIGHT SPACE. As our voyage to the markets of Europe is perhaps 40 per cent longer than that from the Eastern Atlantic ports, the comparative cost of transatlantic freights become a matter of much consequence. It is therefore important to reduce the freight space necessary as much as COTTON MANUFACTURE. 73 possible. We have compresses by which two bales of plantation cot- ton may be condensed within the space allotted to one. This economy of space may be greatly increased. The bale of plantation cotton occupies a space of forty-four cubic feet. It may be compressed witbin eleven cubic feet, but when twisted into yarns and woven into cloth this original bale will only occupy nine cubic feet. At this rate the freight space occupied by 1000 plantation bales would carry 4600 bales con- densed into cloth. SUMMARY OF ADVANTAGES. Nothing then remains except to summarize these advantages. It is then claimed : 1. That the staple of cotton offered in this market or in that of Texas will grade 34 per cent better for strength, length and weight than any other cottons for the manufacture of sheetings, shirtings and yarns suitable for the warp of home-made cotton cloths. 2. That the stock of this cotton on hand in New Orleans is sufficient to enable the spinner to supply his wants for the greater part of the year without the cost of insurance and interest, the variation of price or the speculation of -futures. 3. That the average climatic temperature is perfectly adapted to the manufacture of tixtile goods. 4. That the elements of food, clothing and rents, which constitute the cost of operative labor, are or may be furnished on as moderate terms as in any other part of the United States. 5. That operative labor capable of rapid instruction in cotton spin- ning abounds in this city, and can be relied upon to work all the year round. 6. That motive power can be supplied from coal at less than the average prices paid by Eastern mills off the line of water delivery, and at rates that will justify the investment of capital in milling property. 7. That real estate convenient to water delivery of stock and fuel abounds in this city, in the midst of operative population and at mode- rate prices. 8. That the revenue tax imposed by the United States upon imported cotton manufactures, with the exemption from State taxation upon buildings and machinery employed in the manufacture of cotton, tends to encourage such an investment. 9. That our machine shops, with complete and modern machinery, demonstrate the ability of New Orleans to repair any part of a cotton mill, while the facilities of intercourse with the North will enable the cotton spinher to renew or replace any disabled part of his machinery. 10. That the amount of tonnage employed in the exportation of our cotton will be greatly reduced by the compression of the raw cot- ton into yarns and cloths. It is known that the industry of manufactures may be more readily adopted at present than formerly, owing to the fact that all fabrics are in great part the production of machine labor, the possession of which reduces the long time formerly required to educate a people to hand- work productions. On the other hand, it must not be forgotten that the successful manufacture of cotton requires large capital and judi- cious management. Under the. most favorable circumstances, a knowledge of stock and process, with the immediate adoption of all improvements which diminish the cost or improve the quality of the the product, cases are given where, in the most favored locations at the North, large sums have been sunk in cotton manufacture, while the occasional strikes and suspensions prove that this industry, even under the most favorable conditions, is not exempt from the obliga- tions which attend all human enterprises. If, however, the same amount of energy and ability which produces 5,750,000 bales of cotton, and which conducts the sale and shipment, be applied to its manufac- 10 74 LOUISIANA. ture, we may anticipate success. Confining ourselves, however, sim- ply to the specific, object of inquiry stated, your committee has re- spectfully to submit for the consideration of the Chamber the follow- ing resolutions : Whereas, changes in the channels of internal and international communication, and the reduction of the legitimate profits upon trade in transit and merchandise on sale, renders the subsistence of large aggregations of city population by these means slow and precarious ; therefore, Resolved, That the city of New Orleans should add to her resources of the factorage, purchase and sale of commodities and the manufac- ture af raw materials. Resolved, That the inducements to the manufacture of cotton on the spot appear to this Chamber sufficient to justify investment therein by any capitalist desiring safe and satisfactory returns, or by any prop- erty owner seeking the advancement of his own interest or the pros- perity of the citv. Respectfully submitted, W. M. BURWELL, ADAM THOMPSON, C. E. GIRARDEY, ADOLPH SCHREIBER, H. DUDLEY COLEMAN. COMMERCE OF NEW ORLEANS. The imports for the fiscal year ending August 31 were $12,413,270, an increase of $1,498,228 over last year, while the exports were $104,150,450, also an increase, being $20,814,570 more than the previous year. The tonnage cleared from this port, though 1,402,496, or 158,450 tons more than last year, was carried in 1257 vessels, which is 79 less than last year, and is attributed to the larger sized vessels, especially steamers, that have come to this port owing to the great depth of water main- tained by that remarkable success— Eads's jetties. In the manufacturing line and in the increased employment of females the progress of New Orleans has been truly remarkable. The machine shops, foundries, sugar mills, cotton mills, rice mills and various other industries have shown considerable improvement, in the addition of new machinery and approved appliances for the perfection of the various articles turned out by them. Besides the improvement already mentioned, our river barge trans- portation has been increased to a carrying capacity of nearly 5,000,000 bushels per month, as there are now 15 towboats and 100 barges en- gaged in this service, and in addition to this already large equipment it is reported that there are 25 more barges and several towboats in the process of construction or preparation for the Mississippi River trade. Our railroad systems have also been increased enormously, and be- sides those which already centre here are and are connected with large railroad combinations in other parts of the country, additional sys- tems are contemplated in the West and California which are to make New Orleans the objective point of the great outlet of the immense products of those vast sections. The extraordinary success of our cotton future business has made our city not only the greatest cotton centre, but the point on which the world's various cotton markets revolve. Official statement of I. N. Maynard, manager of the New Orleans Clearing-House : GRAND TOTAL CLEARINGS AND BALANCES FOB THE YEAR ENDING MAY 31, 1881. Clearings. Balances paid. 1880-81 $465,125,557 $46,519,863 1879-80 433,011,637 47,157,057 Increase $42,113,920 $362,806 COMMERCE OF NEW ORLEANS. 75 The following are the clearings and balances previous to 1879 -80 : 1872-73 $501,716,239 06 $58,933,605 49 1873-74 476,235,854 96 52,751,419 86 1874-75 406,829,492 01 45,293,424 66 1875-76 426,266,165 89 47,937,793 62 1876-77 414,527,870 21 47,296,575 14 1877-78 428,750,803 03 46,341,330 10 1878-79..., 372,651.150 10 44,579,081 67 As indicated by the above clearings, the business movement of 1880-81 shows a considerable improvement over that of 1879-80 MONEY MARKET. Although the supply of available funds throughout the year has been fair, both in bank and in the street, rates have ruled rather higher for money than last year, owing to the increased business move- ment produced by the large crops, the liberal grain trade and new and various enterprises springing up, besides the large, active speculative business in securities and cotton futures. The course of the market is indicated by the following table, which shows the extremes monthly: 1880-81. Exceptional paper. September 8@ 9 October 9 January 8 Februiry 8 March 7@ 8 May 8 1879-80 6@ 8 1878-79 6(3) 8 Al 10 10 9@10 10 8 8 8@10 9?aio Collateral loans. Al mort- gages. 8 6(5)8 6(aJ8 FOREIGN COMMERCIAL EXCHANGES. 1880-81. September October ... November. December . January... February.. March April May June July August 1879 80 1878-79 STERLING. Lo west. 476. V 477" 475 473$ 476 475 475$ 479 480 480 479$ 476 474£ 475 h Highest. 479 480 479 J 47 bi 481" 482$ 479$ 483 485 482* 481* 480$ 485 486$ Lowest. 530 531|: 531* 533^ 531* 532$ 532* 530" 5261 526$ 526* 530 531| 528| Highest. NEW YORK COMMERCIAL SIGHT. 1880-81. September... October November „.. December January February 1879-80 Lowest. $3 50 ds 2 50 ds 3 00 ds 4 00 ds 4 00 ds 2 50 ds 5 00 ds Highest. $0~50ds" 1 25 ds 1 00 ds 2 75 ds 50 pr 50 pr 2 50 pr 1880-81. March . April... May ... June ... July.... August , 1878-79 . Lowest. $1 25 ds 1 00 pr 50 ds 1 00 ds 1 00 ds 1 00 ds 5-16 ds Highest. 75 pr 50 pr 50 pr 50 ds 50 ds 25 pr 76 LOUISIANA. S5 Eh O H « O Pi W w H H < 00 ft oo » « « CO P a © ft O N >H O ^ -< W 'A H ft O © H fc M ft fl fc P < ft w P « J*5 O W W H fh O H * W a w H -« H so « oa a 55 cc « W O > H •J t. «. < o a H ° S5 O < d o H C0t>0510C0^O10l>03(SO rt001O^INH0iOrt!00tim o sz; t- 3 00!>t»rtaitO(»HOCO COIMtOOJOOOMlOKlOHW WQOfflt-ai(M010«H100 o a o co iioo!D»sqoomioo 1-7 J eo oo ia eo"-"* eoWr-TeQ '000000lOiO-^(Mi-ICO o Q0C0tX)O5DTHiyit-C0-*Q0i-l CO^t- OOIOC3t^5D-*5» is s| si Si* : : • s &© o © g® ^ &« 33 COMMERCE OF NEW ORLEANS. 77 a o i-H « s p tH p p i-l CO pi h «d l-l p P 1-1 i-s o o a w P P P ^ P Em O P H o -«1 P W » H fc O o fc H M ft P P fc P <1 or; « fc w << m P S P P P K O a o 0)-*00C0WQ0WC0O(N0DH r^00HH0O-*00lOCOtOm!O o CI o EH o 0«!DC--*t-©C-Ot-CIIW o o EH iten»OH notcmoom • lHtO-*eOC» ilH o to a o EH ©la^OOOOHrl^Hilt- O a o H X005HH»tD10lOt-t"5<) o rt««8HW««H««Hrt s , © • © © • >» s © © o © § © «8 &«3 33 o Hi 78 LOUISIANA. TABLE OF RECEIPTS OF COTTON AT NEW ORLEANS, WITH THE TOTAL CROP FROM 1835-36 TO 1880-81. Tear. Crop. New Orleans. Perct. 1835-36 1,360,727 495,443 36.41 1836-37 1,422,930 605,813 42.04 1837-38 1,801,497 742,726 41.23 1838-39 1,360,532 578,514 42.52 1839-40 2,177,835 954,446 43.83 1840-41 1,634,945 822,870 50. 33 1841-42 3,680,574 740,155 44.04 1842-43 1,378,875 1,089,042 79 98 1843-44 2,030,400 910,854 44.86 1844-45 2,394,503 970,238 40.90 1845-46 2,100,537 865,375 38.34 1846-47 2,178,651 740,550 62.83 1847-48 2,347,635 1,213,805 51.70 1848-49 2,728,596 1,152,382 42.23 1849-50 2,096,706 781,886 37.66 1850-51 2,355,257 932,369 39.63 1851-52.. 3,015,029 1,373,464 45.55 1852-53 _ 3,262,882 1,580,875 48.74 1853-54 , ....2,930,027 1,346,925 45.97 1854-55 2,847,339 1,232,644 43.27 1855-56 3,527,845 1,651,432 47 09 1856-57 2,939,519 1,435,000 48.81 1857-58 3,113,962 1,576,409 50.62 .1958-59 3,851,401 1,669,274 43.34 1859-60 4,675,770 2,139.425 45.77 War 1865-66 ...2,154,476 711,629 33.08 1866-67 1,951,988 702,131 35 97 1867-68 2,430,893 579,231 23.81 1868-69 2,260,557 794,205 35.12 1869-70 3,113,592 1,142,997 36.66 1870-71 4,347,006 1,446,400 33.28 1861-72 2,914,351 957,538 32.19 1872-73 3,930,508 1,240,384 31.56 1873-74 4,185.534 1,221,696 29.18 1874-75 3,832^991 993,775 25 91 1875-76 4,669,283 1,415.959 30.36 1876-77 4,485,423 1,195,035 26.64 1877-78 4,773,765 1,391,519 29.15 1878-79 5,074,155 1,187,355 23 44 1879-80 5,761,252 1,504.654 26.12 1880-81 6,611,000 1,879,593 24.33 RECEIPTS AT UNITED STATES PORTS THIS YEAR. This year. New Orleans 1.879,593 Galveston 691,s97 Indianola 16,264 Mobile 390,186 Pensacola 8,672 Chai'leston 635,164 Port Royal 44,486 Savannah 887,114 Brunswick 4,981 Year Last year. before. 1,489,049 1,174,594 476,432 560,135 8,694 15,074 357,089 362,430 4,548 23,315 462,632 499,921 42,677 10,310 738,810 690,682 3,805 15,878 COMMERCE OF NEW ORLEANS. 79 Wilmington .:.. 116,749 77,266 109,295 Norfolk 709,044 583,933 442,114 City and West Point."."" 198,846 165 689 117,453 Baltimore 59,515 20,529 19,326 Philadelphia *""-- 75,702 44,678 36,352 New York 191312 229,416 169,981 Providence"" 21.72.2 34,938 18,122 Boston !_.'"""" .7—7 180,125 233,834 177,033 EXPORTS FROM ALL PORTS. Great Britain and Channel. Continent. Total. New Orleans 530 ; 106 691,251 1,631,357 Galveston....'...- 323.786 162,351 486,137 Mobile p— . 84,070 32,191 116,263 Savannah"..".".'. 200,021 297,780 507,801 Charleston 172.715 269,180 441,895 Wilmington 57,130 12,672 69,810 Norfolk 316,051 12,772 328,818 Baltimore.'""."'....' 119,895 27,993 147,888 New York 404,285 175,811 580,096 Boston.. ..7.7. 124,459 124,459 Philadelphia 67,774 50 67,824 Port Royal 27,839 9,630 37,469 Total 2,838,134 1,701.683 4,539,817 TAKINGS NORTHERN MILLS. OVERLAND TO MILLS. 1880-81. 1879-80. 1880-81. 1879-80. September 64,000 84,395 12,039 22,442 October .... 178,341 149,305 63.269 48,430 November"" 312,014 309,134 102,811 121,914 December 284,662 372,270 79,461 132,147 January " 267,574 205,112 • 76 17 67,523 February" 187,914 107,880 40,159 40,485 March 82,172 83,528 28,004 26,804 A mil - 94,375 65,805 30,831 19,874 May --- 82,239 41,439 28,036 9,764 Balance::. 7.77. _*_ 155.1 29 * 29,367 Total 1,735,000 1,573,997 518,240 Southern consumption 250,000 215,981 500,000 ♦Estimated. NEW ORLEANS COTTON STATEMENT. 1880-81. Stock beginning year 3^ Net receipts i,&ab,o/a Receipts from Mobile 199,409 Receipts from Texas 72,530 Receipts from Florida L394 Receipts from New York 666 Receipts from Liverpool 10 Excess from loose, waste, linters, etc 19,506 Total supply 1,911,862 Exports and local consumption, year 1,835,312 Stock close year 76,550 1879-80. 4,595 1,489,049 167,277 56,620 53 15,253 1,732,754 1,700,485 32,269 so LOUISIANA. OCEAN FKEIGHTS ON COTTON. The rates current during the year on cotton have been as follows : TO LIVERPOOL. TO HAVRE. STEAM. SAIL. SAIL. Lowest. Highest. Lowest. Highest. Lowest. Highest. September. October. .. November. December. January... February.. March June July August — ll-32d id 13-32d ll-32d 9-32d 9-32d 9-32d 5-16d 15-32d 15-32d 17-32d 7-16d *9 7-16d 13-32d Id ll-32d 5-16d 7-16d Id ll-32d Id 23-64d 11 32d 23-64d 23-64d 23-64d ll-32d 5-16d 19-64d 1 |d Id fd Id 23-64d 23-64d 23-64d Id ll-32d 5-16d 3 "5 !c ll-16c fe 23-32e ll-16c 21-32c 23-32C 23-32c 23-32C 23-32C 1 |c fc ic 23-320 ll-16c Ic i c |c 23-32C 23-320 i EXPOETS OF GEAIN FROM NEW OELEANS. Official report of Mr. J. T. Belknap, grain inspector of this port, and exhibits in detail the foreign shipments of grains in bulk : COMPARATIVE SHIPMENTS FOR SEASON FROM SEPTEMBER TO AUGUST INCLUSIVE. 1880-1881. Destination. Corn. Liverpool 1,894,046 London 263,806 Glasgow Cork ,-.-' - 229,266 Copenhagen 835,991 Stettin 74.274 Hamburg - 715,959 Bremen 452,851 Rotterdam.. 313,209 Antwerp 1,784,211 Dunkirk -- 494,864 Calais Caen Havre 421,760 Eouen 1,560,865 St. Nazaire La Rochclle Sables d'Olonne Bordeaux 96,196 Bayonne Gijon Passages Barcelona Marseilles Genoa Leghorn... Naples Venice Wheat. 666,175 88,593 29,962 158,510 686.606 610.537 155,231 246,667 27,646 1,514.800 1,176,443 34^022 30,031 326,157 409,641 362,756 Corn. 1.276,323 "*4*451 315,298 380,858 722,438 1,388,418 781,993 76,460 "545",038 2,305,664 23,550 204,983 30,974 66,274 28,606 73,604 151,793 442,109 157,881 135,362 1879-1880. Wheat. 513,807 22,119 818,453 732,904 "70,466 999,170 158,443 "58*7QB 1,101,365 163,527 Total 9,137,373 6,523,747 9,112,077 5,254,805 COMMERCE OF NEW ORLEANS. 81 Corn. Wheat. Eye. Season 1878-1879 3,598,832 1,901,929 272,504 Season 1879-1880 9,112,077 5,254,805 63,704 Season 1880-1881 9,137,373 6,523,747 45,423 Shipments of rye this season were all to Eotterdam— 45,421 bushels. The exports in 1879-80 were made on 136 steamships and 133 sailing vessels ; in 1880-81 they were made on 228 steamships and 116 sailing vessels. In the above table are given the e^act amounts of bulk wheat, corn and rye exported from the 1st day of September, 1880, to August 31, 1881. The exports from July 1st, 1880, to July 31. 1881, as shown by the records of the Custom-House have been as follows : TOTAL EXPORTS OF GRAINS, ALL KINDS, FROM AUGUST 1, 1880, TO JULY 31, 1881. Corn. Wheat. Bushels. Dollars. Bushels. Dollar*. Belgium 1,448,340 801,297 958,553 1,086,112 Central American States . _ 46 32 Denmark 833,866 418,109 France 2,639,474 1,460,378 4,024,685 4,784,922 Germanv 1,045,694 529,143 England 2,106,181 1,156,592 933,559 1,084,969 Ireland 195,915 110,829 32,456 35,702 Nova Scotia 209,852 110,877 496,787 593,830 British West Indies 82 57 British Honduras 297 160 Mexico... 61,438 38,259 Netherlands.... 489,258 251,086 987,505 1,137,941 Scotland 29,932 32,924 Totals 9,030,443 4,876,819 7,463,477 8,706,400 Of Oats the exports were to France 1000 bushels, valued at $400 ; to England 100 bushels, valued at $40; to British Honduras 69 bushels, valued at $32, and to. Cuba 541 bushels, valued at $211. Of rye the ex- ports were to Netherlands 45,423 bushels, valued at $39,817. Of barley only one bushel was exported to British Honduras, valued at $3. The total receipts, which include the local consumption of wheat, have been as follows : 1879-80. 1880 81. Bye in bulk, bushels 64,355 45,421 Wheat in bulk and sacks, bushels... 5,504,805 6,774,492 Corn in bulk, bushels ...9,112,077 10,059,004 Of other grain and feed stuffs the receipts and shipments for the Dast two years have been as follows : 1879-80. 1880-81. Beceipts. Shipments. Eeceipts. Shipments. Corn, sacks ..985,091 328,980 541,242 321,904 Oats, sacks 432,031 17,049 570,230 7,055 Bran, sacks 136,437 12,584 123,583 10.519 Hay, bales 193,790 806 210.616 2,351 The foreign and coastwise shipments, exclusive of movements by rail, have been as follows : Hay, Bran, Oats, Corn, 1880-81. bales. sacks. sacks. sacks. Antwerp ... 6,111 Bremen "_""_ s'ioo Campeachy 800 11 82 LOUISIANA. Cienfuegos.. Copenhagen . Dunkirk England Florida Havre.. . Honduras . . . Jamaica Mexico New York... Rotterdam . . Ruatan 210 5,916 3,757 415 4 61 3,153 1,844 4,951 6,821 65,137 3.050 218 6 10 4 16 32 25 43 24,241 300 300 4,000 The value of white sack corn on the landing has ranged as follows : September 54(5)60 October 56@60 November 55@73 December 53@71 January 52@70 February 55@62 March 60 April 62£ May 65 June 62 July .62 August 63 LOUISIANA SUGAR AND RICE CROPS 1880-81 (From A. Bouchereau's Annual Statement.) Crop of No. Sugar- Parishes. Houses in operation. Rapides - 18 Avoyelles 15 St. Landry.... 27 Lafayette 10 Vermillion 38 St. Martin 35 Iberia 66 St. Mary 99 Terrebonne. . 1 77 Lafourche 77 Assumption 1 20 Pointe Coupee 44 West Feliciana 39 1 56 102 64 80 43 27 26 5 15 28 6 Sugar '80-'81, in hogsheads. 4,201 1,935 2,989 932 2,025 3,549 9,099 ■ 24,732 15,900 14,281 20.898 5,591 West Baton Rouge East Feliciana East Baton Rouge Iberville Ascension St. James St. John the Baptist St. Charles Jefferson Orleans St. Bernard Plaquemines Livingston St. Tammany .___-. 3 p. c. cistern bottoms on 389,264 hhds. ('61-'62 Actual sugar-house crop of 1888-81 3 p. c cistern bottom on 138.509 hhds. 1880-81 9,444 25 4,950 19,293 16,913 17.328 10,688 6,871 5,570 797 3,467 12,556 85 120 214,159 Crop of Clean Rice '80-'81, in barrels. 860 1,500 709 2,000 "iio 84 2,998 36,500 6,000 28,933 12,341 31,545 20,312 19,543 8,888 7,657 6,684 84,554 "466 4,156 Total 1,144 218,314 266,658 COMMERCE OF NEW ORLEANS. 83 Mr. Bouehereau's aggregates are as follows : Weight. Hhds. Pounds. Brown sugar made by old process in 1880-81.. .. 142,664 174,050,080 Befined and clarified, including first, second and third 75,650 98,932,819 Total crop of 1880-81... 218,314 272,982,899 Gallons. Gallons. Average of molasses per 1000 pounds of refined sugar 42.13 4,168,039.66 Average of molasses per 1000 pounds of brown sugar 63.70 11,086,990.10 Total crop of molasses.. - 15,255,029.76 SHIPMENTS TO OTHEE POETS. Sugar. Molasses. 1880-81. 1879-80. 1880-81. 1879-80. Hhds. Hhds. Bbls. Bbls. New York 20.064 13,831 112,109 77,649 Philadelphia '200 538 1,934 521 Baltimore and Boston.. 1,171 589 2,492 2,793 Mobile... 16,110 6,504 21,077 10,126 Florida 839 1,303 930 981 Texas 9,311 8,783 8,131 13,432 West, etc ....88,225 62,202 128,809 68,997 Total 135,830 93,750 270,482 174,549 Prices current at the close of each month and monthly receipts have been as follows : Keceipts. Prices. Sugar. Molasses. Fully fair Prime hhds. bbls. Sugar. Molasses. September 117 179 9* to 9J ..to.. October 5,314 13,300 6£ to 7 44 to 45 November 30,481 64,470 6£ to 6| 40 to 42 December 46,926 97,546 6£ to 6J 38 to 40 January 35,812 78,496 .. to 6| 36 to 38 February 22,811 39,457 6f to 6| 36 to 38 March 16,167 18,225 ..to7 36 to 38 April 10,651 8,604 7-f to 7f 38 to 40 Mav 4,687 5,164 . . to 7| 35 to 40 June 5,598 2,867 7f to 8 ..to 40 July 2,254 1,314 -.to7| ..to 40 August 1,021 559 ..toll .. to .. Total 181,839 330,181 The comparative value of the crop for a series of years has been as follows : Tear. Total crop, Average price Crop pounds. per hhd. Total value. 1850-51 231,200,000 $60 00 $12,678,000 1855-56 254,600,000 70 00 16,200,000 1859-60 225,100,000 82 00 18,200,000 1861-62 528,300,000 55 00 25,100,000 1865-66 19,900,000 157 50 2,847,000 1869-70 99,500,000 120 00 10,442,000 84 LOUISIANA. 1871-72...-., - 146,900,000 108 00 13,911,000 1873-74 103,200,000 95 50 8,555,000 1875-76 - - 165,450,000 83 00 11,578,000 1876-77 194,964,000 95 50 15,646,000 1877*78 -. ...149,469,000 72 00 9,007,000 1878-79 251,088,868 65 00 13,557,115 1879-80 211,740,062 87 50 15,360,000 1880-81 .272,982,899 80 00 17,465,120 EICE CEOP 1880-81. The price per barrel of clean rice averaged $9 75 for the season. The receipts have been ; 266,658 barrels of clean rice, weighing 220 pounds each, pounds net ' 61,331,340 TABLE OF THE RICE CROP OE LOUISIANA. 1874-75 ...104,415 1875-76 170,394 1876-77 187,116 1877-78 136,587 1878-79 154,518 1879-80 100,689 1880-81.... .266,658 LEAF TOBACCO. RECEIPTS. Hhds. 1875-6 26,671 1876-7 9,317 1877-8 14,172 1878-9 2,645 1879-80 6,824 1880-1 11,705 EXPORTS. 1880-81. Great Britain 1,464 France 82 North Europe... 7,623 Italy and Mexico 11 Coastwise 323 9,503 2,971 5,409 THE TRADE STATEMENT OF FLOUR. 1879-80, 1880-81, bbls. bbls. Stock September 1, 1879 30,501 19,075 Local production 49,700 50,149 Beceipts from the West 644,448 626,332 Total supply .-.! 724,649 695,556 Stock at close of year 19,075 14,775 Total distribution , 705,574 680,781 9-80. 1878-79. 5 100 130 296 1,440 4,302 16 109 1,380 602 COMMERCE OF NEW ORLEANS. 85 Shipments to — Great Britain 50,264 25,491 Other European ports 9,199 1,681 West Indies, etc 22,910 71,189 United States Atlantic ports 650 4,317 Texas 29,862 9,682 Mobile 4,033 4,684 Florida -_ 52,067 56,504 Other United States ports .. 30,317 29,157 Total shipments 198,292 202,795 City consumption • 506,282 477,986 LOWEST AND HIGHEST PEICES OF FLOUR DURING THE YEAR. Choice. Fancv. September $5 10 to 5 30 $5 37| to 5 65 October 5 m to 5 75 5 50 to 6 10 November 5 70 to 6 00 5 85 to 6 37£ December 5 25 to 5 90 5 65 to 6 25 January 5 62£ to 5 87£ 6 00 to 6 25 February 5 62| to 5 90 5 90 to 6 37£ March 5 60 to 6 10 6 00 to 6 25 April 5 75 to 6 00 5 87| to 6 25 May 5 60 to 5 90 5 90 to 6 50 June 5 75 to 6 00 6 25 to 6 50 July.... 6 00 to 6 62* 6 37* to 7 00 August 6 30 to 7 50" 6 62* to 8 00 FEED STUFFS. The receipts of Oats have increased over last year 170,000 sacke, and shipments to coastwise ports are 50,000 sacks greater. Hay has also come in in larger quantities, but there is a falling off in Bran. Prices have not, on the average, varied materially from those of last year. The course of prices during the year has been as follows, prime Hay being quoted ; Oats. Bran. Hay. September 40 to 48 70 to 80 $17 00 to 22 00 October _. 37 to 45 80 to 1 00 17 00 to 23 50 November.... 37 to 50 90 to 1 124 21 00 to 28 00 December... 44£ to 50 85 to 1 10" 23 00 to 27 90 Januarv 46 to 57 90 to 1 10 22 00 to 26 00 February.... _..43*to50 110 to 1 25 22 00 to 24 00 March 44^ to 54 95 to 1 25 22 00 to 24 50 April 47|to55 85 to 95 23 00 to 30 00 May 46 to 50 70 to 85 22 50 to 29 00 Juue 44jto48 70 to 80 16 50 to 23 00 July 43 to52 72* to 1 00 16 00 to 19 00 August.... 56 to60 90 to 1 40 16 00 to 22 00 PEOVISIONS. The receipts in pounds have been as follows : 1880-81. 1879-80. Bacon 12,591,850 12,290,350 Hams 5,959.100 7,460,600 Dry salt meats 26,631,242 26,421,188 Pork 8,277,600 15,143.600 Totalmeat 53,459,792 65,315,738 Lard. 8,349,950 8,750,980 86 LOUISIANA. The shipment coastwise and to foreign ports embrace : Pork, Bacon, Lard, bbls. casks. tierces. Foreign ports 1,019 60 1,457 Texas 151 424 1,778 Mobile 102 263 59 Florida 626 431 414 Other United States ports..... 792 2,301 1,450 Total 1880-1 9,702 3,520 5,181 .. 1879-80 4,783 3,486 4,463 .. 1878-9 4,391 5,450 5,679 RANGE OF PRICES DURING THE YEAR. 1880-81. Pork. September $15 75 to 17 25 October 15 09 to 20 00 November 14 00 to 15 50 December 13 25 to 13 50 January 13 25 to 15 25 February 15 00 to 16 50 March 16 00 to 16 74 April 16 37itol8 50 May 17 50 to 18 50 June 17 37Jtol7 75 July 17 25 to 18 00 August 17 87|to20 60 -Bacon — Shoulders. Cents. 51 to 6J 5| to 6J 5| to 5f 5Jto6 5f to 6 5| to 6i 6f to 6f 6 to6| 6| to l\ 7 to7| 7|to8 8 to Of Clear. Cents. 10 to lOf 9§ to 10 8£to 9} 8|to 9 8 to 8| 8^ to 9| 8i to 9| 91 to lOf 9§ to 10 9§ to 10| 10l to 11 11 to llj Beflned Lard, Dry Salt tierces. Shoulders. September 8f to 8| 54 to 5f October 8| to 6| 5| to 6 November 8f to 9| 5| to 5f December 9 to 9| 4§ to 5| January to 10" ii to 54 February 10J to lOf 5§ to 5§ March 10| to llf 5| to 5f April lOf to 12 5ito5f May 104toll£ 6 to6i June 11 to 114 6i to 6f July 11| to 124 6|to7i August 12 to 12| 7|to7£ S. Cured Hams. lli to 124, 94 to 12 9| to 11 9 toll 9 to 10 94 to lli 10| to ll" 10 to Hi 10* to 111 lOf to 111 10§ to 13$ 12 to 144. COFFEE. Imports from Mexico, 8,318,942ft 63,503 Imports coastwise 17,152 Imports from Bio direct 258,622 Total receipts 339,277 Previous year 249,674 Increase 80,603 COMMERCE OF NEW ORLEANS. 87 Imports. Sales. Prime. Fair. SeDtember 12,070 16 J to 16! 15| to 15f October 60,282 32 534 15| to 16 14f to 15 November "".... 32;733 55.555 14f to 15 13? to 14 "December 31,817 35,108 UJto — 13* to — JanSSv H003 25,696 14 to 14i 13 to 133 FSuary""":::::".:.-. 35 964 30 914 14 to 141 13 tol3| March - - 15 648 19,725 13* to 133 12* to 12} April " ... 18 654 16,304 13* to 13£ 12§ to 12£ Mav 42,604 31,303 12f to 13 llf to 12 jm,e ---■ 10,006 10,849 laltotai ii to llf July "J";. 9,971 16.130 12ltol2| Hi to llf August".!".!"."-"".". 9,610 13,304 — to 13* - to 12* COMPAKATIVE IMPOETS FOB SIX YEARS. From Fr«m Eio de J aniero. Mexico. 1876. 1877. 154.730 8,358 154I181 20,724 To78 " 178,188 27,305 {Jiq - " " 151,587 19.101 £ ' ...194,073 28,225 i88i.:!.!'.!!!!".".!!//-!!!!!."!..'-"-*-'----" 278,20g 65.500 DAIBY [PEODUCTS. BuTTEB-Eeceipts for the year have been as follows : Western 4447 firkins 244 kegs, 5283 packages, 27,734 tubs ; Northern 2981 firkins, 27b cases, 201 kegs and 268 tubs ; oleomargarine, tubs ; lardine, tubs. CHEESE-Eeceipts 45,224 boxes Western and 2394 boxes New Yora. SALT. RECEIPTS. 1881. 1880. 1879. Liverpool, sacks 333,686 250,219 335,046 Turks Island, bushels 115,154 5,406 COTTON SEED PEODUCTS Ouf]£e - 283,568 504*931 Cotton seed "meal .V."."."-"-"-'.". . .". 51 728 . 26,627 Cotton seed oil, bbls 38.042 14,230 EXPOETS OF OIL CAKE. Pounds. Pounds. Cxreat Britain -- 4 H»25 75 , 3, !S Continent...... 1?> 4 _ £«* Via New York - _!i? I ' 515,019 810,831 EXPOETS COTTON SEED OIL. Bbls. Bbls. Mediterranean and Adriatic ports 39,437 U l'ill Great Britain 926 2,250 Continent — - 520 Mg Domestic ports 34 > 189 ld ' 6dd Total 75 > 072 140.577 LOUISIANA. COAL. Date. 1880. September 1 October 1 November 1 December 1 1881. January 1 February 1 March 1 April 1 May 1 June 1 July 1 August 1 Last year Arri vals. Consumption. Joats. Barges. Boats. Barges. 24 1 2 .. 25 2 D 29 4 -- 37 -- 62 4 44 3 20 4 53 1 33 27 4 47 fi 31 3 42 8 24 5 83 14 25 9 7 1 25 4 66 3 35 4 371 40 370 36 336 70 276 70 Price wholesale. 34 35 to 37jc 37J to 40c 42J to 37ic 38 50 45 50 45 40 40 40 to 44c to 48c to 48c to 48c to 47i WOOL. Beceipts about 1,000,000 pounds. LIVE STOCK. Beceipts for the year 6,047 beef cattle, 25.897 sheep, 26,137 hogs, 801 cows, 49,110 calves and yearlings. Last year— 57,943 beef cattle, 26,547 hogs, 16,270 sheep, 794 cows, 41,562 calves' and yearlings. The range of prices during the year has been as follows : Cornfed Beeves, Grass fed Hogs per pound, Beeves, per pound, Sheep Date. gross. per head gross. per head. September ..to.. $15 to 37 2i to 5i $2 00 to 5 00 October..* .. to ._ 12 to 35 2i to 5 2 00 to 4 00 November. 3 \ to 4 \ 10 to 30 2-f to 5 2 00 to 3 50 December 3* to 5 10 to 30 2* to 5 2 00 to 3 50 January. 3| to 5J 10 to 30 2* to U 2 00 to 3 50 February 2j to 5 10 to 25 3-1 to 64 2 00 to 5 00 March .... 24 to 5 10 to 35 3"" to 5| 2 00 to 5 00 April.. 2{ ? to5i 10 to 25 5 to 5 2 00 to 5 00 May 2|jto5i 10 to 30 3 to 6 2 00 to 5 00 June.,... ..to.. 15to35 3i to 5 2 00 to 5 10 July.- -- to.. 15 to 40 3|to64 1 50 to 4 00 August to.. 15 to 38 34 to 6 1 50 to 3 50 TBOPICAL FBUITS. Beceipts 500,000 boxes lemons and oranges. PRODUCTS OF SOUTHERN INDUSTRY. 89 LEADING PRODUCTS OF SOUTHERN INDUSTRY, COTTON, CANE AND RICE. THE ACEEAGE AND CEOP8. The following table shows the cotton production of the various States, their acreage and the average product per acre : Fraction of States in order of bale per production. Acreage. Bales. acre. 1. Mississippi 2,093,330 955,808 .46 2. Georgia 2,617,138 814,441 .31 3. Texas 2,137,732 803,642 .37 4. Alabama 2,330,086 699,654 .30 5. Arkansas 1,042,976 608,256 .58 6. South Carolina 1,384.249 522,548 -39 7. Louisiana 864,787 508,569 .59 8. North Carolina 893,153 389,598 .44 9. Tennessee 722.589 330,644 .46 10. Florida 245,595 54,997 .22 11. Missouri 32,711 19,733 .60 12. Indian Territory 35,000 17,000 .49 13. Virginia 24,000 11,000 .46 14. Kentucky 2,667 1,367 .51 Total 14,441,993 5,737,257 .40 It will then be seen that omitting Missouri, which can scarcely be considered a cotton State, Louisiana averages the largest production to the acre— nearly two-thirds of a bale. The bales are estimated here to contain 475 pounds each, so that the total production of the country in 1879 was 8,015,592,000 pounds of seed cotton, of which 2,725,198,000 pounds was lint and the rest cotton seed. LOUISIANA. In this State nearly one-half of the crop was raised in the alluvial region north of Red river, and extending from the Mississippi to the Ouachita. In this section is the most fertile cotton parish in the South, East Carroll producing nineteen-twentieths of a bale to an acre. The average for the whole section is eight-tenths of a bale per acre. The lower river parishes, from Eed Eiver to St. Charles, produced about one-sixth of the crop, and an average of seven-tenths of a bale per acre. The oak uplands of the Eed Eiver country, extending from Eapides to the Texas boundary, produced about three-tenths of the crop of the State and an average of half a bale to the acre. Even our piny woods lands show an average of four-tenths of a bale per acre, which is ihe general average for the whole country. Our worst lands, therefore, average as well as the best in other States. COUNTIES HAVING THE HIGHEST PBODUCT PEE ACEE. East Carroll, La 40,167 Chicot, Ark 26,941 Washington, Miss 63,409 Bowie, Texas 11,599 Marlborough, S. C. 41,251 Richmond, N. C ...... .„ 25,198 12 Total Product Production. per acre. 38,160 .95 25,338 .94 54,873 .87 7,958 .69 23,785 .58 12,754 .51 90 LOUISIANA. NEW ORLEANS MANUFACTURES. There are two manufactories of artificial ice in New Orleans making yearly more than 25,000 tons of ice, which is consumed in the city. The demand for artificial ice is greater than the supply and more factories are needed. This ice sells at wholesale for $12 a ton. THE BOX FACTORIES supply Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama and Tennessee with paper and wooden boxes, and almost the entire West draws its supply of Spanish cedar for cigar boxes from this market. BEICK YARDS. There are seven brick yards in and around New Orleans. BROOMS AND BRUSHES. The manufacture of brooms and brushes employs about 100 persons principally boys. THE CANNING BUSINESS. Canning of fruits and shrimp gives employment to only about 200 persons. Two thousand people could be profitably employed in canning of fruits, vegetables, oysters and fish. CIGARS AND TOBACCO. The manufacture of cigars and tobacco employs about 1500 persons in New Orleans, many of whom are women and girls. It is estimated that the products of this business are near one and a quarter million of dollars. COTTON SEED OIL MILLS. These factories employ nearly 2000 hands, and yield an annual product of about three million dollars. These mills have formed an association which monopolizes the business. They pay very little for the seed and their profits are enormous. This business invites capital and competi- tion. COTTON MILLS. The only cotton factory now in operation in this city is the Lane Mills ; erected before the war, and now owned by Messrs. Lehman, Abraham & Co. These mills contained last year 68 looms and 2800 spindles. They were so successfully worked that it was decided, this season to increase their capacity. For this purpose a large brick building was erected and machinery purchased which will increase the number of spindles to 6000 and the force from 110 to 360. The wages paid the women average from 35 cents to $1 25 per day. There were no changes in the wages last year and there is no likeli- hood of any change for some time. The product of the mill is now 2500 pounds daily of osnaburgs, cloths, yarns and twine. With the new machinery in operation the production will be considerably more than doubled. The mill consumes about 1400 bales of cotton yearly now, and turns out sheeting, shirting, drillings, osnaburgs, duck, yarn, twine and batting of the value of $160,000 yearly. These goods are used locally and shipped to Galveston, Memphis, St. Louis, Philadelphia and New York. There have been no changes in the price, and business is about the same as last year. Besides the Lane Mills there is a probability of the opening of two other cotton mills here this fall ; the Louisiana cotton manufactory in the Third District, and the Maginnis Mills, which it is proposed tQ erect shortly. NEW ORLEANS MANUFACTURES. 91 FLOUBING MILLS. There are several small mills in New Orleans, but the only mill of a capacity of 300 barrels per day was that of Webster & .Dillingham, which was recently destroyed by fire. It will be rebuilt immediately ; but the near completion of the New Orleans and Pacific Railroad will, no doubt, cause the erection of several other large mills to grind the Texas wheat which will come to this market. This business offers inducements to capitalists. LEATHER AND HARNESS. The exemption of this business from taxation for a period of ten years by the constitution of 1879 has given it an impetus The local trade is supplied and large shipments are made to Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee. MEN'S CLOTHING. The manufacture of men's clothing gives employment to more than 1000 persons turning ,'out over one million dollars' worth of clothing, and in addition to local trade supplying the contiguous States. MOSS GINNING. There are six moss ginneries in and around New Orleans, yielding a product of nearly ten million pounds of moss. This is a growing in- dustry and offers inducements to small as well as large capitalists. Not one-hundredth part of the annual moss crop is saved. SO IP. New Orleans has always enjoyed a large soap trade, due to the dis- covery of the use of cotton seed oil in the manufacture of soap. Tins makes the very finest grades of toilet and castile soap. It is used in this manufacture during the winter, but cannot be employed well dur- ing summer, and tallow and grease have to be used instead. It is not usual to run the soap factories during the hot months. This year, how- ever in consequence of the unusually heavy business done, Keller s factory has been running without intermission. New Orleans supplies all the neighboring States— Alabama, Mississippi, Florida and Texas, and has lately been shipping extensively to Mexico. This industry gives employment to some 100 hands, and turns out annually products to the value of $250,000. ^ c ^ kmm The rice factories of thia city are a natural result of the increased cultivation of rice in Louisiana. Nearly the entire crop is sent to this citv in rough condition and has to be cleaned here. The productive capacity of the city mills is as follows : Perseverance, 40,000 barrels ; Brook 35 000; Steward & Thompson, 35,000; Ernest & Co., 35,000; American' 25 000; Louisiana, 18,000; Davids', 12,000; Merchants', 6,000; total 206 000 barrels. About 20,000 barrels can be cleaned in the coun- try The bulk of»fche cleaned rice is sold directly to shippers and city merchants 'The chief points of expert are St. Louis, Cincinnati, Chi- cago and New York. If the rice is broken in cleaning it is sold to the brewers, who use it in making beer. The receipts of rice the past year have been 230,000 barrels. MISCELLANEOUS MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. Among the smaller manufacturing industries in New Orleans, of which only a passing mention can be made, are : Bags— These are msrinly for the cotton seea and similar bulky arti- cles The industry gives employment to 15 persons and turns out products to the value of $74,000. LOUISIANA. Bread products, mostly local bakeries -Employes, 300; products, $1,000,000. Carriages and wagons— Employes, 60 ; products, $160,000. Earthenware— Employes, 15; products, $160,000. Iron and boilers— Employes, 1,000 ; products, $1,200,000. Mattresses— Employes, 15 ; products, $12,f>00. Mineral water— Employes, 35 ; products, $90,000. Perfumery- Employes, 18, products, $50,000. Refrigerators— Employes, 6 ; products, $25,000. Saw mills and sash factories— Employes, 300 ; products, $500,000. Sugar refining— Employes, 200 ; products, $1,400,000. Vermicelli— Employes, 20 ; products, $35,000. Willow ware— Employes, 10 ; products, $11,000. OCEAN LINES FROM NEW ORLEANS TO OTHER PORTS. THE WEST INDIA AND PACIFIC LINE of steamers, T. and G. Forwood, agents, consists of thirteen first-claes iron vessels which will average 2000 tons burden each, or will aggregate 2t5,O0O tons carrying capacity. This line runs between Liverpool, West Indian and Mexican ports and New Orleans. The ships bring out from Bordeaux ahd Havre large cargoes, which they distribute along their route. At the Antillian and Mexican ports the vessels obtain small quantities of cargo and arrive here to complete their freights. At this port they have to take on board grain— principally for ballast— cotton and cotton seed cake. These vessels have no regular time for arrival or departure, but generally leave here at the rate of one a week. THE MISSISSIPPI AND DOMINION LINE Silas Weeks & Co., agents, comprises ten first-class steamers, with three more in course of construction. Liverpool is the headpuarters of the line and the point of departure for the vessels, which run to Corona, Spain, thence to Havana, and from thence to New Orleans, from which latter port they freight for Europe direct. Their cargoes from here are "cotton, grain and oil-cake principally. This line does a large outward freight and passenger traffic with Cuba. THE NORTH-GERMAN LLOYD Steamship Line, Ed. F. Stockmeyer & Co., agents, is composed of five first-class iron vessels ; the route is from Bremen to New Orleans via Southampton and Havana, while one steamer arrives at this port about every twenty days. The coming and going of these vessels is irregu- lar ; that is to say, they cannot be said to have regular days of sailing. They generally bring full cargoes of German assorted goods and de- part laden with cotton, oil, seed cake, etc. They take no cargo for any other European port save Bremen. During the last season, before the quarantine regulations were enforced, the steamers of the line brought to this port several thousand emigrants, the most of whom went to Texas, although some settled in this State. On one of her trips the Frankfurt alone brought 1100 steerage passengers. OCEAN LINES OF STEAMERS, 93 THE HAEBISON LINE, Lucus E. Moore & Co., agents, is composed of twenty- five vessels, and is one of the largest lines that sails out of Liverpool. Its route lies among the West Indian islands and the ports of Central America and and Mexico from Colon (or Aspinwall) to Tampico. But few of the vessels touch at this port — not more than two in a month, even in win- ter. Those vessels of this line that come here procure at least half their return cargoes at the intertropical ports they visit. At this port they finish loading with cottoD, grain, oil, seed cake, etc. THE OLANO LABBINAGA & CO.'S line of Spanish steamers is composed of eight fine, large iron vessels. Avendano Bros., agents. These vessels sail from Liverpool to several Spanish ports, and thence to Puerto Eico, Cuban ports and New Or- leans. During the winter months a vessel of this line will leave this port every ten days. After procuring as much cargo as they can at the different ports of the Antilles at which they touch, these vessels will call at New Orleans to finish loading, and will carry hence grain, cot- ton, etc., to Liverpool, via Havana. This line has a large share of the passenger trade of this port with the West India Islands, and is pro- vided with all modern conveniences for this species of traffic. The vessels are new, and one of them last year carried to Liverpool the largest cargo of cotton that has ever left the port in one vessel. THE SEEEA LINE of Spanish steamers is composed of thirteen fine large vessels, mostly new. L. Eanger & Co., agents. This line's route is from Liverpool, via Havana and West Indian ports, to New Orleans. At this port the vessels complete their lading and then sail for Liverpool direct. Dur- ing the winter months about two vessels of this line touch here per month. Their principal homeward freight is cotton from here to Liv- erpool. ^SPANISH FLAG LINE, A. K. Miller, agent. "This line possesses ten vessels, which run from Liverpool to New Orleans via Cuban ports. At this port they load with cotton and grain direct for Liverpool. During the winter months, at least, one vessel of the line will touch at New Orleans every two weeks. THE ADAMS LINE, Eorstall, Eoss & Clayton, agents ; during the summer four vessels of the line were engaged in t]»e trade. Their route is betwen London and the Cresent City. London is a new port for berth business with New Orleans, but the agents say that the success the line met with this summer leads them to anticipate a greatly increased traffic during the winter months, and will be probably one of the most important lines that engages in freight traffic at this port. The firm of Eorstall, Eoss & Clayton also do a large chartering and birth business, in steam and sail, to Europe, and load many of the grain vessels that sail out of this port. THE TEANSATLANTIC LINE, G. Grande, agent. This line is comprised of several fine iron ships, and during the winter one of its vessels leaves this port every fifteen days, direct for Havre, loaded with cotton, etc On the trip from Eu- rope the vessels stop at numerous West Indian and Mexican ports and take on freight. They complete their cargoes at New Orleans. Some of these vessels bring passengers from West Indian and Mexican ports to this city every trip. 94 LOUISIANA. The firms of C. B. French and Hall & Vaughan do a general char- tering and berth business to Europe, in steam and sail vessels, and load a great quantity of the grain that comes down for foreign ship- ment. Their steamers come and go irregularly, having no stated days for arrival or departure, while the most of them engage in the freight traffic. Some carry grain only, others carry grain, cotton and cotton seed cake. THE MORGAN COASTING STEAMSHIP LINES. The Morgan company possess numerous steamships, which are en- gaged in carrying freight and passengers to different points along the coast of the United States. These lines are as fo^ow • To New York. To Galveston, Clinton, Corpus Christi. To Indianola. To Brazos de Santiago. Also three lines that trade with foreign ports : To Havana via Cedar Keys and Key West. To Havana from Indianola, Texas. To Vera Cruz via Galveston. MORGAN'S LINE TO NEW YOEK. Five large iron freight steamers are engaged in this traffic, and bring on an average weekly about 15,000 barrels of freight for Texas alone. besides that which is destined for this port. During the winter months this trade is much more important. For the last few months one steamer of this line per week arrived at and left this port ; but in win- ter the trade demands two, which will leave their wharf every Wednes- day and Saturday. These vessels bring assorted cargoes from New York, which are distributed at this city and along the gulf coast and the interior of Texas. The former by the coast steamers and the latter through the medium of the Morgan railroad. Their outward cargoes to New York consist of Southern produce— cotton, sugar, rice, cotton seed cake, molasses, etc. TEXAS LINES OF STEAMERS. Several fine iron steamers belonging to this company are engaged In the passenger and freight carrying trade between New Orleans, Galves- ton, Clinton and Corpus Christi via Morgan City. This line makes four trips a week, every alternate trip going further along the coast to Corpus Christi. During the winter months the traffic on this route is very lively and necessitates the employment of more vessels. Their cargoes are assorted goods brought to this port from the North and transhipped to the Gulf ports by this line, as well as wares of different kinds shipped direct from here. THE INDIANOLA LINE. One Morgan steamer makes regular trips, twice a week, carrying freight and passengers from Galveston to Indianola. A large portion of the freight carried by this vessel comes from New Orleans via the Galveston and Clinton line of steamers. The traffic between the Cres- cent City and Texas Gulf portions is steadily increasing, while the various steamers bring valuable return cargoes to Morgan City. A great deal of cotton, hides, etc., is shipped from Indianola to this port ; some of it is transhipped to Valley commercial centres and to the North. THE MORGAN LINE TO VERA CRUZ. During the winter one of the Morgan steamers leaves Morgan City for Vera Cruz, via Galveston, every sixteen days. The vessel runs directly to Vera Cruz without touching at any of the way Mexican OCEAN LINES OF STEAMERS. 95 coast ports on the voyage. This line receives a small subsidy each trip from the Mexican Government for carrying the. mail between Vera Cruz and Galveston. It brings to this port, via the railroad from Morgan City, coffee and other Mexican products, and carries on its outward trips assorted cargo, cotton and numerous passengers. LINE TO HAVANA. During those months that no quarantine regulations are enforced at New Orleans against the intertropical ports, two fine iron Morgan steamers, 1000 tons each, ply between the Crescent City, Cedar Keys, Key West and the port of Havana, Cuba. Their outward cargoes are principally Western produce, with quantities of Indian corn and other kinds of grain. The return cargoes are sugar, cigars, tobacco, melado and other products of the island. One steamer per week leaves the company's wharf on this route, generally well freighted and with numerous passengers. LINE TO BEAZOS. The steamer Aeansas, a fine iron vessel, leaves Morgan City for Brazos de Santiago every 10 days. This boat carries an assorted cargo and connects at Brazos with the railroad, which runs from Point Isabel to Brownsville. On the return trip the vessel stops at one or two Texas ports and takes on a cargo of cattle for this market. The passenger traffic between Browsville and this port is quite large and is constantly increasing. THE NEW OBLEANS AND MEXICAN STEAMSHIP LINE. This line was established by F. Alexandre & Sons in the year 1875. One steamer, the City of Merida, is engaged on this route, and makes a round trip every twenty-one days. E. A. Yorke & Co. are the agents in this city. The steamer touches going and coming at the Mexican ports of Bagdad, Tampico, Tuxpan and Vera Cruz. Her outward car- goes are composed of assorted goods, and during the winter months mostly cotton. LINES TO CENTEAL AMEEICA. THE MACHECA LINE TO ENGLISH AND SPANISH CENTRAL AMERICA. The Macheca Bros, have for many years been engaged in a profitable traffic with the coast of Central America and the islands of the Carib- bean archipelago. At present this firm has several schooners making regular trips to and from the coast and the islands, carrying thither lumber, assorted goods and Western produce, and bringing back to this port the varied productions of the tropics, but particularly fruits. Two years and a half ago, Capt. James Leitch obtained a subsidy of $22,000 per year from the colony of British Honduras for the establishment of a regular mail line between New Orleans and Belize. This arrange- ment was consummated by Gov. F. P. Barlee, the present executive of British Honduras, who has constantly shown a desire to enter into closer trade relations with this port. THE OTERI LINE TO SPANISH HONDURAS AND THE CARIBBEAN ARCHIPELAGO. This enterprising firm has for many vears engaged in the freight and fruit traffic between this port and Central America. They have several schooners engaged in the trade, and also a little iron steamer, the S. B. Ward, Jr. The latter runs between New Orleans and several ports on the coast of Spanish Honduras and the islands of the Caribbean sea. She takes out assorted cargoes, and on her return trip brings to this port Central American produce and, principally, tro^aeal fruits. This traffic is also increasing rapidly. 96 LOUISIANA. NEW OELEANS TO FLOBIDA POETS. The steamer Amite, Post & Son agents, with a carrying capacity of 2200, leaves this port every two weeks for Pensacola, Cedar Key, St. Marks, and Apalachicola, Florida. The cargo carried to these ports generally consists of various kinds of Western produce. The trade to Pensacola is very small ; the vessel stops there more to replenish her coal bunkers than to procure freight. During the past year the Amite brought to this city from the above named Florida ports 2000 bales of cotton, 200 tons of cotton seed, a quantity of flour and 150 barrels of sugar and syrup. She occasionally stops at Mobile on her return trip. The last voyage she brought from this latter port 1400 barrels of rosin. She also carried 600 passengers during the year. The Amite connects at Cedar Keys with the mail steamers from Key West, Tampa Bay and Charlott's Harbor, and with the Transit Bail- road to Jacksonville ; at St. Marks with the Jacksonville, Pensacola and Mobile road to Tallahassee; at Apalachicola with the Central and People's line of boats for all points on the Chattahoochee and Flint rivers. THE CEOMWELL LINE OF STE1MEBS TO NEW YOEK. This old established line has at present four first-class iron steamers on the route, while two others, much larger than the rest, are in course of construction at Chester. Every week a vessel of the line arrives at and departs from this port, and brings here and carries outward a large cargo of varied freight. From New York the cargoes consist of assorted goods, which are des- tined for this port and for numerous places up the Mississippi Eiver. A large quantity of heavy freight is brought from New York by this line for shipment, per river boats, to St. Louis. Thus the coast and river transportation compete favorably with the Northern roads for freight destined for the cities of the upper Mississippi valley, when time is of little consideration and when the goods are not of a perish- Si hi f* Y\ fi tllT'P THE OUTWAED FEEIGHTS are entirely composed of Southern products- rice, cotton, cotton seed cake, sugar, molasses, etc. The vessels also carry quantities of Central American and Mexican freight, brought to this port by the Wanderer, the E. B. Ward, the Alexandre and Morgan lines, from Vera Cruz and the numerous schooners engaged in the intertropical trade. Some of this latter freight is transhipped at New York for Liverpool, Havre and Bremen, such as the coffee, rubber, cedar and dye-woods of Central America and also of Mexico. This winter the Cromwell lines propose to put two steamers per week on this route. THE EAD3 ISTHMIAN RAILWAY. [New Orleans Democrat-] The proposed route of the shir> railway over the Mexican isthmus is, to round numbers, about 150 miles long, and will lead in a direction nearly north and south, or from the Pacific side north to the Gulf coast. As there are two rivers running along the route, Mr. Eads will utilize them for some fifty miles; thus the actual length of the ship railway will not be much more than 100 miles. On the Pacific side the water is sufficiently deep to admit the approach of Vessels- of any draft, while on the Gulf coast a port may easily be constructed with but little expense to the company. THE SOUTH. 97 The study of a large map— on the Mercator projection— will convince an impartial mind that this ship railway will accomplish a revolution in the existing traffic lines and trade routes of the entire planet, while at the same time the happy situation of the Crescent City, which is within 1000 miles of the northern terminus of the railway is strikingly apparent. The great steamers and large sailing vessels engaged in the China trade, instead of rounding Cape Horn or the Cape of Good Hope, or going by the Suez Canal, will save thousands of miles of distance and many days time by taking advantage of Capt. Eads's new route. The expense attending their transportation over the isthmus will be small when compared to the money gai&ed by the great economy of time and distance. The Australian trade with this continent has hitherto been— at least since the completion of the Pacific Railroad— with San Francisco. The vessels engaged in this traffic, whose cargoes are destined for the val- ley cities and the Eastern markets of this republic, will sail from the South Sea direct for the railway, and will be carried over and launched into the gulf. The majority of them will proceed to this city and un- load their precious freight at our levee. They will carry from here cargoes of cotton, of grain and of cotton seed "oil to Europe, while it will not be Ions before lines of steamers will ply direct between the transequatorial ports of Australia and our city via the new isthmian route. as but slight and variable winds prevail in this region ftjr the greater part of the year, and but few coasting steamers break the flow of the waters, the traffic along the Pacific coast of South America, from Val- paraiso northward, is still in its infancy. When the Eads railway is completed numerous little steamers from 500 to 1000 tons- burden will ply along the now almost, deserted coast, and will bring via this isth- mian route their cargoes of valuable but unique productions to the Crescent City. They will carry back with them full freights of the farm products, the manufactured textile goods and the machinery and hardware of the United States to the numerous transequatorial ports which are now supplied with these goods direct from Europe. THE SOUTH. Dr. I. T. Tichenor, President of the Agricultural Col- lege of Alabama, says in the Rdigious Herald : " The South has the grandest destiny the world ever saw. No peo- ple have such a future. Her soil, her climate, her products, her min- eral resources, her manufacturing resources, her manufacturing facili- ties, present a combination of advantages such as are found in do other land. The high moral tone of her people, the strength of her Christian faith, the culture of her highest classes, place the South where no other people stand. " The small buddings on the great oak prove that it has survived the winter and spring is at hand. The survival of the misfortunes of the past is one of the grandest evidences of the strength of our civili- zation, and betokens the coming of a better day. Indeed, that day has already dawned. Go where you may over the South, you will see evidences of improvement in every department of industry. The fact that Northern capital is taking possession of the railroads of the South shows that the North has faith in the future of the South. Never before were there so many great railroads being constructed in our region. 13 98 LOUISIANA. "The Northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico is the natural center of trade for the Western hemisphere. The configuration of the continent, the directions of the great rivers, the sweep of the ocean currents and the prevailing winds all point to the mouth of the Mississippi as the natural centre. There is land enough adapted to the growth of sugar continguous to New Orleans to supply the wants of the continent and to furnish vast amounts for exportation. It only needs the proper ap- plication of machinery and labor to effect this great result. As to cotton, the lowlands along the Mississippi river can produce ten mil- lion bales annually. New Orleans is to be the grand emporium of trade for the continent. When ship communication is made across the Isthmus, New Orleans must become the great centre of trade for North America ; and nothing can divert it but an imperial despotism holding huge investments of capital elsewhere. '^Take it all in all, the smiling sun never looked upon a better coun- try or a grander people than we have here in the South." RAILWAY SYSTEM TRIBUTARY TO NEW ORLEANS. THE GEEAT JACKSON KAILEOAD is tributary to New Orleans for a distance of 550 miles, and with its branches and Southern connections, freights to this city the various products of an area of territory of not less than 60,000 square miles. The cotton freighted to New Orleans by this trunk line, from July 31, 1880, to July 31, 1881, shipped at 76 local stations along the road, amounted to 227,257 bales, and that brought to the line by eight con- necting roads during the same period aggregated 191,096 bales. Of this total the Illinois Central furnished bales 2,386 TheM. Pand Northern Railroad 644 The Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Eailroad 745 Louisville and Mashville 2,508 Mobile and Ohio 2 Memphis and Charleston 7,584 Mississippi and Tennessee „ 128,455 Vicksburg and Meridian 48,772 By the trunk line proper 227,357 Total cotton freighted to New Orleans for the year ending July 31, 1881, by the Jackson and its connections 418,453 THE LOUISVILLE AND NASHVILLE RAILEOAD. This grand trunk line and the Mobile and Ohio railroad and their numerous branches and connections drain an area of territory of over 100,000 square miles. All this country should be, and to a greBt degree is, tributary to New Orleans, to which point a large portion of the agricultural products of the entire region are freighted. This important railroad system taps the four States of Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee and Kentucky, and also a small portion of North- eastern Louisiana, and through its connections unites with the systems of Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas and Virginia. Along the line of the RAILWAY SYSTEM. 99 MOBILE AND NEW ORLEANS DIVISION of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad are situated a number of very pretty watering places, which are visited every year by citizens of all portions of *:he State, but particularly by those of New Orleans. Indeed, from Bay St. Louis to Ocean Springs it is one uninterrupted line of beautiful summer residences. Large sums have been expended in beautifying these, and it is estimated that at least $10,000,000 has been spent in the last twenty years on the farms, villas and orchards that line Mississippi sound. THE MORGAN LOUISIANA AND TEXAS RAILROAD. The Morgan interest is a most important factor in the great railway system that connects the Crescent City with the western part of this State and with the southern, central and eastern portions of Texas ; by the Iron Mountain and the Texas Pacific with that vast system that centres at St. Louis ; by the Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Road with the Southern continuation of the International, which crosses the frontier at Laredo and connects with the Palmer-Sullivan Roads, that drain the immense eastern-central portion of the Republic of Mexico. THE LOUISIANA AND TEXAS RAILROAD is a first-class and abundantly equipped road. It possesses admiral terminal facilities. At Algiers its river front is 2000 feet, and is wharfed, shedded over and inclosed, affording berths for three large ships to simultaneously receive and discharge cargoes. It has a system of tracks which enables loaded and empty cars to be put immediately along side the shipping ; a modern and powerful compress, from which cotton is trucked directly to the ship ; vast steam- working machinery whereby ships are discharged, and what, in the near future, will be the desideratum, room for grain elevators of the largest bize, with an entire system of tracks contiguous to them. Its transfer facilities are on a magniiicent footing. The transfer boat Enterprise, alone, handles 400 cars easily per day, carrying sixteen at a load, while her ad- junct, now nearly completed, will carry twelve cars at once. In New Orleans the depot at Elysian Fields, that at St. Ann street, and the vast grounds and buildings at Poydras street, afford room for the ad- mission of an unlimited amount of freight. The companv's buildings, works and machinery, quite recently erected, are perhaps the largest in this section of the country, and en- able it to expeditiously perform the varied work required by its rail and shipping interests. FROM ALGIERS TO MORGAN CITY the distance is eighty miles. The route lies along the southern portion of the State, and taps the country for some forty miles north of the track, and south to the low, muddy shores washed by the Mexican Gulf. At Morgan City a fine bridge is in course of construction, and will be completed soon. At present the trains are freighted over by means of immense ferry-boats. The route from Algiers to Morgan City, for some miles to the former point, is through beautiful and flour- ishing sugar and rice plantations, which alternate with vast swamps, where cypress trees of huge dimensions are at their roots covered with semi-stagnant water for several months in the year. Numerous small ■farmers have pre-empted State and Government land, and are success- fully engaged in husbandry, raising crops of sugar, rice, corn and gar- den truck along this line. A great many freedmen have also estab- lished themselves along this division of the line, and produce on an average two or three bales of cotton, with a sufficiency of corn for their family use. They also collect Spanish moss from the cypress trees in the swamps. 100 LOUISIANA. FEOM BEEWICK CITY TO VEEMILIONVILLE, a distance of sixty-four miles, the line passes through a magnificent farming country, where sugar, cotton and oranges are produced in great abundance. Already the beneficial effects of communication by railroad of a new country with a seaport are visible. Many of the old settlements have greatly increased, but particularly New Iberia and Vermilionville. At this latter point the road branches off IN AN ALMOST NOETHEELY DIEECTION. towards Alexandria, on the Eed Eiver. This city is eighty- four miles distant from Vermilionville. The region through which this branch passes is one of the most fertile districts in the State, and along the entire line of the track presents the appearance of a long, continuous plantation. Besides the other crops a bonsiderable quantity of corn is raised by the farmers of the locality. This part of the road is at present completed to Chenneyville, twenty-four miles south of Alex- andria, where it connects with the grand Gould system by the New Orleans division of the Texas Pacific. From the terminus at Vermilionville the Morgan interest connects with THE LOUISIANA WESTEEN EOAD, which forms the eastern end of the vast Huntington system, and crosses the southern limits of Texas, and through its connections with the Texas Central— five-eighths of which line is owned by the Morgan Company— drains the northern and central portions of the Lone Star State, The New Orleans and Texas line, of the Morgan interest, drains an extent of country comprising at least 18,000 square miles of territory, entirely within the limits of the State of Louisiana. THE HUNTINGTON SYSTEM at San Antonio controls the Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio line to Houston, also the Texas and New Orleans Louisiana Western to Vermilionville, thus linking El Paso and San Antonio with New Mexico and Arizona and with the seaport of New San Diego, in Southern Cali- fornia. The great Huntington system will tap the entire southwestern frontier of the United States and the northwestern of our sister republic of Mexico. THE GULF WESTEEN LINE. is completed to Cuero, a distance from the port of Indianola, Texas, of seventy-five miles. At Cuero the projected route strikes off in a north- western direction to San Antonio, and from thence will connect with the Texas Pacific road about sixty miles from Fort Worth. From the country on either side of the road, from Indianola to Ci.ero, a large quantity of stock, hides, bones and cotton comes to the port oi Indianola, from whence it is freighted to the Crescent City by the Mor- gan Texas line of steamers. LIST OF, AND AMOUNT OF, PEINCIPAL AETICLES CAERIED BY THE MORGAN EAILEOAD AND STEAMSHIPS TO TEXAS AND ELSEWHEEE. Car loads. Tons. To Texas by railroad and steamships 14,281 142,853 To Teche and local stations 10,623 106,253 BAIL WA Y SYSTEM. 101 PRINCIPAL EEOEIPTS. , . 176,817 Cotton, bales 45,510 Sugar, hhds ; 23,961 Sugar, bbls -- "' _ 77,773 Molasses, bbls — 51 q$q Woolsacks.. r 109J384 Cotton seed, sacks. 99,815 Oats, sacks 17',928 Wheat', sacks 32,482 Corn, sacks — - 3'424 Horses and mules - 31)126 Cows and beeves 15' 670 Calves and yearlings ie'912 Hogs and sheep - 77'e71 Hides, pkgs - 80,000 Hoofs and horns, pounds -- g ., s - S50 Bones and bone meal - rrTTP WPW ORLEANS PACIFIC RAILROAD AND THE GRE .T THE NEW °gJg^^ij RN "COULD SYSTEM." ThAva^t railroad svstem, which already possesses several thousand mPrSal centres of the West and the Mississippi Valley; Denyei, Col bvthP Port Worth and Denver Railroad and with projected lines that ^veKllyStlMdtofornione of the grandest railroad systems fn the world and which will reticulate the immense regions of the West 7n L Southwest in all directions. Of this vast railroad system ?M^Ktte southern outlet and j™ ^^*J*£$ ,,,y^h will centre all the various products ot tins wide extenueu tein tor£ dlstLed for domestic consumption and for shipment to foreign m The e Une along which all this immense amount of freight will be brought to New Orleans is the NEW ORLEANS PACIFIC, , • i, • -„„wioH in the Ooulcl svstem and which is finished to a short SEEKS 8£* £m s-a 5sw«s "8S company *Wfi&%&»Sp25S?&£5> T$Kn3 of an. immense fee ight .depot <™ K*,^ t McDonogb, where a pas- T< ^te^&toS°^'i^^e"ll be soonVmpleted; also senger depot 48uteetioupuvo company possesses a freight an d transfer depot 12TO teet lon = . . i bank 1 . nd ) 9 ,!„ Eee t on 82S£ Wtte ^gMde'pof 8^ feet long, will be sitnated, and also a commodious passenger depot. That portion of the line FROM NEW ORLEANS TO DONALDSONVILLE, ,,. onro nf qixtv fl ve miles, was recently purchased from the Morgan Company! °SiSt hlsfelfen under the. new management it has been 102 LOUISIANA. greatly improved in several material respects. It closely follows the Mississippi Kiver until within a short distance south of Baton Bouge, where it branches off to the southwest The route lies through several of our most fertile parishes, over numerous cause, rice and corn fields, while the view presented to the traveler is a long vista of agricultural prosperity. At this station the road crosses the Bayou Lafourche, along whose banks are situated several of the most important plantations in the State. The soil in this region is exceedingly fertile and yields in some places as high as two hogsheads of sugar per acre. FBOM DONALDSONYILLE TO ALEXANDBIA the road passes through a grand cane and cotton country, and will drain a great extent of territory which has hitherto been tributary to the Bed Biver and the Mississippi. At Bosedale, about forty-five miles above Donaldsonville, the Gros Tete Company has constructed a branch road from Baton Bouge to the trunk line, which connects the latter with West Baton Bouge. For crossing the Atchafalaya Biver at Churchville a large and finely appointed ferry-boat, capable of transporting eight cars, was a few days ago turned over to the company by the builders. FBOM ALEXANDBIA TO SHBEYEPOBT, a distance of 130 miles, the route lies through a remarkably rich and fertile country, which produces a large quantity of sugar and cotton. A branch road twelve miles in length, and which runs south along a little bayou, will connect the trunk line with the thriving town of Natchitoches. At Pleasant Hill a forest composed of various kinds of hard wood trees reaches to far beyond the Texas line. This timber is valuable for many purposes and bids fair to become an important article of traffic. AT SHBEVEPOBT this division of the road connects with the Texas, Pacific, which passes through Longview and Marshall to Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas, and is completed 400 miles west to the latter point. This New Orleano division of the Texas Pacific Bailroad, from New Orleans to Shreveport, which cuts through the very centre of the State in a generally northwestern direction, will drain of its varied agricutural products an area of territory not less than 1000 miles. All this country, with its thousands of plantations and farms, its flourish- ing orange groves and its thriving towns and villages, will be tributary to New Orleans. The road will open to our merchants a new and steadily increasing traffic, which will give a great and happy impulse to our Internal commerce. New Orleans, as the only deep water port on the entire Gulf coast, will be the commercial depot of all the vast region drained by the Gould system of railroads. THE PBOPOSED NATCHEZ AND NEW OELEANS BAILBOAD. The people of the Florida parishes of this State, and those of South- western Mississippi also, are greatly interested in this proposed rail- road. The design is to construct a road that will connect New Orleans and Natchez, and develop the fine cotton country lying back of the river. Two plans have been suggested— one joining the Jackson Bailroad at Pontchatoula, and the other and more probable one connecting with the New Orleans Pacific at Baton Bouge, The road will consequently run through the counties of Adams and Wilkinson, Mississippi, and the parishes of East Feliciana and East Baton Bouge, in this State. It would not be over eighty miles in length, and would pass through a RAILWAY SYSTEM. 103 country free from large streams, and in which railroad building would be cheap and easy. Nearly all this portion of the two States of Missis- sippi and Louisiana is well adapted to the cultivation of cotton. The land was formerly well cultivated, but being removed from lines of transportation, and distant from market, the cotton fields have gradu- ally fallen into neglect and are now deserted. The land is finely tim- bered, and the new road will bring an immense quantity of hard-wood timber to our market. This road will of course be advantageous to this city. Natchez is a prosperous city, and several lines are already building out from it in all directions. It is probable, moreover, that it will in time form a por- tion of quite a long and important trunk line, running parallel to the river and between it and the Chicago, St. Louis and New Orleans. A railroad is now under construction between Memphis and Vicksburg. The completion of this line and the building of the Natchez and New Orleans will leave only a short break between New Orleans and " the Bluff City," and form a trunk line through the richest country on the globe. THE EELANGER SYNDICATE. This company has purchased the following roads : The Vicksburg, Shreveport and Pacific— partly constructed : The Vicksburg and Meridian; and proposes to construct the New Orleans and Northeastern Eailroad from Meridian to New Orleans, a distance of 200 miles. The two lines from Vicksburg will complete the connection between the terminus of the Alabama Great Southern Eoad and the terminus of the Texas Pacific Railway, at the Texas State boundary line. They traverse the cotton belt of Mississippi and Texas. The projected line from Meridian to New Orleans will form a con- nection between the southern terminus of the Alabama Great South- ern Eoad at Meridian and the important districts traversed by it and the port of New Orleans. It is said this will also be the shortest route for traffic between New Orleans, Washington, Philadelphia, New York and other Northern and Western commercial centres. The unfinished and projected roads of this company will become important factors in the development of the trade of New Orleans with the vast interior. Through them sections of country, now far from railroad lines, will be opened to commerce, the greater part of whose agricultural products should find their way to this port. A. SKETCH — or THE — I^sirlsl^es of" X-iCU-IsIsiiaLSL- ASCENSION PARISH. The following is taken from L the official report of Prof. E. W. Hil- gard, to the Census Bureau : "Population : 16,895. White, 5968 ; colored, 10,927. Area: 373 square miles. Woodland, all. All alluvial land. Tilled land : 37,908 acres. Area planted in cotton, 1285 ; in corn, 6112 acres ; in sweet potatoes, 241. acres ; in sugar cane, 15,545 acres. Cotton production : 592 bales ; average cotton product per acre, 0.48 bale. 657 pounds seed-cotton, or 219 pounds cotton lint. Ascension parish is throughout alluvial ; the portion fronting on the Mississippi Biver. is identical in character with that of the "coast" of Iberville ; the parish is almost entirely a sugar-growing one, and the lands highly productive. The parish town, Donaldsonville, is a thriv- ing village of about 2000 inhabitants, and at one time was inclined to dispute precedence with New Orleans and Baton Bouge. No detailed data regarding the portion of the parish lying east of the Mississippi Biver have come into my possession. It appears that Lake Maurepas, which on the north and east is bordered by such extensive swamps, is edged by only a narrow fringe of the sarnie south of the A.mite Biver, where it adjoins this parish, which would thus seem to possess an un- usual proportion of cultivatable land." By far the larger portion of this parish lies east of the Mississippi Biver. The river front from one to three miles back is occupied by some of the finest sugar plantations in the State. Opposite Donaldsonville is the little village of Darrowville, which has sprung up within the last few years, The land on this side of the river is generally alluvial, but on the northern boundary there is a strip of bluff land, three or four miles wide and about fifteen miles in length. The New river, Amite and Manchac are thickly settled with small farmers, who are industrious and thrifty. Ascension produced last season 16,913 hogsheads of sugar and 12,341 barrels of milled rice. I*n Louisiana Counties are called Parishes. ASSUMPTION PARISH. 105 ASSUMPTION PARISH. BY HON. W. W. PUGH, NAPALEONVILLE The parish of Assumption is situated on both banks of the La- fourche (one of the outlets which carries the waters of the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico), commencing about four miles below the town of Donaldsonville, on the great river, and extends about twenty-five miles along the Lafourche. Soil.— Our lands may be subdivided into three distinct soils : 1. That which is called sandy, in which loam is the principal ingre- dient. 2. The mixed soil, in which sand and black earth are about equal. 3. Black land, containing little or no sand, and characterized by the inhabitants as "black land" or terre grasse (fat land). Each grade has its advocates, as well as its advantages in cultivation, except the "terre grasse, although it possesses fine white clover for pasturage, is well adapted to rice, and causes the cane to ripen at an earlier date in the fall of the year, the objection being to its stiffness, difficulty of drainage, and requiring stronger teams to break it thoroughly. Of the first and second soils the latter has the preference, as it is more durable and is of a warmer nature. The pea crop is almost in universal use as a fertilizer, and in those instances in which this system has been persistently adhered to before the virgin soil became tired from a constant succession of the same ex- haustive crops, these fields rival freshly cleared lands in the abundance and luxuriousness of their yield. The plantations along the stream are generally laid off in large tracts (though there are many small ones), the front portion being appro- priated to cane and corn, and the rear lands to tenants who cultivate rice. In the rear of the plantations, which usually extend back to eighty acres are found dry bayous having high lands on each banks; these ridges are mostly occupied by small proprietors, who cultivate cane, corn, cotton and rice, and such other crops as contribute to the comfort of their homes and the support of their families. Schools and Churches. - The school system is a good one, so far as the means of the State permit an allocation of funds for that purpose. So far the taxes imposed for the benefit of education, in common with those imposed for other purposes, have not been as closely connected as they should be, and in consequence the schools have not been kept in active operation, as they would be under favorable circumstances. Time will undoubtedly bring a remedy for this evil, when the masses who are dependent on the free school system for an education will be willing to add to the State fund by private subscription. The parish is well supplied with churches, and each denomination can attend its own place of worship without any inconvenience. Those who belong to the Roman Church are largely in the ascendant in point of numbers, and possesses some fine houses of worship. Great liber- ality in religious matters prevails, and the different sects cordially unite in the promotion of charitable objects. Mechanics and Laborers. — There is a constant demand at remunera- tive prices for mechanical engineers, carpenters, smiths and field hands. The amount of machinery in sugar-houses of an expensive character creates a great demand for the best talent in the repair and supply of engines, vacuum-pans, centrifugals and sugar-mills. On the efficiency of the machinery necessary to take off a crop of sugar cane depends the success of a whole year's work, and must be done in proper time or the planter suffers great loss. Products.— Sugar and rice are the principal staples for bringing money U 106 LOUISIANA. into the planter's treasury, the latter crop being cultivated to some ex- tent since the termination of the war in 1865, and the area devoted to its production being annually on the increase. The cane, though said to be a forced crop in our climate, owing to improved cultivation, the experience obtained by long familiarity with its management and conversion into sugar, may be relied on for as fair returns as any other grown in the South. It has few natural ene- mies, and in this particular has the advantage of cotton, which is sub- ject to rot and the army worm. The cane crop is sometimes injured by storms of wind in August and September, and by freezes which occasionally visit us in November and December, inflicting injury on the standing cane. The ratoons left after the cane has been cut, on which the planter depends to some extent for the succeeding crop, are occasionally greatly injured by cold, wet winters and springs. An average of 1000 to 1200 pounds of sugar per arpent may be usually relied on, and under favorable cir- cumstances the average is better. To this must be added fifty gallons of molasses per 1000 pounds of sugar, and a still greater quantity when the cane is not well matured. The rice crop, with proper irrigation, will yield from fifteen to twenty barrels of rough rice per arpent. and one of the great advantages it possesses over other crops is the large area which one man can manage, and the certainty of the crop at a small outlay compared with cane. The impoverished condition of the country when the war ended in- duced many persons of straightened means to cultivate rice on their back lands, and induced others to enter on its cultivation on abandoned plantations who had capital. The yield of corn is from twenty to forty bushels per arpent, depend- ing mainly on the length of time the land has been cultivated and the manner of its treatment. Our climate is not so well adapted to the pro- duction of this crop as those States situated in a higher latitude, so that on sugar plantations it is not customary to attempt to raise any more corn than suffices for the use of the place. In an examination of the products of the parish it would be the height of injustice to pass by its capacity for the production of eggs and fowls. If I were to state the number of both annually forwarded to New Orleans it might cast a doubt on what has been detailed in re- gard to other matters. Many of the inhabitants actually clothe and feed their families from the proceeds derived from their fowl yards, and in the spring of the vear boxes of eggs constitute the principal down freights of our steam packets. Fruits and Vegetables.— Our soil is admirably adapted to the produc- tion of field peas, potatoes (both sweet and Irish), pumpkins, melons, and garden truck generally. Figs, plums, peaches and oranges are' grown successfully in the different localities adapted to their nature. Timber.— The uncleared lands are densely covered with the best of timber, among which is found the different varieties of oak, ash, cypress, gum, magnolia, maple and wild pecan. The most valuable among these is the cypress, which is very durable and extensively used for building purposes, fences, shingles, staves and fuel. The number of ornamental trees and evergreens for the beautifying of yards and parks is very large, among which the magnolia grande flora and the majestic live oak richly deserve the encomiums which have been so profusely bestowed by visitants of our State. In connection with the subject of timber it is not amiss to mention that there are large bodies of land in the interior of the parish densely covered with fine cypress, at this time a little inconvenient of access, but as the timber now near at hand is being rapidly consumed these swamps in the near future must necessarily become very valuable. The timber business offers a large field for industry and enterprise, for lower ASSUMPTION PARISH. 107 Louisiana of necessity deals largely in building materials, pickets, bar- rel and hogshead staves and shingles. Climate, Etc. — A general prejudice prevails among strangers, and grave doubts have been spread abroad by enemies to our progress, as to the capacity of the white race to pursue agricultural labor during the heat of summer. Many years of continuous residence in this State have fully satisfied me on this point, and to my personal knowledge the small farmers have been accustomed to perform their daily round of labor as agriculturists without any detriment to their health. As a rule our creole population are early risers and get through a large portion of their work in the early part of the day, take a good rest at noon, and finish in the evening after the sun has lost some of its force. The health of our laboring white population will compare favorably with that of any other Southern State. Strangers who visit us often express surprise that a flat country, in which the cypress trees abound, and in which most of our forests tree8 are draped with moss, should contain so many individuals who have reached the age of three-score and ten. If our days are warm, our nights are cool, and we are not subjected to the intense heat which during the summer often deprives the in- habitants of higher latitudes of refreshing slumber at night. Our proximity to the gulf coast exercises a delightful and grateful influence on the heat of summer, and after the warmest day we retire to rest and rise next morning thoroughly refreshed and prepared for the day's work. Price of Land.— Owing to the situation of our lands on the Lafourche, and the length of time the country has been settled (upwards of a cen- tury) the inducements which we offer to emigrants for cheap lands are not so great as those found in some of the highland parishes, which f)ossess larger areas of cultivable lands. These can be purchased at ower prices than ours command, but ours are more fertile and more convenient to market, two advantages which should have great weight with settlers in a new country. In the rear of the front owners small tracts of land can be purchased at reasonable prices, which possess a soil of equal fertility with the front tracts, and the additional advantage of having a fine range for stock of all kinds. These lands are admirably adapted to the wants of farmers on a small scale, and so great in their fertility that it requires but little work to secure all the necessaries of life, its comforts and many of its luxuries. The picture would not be complete were I to omit to mention the quantity of game to be found in the forests and the fish and fowl to be had on the bayous and lakes. Markets.— The facility for sending our produce to New Orleans (our principal market) is eqaul if not superior to that of any other country, and the wants of the community are supplied directly from that great mart of commerce or the various stores situated on the banks of the Lafourche and the interior portions of the parish. Steamers which carry the weight of a thousand hogsheads of sugar pass daily within hail of our dwellings, and at the same time offer pleasant accommodations for travelers who are not pressed for time. A short distance from the upper and lower boundaries of the parish are found two railroads (one at each end) which makes daily trips to New Orleans, and offer the necessary conveniences of travel for those to whom time is an object. Ihe Tenant System.— Our plantations are well laid off, well drained, have good buildings and the best of machinery for converting the cane into sugar. On many of these a great deal of arable land has been left uncultivated for the want of labor. These tracts are ad- mirably calculated for the inauguration of the tenant system, which, properly carried out, will soon enrich the employer and the employe. 108 LOUISIANA. Some few planters have given this system a trial and find that it works well, provided they can secure the services of honest and indus- trious men, who are desirous of improving their condition ; with any other class it will not prove profitable to either party, and is certain to cause loss of time and material to the proprietor of the land. Of late this matter has been greatly simplified by a purchase of the cane de- livered at the sugar-house at a fixed price ; this plan is a good one, as it avoids many details and complications which almost invariable give rise to dissatisfaction between the parties to the contract. Population.— The population of the parish is about equally divided between the whites and blacks ; the large majority of the whites are descendants of the original French settlers, and probably constitute as contented and happy a race as can be found on the face of the earth. Peaceably inclined, polite and courteous, they make good and kind neighbors and law-abiding citizens. The colored people, who perform most of the field work, are docile and tractable, and gradually im- proving since their emancipation from their former condition of slavery. AVOYELLES PARISH. BY HON. H. SKIPWITH, IN NEW ORLEANS DEMOCRAT. This magnificent jewel in Louisiana's chaplet is bounded north by Bayou Saline and Lake Saline, east by the Atchafalaya, Black and Bed rivers, south by St. Landry and west by Bapides. It contains within its limits 534,000 acres, divided as follows, viz : Alluvial, acres 462,190 Upland, acres - 49,062 Prairie, acres 22,748 Total 534,000 Its population in 1870 was 12,926 ; its population as shown bv the cen- sus of 1880 is 19,500; increase in last decade 51 per cent. Its alluvial lands lay for the greater part along the banks of the intricate network of bayous and rivers— a very bewildering labyrinth to me— of the most thickly settled of which I shall attempt to give an imperfect catalogue. The Avoyelles side of the Atchafalaya is generally cultivated from the mouth of Bed river down to the St. Landry line. Now that those lands are made safe from overflow, ther are as highly esteemed as any in the Mississippi valley. At Simmsport, eighteen miles below the mouth of Bed river, twelve miles above the St. Landry line, the Bayou Des Glaizes, rising in Lake Paul, discharges into the Atchafalaya after having run a most circuitous course of sixty or seventy miles through the heart of the parish, generally in a southeastward direction. Flow- ing out of Des Glaizes are Bayou Bouge, Bayou Jack and Bayou Chou- pique, all of which tend southwestward, and all of which, except Bouge, penetrate within the territories of St. Landry. On its western border it has Bayou Boeuf, Bayou Huffpower and Bayou Clair. To magnify one of its alluvial sections at the expense of the others, when all are so nearly equal, would be an invidious task ; but there are some characteristics concerning the settlements of bayous Choupique, Jack and Claire which, when noted, might offer superior attractions for immigrants. Baijou Choupique is populated by a community of small farmers, frugal and industrious, who make a good living by the cultivation of cotton, of which staple the land in an average season is good for over a bale to the acre. Lands on Choupique are very cheap, and the settle- ment of Choupique is prospering and speedily developing. Bayou Jack.— The settlement of the lands along this bayou is more recent and less extensive than on the banks of Choupique, and for AVOYELLES PARISH. 109 that reason there are cheaper lands and more eligible sites for farms along the banks of the Jack. Bayou Claire rises in Bayou Huff power, and after a course of twenty miles discharges into Bayou Bceuf. The land on both sides of this bayou formerly belonged to Mr. Thos. Frith, deceased. Since the war a col- ony of Mississippians, seeking- profitable employment, came to Bayou Claire and entered into contracts to cultivate the soil on the share sys- tem. By skill, industry and perseverance, after a year or two, they be- came enabled to purchase and pay for small lots varying from fifty to one hundred acres of this land, for which they paid prices r angingfrom $20 to $40 per acre ; and both banks of the bayou, for nea_ly its whole length, are owned and cultivated by those immigrants from Mississippi ; and they cultivate their lands so assiduously that they have become a subject of admiration to all who are so fortunate to pass along the garden farms of Bayou Claire, and, which weighs more substantially, they are a source of wealth and abundant revenue to the thrifty race of small farmers who till them. This growing community adds to its agricultural triumphs the lucrative pastoral pursuit of raising fine horses, and in that line they stand almost unrivaled in the South. What a pleasant picture does the achievement of the Bayou Claire present to the longing gaze of the poor people who have been toiling for a lifetime to glean a scanty living from the same five acres, and a^ the close do not own enough of the soil to be buried in. Where on earth can the cravings of man for property and room to live and die in be quicker satisfied than in Bayou Claire ? And this parish of Avoy- elles, all through its interminable network of bayous, lakes and rivers, abounds in thousands of acres not yet reduced to cultivation, just as fertile and productive naturally as all the lands on Bayou Claire. Contemplating the achievement of the hardy and industrious race who have conquered Bayou Claire territory witn the plow and the hoe suggests the reflection that peace has its victories as well as war, and this is of them. Unlike their bluff old ancesters, the Teutons and Cimbri, who poured down like a torrent through the German forests and the passes of the Hartz Mountains, whipped Cassar and his legions, and made the Emperor Augustus whine piteously in the streets of Rome: "Varus, oh, Varus! give me back my legions!" these thrifty Mississippians, grasping the plow-handle and the hoe, have reduced the fairest spot on earth to quiet and profitable ownership. While we cannot withhold tribute to the valor which acquired and held the best homes in Europe by the sword, I hope it is no detraction from the merit of the men of old to record my opinion that the modern method is the best. These later victories having been won by the sweat of the brow, and not by the shedding of blood, which in the olden time was the measure of each man's portion. The inequalities on which the feudal system was founded have no existence on Bayou Claire, for on Bayou Claire are no lordly barons holding neighborhoods in awe and frowning down from the battlements of a turreted castle upon his trembling retainers beneath. There each owns his small farm he con- Juered by the sweat of his brow, and each is the equal of the other, f honors befall a denizen of Bayou Claire, they will come because he makes his acre produce the most. He who makes the biggest crop on all equal number of acres is the biggest man on Bayou Claire. As it is on the Claire, so it is on all the bayous which percolate everywhere through the alluvial lands of Avoyelles— lands, too, which can now be bought at verv low figures and on very advantageous terms. Seeing that these farmers of Bayou Claire have paid $20, $25 and even as high as $40 per acre, I would not shame a European farmer by doubting his capacity to equal the achievements of the colony of Mississippians. If these Europeans must go West because their avant couriers have all gone West, why not listen to the promptings of common sense— stop UC LOUISIANA. two years in Avoyelles and then go West and buy up a Western town- ship? Next in order comes Prairte Lands.— Penetrating the parish from Simmsport to Moreau- vilLe, the entire route upon nearly the same level, a stranger who emerges from the swamp and sees for the first time the Marksville prairie towering fifty feet above him, presenting to his astonished vision the appearance of frowning battlements of some venerable fortress, at first view it seems as though an impassable barrier to his further pro- gress has been conjured up by some wonderful upheaval of nature ; but as he draws nearer and scans the marks of unquestionable an- tiquity and winds his devious way until he findfe a road almost as steep as theTarpeian rock, awe and wonderment give place to curiosity. This prairie -eight miles from east to west and eighteen miles from north to south— has upon it some venerable landmarks, and about 18,000 acres of very fair land, which, under a system of rather negli- gent tillage, has been steadily increasing in productive capacity, it be- ing a common remark among the close observers in the parish that the prairie is now more fertile than when it was first settled, somewhere between 1768 and 1784, by a number of Acadian families who fled from the floods which were spread over Pointe Coupee. It was also the site of the ol4 post of Avoyelles, and it is still the home of the feeble rem- nant of the tribe of Tunicas, which was once strong enough to wage war with the Natchez and hold them in check. Along the eastern margin of this prairie the Rsd River once flowed, and upon its north- eastern margin, almost within the corporate limits of Marksville, are still to be seen the well-defined lineaments of an earthwork, crescent in form, too laboriously constructed and too skillfully laid off to war- rant the opinion that it was the work of any savage tribe. Bayou Rouge Prairie, just south of Choupique, a remarkable eleva- tion of plateau, Ave miles in length and three miles wide— another of these astounding revelations to the traveler, rising suddenly out of the swamp seventy-five feet. The soil of this prairie is fertile and almost as productive as the alluvi ms which environ it. The title to the soil is held by fifteen or twenty proprietors at most, and it is cultivated by colored labor employed by the proprietors. Bayous Bceuf and Hujfpower, both of which sections contribute a magnificent quota to the wealth and area of alluvial lands, fully equal in natural fertility to any other alluvian in Avoy- elles or anywhere else. These lands enjoy some market facilities which are not common to some of the other sections. The Huff- power, a connecting link between Bayou Bceuf and Bayou Rouge, rests the front and rear of its eight miles of territory upon a navigable stream, and when the railroad schemes now fast approaching comple- tion shall be perfected the produce of Huffpower will have phoice of four roads to market. These remarks apply with equal force to the Bayou Boeuf section, except that it is not so near the navigation afforded by Bayou Bouge. With the added remark that the price of lands is low on the prairie, and high on Boeuf and Huffpower, let us pass on to survev a portion of Avoyelles equally healthy, more picturesque in scenery, but not of such universal fertility as the portion over which we have traveled, which yet may turn out to be a country even more attractive to a poor man. North of Bed Biver lies Ward Number One of Avoyelles.- -It contains along the margin of the Red River many of the finest estates in the parish, of which the "Experiment place," with 600 acres solid cane, is claimed to be the best. These river fronts usually run back a mile to the base of the hills. The hills cover a superficial area of 49,000 acres, almost all of which is still in forest of white and red oak, poplar, ash, hickory and black walnut. The settlements are sparse and the clearings are small, the inhabitants making a good BIENVILLE PARISH. Ill living by working the oak trees into staves, which are very essential to the wine trade, and consequently bear a good price ; and by raising hogs, or rather by waiting tor the hogs to raise themselves. Staves and hogs keeping the supply of ready cash always flush, the products of the soil become a minor consideration, and the felling of the forests has been confined to clearing a corn and potato patch. Having the wine growers of the world as customers for their staves, and all Louisiana as a market for their hogs, these conditions imply contempt for the products of the soil as a corollary Lands which when fresh will pro- duce 800 pounds of seed cotton, 150 bushels of potatoes and 25 barrels of corn to the acre, may be had on the hills at prices ranging from 75 cents to $1 50 per acre, and the number of acres embraced in the cheap list is, deducting the small clearings, 49.000. The industries of "Ward No. 1 on the hills are under the exclusive control of the white race, and a better ordered or more law-abiding community cannot be found! If there are no wealthy proprietors among them it is because agricul- ture on a large scale is not considered as profitable as the forest indus- tries which are free to all alike. Along the banks of the bayou and river we find develbpment has nearly reached its highest standard, but between the bayous lays many miles of forest, nearly every acre of which sustains a growth of cypress, ash, oak and hickory, sufficient to furnish the lumber for a first-class cottage, barns, stables, and all needed out-houses. If the banks of the bayous have been preferred over them it is only' because they are found to possess a thorough system of natural drainage and because the lands behind them are cumbered with a very heavy growth of forest trees and require a system of artificial drainage to make them as fully productive as the front tier. With the added labor of clearing away the forest and ditching, the re.ir lands are hist as pro- ductive as the front, and they are held universally at very 'low prices As long as the bulwarks which protect the front tier stand these rear- lands are in no peril of overflow. The drawbacks are so trivial that no industrious laborer would be deterred from facing them. When those trivial drawbacks are overcome by an industrious class of work- ers there will be nearly 150,000 acres added to the productive area of Avoyelles. Fruits, Nuts, Etc.— An old immigrant from Baden, Mr Frank of Marksville, presented me with two ripe and royal chestnuts at least double the size of the ordinary chestnut of commerce, from which the seed was planted. I keep them as the onlv sample of chestnuts I ever saw grown in a climate where the pecan is indigenous, and to demon- strate the adaptibility of the soil and climate to the culture of the peach apple and plum, all of which, it is a well known fact, grow to great per- fection in a climate which will produce chestnuts. I cannot dismiss the old Badjsner without adding that he is as successful at raising chestnuts as he invariably is at "Piquet. " He is one instance of a successful immi- grant to Avoyelles. Another is the career of old Mr. Coco from Italy who settled at the Post of the Avoyelles before the year 1800 and lie founded one of the wealthiest and most influential families in the parish. BIENVILLE PARISH. BY HON. JAMES BPJCE, SPARTA. This parish is situated in the northwest portion of the State and is about thirty-six miles square. It was created from the' southern por- tion of Claiborne parish in the year 1849. The present rate of taxation is twelve mills. It is about midway between the Bed and Ouachita 112 LOUISIANA. Rivers, but has no large stream of water running through it. There is not a ferry or toil-bridge in the parish ; all the bottom land we have is on the small creeks. There is no prairie land. The northern portion of tnis parish has an abundance of timber or all kinds that grows in this climate— such as all the different kinds of oaks, pine, hickory, walnut; and in the southern portion of the parish there is considerable scope that has long-leaf pine, and abounds with beautiful clear, run- ning streams, sufficient to run most any kind of machinery. Lake Bisteneau is navigable about six months in the year, and forms the western boundary of this parish. The health of this parish is as good if not better than that of any parish in the State. Situated on the high, rolling lands dividing the Red and Ouachita rivers, we have the best spring water. Well water can be had, wherever it is wanted, of the best quality. There has never been a single case of sunstroke in the parish. There are about 11,000 inhabitants. The whites have a small ma- jority. There is a great deal of United States land, but very little State land in the parish. Private lands can be had in tracts of from 40 to 500 acres, at from fifty cents to $'2 per acre. Improved land can be bought on almost any terms that a purchaser would ask, and can be rented for one-third of the corn and one-fourth cotton. The religious denominations are Methodist, Baptist and Presbyte- rian. There is no neighborhood without a church. "We have mostly private schools. The principal labor that is employed is colored, and it is anything but reliable. Industrious white men can procure good wages all the year. Hands can get from $10 to $15 per month, or one-half of what they make in the field. They feed themselves, and the landlord furnishes the rest. We have had some immigrants in the last two years, mostly from Georgia and Alabama. There have been no efforts made to induce im- migrats to come to this portion of the State. The most of the planters raise their own beef and bacon, and all could if they would. There is a portion of the parish (I speak of the piney portion) well adapted for sheep-raising. Sheep can be had for $1 per head and cows for $5 10 per head. Water Power.— There is no portion of this or any other State that that can excel this. There are streams in abundance that are flush all the year, with capacity to run any kind of machinery. Our nearest markets are Minden, on the west thirty miles (we have navigation but a short time there), and Trenton, on tfre Ouachita, on the east, which is fii'tv miles. The roads to both places are good. All the fruits do well here, but on account of not being able to mar- ket it, there has been very little benefit derived from this crop. A great many are putting out orchards. This is a good country for vegetables, and they could be grown with great profit. We have but few" wild fowls and not a great many fish. In the southern portion of the parish there are a good many deer. One good hand can cultivate ten acres in corn and ten in cotton, be- sides his truck patches. This is like all other countries, some men make any business profitable, while others fail at any and everything. On account of the distance from market, this parish has been kept in the background, but now we have a good prospect for the comple tion of the North Louisiana Road, which runs through this parish* by the 1st of May, and will bring out all its resources. We have already seen some of the effects. In the Jast few days many are investing their money in land. BOSSIER PARISH. 113 The soil, as a general thing, on upland is gray sandy, but we have all the different varietes— the gray sandy, the mulatto, the red sandy and dark sandy— these are the uplands. The soil of our creek or bot- tom lands varies from dark sandy to a stiff soil. The minerals have never been tested. There are some fine leads of stone coal, which I think would pay well if there was transportation. Products best adapted are corn, cotton, rye, oats, barley, sweet and Irish potatoes, rice and sugar cane. PRODUCTION PER ACRE AND VALUE. Per acre. Price. Corn. 15 bushels. $1 00 per bushel. Cotton £bale. 10c. perpound. Rye 20 bushels. $1 00 per bushel. Oats 20 . 75c. Barley 25 .. $1 00 Sweet potatoes 150 .. 50c. Sugarcane 200gallons. 50c. per gallon. BOSSIER PARISH. BY B. F. FORT, BELLEVUE. The soils may be classified as follows : 1. Sandy loam, fronts a quarter of a mile wide on each bank of river; half the tilled soil, but only one- fourteenth of the whole bottom. 2. Stiff, red back-lands; nearly half the tilled soil and about five-sevenths of whole bottom. 3. Stiff, red, lateral bayou lands— a fraction only of those tilled ; about one-four- teenth of whole ; one-fourteenth like bottom and bayou beds. The chief one is designated as "front lands;" proportion, one-half the cultivated, one fourteenth of wnole bottom ; occurs on the whole fronton the river, and a short distance down large outgoing bayous; growth: cottonwood, ash, hickory, sweet gum, red oak and mulberry. It is a light silt and fine sandy loam, reddish gray, several feet in depth. It tills easily in wet and in dry seasons, and is early, warm and well drained. Crops : cotton, chiefly, and some corn. The soil is best adapted to cotton. Two-thirds of the crops planted, perhaps more, are of cotton. Usual height of cotton on old cleared land, three feet ; for best produc- tion higher. Cotton runs to weed in wet seasons ; no remedy is used. Seed-cotton product on fresh land, 2000 pounds per acre ; for a 450- pound bale, 1350 pounds dry, after housing a few weeks ; 1460 pounds dry from field. Staple from fresh land rates good middling in market, when clean. After six years' cultivation (unmanured), 1700 pounds, and the same amount of seed cotton needed per bale; staple a little shorter, but seed somewhat lighter. Troublesome weeds: crab-grass, cocklebur, tie-vine, morning-glory and cow-pea. No land of this char- acter now lies turned out; old land taken into cultivation produces a3 well as new. Soil No. 2.— Designated stiff lands or back lands form five-sevenths of the wnole bottom and nearly half the tilled soil ; much of it is not reclaimed from overflow; it extends from Washington, St. Landry parish, to Little River, Arkansas. Timber growth— Red oak, cotton- wood, ash, hackberry, cypress, pecan and sweet gum. It is a heavy clay loam. Color— Brown, mahogany, blackish and dark brownish red. Much has no different subsoil within reasonable depth, but a con- siderable portion has the river deposit a foot below the surface. This subsoil is lighter than the surface soil, being a fine, black, sandy loam. The soil tills easily in wet weather and after breaking up in the spring, 15 114 LOUISIANA. and can be plowed after heavy rains. Soil best adapted to cotton ; pro- portion of cotton planted, two-thirds of crops. This is our best soil, and I believe it is the best cotton land in the world. I have it from four different witnesses, viz: K. W. Dougherty, E. T. Glinson, F. J. Smith and Jas. B. Pickett, that each have known 1000 pounds of cotton lint to be raised on it to the acre without manure. It is now being gradually reclaimed from overflow, and can all be reclaimed within a small fraction at no great expense per acre. It requires two mules for breaking up in the spring, but for after cultivation one mule suffices. This is the land for steam cultivation in the future. The most produc- tive and usual height of cotton is five feet. The plant does not incline to run to weed, except on new land ; no remedy to restrain it and favor boiling is used. Seed cotton product and quality of staple the same as from the front lands. The seed cotton product, after six years' cultivation, is 2000 pounds per acre (the land is never known to tire) ; same amount as above needed for a bale , staple same as that from fresh land. The trouble- some weeds are cocklebur, tie-vine, morning-glory and cow pea. No land lies turned out. Soil No. 3,— Designated as bayou lands. These differ but little from No. 2, being a littie stiffer and closer to the subsoil, which is often poor. Proportion of this land is small, say one-twentieth of bottom ; tilled soil, perhaps one-fourteenth of the entire cultivated lands. I only know it to occur bordering Ked Chute Bayou, townships 16 to 18 in- clusive. Growth * red and overcup oaks, bastard pecan, ash, sweet gum, locust. The soil is a heavy clay loam, brownish, mahogany, blackish aao iark reddish brown. Thickness of surface soil, six to eight inches , subsoil heavier or occasionally lighter than surface soil; underlaid sometimes by white sandstone and sometimes by blue clay, and generally by poor subsoil , rather impervious to water ; tills easily in dry and wet seasons after breaking in spring, but is hard to break ; it takes two mules. The soil is best adapted to cotton, of which two- thirds of all crops is planted. The height usually attained by cotton is three feet ; at four feet it is most productive ; does not incline to run to weed. Seed cotton, per acre, on fresh land, 1700 pounds. Seed cot- ton for a 450-pound bale, 1350 pounds, dry from cotton-house ; 1450 pounds, when dry from field ; staple rates as middling in market, when clean. Seed cotton product, per acre, after six years' cultivation, the same as before in quantity and quality. Troublesome weeds are cockle- bur and tie-vine. One-fourth or one-fifth of this land lies turned out, but is being recultivated ; produces as at first, when again taken into culti- vation. Soils of the "Point Country."— 'So. 1, gray oak and hickory land ; No. 2, reddish oak land ; No. 3, black-jack ridges. No. 1, designated Point lands, are peculiar to the Point ; proportion, three-fourths of cultivated land, and occurs throughout the point country. Timber : post, black and red oaks, hickory, short-leaf pine (scattering) and black-jack- It is a fine silt or fine, sandy loam ; blackish, four inches deep ; subsoil, a yellowish, sandy loam, not fertile, underlaid by sandy clay at 1| feet; tills easily in wet and dry seasons, when broken up in the spring. Crops.— Cotton, mainly; corn, sweet potatoes, and cow-peas; best adapted to cotton, which constitutes two-thirds of all the crops planted. Height.— Three feet, and, generally speaking, the higher the plant the more productive it is. Seed-cotton on. fresh land : 1000 pounds ; amount for a 450-pound bale the same as for the bottom ; rates as middling in market. Seed-cotton produced after six years' cultivation (unmanured) : 700 pounds ; staple shorter than on fresh land, but the seed is lighter. BOSSIER PARISH. US Troublesome Weeds.— Crab-grass, hog- weed, and occasionally cockle- bur. Land turned out, one-third, does not improve when again taken into cultivation, as cows pasture on it and tramp it too close; it is slow bo grow up in trees. Soil No. 2 has no common designatian ; proportion, perhaps one- fourth, and occurs scattered over the Point. Growth ; black and post oaks, black jack, and an occasional short-leaf pine. It is a heavy clay- loam, light brown to two inch depth; subsoil same as surface but in- fertile ; underlaid by sandy clay ; tills easily, when broken up in the spring ; proportion of cotton planted, two-thirds ; height, 2£ feet ; more productive when higher. Seed-cotton product per acre on fresh land. 700 pounds ; after six years' cultivation (unmanured), 400 pounds; staple shorter than on fresh land. No troublesome weeds. Land turned out, one-half; serious damage done by washing. No damage done to valleys from washing of uplands. Soil No. 3, designated as "black-jack ridges:" proportion, one-fifth or one-sixth ; none cultivated, because sterile ; occurs only in the Point. Growth, black-jack. It is a light, fine, sandy loam ; whitish gray ; one inch deep. Subsoil sandy, leachy ; underlaid by sand to some depth. Middle and Northern Bossier, on the Borders of Bodceau and Cypress Bayous.— Here there are three chief varieties of soil, viz: (1) gray, sandy, loam of the level or undulating short-leaf pine country; (2) rocky red hills and branch bottoms adjacent; (3) flats. The chief 'one is gray lands or pine land; it occupies two-thirds of the region, ex- tending from township 17 to Arkansas line and east and west through the parish. The timber, short-leaf pine, black and red oaks, hickory, dogwood and black gum. The soil is a fine, sandy, loam, gray, black- ish, and sometimes brownish, showing iron in soil; thickness, six inches when fresh. The subsoil is a yellowish, sandy loam, lighter than surface, and rather close, not fertile ; underlaid by sandy clay at 1£ feet. It tills easily in wet and dry seasons. Oops.— Cotton, chiefly; corn, oats, sweet potatoes, sorghum, and cow-peas. The soil is best adapted to cotton because of the climate ; proportion of cotton planted, two-thirds ; heignt attained by cotton, 3 feet, and the higher the better, unless in very wet seasons. Seed cotton product on fresh land, 800 pounds ; staple, middling when clean; after six years' cultivation the product is 600 pounds; staple somewhat shorter and seeds lighter; the weeds are crab-grass and hog- weed. About one-third of such land once cultivated lies out; this is not thought to benefit the land until after several years' growth of small pines. The land washes readily on slopes, but being so nearly level no damage is done to them. Soit No. £.— Designated "red lands;" proportion one-sixth, and occurs from Arkansas line south to township 17 in strips. Timber: black and red oaks, black jack, scattering short-leaf pines and hickory.' It is a heavy clay loam, or clay with ironstone and broken gravel; color: brownish, mahogany, blackish and chocolate. Thickness of surface soil, three inches. Subsoil same, but somewhat stiffer ; some is hard-pan and nearly impervious to water; contains soft, broken iron- stone gravel, underlaid by clay at one-half foot. It tills easily in wet and dry seasons, after breaking up in the spring and when well drained. The soil is best adapted to cotton, and next, to oats. Proportion of cotton to other crops planted, two-thirds ; the highest is most produc- tive ; dofts not incline to run to weed under any circumstances. Seed cotton product per acre, when land is fresh, 800 pounds. Some small area of this red land is the finest upland in the parish, and has quite a. fame. To see such splendid crops on pure red clay is astonish- ing. What is in the soil to produce that effect is not known. I think 116 LOUISIANA. these lands would succeed well in wine grapes. A great deal of this red ironstone land, however, produces the same as gray lands. Drought fiurts it worse, perhaps, than it does the gray, but wet sea- sons hurt less. Much iron ore overlies parts of it, but an expert stated some time ago that this ore would be hard to smelt. Seed cotton needed for a bale same as that from the other soils. Staple rates as middling in market, when clean and from fresh land. Product, after six years' cultivation, 600 pounds per acre, and same amount needed for a bale as on fresh land, but staple is shorter. Weeds are not troublesome; crab-grass grows a little. Land turned out about one- third. When this land is again taken into cultivation it is worse than when turned out. It will not grow up in trees quickly. Soil does not wash on slopes. Soil No. 3.— Flats, proportion one-third; none cultivated but re- claimable. This soil occurs from township 17 north, to Arkansas. Growth : post and water-oaks and short-leaf pine ; sometimes small haw and sweet gum. It is a heavy, fine silt, or fine, sandy loam, craw- fishy and whitish gray. Thickness of surface soil one inch , character of subsoil about same as surface. Some is hard-pan, impervious to water, and underlaid by sandy clay at two or three feet. Tillage very difficult in wet and dry seasons or when ill-drained. A ditch will not draw, and only surface drainage can be adopted. Soil best adapted to cotton, which can by great labor be produced. CADDO PARISH. BY JUDGE THOS. T. LAND, SHREVEPORT. The parish of Caddo lies in the 32d degree of north latitude, and In the 16th degree of longitude west from Washington. It is situated in the extreme north-western portion of the State, and west of the Eed Kiver. It is bounded on the west by Texas, on the north by Ar- kansas, on the east by Ked Eiver, and on the south by the parishes of De Soto and Eed Eiver. The parish was organized in the year 1836, and the seat of justice was established at Shreveport., on Eed Eiver, where it still remains. The present rate of taxation is six mills on the dollar for State and 10 mills on the dollar for all parish purposes. The parish has on Eed Eiver, a length, with the meanders of the stream, of some one hundred and sixty miles, and on the Texas line a length of some fifty odd miles. The width of the parish varies from sixteen to thirty-six miles, owing to the distance of the Texas State line from different points of the river. In the parish there are several large lakes, known as Wallace's Lake, in the southern part, Cross Lake, Soda Lake, Clear Lake, and Caddo Lake in the northern part; the last of which extends into the State of Texas, and a short distance above its head, on Cypress Cypress Bayou, is situated the town of Jefferson. These lakes are all of recent formation, as shown by the large dead trees still statnding in large numbers in them. The beds of these lakes were at one time bayoix bottom lands, above overflow, and covered with a heavy forest of timber, the remains of which are everywhere still visible. These lakes are the effects or fruits of the formation of the great raft in Eed river. There is in Caddo parish little or no prairie land. The bottom lands are principally in the Eed river valley, a large proportion of which are uncultivated and covered with magnificent forests. There are only a few bayous of any length or size in the parish ; the CADDO PARISH. 117 principal are Kelley's Bayou and Black Bayou, in the northern portion ; Cypress and Boggy Bayous, in the western, that is, in the up- lands of the parish. In the Red river valley the bayous are more nu- merous, running westward into the great lakes that we have mentioned, above the city of Shreveport. The first, just below the Arkansas State line, is called the Sale and Murphy Canal; the second, O'Rouke Slough; the third, the Koun's Canal ; the fourth, the Hervy Canal ; the fifth, Elenor Bayou ; the sixth, Red Bayou; the seventh, Dooley's Bayou; the eighth, Cowhide Bayou. Cross Bayou runs into Red river from Cross Lake, above the city of Shreveport. The Bayou Pierre is below the city about two miles, and runs into Wallace's Lake. Tone's Bayou, which is a deep and rapid stream, and has threatened a diversion of the river from its present channel and a destruction of navigation, runs out of Red river some fifteen miles below Shreveport. There are various small bayous run- ning out of Red river, in the parish of Caddo, which it is unnecessary to mention. The p*-' npal kinds of timber in the parish are red oak, post oak, hickory, pine, black-jack, with some gum and dogwood on the uplands. On the bottom lands the principal kinds of timber are cottonwood, ash, hackberry, cypress, gum, black oak and willow. The lands in the parish are classified into hfji: or uplands and valley or bottom lands. The hill lands are generally level, and when fresh are quite productive without the aid of fertilizers ; when old and worn, their productiveness is restored by the use of jotton seed as a fertilizer. The valley lands are of great fertility and productiveness, not sur- passed by any in the State or United States. There are no minerals in the parish of any special value. The products best adapted to cultivation in the parish are corn, cot- ton, oats, rye, barley and millet. The average yield of corn per acre on the rich valley lands is fifty bushels, of cotton, one bale per acre, weighing 500 pounds; oats, rye and barley, twenty-five bushels; of millet, two tons per acre. The prices realized in home markets past season were for corn seventy-five cents per bushel ; for cotton, fifty dol- lars per bale; oats and other grain, sixty cents per bushel; millet seed, two dollars per bushel. The health!' ulness of the parish is not surpassed by any in the State. The kinds of drinking water used are, in the uplands, spring and well water, and on the bottom lands, cistern water. The average temperature, summer and wintor, is as follows ; June, 76°; July, 83°; August, 78°; December, 47°; January. 55°; February,' 53°. Sunstroke is hardly known in the parish. Population of the i arish at this time is 26,300; an increase of 4500 in ten years. Almost every nationality in Europe is represented, with a greater proportion of Germans. The negroes enumerated in the cen- sus of the present year amount to 15,000; the white race, 11,300 souls. The people of the parish are generally moral, industrious and pros- perous. All kinds of lands are offered for sale in the parish, improved and unimproved, or wild lands. Private lands in any sized tracts can be purchased on the uplands at from $1 to $5 per acre ; on the bottom lands, at from $5 to $10 per acre. Improved uplands can be bought at prices from $1 50 to $5 per acre ; improved bottom lands at prices from $15 to $25 per acre. Uplands can be leased at from $1 to $2 per acre ; bottom lands at from $5 to $10 per acre. There are United States Government lands for sale in the parish to the amount of 61,940 acres ; State lands to the amount of 29,040 acres; railroad lands to the amount of 15,780 acres : school lands to the amount of 6000 acres. The State lands are now offered for sale at seventy-five cents per acre. 118 LOUISIANA. The religious denominations in the parish are Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Catholic and Hebrew, There are twenty-five public schools in the parish and quite a num- ber of private schools. Negro labor is generally employed on the plantations, in private families and in hotels, and it is improving in reliability. Chinese labor is not in demand; the people of the parish have no knowledge of it. Industrious white men can rind employment at remunerative wages or for a share in the crops. They can work all the year in the field with per- fect safety. The share given in the crops in the place of wages is usu- allv one-half, the laborer feeding and clothing himself. The land, team, feed and farming implements and houses for the laborer are fur- nished by the land owner. No efforts are being made to secure immigration to the- parish. The number of immigrants has not been noted. The parish is well adapted to stock raising for plantation and for family use. The summer range on the uplands is always good ; on the bottom lands it is excellent, both summer and winter. The uninclosed lands afford an extensive range for cattle the year round. Stock rais- ing in the parish is carried on generally only for home consumption. A good cow and calf are worth $25, and good beef cattle from $20 to $25 per head. The water power in the parish for manufacturing is of little or no value, and as yet but little has been accomplished in that direction. The nearest and best market for the people of the parish is at the city of Shreveport, situated on Eed Eiver, at the head of navigation, in the territorial and commercial centre of a large, fertile and productive region of country, embracing the rich Eed Eiver valley for hundreds of miles, Northwestern Louisiana, Southwestern Arkansas, the Indian Territory, Western, Eastern and Middle Texas, extending to El Paso on the Eio Grande. Shreveport is the present eastern terminus of the Texas and Pacific Eailroad, and will soon be connected directly by rail with New Orleans by the New Orleans and Pacific Eailway, and with the Mississippi Eiver by the Vicksburg, Shreveport and Texas Eailway, which will have the effect of greatly increasing her trade, commerce, population, and wealth. The distance by rail to the Mississippi river, opposite Vicksburg, will be only 169 miles, while the distance by the New Orleans and Pacific Eailway to the Mississippi Eiver opposite New Orleans will be 355 miles, and the distance by the way of Houston to the Mississippi Eiver will be over 600 miles. The short line of railway from Shreveport to the Mississippi Eiver at Yicksburg will give to her great, and decided advantages over all other markets west of the Eed Eiver in the region of country which we have mentioned. Short lines of railroad and low freights will make the city of Shreveport the best cotton market in the State, second only to the city of New Orleans. There are various kinds of fruits cultivated in the parish, such as peaches, pears, apples, apricots, plums, grapes, strawberries, etc. The business of fruit culture has not as yet been engaged in to any extent. "When the railroads are completed the business, it is thought, will be profitable. All kinds of vegetables are grown in the parish, and when the railroads are completed their production can be made profitable. Silk culture is unknown in the parish. Honey making is a business, and is quite profitable. The dairy business is also profitable. Poultry raising has not been carried to any extent. Saw mills are profitable. Tanning, cotton and wool factories, shoe, harness and saddle factories wagon and carriage factories could all be engaged in with a fair pros- pect of success. It is thought the labor of negro women, boys and girls, which is CALCASIEU P ARISE. 119 u ir , f knf hPTP would be very efficient in factories, especially in cotton abundant liercwouiauo voi y plantation labor and to employ- g^iKLSSfS^SdJSB aW, geese, We , hav< , u .our .orestsdeer, IXr™ w nv^'levln hundred [dollars per annum in gross rece.pts ; ofSouraMabof hatto oelmpSyecl to save tnese extraordinary crops. CALCASIEU PARISH. This parish is bounded on the east by St. Landry, west by Texas, north bv Vernon and south by Cameron. The Sabine Biver forms its welternboundary and Mermentau and Nez Pique the eastern The nrairie region lies past of the Calcasieu Eiver ana the pine woods to the wist "The parish is well watered by beautiful rivers and creeks of Cl M^hp W ™^nlation is 12 381, nine-tenths white, and is rapidly increasing, AL e ll°il L .w ?^, Ki.Tin'thP last ten vears. The leading industries having nearty doubled in the last ten years. The leading mdustnea are stock-raisini and lumbering. The climate has been called "per- Selual sm ng '' It is delightful, and vegetables may be grown at any time of the year. The heat of summer is tempered by the sea breeze mm the south which prevails during the summer. The prairie X npartly level and partly rolling, is all productive and improves wth cultivation. The level prairie is even richer than the roll™ The lowest flat lands afford a natural meadow of rich wild brasses and feed thousands of cattle, which run at large and are raised withont attention or care, except marking and branding the young. The land in thS Sine woods section is thin, except that bordering the creeks which is a rich sandy loam. The settlers of the pine woods "¥$2%^^*$!^ is hilly, and heretofore has been valued prnTcipally for its exhaustless forests of pine, but recent ex- periment have shown them easy of cultivation and capable of infinite mnrovement with fertilizing and intelligent cultivation. ffXr-Large quantities of pine and cypress lumber are exported fromthe Sabine, Calcasieu and Mermetan Rivers to Texas ports Be- SdS cypress and oak, the bottoms are heavily timbered with gum hickory maple, mulberry, sassafras, magnolia, pecan, black walnut beech sySTmore, hackberry, linn, dogwood persimmon, iron wood 2S numerous small growth. Fences of the parish are generally 120 LOUISIANA. of wood. Of late some hedges and wire fences are appearing. The parish has over fire hundred miles of water way navigable all the year, and a much greater extent during the winter. Lake Charles is a Dasin of the Calcasieu Eiver. The channel of the river runs along the west shore, but steamboats navigate the lake in all directions. The shores of the lake rise in bold bluff banks, and are covered with sea shells. The lands bordering the lake and rivers are very fertile and are admirably adapted to the growth of fruit trees. The water of the streams is soft, and good for all purposes, but cistern water is generally used for drinking, except in the northern part of the parish, where good water is found in wells at a depth of twenty feet, and many fine natural springs abound. The field products are cotton, sugar, rice, corn, potatoes, oats, rye, barley and tocacco for home consumption. The parish has soil suitable for the growth of all field and garden products, as well as fruits and flow- ers. There are three rice mills in the parish, which are sufficient to mill the crop now made, but more mills will be required in future, as the profits of rice culture are inducing a more extensive cultivation. Unlike the prairie region of the Northwest, the rainfall here can be de- pended upon. It is always sufficient for vegetation. There are one hundred townships in the parish, in all of which are some United States lands. There are nearly a million of acres of pub- lic lands in this parish subject to entry, under the homestead act, at the United States Land Office in New Orleans, or to be bought at $1 25 per acre. Much of the State land is also valuable, and can be home- steaded at 12| cents per acre. Lands unimproved, lying on Lake Charles or Calcasieu River, are sold from $20 to $25 per acre, while equally as good lands, one mile back, can be bought for from $1 to $5 per acre. To the immigrant this parish presents rare attractions— climate, soil and good health. Products are more and more varied than in in any part of the United States. Fruits of the tropics and temperate zone. Facilities for travel and market both by water and rail. The land, timber, sulphur and petroleum in the parish offer inducements to cap- italists to invest their money. The religious denominations which prevail in the parish are Roman Catholic, and Baptist and Methodist. This is emphatically a white man's country, and white immigrants are very much wanted to make homes and farms for themselves, and to make citizens of the State. Wages.— The prices paid for logs by the saw mills are at the rate of from $5 50 to $G per thousand feet. Choppers receive 20 cents per log, and earn from $2 50 to $3 50 per day. Raftsmen are paid $2 per day, teamsters $1 50, saw mill hands from $1 to Si 25, carpenters from $2 50 to $5, agricultural laborers $20 per month, with board and lodging. The latter are scarce. Farmers do their own work, and only have help in planting and harvesting the crop. Land is so plentiful that it is hardly ever rented. Sheep raising is profitable and increasing in importance with the in- troduction of fine bucks. The parish seat is Lake Charles, which has a population of 810, and is a lumber manufacturing towm. It is a healthy village of six churches, five schools and a number of hotels and stores and two live newspapers. Within three miles are eleven saw mills and five planing, one grist and one rice mill. Streets are graded and paved drained ; the corpora- tion out of debt with a surplus on hand. Game and Fish abound in the woods and streams— bear, deer, tur- keys, ducks and geese, prairie chickens, woodcock, plover and snipe and all other water fowl. Fine fish, oysters, crabs and shrimp are afforded by the bays, bayou «> CALDWELL PARISH. 121 and rivers Here are all essentials to make life pleasant to the immi- grant, whose work only is needed to make him independent and happy. CALDWELL PARISH. BY PROF. B. W. HILGARD. Popidation-5167 ; white 2870, colored 2897. Area-535 square miles. Woodland, all Long-leaf pine hills 170 sauare miles alluvial lands (Washita and Bceuf) 170 square miles; central prairie regie a, 145 square miles ; oak uplands, 50 square miles. Tilled Land— 18 267 acres. Area planted in cotton, 9919 acres ; in corn, 5717 acres ; in sweet potatoes, 182 acres ; in sugar cane, 39 acres. Cotton Production-650i bales; average cotton product per acre, 0.66 bale, 933 pounds seed cotton, or 311 pounds cotton lint. Most of Western Caldwell is a rough, broken, pine country, cut up by the several branches of Bayou Castor. Ou the dividing ridge between BaVouS^tor and Washita River, however, a different feature pre- vaT as far north as several miles beyond Mount Pleasant. The Suntr?te also broken and ridgy, especially near the Washita running fn the main parallel to that river, on which they occasionally form precipitous bluffs. These ridges have a dark-colored loamy soil, KvhX evidence of the presence of lime by the absence of the long-leaf Sne and the prevalence of the better class o? upland oaks, hickory wUdplum and red haw or thorn. The best of this kind of country is in the neighborhood of Grandview, so called from the fine prospect over the Mississippi alluvial plain that is there. presented Between Grandview and Columbia there is a prairie (prairie Du Cote) abouta mile in diameter, almost round, and with a yellow loam soil. The soil is verv fertile, and is treeless except a few hawthorn bushes. East of thlwashite River is mainly the alluvial bottom, subject to overflow except along narrow ridge of upland that runs down between Washita and Bceuf Rivers, reaching nearly to their junction. ABSTRACT OF THE REPORT OP W. B. GRAYSON, COLUMBIA. The uplands are rolling, sometimes level table-lands, and vary OTeatlvmaSlf The soil principally cultivated in cotton is the black Sndv sofl with clav foundation, of the Ouachita bottom Its timber SSwth^s sweet sum, lowland oaks, elm, poplar (tulip tree), beech, Ivotpss etc It varies from a fine sandy to a gravelly loam ot gray, mahoeanv or blackish tint; depth, 2 feet or more; underlaid by sand. S tills eiilv in dry, and with some difficulty in wet seasons and is tnen lateen getting into condition for planting. Cotton, corn, potatoes, pea? and oa^s are the chief crops of the region: cotton, mainly in. the PowlandY and forms one-half of the crops. It grows from six to eight feet in height In warm, wet weather it may run to weed ; this can be checked b? plowing close to the stocks. The bottom soil yields about ?M0 pounds of ^cotton-seed per acre, oi which 1460 pounds are required fora^u pound bale; rates from low to good ^lmg in market On iN/winnrU the staple is not so long as on fresh land, lie-vine ana ^lehnvltetLmSt^oyxbleaome ^ eeds - Cannot tell what amount o? land lies turned out. After resting awhile the river land produces weli ; SnipmSte «e made by (Ouachita) boat to New Orleans, -at $1 per bale. X6 122 LOUISIANA CAMERON PARISH. NEW ORLEANS DEMOCRAT. The parish of Cameron is situated in the extreme southwestern cor- ner of the State, being bounded on the west by Sabine Lake and river, on the north by the parish of Calcasieu, on the east by the parish of Vermilion and on the south by the Gulf of Mexico. It embraces about 2000 square miles of territory, fully one-half of which is marsh or swamp lands, subject to overflows at certain periods of the year. The parish was organized in 1870, being taken from Calcasieu parish, and has, at the present time, a total population of about 2500, one-seventh of which is colored. The financial condition of the parish is reported to be good. The assessment for the last year aggregated $350,000, upon which there was levied a State tax of six mills and a parish tax of ten mills— a sum quite ample, when collected, to meet the obligations and requirements of the parish. As already stated, the lands of this section, like most of those adjacent to the gulf, are low, the usual height above the sea level being from four to ten feet. Climate aud Health.— The climate of this parish is remarkably mild and salubrious. In consequence of the general prevalence of refresh- ing breezes from the Gulf the atmosphere is rendered pure and health- ful. In fact, it may be remarked that there are no prevalent diseases in Cameron parish, except occasional cases of pneumonia and fevers, occasioned by exposure in the swamps. In proportion to popu- lation the parish can, perhaps, point to as many old men and women among its inhabitants as any portion of the State, the average length of life being estimated at seventy years. Quality of the Soil. — The soil of Cameron is a rich, sandy loam, formed principally by the decomposition of vegetable matter. In some portions, however, will be found what are known as black lands, all of which are remarkably rich and productive. Much of the soil of the parish being liable to overflow is not at present available for culti- vation, there being only about one acre in fifty that will not require more or less drainage, except for rice and other similar crops. With suitable drainage there is scarcely afoot of soil within the limits of Cameron that could not be made to yield abundantly. At present not over one-fourth of the lands capable of cultivation without reclamation are being utilized. Timber.— The timber of this section is confined to the islands, and is scattered over all portions of the parish. It consists of cypress, live oak, white oak, post oak, wild peach, pin oak, elm, hackberry, mag- nolia, china and a variety of smaller trees and shrubs. The supply is principally used for fuel and fencing, although lumbering is carried on to some extent. There is at present one saw mill in operation in the parish, but others are likely to be established as the country is de- veloped by an increased population and the local demand for lumber becomes more important. At present the local demand is supplied from the great lumber manufacturing districts of Calcasiau parish, the outward shipments of which pass through the port of Leesburg to the Gulf. Water.— Cameron parish has a very extensive water surface within its boundaries, induing several important navigable streams and lakes. Among these are the the Mermentau and Calcasieu rivers, Johnson's and Black Bayous, Calcaseau, White and Mermentau Lakes, and nu- merous smaller bayous and lakes scattered throughout the parish, nearly all of which are navigable for small crafts, while the Calcaseau Biver can be navigated about 100 'miles and the Mermentau about 80 miles into the interior of the State. Cistern and well water are used CAMERON PARISH. 18$ for domestic purposes, the latter being required for stock immediately along the Gulf coast where the surface supply is not suitable. Field Crops and Their Yield.— The crops principally grown in the par- ish at this time are sugar cane, cotton, corn, potatoes, pindars and other field products common to the coast country. The average yield per acre under ordinary cultivation is about three-fourths of a bale of cotton, twenty bushels of corn, one hundred and fifty bushels of sweet potatoes and from one and a half to two hogsheads of sugar. In many mstances over five hundred pounds of lint cotton is produced to the acre, and from forty to fifty bushels of corn, but these are unusual pro- ductions. In the same way it is claimed that over three hogsheads of sugar have been realized from a single acre, but the figures above given may be taken as a fair estimate of the yield under ordinary cultivation. Other field crops, such as onions, beans, peas, tobacco, pumpkins, melons, turnips, cabbage, etc., have been successfully cultivated for home consumption, and might be profitably grown for market. Eice is also cultivated on a small scale in some portions of the parish, and will, doubtless, soon become a staple crop, as the soil is admirably adapted for its successful production. Prices of Lands. — It is estimated that there are about 100 square miles of land in the parish belonging to the United States government, a portion of which is still subject to entry under the homestead acts or may be purchased at the fixed government price. There are also a large amount of State lands still vacant, some of which might be cul- tivated without reclamation, but the greater part being swamp or coast marsh, will require expensive improvements to render it available for agricultural purposes. Unimproved lands, suitable for cultivation, can be purchased from private owners at from $5 to $10 per acr«, and in some cases for much less. The price of improved lands will very naturally depend upon the extent and importance of the improve- ments. Lands may br purchased from private owners in tracts to suit— from 10 to 160 acres. Churches and Schools.— There are three churches in the parish— one Catholic, one Methodist and one Baptist. Other Protestant denomina- tions are also represented, but have no regular organization, and are not provided with separate places of public worship. The schools of the parish consist of five public and two private organizations, which are fairly attended. Labor and fV< ages.— White labor is principally employed in the par- ish, and is as a general thing preferred to colored, although during the planting and harvesting seasons of the year there is a demand for hands of all kinds. Eeliable and industrious men may rely upon get- ting employment almost any season of the year in some department of industry, especially such as are familiar with agricultural pursuits or have a knowledge of the stock business. There is at present very little if any demand for mechanics. A few carpenters and blacks- miths, who are able to make themselves useful in other departments when necessary, might find an opening. Field hands usually receive seventy-five cents per day or $14 per month. Where farms are rented for money the price per acre is about $5, and when rented on the share system the tenant is expected to give one-fourth of the crop if he fur- nishes his own team, etc., and one-half if the team is furnished by the land owner. Stock Raising— Cameron is admirably adapted for stock raising:, and the business is largely engaged in, finding a ready and remunerative market in New Orleans and in the interior parishes of the State. With the completion of the New Orleans and Texas Eailway, it is reasonable to presume that this important industry will be largely increased, the want of suitable transportation having heretofore been the leading obstacle in the way of its development, Horned cattle, horses, mules lgjf. LOUISIANA sheep, goats and hogs can be profitably raised in this parish, the grasses and other nourishment being abundant and accessible at all seasons of the year. Cities and Towns.— There is only one town in the parish at this time. This is known as Leesburg, and is the parish seat. It is located on Calcasieu Pass, and has a population of about one hundred persons. It was organized in 1871, has two churches, one school, three stores, two hotels, a court-house and other parish buildings. The postoffice at Leesburg is known as Cameron. The town is supplied with a black- smith, a saddler and a shoemaker, which appears to be about all the manufactures demanded by the community at present. With the in- crease in population, however, other industries will be required and rendered profitable. Market Facilities.— Heretofore the trade of Cameron has been prin- cipally confined to Galveston, which was reached at regular intervals by the vessels engaged in the Calcasieu lumber trade, but being now in communication by rail with New Orleans it is to be inferred that much of the produce of the parish will find its way to the market of the Southern metropolis. Especially will this be the case with live stock, and the staple products, such as sugar, cotton, rice, corn, etc., as well as such garden vegetables as may be raised for early marketing. Fruits and Vegetables.— All of the semi-tropical and many of the tropical fruits flourish in this portion of the State, especially oranges, bananas, figs, lemons, grapes, peaches, quinces, pears and plums. Orange culture has already been extensively engaged in in many por- tions of the parish, there beiug about 100,000 trees already planted in orchards, fully one-tenth of which are beginning to bear fruit. In ad- dition to the foregoing fruits might be mentioned dates, pomegranates, olives, cherries, papaws, japan plums, citrons, nectarines, shaddocks, blackberries, dewberries, strawberries, ate, all of which are either cul- tivated on a small scale or may be successfully grown. In the way of garden vegetables almost every variety may be pro- duced in the most remarkable profusion. In fact, the soil seems to be particularly adapted to the growth of vegetables, and most aston- ishing crops of cabbages, onions, turnips, radishes, etc., are produced without fertilization, except such as has been bestowed by the hand of nature in the shape of decayed vegetable matter. Fish and Game.— In the matter of fish and game, sportsmen will find an excellent field of amusement along the various water-courses of Cameron parish. Eedfish, sheephead, trout, perch, catfish, flounder, mullet, crabs, shrimps, turtles and oysters of the finest quality abound in its waters, as well as ducks, geese and other water fowl, at certain seasons of the year. EAST CARROLL PARISH. NEW ORLEANS DEMOCRAT. The parish of East Carroll is much like the parish of Madison ; it Is an unbroken line of smiling fields and plantations near the river front, but a deserted waste of overflowed territory to the west. Like Madison and in fact from the same causes— the lower Arkansas crevasses— it is overflowed in the rear, and like Madison again, it is protected on the immediate front by the Mississippi river levees. Entering the parish, however, from the west, you enter the most disheartening and desolate swamp that man ever penetrated. From the verge of this bottom, run- ning due east and passing the valleys of Jo's bayou and the Tensas, a distance of ten or fifteen miles, you pass across abandoned plantations. You see on every side wide-spreading fields, the ruins of stately man- HAST GARlWLL PABTSR 1$5 sions, of once populous laborers' quarters, and of ruined gin houses, until you touch the western water-shed of Lake Providence. Here you reach comparatively high land at last, and, if you pause a moment to look back upon your sixteen miles' trip, you will realize that you have passed over a belt including many thousands of acres of magnificent land. This belt is like the corresponding belt in Madison parish, just south of it, of infinitely greater fertility than the river front, which is protected by the levees. Like the corresponding belt in Madison, though in a less degree, it comprises the largest as well as the most productive part of the parish. It is not, perhaps, overflowed as deep as Madison, since the lands of the alluvial belt are higher accordingly as you ascend the Mississippi Valley. Less money would be required to reclaim this fertile territory than the corresponding territory in Madison. Driving through the neglected fields you notice that the water-marks left upon the trees by the annual spring inundations are of a prevailing depth of not more than two feet. One is impressed with the splendid promise involved in a scheme of reclamation as applied to this unequaled tract. These lands could be purchased now at a cost of not more than $3 or $4 per acre, and by an additional expenditure of as much more, they could be made worth much more than the lands upon the river front, which are held and are salable at $50 per acre. They are in all respects bet- ter lands. They are more productive, they are more easily and cheaply cultivated, and the soil is deeper— in fact, inexhaustible. They are free from the troublesome grasses, the coco and Bermuda, which in- fest the front; and are in all respects more desirable. Such is East Carroll — Two Strips of Alluvium— One upon the river front, old and well-worn ; the other new, almost virgin soil, and rendered by the inundation of the past twenty years as rich as it ever was in its palmiest days. The former is thickly populated, thoroughly cultivated, teeming with re- munerative harvests. The other is deserted, unpopulated, for the present unavailable. But there is another side to the picture of East Carroll— a bright and gracious touch of prosperity and thrift. The river front, from north to south of the parish, is one unbroken garden, and in this must be included the two banks of Lake Provi- dence—a beautiful sheet of water, about six miles long and a mile or less wide, lying in the extreme northeastern corner of the parish and touching the river at the pretty little town of Lake Providence, the parish seat. Throughout this region the scene is one of peaceful and profitable industry. Splendid plantation fringe the lake and river shores ; stately dwellings and bright groups of laborer's houses, and broad, smiling fields delight the eye. These lands yield an average of 500 or 600 pounds of lint cotton or forty bushels of corn to the acre under proper cultivation. The owners are prosperous and the laborers contented. There has been little or no political or social disturbance here. The races are on the best of terms ; the relations of employer and employe are well-defined and satisfactory. Altogether, the culti- vated and the overflowed districts present about as vivid a contrast as can be formed with prosperity and desolation as your material. Labor. — The proprietors plant in three different ways— the wage, the share and the tenant plan. The wages for regular hired labor averages seventy -five cents a day, the laborer buying his own supplies. The share laborer receives land, dwelling, team, tools, seed, fire- wood, and every necessary to make a crop, and gives half of what he makes to the proprietor. The tenant rents land, furnishes his own team, etc., and pays the owner eighty pounds of lint cotton per acre as rent. These three plans, so different in detail, all come to about the same thing in the end, except in the cases of some exception- 1$6 Louisiana ally thrifty tenants. The day laborer, counting in extra wages in chop- ping and picking tine, makes about $250 per annum, and this is sub- stantially what the share laborer and the average tenant make. I know of instances where tenants, by intelligence, industry and economy, have accumulated an independence and are now well-to-do. White men can do this, but the average negro never thinks of to-morrow, and he is consequently a mere hand-to-mouth though comfortable liver at all times. This is the fault of the individual, however, and not of the system. The system is liberal enough— far more so than the system in any other agricultural country that I know of. I have examined its workings attentively, and I have no doubt whatever that it offers to honest industry and intelligent thrift the finest promise that is offered anywhere in the civilized world to men without capital. The share laborer on the great cotton plantations of East Carroll can, without any capital except that of his naked muscle, earn as good a living and as large a pot for a rainy day as the farmer in England with $1000 in money to start with— yes, lamer. White Labor.— 1 noticed that, although East Carrol] seems better supplied with hands than almost any of the cotton parishes in propor- tion to the area cultivated, there was also a larger number of white men at work in the fields. The hackneyed old fable that white men cannot do field-work in the South ought to be exploded by this time, anyhow ; especially when statistics show that three-fifths of the cotton produced in the United States is prodm 1 by white labor. Although I feel bound to say that East Carroll, like Madison, and for the same reasons, is not prepared to offer inducements to the small farmer with his modest means, it is prepared to offer as tempting prospects as could be desired to the com- petent laborer, either white or colored, who is seeking to accummulate a start in life by the mere work of his hands. Area, Climate and Timber.— East Carroll parish contains, upon a rough estimate 250,000 acres of land ; of this there is only about 78,000 in cultivation. Much more is open and in every way adapted to suc- cessful cultivation, but, as I have already shown, it has been adan- doned on account of the annual inundation. In the bayou bottoms there are superb growths of timber— cypress, gum and cottonwood, live oak and ash ; and, during the annual inundations, this timber can be rafted out to a profitable market. East Carroll is bounded on the north by the State of Arkansas, south 'by the parish of Madison, east by the Mississippi river and west by Bayou Macon. Thus it has for its eastern and western boundaries two navigable streams. The climate is delightful, ranging at an average of 85 from May to November, and at an average of 55 to 60 during the remainder of the year. It is re- markably healthy— such diseases as scarlet and typhoid fevers, small- pox, chohra, pneumonia, diptheria, etc., being practically unknown. I may cite, indeed, as an illustration of the healthiness of this part of f he country that the census enumerator for the extreme western ward of Madison parish— lying immediately south of East Carroll — found in his whole ward but one single case of death from sickness during the year ending with his count. The Parish Seat.— The pretty little town of Lake Providence, which takes its name from the body of water at whose mouth it lies, is the seat of East Carroll. The population is between 800 and 1000. It is plentifully supplied with churches and schools and boasts a number of first-class stores, which do a large business. The lake itself is one of the pretties bodies of Avater I ever saw, reaching out from the river in a northwesterly direction and forming as picturesque and graceful a scene as I remember anywhere. Lake Providence is an orderly, well- governed town. Its mayor, Hon. C. E. Egelly, is a gentleman of high standing and administrative ability, and he is handsomely supported WEST CARROLL PARISH. 127 by his colleagues in office as well as by an intelligent and patriotie public sentiment. I was struck by the evidences of law-abiding spirit and of well organized society on every side. Here I found, also, a tolerable inn, two excellent livery stables, and— most significant of all— a really first-class newspaper. WEST CARROLL PARISH. BY PROF. E. W. HILGARD. Population : 2776. White, 1339; colored, 1437. Area : 380 square miles. Woodland, all. Alluvial land, 220 square miles- oak uplands, 100 square miles; pine lands, 60 square miles. Tilled lands: 10,071. Area planted in cotton, 5517 acres; in corn, 3868 acres ; in sweet potatoes, 27 acres. Cotton production: 4012 bales; average cotton product per acre, 0.73 bale 1035 pounds seed-cotton, or 345 pounds cotton lint. West Corroll, a parish latelv formed, lies between Bayous Mason and Boeuf, but includes only a narrow belt of alluvium lyingalong these streams, the main body being an upland ridge similar to the Bastrop hills, constituting the most northerly portion of the upland peninsula, which, farther south, forms part of the parishes of Richland and Franklin (see above), under the general designation of "Bavou Macon Hills " This ridse rises rather abruptly from the bottom plain of the Bayou Macon to the height of twenty feet. It is composed of a sandy, yellow loam, and its eastern portion is timbered with short-leaf pine. In the western, the post and black-jack oaks predominate over the pine, but the soil is rather thin. The westward slope, towards Bayou Boeuf, is gentle, and the land improves as we descend ; the yellow loam subsoil being apparent for some distance into the Boeuf alluvial plain. The soil of the latter is highly productive. Nearly all the cotton grown in this parish is produced in the alluvial belts. CATAHOULA PARISH. BY JUDGE J. F. MARSHALL, HARRISONBURG. Catahoula lies between 31 and 32 north lattitude and is bounded on the north by Caldwell and Franklin parishes, on the east by Tensas and Concordia, on the south by Avoyelles, and on the west by Winn, Grant and Bapides. Its area is about 1,404 square miles, equal to 898 560 acres of land. Previous to the close of the last century, many settlements had been formed within the bounds of Catahoula, and were known as "Catahoula settlements." In 1805 the territorial council of Orleans created, by law, the parish of Bapides, and included the Cata- houla settlements in that parish. In 1808 the legislature passed an act erectihgCatahoulasettlementsintoaseparatepar.su. _ In 1842 a portion of Avoyelles was annexed to Catahoula, since which time the boundaries of the parish have not been materially changed. Taxation.— The present rate of taxation for parish purposes is ten mills on the dollar. Between the years 1865 and 1877, owing to a com- bination of causes which it is not necessary to mention, this, like the majority of the parishes of our State, became involved financially. It is now almost freed from debt, and from this time forward parish taxa- tion will be less than it is now. ,...,, . . ^ General Contour, Etc.— The parish is naturally divisible into two sections, one of which is called*"the hills" and th° other "theswamp,, this being a portion of the great Mississippi bottom. The parish is 128 LOUISIANA. well timbered throughout, there being very little prairie in it. The hill portion is a succession of elevations, interspersed with valleys and bottoms, and intersected by numerous creeks, some of which are fed by springs of pure water. The swamp, which is not quite as extensive as the hills, is level alluvial land, intersected by numerous rivers and bayous and dotted with lakes, some of which are beautiful. In the swamp region are .found nearly all the valuable varieties of oaks, also the ash, sweet-gum, hackberry, maple and persimmon. In the hills, in addition to the varieties mentioned, there are poplar, su- mac, sassafras, hickory, magnolia, and vast forests of pine trees. The soil of the swamp is exceedingly fertile, but contains no minerals, that of the hills is generally a sandy loam, based upon red or yellow clay, with rocks suitable for building purposes, cropping out on the hillsides. The soil of the numerous valleys in the hill region is alluvian, and very productive. In the northern part of the parish near the Ouachita Biver, coal has been found ; in the western part there are traces of iron ore; chalk and potter's clay abound, and it is said there is kaolin in the parish. That there is much sulphur is evinced by the numerous sulphur springs, two of which, the White Sulphur and the Castor Sul- phur, are justly noted for their healing properties. The mineral re- sources of the parish have not been developed. Products, Yield, Etc.— All the products suitable to this latitude can be grown in the parish, but the following are best adapted to cultiva- tion : Cotton, corn, peas, sugar cane, oats, tobacco, rice, potatoes and melons. The average yield of these is probably as great as in any other parish in the State. In the hills the average vield of corn per acre is about fifteen bushels ; of cotton about 1000 pounds of seed cotton. In the swamp the average yield of corn is about tnirty-five bushels per acre, and of cotton about one bale. Much of the land in the parish will, when properly culti- vated, crod uce from one to two bales of cotton to the acre, and from thirty to fifty bushels of corn. Corn was sold last year in the home market at from fiftv to seventy-five cents per bushel, and cotton brought verv little less than it was sold for in New Orleans. Healtli.—The parish is about as healthy as any other portion of Cen- tral or Northern Louisiana, and in this respect compares favorably with any other portion of the Southwest. In the swamp, cistern water is used. In the hills good wells and springs are common. The tem- perature rarely ever rises above 90° in summer and seldom falls below freezing point in winter. Sunstrokes are exceedingly uncommon. The winters are generally mild enough to admit of good gardens. Population.— According to the last census, the estimated population is 10,701, about two-fifths of which are blacks. The latter are quiet and peaceable, but are unthrifty, and not as industrious as the white labor- ers of the West and North. They are gradually leaving the parish for those sections where their race is numerically stronger than the whites. The majority of the whites are from the old States of the Union. There are many Germans, Irish and Israelites here, who seem to be pros- perous and contented. Lands.— In the swamp, the public land belongs to the State, and is generally too much subject to overflow to be settled. In the hills, there are immense bodies of public land belonging to the United States, subject to entry. Private unimproved lands can be purchased in -any sized tracts and at from 50 cents to $8 per acre ; and improved lands can be bought at from $1 to $15 per acre. Land can be rented at from $1.50 to $3.50 per acre, but the usual manner of renting is "on the Religions Denominations.— Nearly all the religious denominations to be found in the Union are represented here ; but the vast majority of the religious people belong to the Methodist Episcopal Church South CATAHOULA PARISH. igg and the Missionary Baptist Church. There are about fifty churches The educational facilities are not as good as desirable, owing to the sparseness and poverty of the people, and the temporary inadequacy- of the public school fund, Last year there were ten private and fifty two public schools in operation. It is believed that when the wise pro visions of the Constitution of 1879 shall have been fully enforced the public schools will be better than they have been since the war Labor— In the swamp blacks are generally employed as laborers These, though not as efficient as is desirable, are far more reliable now than they were soon after their emancipation. In the hills the labor- ers are white men from the older States of the Union. Chinese are not wanted, and the introduction of them would be a public calamity Catahoula needs and her people want intelligent white laborers from other sections of the United States and from Europe— men who will come here for the purpose of establishing for themselves permanent homes and identifying themselves in interest with her citizens Such will be heartily welcomed, will find employment at remunerative wages, and will be able to work all the vear in the field with safety tlie old error, inculcated by the enemies of the South, that only black men can do this having been exploded by observation and experiment since the war. The people not having recovered fully from the disastrous effects of the late war. and the unwise application of the reconstruc tion laws, the mechanical industry is at a low ebb, and there is no great demand for mechanics; but from this time forward the demanc will be greater. Laborers are offered from $6 to $16 per month with rations, and mechanics from $2 to $3 a day. Cropping on shares is very generally practiced. In some instances the renter agrees to give one bale of cotton for the rent of eight or ten acres of land. In others the laborer furnishes his own provisions and the labor and gets one- half the produce, the land and everything else being furnished by the landlord, who gets the other half. In others the landlord furnishes everything but the labor and receives three-fourths of the crop Immigration— There is some immigration, mostly from Mississippi Alabama 'and Texas. No efforts have been made to secure immi- grants. : Stock Raising— The parish throughout is well adapted to stock rais- ing. The soil everywhere is covered with succulent weeds, bushes vines and nutritious grasses, that afford abundant food for cattle' sheep, goats and horses. The numerous oak, pine and beech trees and muscadine vines produce abundant mast for hogs. Horses are rarely fed except when in use, and other kinds of stock are reared for market without feeding. Nearly every farmer is engaged, to some extent in stock raising, and there are many herds of cattle in the parish. Stock cattle are valued at $5 per head, sheep at from $1 50 to $2 per head and hogs from fifty cents to $1. The profit of stock raising is simply enor- mous ; in some instances more than 50 per cent has been realized. Water Power. — Little has been accomplished in the direction of manufacturing ; but in the hill region there are many creeks having water-power sufficient to propel saw and grist mills 'and cotton gins and two or three having sufficient power to run cotton and wool facto- ries. There are several saw and grist mills and gins run by water and several propelled by steam— all of which are doing a good busi- ness. Market— mew Orleans is the best market. Produce is shipped by steamers on the Ouachita, Tensas, Little, and Black, and Bed Bivers and reaches New Orleans in one or two davs. In addition to these facilities, the Vidalia and Western Bailroad, now building, has for its objective point Trinity, which is situated at the junction of Ouachita, Little and Tensas Bivers, in this parish, and only 24f miles from Vida- lia. The road has been completed to within 14| miles of Trinity, and 17 180 LOUISIANA, the company propose to complete the balance this fall. The whole route has been surveyed, and is pronounced by competent engineers to be the highest, shortest, cheapest and best route across the Missis- sippi bottom. When completed, Trinity will be within one and a half hours' run of Natchez and the great Mississippi River ; and the compe- tition that will exist between the railroad and the rivers will forever redeem us from that terrible mill-stone of the far- West, high freight tariffs and railroad combinations. Fruits.— Apples, pears, plums, strawberries and grapes, are the fruits most suitable for cultivation. Blackberries, dewberries, mulberries, muscadines and other fruits are found everywhere growing wild and in great abundance. Fruit growing as a business has not been en- gaged in extensively. Vegetables.— Peas," beans, cabbages, radishes, squashes, okra, let- tuce, onions, beets, and all other vegetables suitable to the South, can be grown in abundance and profitably. Silk, Honey, Tanning, &c— Silk culture has never been engaged in, but from the facts that the climate is suitable, that the mulberry and other growths upon which the silkworm feeds, flourish here, and that this is the habitat of caterpillars similar in nature to the silkworm, it is believed that, as an industry, silk-culture could be made profitable. This is emphatically a honey making country. Thousands of swarms of wild bees are found .yearly in the forests, and at nearly every farm house may be seen hives in which these busy little creatures are de- positing their valued treasures. The whole country, especially swamp region, being covered with nu- tritious growths, milk, butter and cheese can be produced at little cost. All kinds of poultry are easily raised. Oak bark of the best kinds, and other tanning- materials being plen- tiful, and hides abundant and cheap, tanning could be engaged in profitably. Saw-mills, lumbering, cotton, wool and wagon factories could be made profitably. Fish, Fowl. — The many rivers, creeks, bayous and beautiful lakes are in the fall, winter and early spring the resort of thousands of geese, brants and ducks, and at all times are teeming with edible fish, such as the trout, bass, perch, bream, cat, drum and buffalo. These are easily caught with lead and line, and contribute both to the pleasure and profit of the people. In the forests are thousands of deer, squir- rels, rabbits and other game. Profits of Industry.— An industrious man can cultivate about 15 acres in cotton, corn, peas and vegetables, on which he can produce from eight to ten bales of cotton, from 150 to 300 bushels of corn, and potatoes and vegetables for family consumption ; and when we add to this the profits of his cattle, hogs and horses that subsist on the range, in most places, the whole year, it is plainlv to be seen that the profits of farm labor are simply extraordinary, when compared with that of the states of Europe or the older States of the Union. The truth is there is probably no country where a living can be made with less ex- ertion than in Catahoula, and the exemption which this affords from the great law of labor, has really injured our people by paralyzing their energy. It may be asked, Why has a region presenting so many inducements to immigration remained so long comparatively unknown and without population ? To this a satisfactory answer can be readily given. Pre- vious to the late war the rich swamp lands lying principally along the Ouachita, Black, Tensas and Little Rivers, and on Sicily Island, had been purchased by wealthy slave owners, were held by them in large bodies, and could not be bought for less than from $25 to $75 per acre. Large bodies of these lands had been brought into cultivation, costly improvements had been erected upon them, and they were the seats of CLAIBORNE PARISH. 131 prosperity, wealth and luxury, and in many instances of intelligence and refinement. The hill region was also gradually settling with pros- perous and independent small farmers. The long and bloody war, during which this was the theatre of predatory strife, and the unhappy and unwise administration of the reconstruction laws, devastated the country, drove many of its best citizens away, impoverished those that remained and repelled immigration. CLAIBORNE PARISH. . BY JOHN H. CHAPPELL, HOMER. The parish of Claiborne, originally many times larger than its pre- sent dimensions, has furnished territory for the successive creation of adjacent parishes, but is still one of the largest and most populous par- ochial divisions of the State of Louisiana. Lying midway in the north- ern tier of parishes that touch the southern border of the State of Arkansas, from which they are separated by the 33d degree of north latitude, it is bounded on the east by the parishes of Union and Lin- coln, on the south by Bienville, and on the west by Webster. The general contour of the parish presents the appearance of a rect- angle, narrowing somewhat near its southern corners. Without aim- ing at perfect accuracy, we may say that it measures longitudinally about thirty miles, and latitudinally, on an average, about twenty- seven, containing about 790 square miles, or 505,600 acres. Of this area not more than one-fourth has ever been brought into a state of cultiva- tion, the remainder being in timber, as there is no prairie land in Clai- borne. The general features of the landscape presents a series of successive hills, not precipitous but for the most part gently undulating and oc- casionally relieved by broad stretches of level uplands and the fre- quent recurrence of running streams of pure, limpid water, which course through valleys of fertile bottom land. The forests everywhere abound in the most desirable and useful timber indigenous to our Southern soil. Yellow pine, many varieties of the oak, ash, hickory, elm, walnut, gums and cypress are found in profusion and of quality unsurpassed for the different uses to which they may be applied. The soil, for the most part, is a rich sandy loam, varying in color and tenacity in different localities, easy to cultivate, and, when not ex- hausted by long-continued cropping, liberally responds to the hand of industrious labor. Cotton, corn, peas, oats, wheat, rye, sweet and Irish potatoes, sorgham and sugar cane, pumpkins, turnips, melons, and almost every species of garden vegetables are raised in Claiborne ; and not a few only, but nearly all of these are staple crops on every well- managed farm. For the first eight or ten years after clearing, land here will produce on an average, without rest and manure, half bale of cotton per acre, or 20 bushels of corn, or 200 bushels of potatoes, or 200 gallons of molasses, 25 bushels of oats and an after crop of peas. This is a reasonable estimate ; many fields of uplands have with ordinary cultivation, and without fertilizing, produced a bale of cotton per acre, and while the writer is penning this description of the parish many of his acquaintances are housing crops of corn from fields that are yield- ing 30 bushels to every acre. But while these are the expected pro- ducts of the virgin soil skilfully cultivated, exhausted land and inju- dicious farming are incompetent to the half of these results. It is true that the "Fountain of perpetual Youth" does not flow through the parish of Claiborne, for many aged men and women are to be found in every community within its limits. 132 LOUISIANA. It is true that many learned and skillful physicians are dispensing the healing art among the people here, but it is just as true that none of them are growing rich from the income of professional service. Good health has been the boon of the people since the first settlement of the parish. The abundant supply of water from wells and springs, uniformly clear, cool and pure, the undulating surface of the land, the pure, dry atmosphere, all combine to render this climate unsurpassed in salubrity. Fatal epidemics have never visited, and a case of sun- stroke perhaps was never known to occur in Claiborne parish. For our people to visit the highlands and seaside resorts of other States seek- ing pleasure and recreation is not uncommon, but to do so as valetudi- narians would be considered rather ludicrous here. The present population of Claiborne parish is something over 19,000, and about equally divided between the whites and blacks. The resident white people are remarkably homogeneous, being emi- grants, or their descendants, from the Southern States east of the Mis- sissippi river. They are intelligent, industrious, law-abiding, patriotic and in a high sense moral in their deportment. Hospitality to stran- gers is Lot the least of their virtues, and well-behaved visitors from other localities always find a cordial welcome. The colored people are orderly, cheerful, moderately industrious, re- spectful and friendly in ther* intercourse with the whites. Many of them are land owners, and are peacefully and quietly cultivating their farms, being prosperous in business, contented and happy. This is a parish of farmers, not of planters, and the idea of a '"'landed aris- tocracy," if it ever obtained, has long since become obsolute in Clai- borne. Lands are remarkably cheap, considering their intrinsic value. Ex- cellent woodlands can be purchased in tracts of any size desired at from f>2 to $3 per acre, and improved places with good residence and outbuildings and fences at from $5 to $7. The payments can be arranged on the most accommodating terms, running through a series of several years. Land rent ranges from $2 to $5 per acre, $3 being the average price. Many prefer to give one-third of the corn and one-fourth of the cotton which may be gathered off the land. The Federal Government still owns a few thousand acres of land that is subject to entry by settlers, and the State a much larger amount, but most of the latter is bottom land bordering the large watercourses and subject to annual overflow. Much valuable upland is held by the Vicksburg, Shreveport and Texas Railroad, which will doubtless soon be offered for sale on terms both reasonable and accommodating. The religious sentiment of the people of Claiborne is intensely prot- estant. Nearly the entire population attend religious services on the Sabbath at their various denominational house of worship. A statisti- cal report approximating accuracy will show, -that, in the bounds of the parish, there are nearly one hundred churches, denominationally considered as follows : of Methodist, both Episcopal and Protestant, 22; of Baptist, Missionary, Primative and Campbellite, 22; of Presby- terian 3 ; summing up 47 churches for the whites. The colored people have as many or a few more, which are exclusively Methodist and Bap- tist. Many of these buildings are rudn and uncomfortable structures, but most of them are neat, convenient and pleasantly located, while not a few are beautiful models of architectural design and mechanical skill. This report would hardly be complete not to mention the three Meth- odist Camp Grounds, known as the Mt. Zion, the Lisbon, and the Ala- bama, where thousands of people assemble once a year and spend a week in religious worship. CLAIBORNE PARISH. 133 The people of Ciaiborne parish have always placed a higli estimate upon the advantages of education. They are very generally a reading community, and books and newspapers are to be found in almost every house. The existence of two chartered institutions of learning in the town of Homer, to wit : the Masonic Female Institute and the Homer Male College, attest their zeal in behalf of the cause of higher learn- ing. The organization last year of over seventy schools, and the estab- lishment and maintenance of twenty-tive private seminaries, are facts which pioclaim louder than words, their self-sacrificing determination to educate their children. Of these literary benefits the colored popu- lation are receiving an equable share, and are not slow to improve the educational opportunities afforded to them. Doubtless four-fifths of the adult male population of this parish are engaged in daily manual labor. Idleness is justly considered re- proachful, and the best citizens -many of them above the fear of want — are hard-working, industrious men. The mass of the whites, being economical and thrifty, have some capital of their own, and, when not land owners, prefer to rent the land they cultivate. Where they choose to work for wages the white laborer readily receives $15 a month and board. For the most part they are treated as members of the employ- er's family, and have many social advantages. Field work is continued during the entire year without jeopardy to the health, and with but little discomfort to the white laborer. There is really less sickness here in midsummer than in the fall or early spring. The colored population, however, furnish the majority of those who work for wages. These receive from $10 to $15 per month and board, according to qualifications and character. But most farms are cultivated on the share system ; the proprietor furnishing the land, stock and implements and the laborer his services and boarding him- self and family, the crop, when gathered, being equally divided be- tween them. As this, the most common method of contracts, relates only to the cultivation of the soil and the housing of the crops, pro- prietors experience great annoyance and vexation in keeping their farms in good repair, since for all other kinds of labor supplementary .contracts must be made ; and the average negro, unless urged to exer- tion by the necessity of his condition, is unwilling, for any reasonable consideration, to respond to these additional demands upon his muscu- lar activity. It is a just remark that several months of each year are virtually wasted in comparative idleness by the large majority of this class of laborers. A large increase of white laborers is greatly desired, and they would readily find constant, pleasant and profitable employ- ment. Mechanics are paid from $2 to $3 a day, but usually prefer to work by the job. Lumber is abundant, and sells at the numerous saw- mills for $10 per thousand feet. There has been no immigration to this parish worthy of mention for the last ten years, yet the census enumeration has steadily and rapidly increased during that period of time, from the natural growth of the resident population, which is the best evidence, both of the healthful- ness of the parish and the contentment of the people. Although Claiborne parish is not ranked as a stockraising country, yet it is true that both cattle and sheep are cheaper here than on the famous prairies of Texas. Large herds are not considered profitable, but most farmers have several head of cattle, for domestic use, and good beef is both abundant and cheap. Neat cattle are selling at this time at about seyen dollars a head, taking the herd throughout. Swine thrive and are extensively raised. Improved breeds have been very generally introduced, and have become so common that "pedigree" no longer enhances the price. Among the rural population dressed meats may be quoted at from 3 to 5 cents for beef, 4 to 5 cents for pork, and IS 4 LOUISIANA. mutton 50 cents per quarter. Residents of towns may have to pay somewhat higher for the convenience of a regular market. In a country where many beeves are slaughtered, hides must be plentiful. This fact, coupled with that of the inexhaustible supply of tan-bark which the forest affords, would suggest that the tanning of leather would be a most profitable business in this parish. Happily experience has already demonstrated the success of experiments in this department of industry, for our few small domestic tanneries are driv- ing imported leather from the home market. Some years ago a corporation known as "The Claiborne Manufac- turing Company" erected, at great expense, in the town of Arizona, and operated successfully for a long time a large cotton factory. For reasons out of place to mention here, this costly structure with all its machinery has recently passed into the ownership of a wealthy New Orleans capitalist, who, by ordering repairs for needed renovation, has encouraged hopes that he will soon revive and put in operation this long-suspended industvy. Public steam gins and grist mills have almost entirely superceded the old-fashioned horse-power running gear, formerly attached to every plantation gin- house. They have becomo so numerous in Claiborne that in many localities several of their shrill whistles may be simultaneously heard. The toll for grinding corn is- uniformly the eighth part, and for ginning and pack- ing coton it varies between the fifteenth and the eighteenth. This parish may be justly recommended for successful bee cultui'e. Much honey is annually extracted from the numerous hives, and some' enterprising bee-keepers make it a commodity of profitable export. The primitive "gums" are mostly used, and one such with a colony of bees sells here for one dollar and a half. Poultry of all descriptions can be raised here in unlimited quantity, and fowls abound in every barn-yard, though the writer is not ac- quainted with any one who has made an occupation of this specialty. Fish and game are not so plentiful as formerly, and are sought after more for amusement than profit. Many kinds of choice fruit trees seem to luxuriate in this soil and climate. Two extensive and popular nursuries, located in this parish, are annually dispersing many thousands of the best quality of fruit trees besides grape-vines and flowers in great abundance. These en- terprises are said to be eminently successful, and perhaps no adventure more profitable has, for the amount of capital invested, ever been undertaken in this section of country. The scuppernong grape has been extensively cultivated, and several fine vineyards containing from two to seven acres each, with flourishing vines trained on galvanized wire, may be seen in and near the town of Homer. On a smaller scale they arescattered throughout the rural dis- tricts. Hundreds of gallons of "this delicious wine are manufactured from the products of these vineyards, which yield a handsome revenue to the proprietors. The fruit canning business px^esents a most tempting inducement to those skilled in that art to establish a factory here, as thousands of bushels of delicious peaches are annually fed to hogs. It only remains to be said that there is one serious hinderance to the rapid development of the resources of this beautiful, fertile and health- ful parish. Rapid transportation is a boon not yet enjoyed by the peo- ple of Claiborne. The nearest shipping point is Minden on Bayou Dorchite, twenty miles from the Court House, and affording precarious navigation. The Vicksburg, Shreveport and Texas Railroad will pro- bably run along the southern border of the parish, and §oon afford the desired relief. In the course of events not remotely future, it is hoped that a north and south line of railroad will traverse the entire parish, and then our facilities will be complete. CONCORDIA PARISH. 135 Now while lands are so very cheap, let honest and industrious emi- grants from other localities turn their attention to the salubrious up- lands of Claiborne. They will surely find re oi unerase employment, pleasant homes and a cordial welcome from an intelligent, thiifty and upright people. t CONCORDIA PARISH. BY HON. GEO. L. WALTON. This parish is situated upon the bank of the Mississippi Eiver, and extends from the mouth of Red River for ninety miles, where it joins the parish of Tensas, upon the west. This parish is bounded, first, by Red River, up to where the Black River enters the Red, and then by Black River to Trinity, which is formed by the junction of Little River, Tensas and the Ouachita ; and from there it is bounded by the Tensas to the upper line. Thus, it will be observed that this parish is almost surrounded bv water, and the Mississippi is at all times navigable, and the Red, Black and Tensas are so for most of the time— thus giving almost daily communication with New Orleans, for these waters are all constantly navigated by the finest and safest kind of steamers, and, besides these streams on each side, the Oocodril runs directly through the centre of the parish and enters the Red River near its mouth ; this stream could be made navigable for six months in the year with a very small expenditure of money. In addition to these facilities, there is a railroad under construction from Vidalia, the parish seat, to Trinity- square across the parish, very little above the centre. This parish is entirely alluvial and the lands are of the very best quality, not one acre that will not bring a bale of cotton, or thirty to forty bushels of corn, with reasonably good cultivation, and much more if properly tilled. All the fruits and vegetables of the temperate zone flourish here if properly cared for. Before the war the real estate of this palish was assessed at some- thing over seven millions of dollars and the personal, including slaves, for about seven and one half millions, and now. the real property is assessed at one million, and the personal at about three hundred thou- sand dollars, the reason of this vast depreciation is caused by the change in the system of labor, and the dilapidated condition of the levees, for this parish like all other alluvial districts is dependent upon the levees. With a good levee system there is no doubt but what the lands in this parish would appreciate millions in a very short time. The plantations fronting on the Mississippi can be bought now for about one-third of ante-bellum rates, and many places on the Black and Tensas rivers can be purchased now for less money than the im- provements on them cost in the first place. Before the war this parish made about 70,000 bales of cotton, and now about 25,000, which shows that there is about 40,090 to 50,000 acres of land now lying idle that once raised fine crops of corn and cotton, and will probably remain so unless the levees are built ; if, however, they should be built the spec- ulation in these lands of Carroll, Madison, Tensas and Concordia would be simply fabulous. The water used is generally cistern water, and the health of the par- ish is as good as any other country under the sun, with the exception of three months in the year, In July, August and September we have a good deal of chills and fever, .which yields readily to treatment, and is not fatal except in rare instances. The population has increased 50 per cent during the last decade, and is now about 15,000 -about 1000 whites and 14,000 blacks— -who mainly do 136 LOUISIANA. the labor. Yet white men have always succeeded well, and stand the climate as well, and do better— that is, make it more profitablo— than the blacks. It is a great mistake to think that white people cannot work in this climate, for I know of many instances where they have made splendid success. Immigrants are wanted here, and they will receive a cordial welcome, whether capitalists or laborers. Small capitalists could make splendid investments at this time, and no man who desires to work at fair wages need be idle even for one day. Parties who wish to work on shares are furnished with comfortable houses, team, tools, firewood and a garden spot free of charge, and those who wish to lease are offered everv facility, and advances are made to them on the most reasonable terms ; in fact, a man can come here without a dollar', and lease land, purchase mules and tools and get his supplies advanced to him for the year on credit, and if he is any account can at least make his living and pay for his team and tools the first year, and after that his success de- pends upon himself, for it is assured if he will do his duty. Fertilizers are used to a very limited extent, but experience has proven that when used the results have been splendid and pay a very handsome profit. The swamp lying between the Mississippi and Black Rivers furnishes an inexhaustible pasture for cattle and hogs, and they do well with little attention ; sheep, also, do well and require no feeding winter or summer. Reliable parties can even make arrangements with planters to pay their transportation to the parish, and will be credited to the end of the year for payment. In conclusion, I will say that any one who desires to invest money, or to settle with a view of cultivating the soil, ought by all means to visit the alluvial portion of Louisiana before deciding finally, for it is certainly the garden spot of the earth. DE SOTO PARISH. BY R. T. GIBBS, M. D., MANSFIELD. The parish of DeSoto is situated in North Louisiana, bounded on the west by the Sabine River, and on the east by the waters of the Bayou Pierre, which enters the Red Rivor through Bayou Wimsey, about five miles below the town of Coushatta. The 32d of north latitude passes through the centre of the parish, about three miles south of the town of Mansfield, the parish seat of justice. The general surface of this parish is undulating-— only small and detached portions too broken for ready cultivation, very small quantities being in any manner swampy, and rich alluvial bottoms on all the bayous and running streams, very little subject to overflows ; and these descriptions of allu- vial lands all very fertile, yielding in favorable seasons one bale of cot- ton per acre and from 25 to 41 bushels of corn. That portion of the parish the drainage of which flows to the Sabine River is undulating sufficient for readily carrying off its surface waters, the slopes beiDg long and broad, well timbered with every variety of forest growth peculiar to the South. The parish nearly equally divided into an eastern and western section by the ridge separating the waters of the Red and Sabine Rivers, this ridge running a course due north and south. On the crest of this ridge, and in close proximity to its geograpical centre, stands the town of Mansfield, containing with its suburbs nearly 1000 inhabitants. There is no town in any portion of the southwest, situated on the 32d degree of north latitude can show better health, a smaller death- DE SOTO PARTSH. 137 rate, better and purer water, and all those other adjuncts which con- tribute to make up aD eligible location for family residences. Every portion of this parish is well and abundantly watered, and where natural springs do not abound, well water can be easily obtained by digging from twenty to forty feet. The greatest variety of fruit growth is abundant on its entire surface, and in the Sabine slopes the varieties are more diffused ; here being in great abundance all the different kinds of oak, magnificent groves of magnolia grandiflora the pride of the South, ash of several kinds, hickories of many kinds and mammoth size, the elm, the beach, the linn, with large sections of the yellow pine, unexcelled for the purposes of building. The general quality of the soil is a rich loam on a clay foundation, producing mainly the great staple cotton, corn, oats, barley, rye and sugar cane, to which much attention has of late years been given for domestic purposes, the yield being from 250 to 350 gallons of syrup per acre, and this of the best quality. The cane is never injured by frosts and the growth will compare fav- orably with that of the lower Mississippi, though of course not so rich in its saccharine qualities. Rice is at times cultivated for home purposes, in certain localities is a sure crop, the yield being from fifteen to twenty-five bushels in the rough per acre, and it is only limited on account of the want of the necessary cleaning machinery. The area of this parish is 1090 square miles, making 699,600 acres, of which less than 10 per cent, is under cultivation, and there is not more than 5 per cent, of this area of uncultivable waste or swamp, and there is hardly to be found a quarter section of land in any portion on which an industrious farmer could not establish a good homestead for his household. Nearly the entire parish, except the public lands, is held by actual settlers or non-resident owners, who purchased years ago for settlement and have been only prevented from so doing by the general ruin of theirffortunes by the late civil war. . Open lands with comfortable improvements can be purchased at from $3 to $5 per acre, and even in exceptional cases at less rates when taken in large tracts. There are still large bodies of vacant land, the title vested in United States government, or by some previous congressional action, in rail- roads, but all these lands are open to homesteads, and many settlers have made themselves homes thereon. All these lands are how open to entry either in the State or United States Land Office, at prices from 25. cents to $1 25 the acre. There is one agricultural interest which has been overlooked in the prevalent idea that cotton is our only staple— the production of tobacco, which grows here of the finest quality for smoking purposes, the qual- ity far excelling that of the Connecticut valley, not subject to any of the depredations of the tobacco worm, the same plant yielding two cuttings during the season. From 800 to 1000 pounds can be readily raised per acre from the first cutting arid half that amount from the second. This is the land of the sweet potato, which here arrives at its greatest perfection, 200 to 250 bushels per acre being a common yield. All varieties of the pea are cultivated, some of these giving two crops during the bearing season, and this without any expense or laborious cultivation. The ground-pea is cultivated in all sections for domestic and local use, and might be made profitable for exportation, as the yield is very large. The mineral productions of this parish are not extensive, but coal deposits are found in many locations, extending from the Sabine river 18 138 LOUISIANA. to Bayou Pierre, cropping out on the surface in several localities, five to six feet thick. This coal is bituminous lignite, rich in illuminating gas, burning well in the ordinary grate, but, wood being abundant in every section, no attention has been given to its development. Iron ore is in large de- posit in the Dolet hills of the Bed river slopes, the quality identically like that near Jefferson, Texas, valuable for many special purposes, with wood abundant for smelting. I have recently discovered near the town of Mansfield, indications of super phosphate, resembling verv much the celebrated South Carolina deposits on the Cooper and Ashley rivers. Professor Hilgard who made, several years ago, a geological recon- noissance of this section as far north as Mansfield, was much disap- pointed at not finding the indications of such a deposit, as he was led to expect from the geological formation of the country. I have thus far only discovered the surface deposits, and am led to hope that the building of the New Orleans Pacific will bring into view large deposits of this valuable fertilizing agent, so well adapted to our character of soil. The waters of the Eed Kiver leaving the main channel of that stream below the town of Shreveport, through the Bayou Pierre and the Tones Bayou, make a chain of Lakes, forming the eastern boundary of this parish, and again discharge themselves by the Bayou Winsey, into the Red River, in a very deep channel below the town of Coushatta. Steamers during the boating season thus come up within nine miles of Mansfield, entering the Winsey at its Red River mouth giving us good steamer navigation for about six months of the year. The lakes and bayous afford splendid resorts for fishing during the spring and summer, abounding in many varieties, and during the win- ter wild fowl of every kind are so abundant that they can bo bought for a mere trifle, the largest Mallard duck selling at ten cents, and brant and wild,geese at from twenty-five to fifty cents each. There is no section of Northern Louisiana which has been so much overlooked by the tide of emigrants seeking the cotton belt, and now that there is every assurance that 1881 will open up this section by the completion of the New Orleans Pacific Railway, traversing as it will the entire length of the parish from the southern to its northern boundary, we can offer better advantages for all seeking fertile lands, good water, good health and all the appliances of a good home than any other parish of the State. The raising of stock is cheap, and its results certain, cattle, hogs and sheep requiring but little care and attention, and even during the winter months all do well, subsisting on the natural and abundant re- sources of our forests. Here cotton and woolen factories would yield magnificent returns from their investment, as all the supplies would be at their very doors and ready transportation would be afforded their surplus productions to the market at New Orleans and the Western cities. Previous to the civil war but little attention was paid to the cultivation of fruit, but there has always been an abundance of peaches of the largest and most delicious quality I have ever seen in any section, and all these the simple products of the seed. But now a better spirit prevails and a taste for diversified fruit culture has been developed, and the apple and pear are seen on every side, and so far the climate proves auspicious of their very successful culture, and with proper care and a practical experience in the care of the orchard large rewards may be reasonably expected from these sources of industry. The fig is a never-failing fruit, and its quality the best, and from its EAST BATON ROUGE PARISH. 189 extended cultivation and new process of drying, an industry could be developed which cannot but yield a splendid result. Churches are abundant all over this parish, and in Mansfield there are five already built, and another, the Episcopal, will be commenced in a short time. The principal Christian denominations are Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Catholic and Episcopal. There are public schools taught in every section, and with the small means available for the purpose at present the results are flattering. These schools are given out in the interest of both white and black, but taught sepa- rately. There is located at Mansfield a college for the education of females ; and, also, at, Keachie, northwest of Mansfield twenty miles— both institutions with a corps of good teachers— thus affording every facility for a finished course of instruction in all the departments of female education. And, now, in behalf of our people, I give to all who wish homes in the Southewst a cordial invitation to come ; and all we ask is not to come as political emisaries, to disturb us in our quiet and peaceful life, but come to develop our soil and its resources, and we will extend the hand of friendship and brotherly love, and share our land in so liberal a spirit that all may purchase homes for themselves and families. EAST BATON ROUGE PARISH. BY JNO. A. ALLSWORTH, BATON ROUGE. The parish of East Baton Bouge, lying between 30° and 31° north lati- tude and 90° west longitude, is situated on the east bank of the Missis- sippi river, and is bounded on the north by the parish of East Feli- ciana, east by the Amite river, south by Bayou Manchac, and west by the Mississippi river. It contains about 500 square miles of territory and about 320,000 acres of land. Of this amount about one-third is in cultivation ; the remainder is in pasturage or woodland. The city of Baton Bouge is the parish seat and the capital of the State. It is built, on the extreme southern point of bluff land that touches the Mississippi river, and which extends south from the Alle- ghany mountains. The State House, which was destroyed during the late war is being rebuilt, and our people are anticipating considerable accession to the population and business when it shall have been com- pleted The city of Baton Bouge was incorporated in 1820, and has a popula- tion of 8000 inhabitants. The parish was organized in 1811, and has now about 21,000 inhabitants. The government of the parish is en- trusted by the constitution of 1879 to ten of her prominent citizens, who are appointed by the Governor. The parish tax at present is eight mills on the dollar. We have in this parish two kinds of soil, one lying between the Mis- sissippi on the west, and the receding highlands on the east and which beginning at Baton Bouge extends south to Bayou Manchac. This soil is practically inexhaustible under proper management and com- prises the best portion of the sugar land of the parish. Of the land described in the above limit there are about 25,000 acres, of which about one-third are in cultivation, the remainder being pasturage and wood- land. The timber found here is principally cypress, gum, oak and many small varieties of trees. The other portion of the parish is called highlands, that is land not subject to inundation by the Mississippi Biver. The forest growth is of great variety, comprising all kinds of oak, gum, magnolia, poplar and beech, in various localities and in varying quantities, interspersed with much undergrowth. The soil is as various as the forest growth, ranging from poor to very fertile ; but UO LOUISIANA. under the energetic manipulation of the progressive farmer will yield a rich reward to the husbandman. Upon these lands all the staple crops are cultivated successfully, viz: Cotton, cane, corn, potatoes, etc. The average yield of cotton under the careless cultivation that it usually obtains is one- half bale per acre, though I have known one and a half bales to be gathered. The average yield of cane is about one hogshead Of sugar per acre, though I have known three hogsheads to be produced per acre. The average per acre of corn is about twenty bushels, though I have known forty or more being obtained. So with all productions of the soil, the maxi- mum amount is made according to the quantity of fertilizer and the quality of the brain used. The city of Baton Rouge affords a very limited market for the products of the parish, our principal market being New Orleans and the Western cities. There are many small streams passing through and bordering on the parish, which afford sufficient drainage to all its lands. They are the Amite, Comite, Manchac, Bayou Fountain, Ward's Creek, Monte- sano, White's Bayou, Cypress Bayou, Redwood, Blackwater, Sandy Creek and many other minor water courses. In these streams are to be found many kind of fish and water-fowl at the proper season. Deer and wild turkeys are not abundant in this parish, but quails are. All of these are protected by law during the season of breeding and incu- bation. The health of the parish has always been regarded good, but in the absence in the past of any organized boaid of health it is impossible to arrive at percentages. The military post located at Baton Rouge shows the best health record of any post in the Southwest. The city of Baton Rouge has been visited occasionally by yellow fever, but it has usually been of a mild type. It has never been epidemic in the parish. The thermometer rarely rises above 95°, or falls below 20° F., and when either extreme is reached it lasts but a few days. The lead- ing nationalities of the world are represented in our population, ex- cept the Chinese and Turk, whose presence I think would not be wel- comed. The English, French and German languages being spoken principally- the English being the language in which business is transacted. The general character of our people is quiet and indus- trious, and we would give a hearty welcome to all immigrants who are likewise disposed. There is land for sale and rent. To state prices would be difficult, as lands for sale are valued according to quality and quantity— whether for cash or on time, whether improved or unimproved, and according to value of improvements. But in all cases they are reasonable. For rent, the best lands, to which is usually attached a small cottage, can be had at $5 per acre. The principal religious denominations of this parish are the Catholic, Methodist, Presbyterian. Episcopalian, Baptist and Israelite. All have places of worship in the town and some in the various neighborhoods in the parish. Our educational facilities are very good. The State University and Mechanical and Agricultural College is located at Baton Rouge under the direction of an able corps of Professors, where all the branches of a polite and practical education can be acquired at a small cost. Besides we have other male and female seminaries quite ade- quate to the wants of the community. Our public schools are in a progressive condition and are supplemented in every neighborhood by private schools. In addition to this we have here two other State In- stitutions that deserve notice, viz : the Institute for the Blind, and the Institution for the Deaf and Dumb. The Institutions located in the City of Baton Rouge are in a silent and unostentatious way doing an immense good to those two afflicted classes, who have peculiar claims upon every civilized and Christian community. EAST BATON ROUGE PARISH. 141 No persistent effort has been made to induce immigration, yet we meet new faces from the Northern and Western States and from Europe. These are frequently persons of property, who come to live amongst us, bringing their household gods, and are amongst our best citizens. Labor? Yes, we want labor, but not the heathen Chinese. We want the industrious white man to take up our waste places ; we want the industrious colored man to take up our places that are not wasted. In other words, we want the settler and the laborer. And now what inducement have we to offer to immigrants? Some have been offered, and I now propose others. The question, can the white man labor in the field the entire year ? is no longer a question witn us. But as these lines are intended for the information of the stranger, I will say that he can do so with perfect safety. It is being done every day by foreign as well as native born citizens. Indeed, a large portion of the cotton produced in this parish is the result of white labor. But the cane is the better crop for the white man, as field work is finished about the first of July, and therefore two of the hottest months are spent out of the field. Already one of our largest planters is preparing for the re- ception, and daily expectation of the arrival of ten or twelve families from England for the cultivation of cane. He is doing this advisedly, having already several families employed, an account of whose opera- tions is given further along. Wages for an expert field hand on sugar plantations is $18 per month and rations. " Where the share system is adopted, as on cotton plantations, the laborer gets of what he produces one-third and rations, or one-half and feeds himself. Good mechanics get $3 per day, and are in demand. A source of considerable profit to the planting and farming commu- nity is stock-raising. Though not pursued as a separate business is followed to some extent by every planter. It is a business in which nearly all is profit. Nearly every one has his herd of cattle and hogs. These cost nothing for the raising, except herding, marking and brand- ing, and this can be done without encroaching upon the time to be de- voted to agricultural pursuits. There is a good market for all the butter the good housewife can make, so that as a collateral pursuit stock-raising is a profitable adjunct to farming operations. There is probably no place in Louisiana offering greater advantages for the establishment of manufactories of various kinds than the city of Baton Kouge. Situated in a healthy locality, on land never subject to overflow, with a fertile country around it, lying upon the Mississippi Elver and connected with the vast country lying west of that river by the Southern Pacific Bailroad, it would seem to be marked out by nature for an eminent future, the realization of which is near at hand. Here stands the immense building of the Louisiana Penitentiary, within whose walls are contained the best of machinery for the manu- facture of woolen and cotton goods, with 200 looms and the necessary appliances for a complete factory. This factory can be leased on very favorable terms. An opportunity is here afforded to capitalists of very rare occurrence. The country around would furnish all the cotton necessary at one- half cent less than New Orleans prices, and with a population of 8000 inhabitants the city of Baton Kouge would fnrnish all the operatives necessary for a factory of 400 looms. There is established here a cotton seed oil mill and so lucrative has been the business that the proprietors are erecting additional appa- ratus for refining the oil. In iron work there is a factory engaged in the manufacture of sugar machinery, steam trains, evaporators, etc. There is room enough for several of these factories. For the support of the operatives engaged in these factories the country will afford an abundance of vegetables and fruits at reasonable prices. 142 L0V1S1ANA, The facilities for reaching market with manufactured and agricul- tural products are unsurpassed. The parish lies for nearly forty miles upon the Mississippi Elver affording daily communication with New Orleans and the Western cities. The probability is that in a short time we shall be in communication with the Pacific States by the Southern Pacific Railroad, on the east by a short line we will strike the New Orleans, St. Louis and Chicago Eoad. There can be no doubt that the day is not distant when we shall be in communication with South- ern Mississippi by rail. The southern portion of the parish carries on an extensive trade with New Orleans by steamer across the lakes, up the Amite Eiver to Hone Villa ; and now that the Government has contracted for clearing out the Amite and rendering it fit for naviga- tion we will have steamers running above Hope Villa, indeed freight has already been landed fifteen miles above that point. Thus we have or are soon to have lines of communication radiating from a common centre— the city of Baton Eouge, through which we may send forth our manufactured and agricultural products and receive what we need in return. Whilst writing of this southern portion of our parish, this sketch would be incomplete without mention being made of an indus- try whose principal seat lies here— it is the "small sugar, planter" in- dustry. These "small planters" produce from ten to fifty hogsheads of sugar and have been so successful as to have attracted marked at- tention. As an instance I would mention John Picou as one of the pio- neers in this section in this industry. During the last ten or twelve years he has never produced less than two hogsheads of sugar and fre- quently three hogsheads per acre. This is done by thorough cultiva- tion and fertilization. And it should be remembered that his is high- land which is regarded as not being so productive as lands lying on the Mississippi Eiver. This industry has been very much stimulated and in fact built up by the use of Sharp's Evaporator in the manufacture of the sugar. This evaporator is the invention of one of our citizens, Wm. I. Sharp, who is the pioneer of the "small sugar planter" industry. Now, what can the share-laborer do on the large plantations ? By request, Mr. Gardere has furnished the following statement from his books as the result of white labor on his plantation : Chatsworth Plantation, September 14, 1880. Hon. Josiah Kleinpeter, Baton Rouge : Dear Sir— Complying with your request, I hereby give you the result of crops made by two white immigrants on our Chatsworth Plantation, on the share system— two-thirds for plantation, one-third for laborers, the place furnishing one team of two mules, with plows and other utensils necessary to work a crop : • Year 1877— Acreage in cane plant, 10 acres ; in corn, 15 acres. Eesult : 7 hogsheads sugar, 8270 pounds j 38 barrels molasses, 1719 gallons ; 267 barrels clean corn, in ears. It is well here to remark that the cane crop was materially injured by the very severe freezes of 30th November, 1877, and succeeding days. Year 1878 — Acreage in cane plant, 10 acres ; in corn, 15 acres. Eesult: 11 hogsheads sugar, 11,900 pounds; 17 barrels molasses, 742 gallons ; 287 barrels clean corn, in ears. Year 1879— Acreage in cane plant, 18 acres ; in corn, 12 acres. Eesult : 25 hogsheads sugar, 30,260 pounds; 31 barrels molasses, 1388 gallons; 200 barrels clean corn in ears. This last crop was made with one team of two mules and the partner with the hoe, with an additional outlay of not more than $60 for extra hoe labor. When not occupied on their crop they worked, if needed , the plantation crop for same amount of wages paid to first-class laborers on the place. WEST BA TON BO UGE BABISH. US The same party has this year, and by himself, an acreage of 10 acres of plant cane and 12 acres of corn, which he has worked with one team, depending on hired labor for the hoeing. He appears to be so pleased with the practical results obtained that he has gone to "Whitney, in England, to induce some more of his fel- low-countrymen to come over on the place, to work crops on the same system. Yours, FERGUS GARDERE. I will conclude by inserting the following statement of a small farmer to show the result of industry and good management : Scott's Bluff, East Baton Rou a » d e™°SS ytS .J. here ^7-^ n r vite M ^ m y industrious countrymen to come to Fast TiVii YonU 1 h t?Sw thEt ever > bod y will be as well satisfierf as I an ' xours, truly, FBEDEBICK BUTO. STATEMENT OF MB. THEODOR SCHUTZMANN. T T Clinton, July 18, 1880. bing J rofdUTd an^nS^n^^^^ n^on «n were about $250 for myself, wife and five children I too had thS money advanced by the same gentleman Mr?Buto staid whh. I paid 154 LOUISIANA. my debts the first year, except $120. I rented two mules the second year, farming independently ; bought the same at the end of that year. In 1879 I owned three mules, one horse, a wagon, farming implements, some twenty-five hogs, about ten head of cattle and some 400 bushels corn. Debts all paid, I bought a place containing 400 acres of land, more or less. The dwelling house, gin, fence and other buildings were in very bad repair. The price of the plantation was $1500, in four pay- ments, and as my crop is in a very fair condition, I expect to be able to make two payments at once this fall. Of sickness I have had but lit- tle in my family, and I can but second Mr. Bute's invitation to all in- dustrious men. It is my firm belief that any hard-working man must make headway here in a few years, and possess his cwn farm. I have seen people leave here an go to Texas, but in a year or two came back, perfectly disgusted with that country. THEODOB SCHULTZMANN. WEST FELICIANA PARISH. BY HON. H. SKIPWITH, IN NEW ORLEANS DEMOCRAT. "West Feliciana is bounded for its entire width on the north by the line of demarkation, sometimes called Ellicott's line, which was run out by the commissioners of Spain and the United States strictly along the 31st parallel of latitude N. The Bayou Tunica, the mouth of which is so exactly on the 31st parallel that it was selected as the starting point of that historical line, flows through a small extent of its northern border. It is bounded on the east by the county of Wil- kinson, Miss. ; on the south by a stream which is* dignified oh the old Spanish maps with the sounding nomenclature Rio Feliciana, but which has been dismantled by the moderns into plain, unroniantic Thompson's Creek. This creek has three prongs, which reach out over much of the southeastern portion of the parish, which, after having marked their course by deep cuts through the hills and by long meandering deposits of sand as white as snow, and resembling snow-drifts, eventually effect a junction just inside the line of the par- ish of East Feliciana. Its western boundary is the Mississippi Biver, the waters of which kiss the soil of West Feliciana from the mouth of Bayou Tunica all the way down, for fifty miles, to the mouth of old Bio Feiiciana. With the fondness of a Spaniard for grandiloquence I still cling to the old style. Topography.— This parish is the smallest in territory of all the eight Florida parishes ; contains within its boundaries a superficial area of 207,360 acres, which is very uneven and rolling, everywhere intersected by hills and valleys and' running streams, and which is again sub- divided into forests covering 60,000 acres, and cleared lands amount- ing to about 150,000 acres, of which, perhaps, about one-half is cultivated the present year. No part of .Louisiana is favored with a more complete system of natural drainage, and away up among the Tunica hills there are landscapes as bold and imposing in their wild grandeur as the average of Switzerland scenery. These Tunica hills, besides their romantic beauty, possess a quality of soil as attractive to the eye of a practical farmer (they being knobs founded upon an inex- haustable limestone base) as the beautiful landscapes are to the eye of the transient sketcher ; but even here the natural capacity of the soil. which is fully equal to one and a half hogsheads of sugar, to one and a half bales of cotton and to forty barrels of corn to the acre, is partially obscured by negligent or by inadequate cultivation. (I heard of no ex- WEST FELICIANA PARISH. 155 periment in rice culture among the hills). Notwithstanding the ad niitted adaptability of the Tunica hills to the cultivation of the old style standards of cane, cotton and corn, the immigrant when he comes may— and I think he will— endeavor to apply the virtues of the lime- stone to orchards and vineyards, if thereby a more profitable industry can be evoked. Sad, indeed, are the evidences of premature decay not only up among the sparsely populated Tunica hills; sad, too, are the symptoms of decay among the parks, dwellings and gardens, and all the relics of architectural taste and luxury which once adorned every neighborhood in the parish ; very, very sad is the forlorn and castaway complexion of the old abandoned fields. Amid all these symptoms of premature decay my first impression is that the parish of West Feliciana "is old in youth ; is withered in her prime," but when I consider the condition of the crops on the small cultivated spots reclaimed by the cultivation from these same unprom- ising "old fields," I am glad to admit the conviction that the decay of the soil exists more in the apparent abandonment of the old fields than in fact; in that sign I build a sanguine hope of the cultivation of West Feliciana to her pristine wealth and prosperity when the time shall come, and come it will, and soon, when she shall be blessed with an adequate labor supply. Then, too, I indulge the hope that the conditions which have contributed to cast so sombre a hue over the fortunes of her once prosperous communities will be dispelled and the scattered remnants of her old families shall be once more reunited in the old bonds of neighborhood, wealth and contentment. If these hopes are ever realized it can only be by the restoring power of a good class of immigrants, and that remedy is happily not beyond reach. The sick communities of a parish so beautifully endowed by nature will soon be restored to their ancient vigor and health by the magic working touch of the immigrant. A strong infusion into her veins of healthy, fresh, industrious blood that is the remedy for all the ills of West Feliciana and the whole surface of the parish ; her 75,000 acres of unfilled old fields, which are to-day lying waste and unproductive, confirms the diagnosis. And it is due to the commonwealth that these waste and unproductive old fields should be converted into homes for immigrants, and a thoroughly systematized scheme of immigration will do it. The Population It Could Sustain.— It has already been said that this is the smallest of the Florida parishes in extent of territory; except the parish of East Batun Rouge, it has the largest population in pro- portion to area. It is therefore selected as the basis of a computation which mav throw some light upon the dimensions of the field for profi- table employment of immigrant labor, it being borne in mind that the fieid invariably becomes larger as the population becomes sparser. Let us now inquire what is the limit to the number of persons who may live profitably and contentedly by cultivating a given extent of soil. Goldsmith, a sweet poet, but rather visionary agricultural statis- tician, says in a sort of spread-eagle couplet : "A. tim* th^re -wns, <*rp England's grief degan, Wlien every rood of ground maintained its man." A lie so monstrous, although having no sponsor but a very imagina- tive poet, has nevertheless been mercilessly assailed by the agricul- tural statisticians, who maintain not only that no rood of ground ever yet maintained its man, but they have likewise demonstrated by arith- metical calculation that the famines in Ireland and the Scottish High- lands are traceable directly to the experiment to make ten roods main- tain a man ; hence they draw the inference that at a minimum limit of ten roods to a man a point is reached where wealth accumulates, but men decay; hence, too, that where there are the largest number of men to the smaflest number of roods there is to be found the intensest 156 LOUISIANA. degree of wretchedness. Assuming now twenty roods to each man as the point where v/ealth accumulates fastest and men do not decay, we are astonished to find that the area of this, the smallest of the Florida parishes, offers a profitable field of labor to 30,974 immigrants. Keeping steadily in view consideration of soil and climate and their limitless capacity for diversified production, it is suggestive of wonder why the famine-stricken population of Ireland and the Scottish High- lands have not already surrendered the privilege of starving on their ten roods at home for twenty roods of better land in abetter climate and in a freer country. Is it because they lack the means of crossing the ocean ? Surely if they could they would come, and thereby double the comforts of life for themselves, and double the comforts of the loved ones they leave behind as well. The key to any comprehensive scheme of immigration will be found in the inexorable logic of the foregoing sentence, because it is undesirable that the change which re- moves the immigrant from the land ot his birth is a change replete with grief to him, only to be accomplished through tears and struggles. The last sounds from the dusky shores of his native land will be the wailings sent up from broken-hearted women, crowding wit covered heads on the outermost rocks; the last sight of his native land will be their tear-soil countenances. Such intensity of grief can only be faced by a stLong man, impelled by a strong conviction that he is leaving behind him chronic and hopeless misery-misery which has lasted from time beyond the reach of memory, and which threatens to last for all time to come. In that moral compulsion of the inexorable logic of events in the Old World lays the hidden spring which is to open wide the casket of immigration which is destined to double the popula- tion of Louisiana and clothe all her waste places with verdure. To such a glorious consummation is the Democrat and its corps of con- tributors in the parishes pressing on to-day with every nerve strained! Tlie Fertility and Durability of the Soil. —It would not be just to the amazing fertility of the soil of West Feliciana to close my sketch with- out a glance at the healthy condition of one of the largest and most productive plantations in the parish, on which there are now 1200 acres of cleared laud, cultivated by over 100 colored laborers, every acre of which is this year contribu ing its magnificent quota to tlie productive wealth of the State of a bale of cotton or 30 to 35 barrels of corn. The whole plantation has been, by good management, rescued from the deterioration which ensued almost universally upon the moral, social and political revolution which have been so rile in the last quarter of a century ; and it is to-day in as good heart as when the forests were first felled for the plow. To my amazement, while sauntering over a field of sixty acres, which was clear in the year of our Lord 1800, I saw a crop growing which promised at the least sixty bales of cotton ! It is owned by a" gentleman who cherished the pleasing reminiscences, "this is the soil which my old grandfather William Barrow, who com- manded a company at the capture of the fort at Baton Eouge, when the representative of Ferdinand VI, King of Spain, surrendered the King's domain of West Florida into the hands of the people of West Florida there assembled in mass meeting on ponies, with shotgun on shoulder, and who was shortly afterwards elected a member of the convention to which was entrusted the duty to frame a system of gov- ernment, and to preserve the public domain for the people of West Florida. This, too, is the same house in which my old grandfather lived and died." Living amid traditions so honorable and inspiring, it is no wonder that Capt. John J. Barrow, almost the last representa- tive of the old race, should be doing his utmost to preserve the soil and the dwelling of his brave old ancester from the inroads and assaults of Time, the Destroyer. An Opportunity for Immigrants.— -Not because he is pinched for FRANKLIN PABISK 157 labor, but simply because he desires to place himself in line as a prac- tical worker in the cause of immigration, Capt. Barrow authorizes the following statement: Beyond the boundaries of the plantation he has now under cultivation he owns a tract of 750 acres, all forest land, un- touched by the woodman's axe. This tract he proposes to divide iuto twenty acre lots, and on each alternate lot he proposes to make a title to the head of an immigrant family for a price but little, if anything, in excess of the price of the Government lands, giving the immigrant his own time to pay the purchase price As each lot is heavily tim- bered with a growth of magnolia, ash, beech, poplar and white oak, it is highly probably taat the immigrant will be able to procure from his own land all the timber needed for dwellings and outhouses and his fences. Citizens' Bank Lands. — One other feature of the tenure and condition of West Feliciana soil is worthy of mention. Some of the largest and choicest bodies of land in the'parish are held by the Citizens' Bank ; these mortgaged lands could be made very available in promoting the cause of immigration. FRANKLIN PARISH. BY HON. J. C. BASKIN. The parish of Franklin is situated in the northeastern portion of the State, and is bounded on the east by Madison parish or Bayou Macon, on the north and west by Bichland parish, the greater pon ion of which belonged to this parish. The parish was organized about 1835. The parish site was named in honor of a distinguished citizen in this sec- tion of the State, Hon. Mr. Winn. The total tax is sixteen mills on the dollar. The general face of the parish is level, With an occasional elevation of a narrow strip of land eight or ten feet above the general surface. In the southwestern part there is a small portion that is prairie. The bottom or swamp lands lie upon the streams and are regarded as the most productive of our soil, producing one to one and a half bales cot- ton per acre in good seasons and corn and other products in propor- tion. The kinds of timber in abundance are oak, gum, hickory, pine, ash, dogwood, birch. Nearly every species of tree found in the South is here. The soil of the parish is well adapted to the growth of all vegetables and plants. There are as fine vegetables produced for home consump- tion as can be grown in any portion of the Union with little labor. I have lived in three States during my life, and speaking my honest con- victions, barring a few more chills and fever, I think the general health of this parish will compare favorably with that of other States re- garded as very healthy. Our water is all well water, which is found by digging from fifteen to twenty-five feet. It is pure freestone or mixed with lime, iron, eoperas, alum, in such quantities as to make it more agreeable to the palate. According to the enumeration just completed there are 6000 inhabi- tants, about equally divided between the white and colored races. There has been but little foreign immigration to this parish, but you will occasionally find some from every nationality here, prospering in their vocations. It only requires energy and determination on the gart of any new settler, coupled with temperance and sobriety to soon ecome independent. There can be bought almost any description of land here that is to be 158 LOUISIANA. found anywhere in the State, and as productive. From the rich, loose mellow ridges, easily cultivated and paying handsome returns, to the rich bottom and alluvial soil, which is inexhnustible, where immense crops of corn, cotton, sorghum and potatoes are produced in fabulous quantities. Then, again, we have the rich hammock lands, only await- ing the axe and spade to lay bare the untold productiveness of these hitherto neglected mines of wealth. Then we have the piue lands, which are easily brought into cultivation and pay large dividends. This soil is more silicious than any other to be found, and quite dura- ble, lasting and producing fine crops for fifteen or twenty years with- out manure. In many instances lands which have reverted to the State by forfeit- ure for non-payment of taxes can be bought at 12.} cents to $1 25 per acre, as choice lands as can be desired by the most fastidious. It can be bought in any desired quantity, from 40 to 1000 acres. Many large landholders have both improved and unimproved lands that they would dispose of readily; improved from $5 to $15, unimproved from $1 to $5 per acre. Or they will give every alternate forty acres to actual settlers, with the privilege of purchasing as much more as they may wish at a stipulated sum, say $5 per acre on long credit, with 8 per cent interest. There is of wild or uncultivated land in the parish 32,600 acres. There is cultivated about 6000 acres, producing 11,500 bales cot- ton, 10,000 bushels corn and 1500 bushels oats. The total valuation of property in the parish is $925,000. We have all the protestant denominations and a small unorganized number of catholics in Winnsboro. All forms of religion are tolerated and encouraged, and ministers of the gospel are highl3 r respected. Educational facilities are as good in this parish as any in the State. Public schools are kept open three to five months in the year. In most instances when the public schools close, private schools' are con- tinued during the remainder of the year. The laborers most commonly employed are negroes. As laborers they are very good during tne planting, working and gathering the crop, but almost worthless, as far as making improvements, or advancing their or employers' interest. White men can labor here the entire year with perfect safety to their health, in fact the man that works every day during the year with moderation enjovs a greater degree of health than those that only labor as necessity forces them. Labor is in great demand, and the supply is wholly inadequate to the demand. All that is required to make this the foremost parish of North Louis- iana is more of the hard-fisted yoemanry, to level our forests and. till our soil, when the whole of it would bloom as a garden. The cropping system is generally adherred to here. The land holder furnishing land, team and feed for same, with seed for planting, and implements for cultivation, h^ receiving one- half raised upon the land, and the laborer the other half. In some instances wages are paid. But the laborer finds it more to his personal interest and ease to work upon the share system, and the farmer as a general rule prefers that sybtem to any other, as it seems to give more satisfaction. The great scarcity of labor here, renders capital subservient to labor. There is no immigration to the parish and I feel sorry to say that but very little if any effort is made to secure it. Though the cry goes up from every quarter, why dc no immigrants come in our midst? We have as genial climate as can be found under the sun, we have as rich land as can be found in anv nortion of the south. Our market facilities are good, On the rorrh Vicksburg, Shreveport and Pacific Railroad, east Bayou Macon, and on the south and west we have the Tensas River and Ouachita River. Our people are as hospitable and generous as nature will sanction, we enjoy life equal to any class of people on earth, yet with all these many inducements we are passed by without inquiry GMANT PABISH. 159 into the richness ^^^^SS^St'^JS S i^ffi^SIiS\ta« treasure here, and some enterprising spirits will seeK to '•»«"* » {• b t 1 10 an extent tha ,t ^sg^^^^*^™ be utilized to any great extent. „„ if w +p fifteen acres in corn and cotton, L industrious man can cultivate ttteen acre fa ^ say seven in corn and eight in ~^' ™;* n SF h Sw much we can culti- The question with most farmersjim us ib i lds £Ucn band . lonteSnrnTa ^cf/ear^one^ooa'han^ win prodnce as much as two Wi lS^nts wonld do -n to give ^ Parish f ™lt b*» locatmg SlnT^n^ever^^aVthS wiTuCw?h d at h >fe appreciate their presence m our midst. GRANT PARISH. BY PROF. E. W. HTLGARD. Population : 6188. White 3320 ; colored 2868. in Irea : 642 square miles. •Woodkuid a ^^t loug^eaf pine hills, Grant is one ot the fw pans es m u i ts soils are more varied tions of the t^^f^^^S^noiVSembmBBB a. small than is the case in the latter ' P^" sn > . " a X , of the "central prairie re- portion of the Bed River bottom « in d al soon cnaracter to those ^ion," the rest being long-leaf pine ^^^Jrol lowlanda resembling lio^nSSa^m^^^Sisn^id timbered with short-leaf pi Sr:5ie^£stSn^ortion of the parish the faeetf ^°gg£ to largely level the soil ™nsistmg W.^.^Jl^J^f JStly 'ot'small, in- with post oak and short-leaf pine ( no* ,J ai e i th V timberless, or only SJISSS5S SISBSfc?^ o"x ^^much settled as their intrinsic fertility w ould warra nt - d b a huram ock or Little River is skirted mostly on its ™£* n d ^ 8 / and above over- ^S^S&FSM? Sealrsl at all times of the year, to ^nipinenfs ^Se^Bed River steamers Cor occasionally on Little River) to New Orleans. 160 LOUISIANA. IBERIA PARISH. NEW ORLEANS DEMOCRAT. The parish'of Iberia is situated in the southern portion of the State, about midway between its eastern and western boundaries. It occu- pies an area of about 5.-t6 square miles, and has for its boundaries on the north the parishes of St. Martib and Iberville, on the east the parish of Assumption, on the south the parish of St. Mary and Vermilion Bay, and on the west the parishes of Vermilion and Lafayette. The popu- lation is largely composed of the descendants of the original French settlers, and in some parts of the parish it is somewhat difficult, even at this late day, to make one's self understood in the English language. The population at the present time is about 10,000, with about an equal proportiou of whites and blacks. Climate and Health..— The climate of this section of the State is, in every sense of the word, delightful. Being located between Grand Lake oq the east and the waters of Vermilion and Cote Blanche bays on the south, an even temperature is constantly maintained at most seasons of the year and the atmosphere rendered pure and salubrious. There are no drouths of sufficient duration to materially affect the crops, nor are the rains excessive. The healthfulness of this region is concecled t to be fully equal to that of any other part of the Union, not excepting even the famous highlands of" Tennessee and Virginia. The average of human life is claimed to be longer here than in any other portion of the United States, the inhabitants being less subject to lung affections, while typhoid fever is literally unknown. The S"il is principally alluvial and very fertile, beincj' adapted for the cultivation of a great variety of crops. On the Bayou Teche, which parses through the eastern* portion of the parish, the lands are re- markably productive and extensively cultivated in sugar cane, while on the west and northwest of New Iberia will be found undulating prairie lands, with a grayish yellow soil, good naturally, and improv- ing with use. In fact, with the exception of a comparatively small portion of wooded swamps lying along Grand Lake and coast marsh on Vermilion Bay, the entire parish may be said to be capable of suc- cessful and profitable cultivation. Even the coast lowlands are valua- ble in some instances, being intersperced with numerous small islands where rice, oranges, bananas, figs, etc., may be successfully cultivated, and where there are an abundance of game and fish to be had. Here also is located the famous Avery salt mine, on Petit Anse Island, where the finest of salt is obtained in unlimited quantity. About two-thirds of the parish is praiiie, while the remainder is well supplied with a variety of useful and valuable timber. Alony the margin of the lakes and water courses may be found a variety of oaks and gums, hickory, cypress, ash, magnolia, elm, cotton-wood, dogwood, locust, etc., but the difficulty of procuring a convenient supply of suitable timber for fencing purposes has heretofore been regarded as a serious disadvantage to the country. The introduction of wire fencing will, in time, obviate this drawback, being more readily available, and under the circumstances more economical in the end than enclosures of wood. There is scarcely any portion of the State that is more amply sup- plied with water facilities than this. In addition to the Bayous Teche, Petit Anse and Cypremort and the Lakes Fausse Point. Chicot and a portion of Grand Lake, there are numerous other bodies of water of more or less importance. The Teche is navigable at all seasons of the year, and the Petit Anse may be navigable as his'h up as the salt mines by such vessels as are able to cross the bar. Water for drinking purposes is generally obtained b} r means of cisterns, although an IBERIA PARISH. 161 abundance of water for watering stock and other domestic purposes may be had by digging weils at from almost any point. Field Crops and Their Yield,.— Cotton, one-half bale per acre; sugar, one to two hogsheads; molasses, one and one-half to three barrels; corn, eighteen to twenty bushels; rice, twenty-five to thirty barrels; potatoes, from one hundred and fifty to two hundred bushels. Other field crops also yield large returns. Price of Lands.— The only public lands subject to entry under the homestead act or to purchase from the State are located on the lakes, bayous and coast, and are classed as swamp lands. Piivate lands of excellent quality can be had in other portions of the parish at prices ranging from $2 50 to $30 per acre. Improved lands can be rented for cash or upon shares. The money valuation will range from $1 50 to $3 per acre. Any tenant almost can readily make arrangements to furnish fencing in lieu of rental, upon favorable terms, or similar agreements may be entered into for drainage or ditching. Churches and Schools.— The dominant religion of the parish is Cath- olic, the population, as already stated, including a large French speak- ing element. There are also congregations of Episcopalians, Baptists and Methodists scattered through the country, all of which are sup- plied with suitable places for public worship. The school system is about on an equality with that in operation elsewhere throughout the State. Labor and Wages.— The parish of Iberia is fortunate in possessing a reliable and contented class of laborers, although the supply at the present time is not equal to the demand. These laborers are about equally divided between the white and colored races, but preference will always be given to white men; provided they are equal in other rpspects. Chinese labor is not desirable under any circumstances. The sugar planters, as a general thing, employ their hands by the mouth and pay wages, ranging from $15 to $20, with house rent, fuel and rations. Extra hands receive even better wages than the above at certain seasons of the year. Cotton # and corn planters generally adopt the share system, allowing on^-th'ird of the crop where they are required to furnish everything, and one-half where the tenant sup- plies bis own teams, implements, etc. The working of plantations on shares may therefore be regarded as the common custom of the coun- try at the present time. Stock Raising.— The abundant supply of luxuriant and nutritious grass, and the mildness of the climate, render this a favorable region for raising stock. Besides cattle and sheep, many persons are en- gaged in raising horses and mules, for which business there is an ex- tensive field for development. The country in those sections where the mast is abundant is well adapted to raising hogs. Cities and Towns.— The principal city or town of the parish is New Iberia, which is located on Bayou Teche, and contains an estimated population of about 2700 inhabitants. It is thoroughly drained, is regularly laid out and well governed. It contains two convents, an academy or college and four public schools, all of which are well at- tended. The city is well supplied with churches and other public buildings, the inhabitants are orderly and industrious, and the im- provements now in progress indicate considerable prosperity. The city now boasts of three weekly newspapers— the Louisiana Sugar Bowl, the Iberia Journal and Iberia Star. Jeannerette is a thriving town on the Morgan Kailway, and several other prosperous settlements scat- tered throughout the parish might with propriety be termed villages. 21 162 LOUISIANA Sundry Industries.— There are several good saw- mills in operation throughout the parish, but room for more. The parish is also supplied with an iron foundry, an ice factory, a cotton seed oil factory, two brick factories, a number of cooper shops and a tannery, all of which are doing a remunerative business. There is a good opening here for the employment of capital in a cotton factory, shoe, harness and sad- dle factory, a wagon factory, and in honey making, poultry raising and dairying in all its branches. With an abundance of the raw materials at hand and ample facilities in the way of water and fuel, there is no reason why manufacturing may not be successfully engaged in, and thereby retain vast sums of money that are annually sent abroad to purchase articles that might readily be produced at home. Market Facilities. — The nearest important market is New Orleans, which may be reached by both rail and water— the railway time being about seven hours by the passenger schedule. By this means they would be able to reach the foreign as well as New Orleans markets with their early fruits and vegetables, a business to which some atten- tion has already been devoted and which is capable of being expanded indefinitely. Fruits and Vegetables.— Peaches, oranges, pears, plums, figs, grapes, quinces, and in short most of the semi-tropical fruits grow to perfec- tion in all parts of the parish. In the matter of vegetable it would be next to impossible to mention any variety that will not thrive in Iberia. In fact, the whole parish is susceptible of being converted into one grand garden, where the most delicious vegetables may be grown all the year round. In addition to the fruits above enumerated may be mentioned the pecan nuts, cherries, bananas, pomegranates, persim- mons, strawberries, blackberries, mulberries, currants, etc., all of which do well and are more or less cultivated for private consumption or for market, Melons are produced in great abundance, and are of a quality unsurpassed elsewhere. Bee and Silk Culture.— As in most of the parishes of Louisiana, silk culture may be profitably engaged in here, where the mulberry tree grows to great perfection ; so also the great abundance of wild flowers scattered over the broad prairies renders the care of the honey-bee a source of profft, as the industrious little workers can gather their har- vests all the year round. These two industries must in time attract a large share of attention in this as well as in other portions of the State. State of Society.— The people of Iberia are noted for their hospitality, and in point of morality will favorably compare with those of any parish in the State. In no portion of the Union can there be found at the present time a more orderly or law-abiding people than than those of Iberia. Although no formal effort has yet been made to organize an immigration society, the people are becoming thoroughly aroused as to the importance of the movement, and new-comers who visit them for the purpose of selecting homes may rely upon being kindly and hospitably received. Bod and Gun. — During the winter season this section of the State offers rare inducements to sportsmen, and many persons are in the habit of coming here from the Northern States to amuse themselves at the expense of the wild animals that abound in the dense forests and the fish and water fowl that may be found in unlimited quantity and variety along the various lake's and water courses. The fish caught in the lakes, bays and bayous are highly prized fer their deli- cate flavor, while the wild fowls include a great variety of ducks, goose, woodcock, snipe, etc. JAGKSON PARISH. 163 IBERVILLE PARISH. BY PROF. E. W. HILGARD. Population : 17,544. White, 4784 ; colored, 12,760. Area : 646 square miles. Woodland, all. Alluvial throughout. Tilled land: 42,122 acres. Area planted in cotton, 771 acres; in corn, 11,991 acres ; in sweet potatoes, 52 acres ; in sugar cane, 16,687 acres. Cotton production : 579 bales ; average cotton product per acre, 0.75 bale, 1071 pounds seed cotton or 357 pounds cotton lint. Iberville parish lies between the Bayou Grosse Tete and the Missis- sippi River on the east, and the upper Grand River and its chain of lakes and bayous bordering the parish of St. Martin on the west. It is wholly alluvial ; belts of cultivutible and highly productive lands lie along most of the bayous to the depth of one-half to two miles, espe- cially in the northern portion, those along Bayous Grosse Tete, Marin- guin and Deglaize. Between the Grosse Tete and Maringuin there is an extensive swamp, occupying nearly the whole space between them, just north of Grand River. A similar swamp extends between the Maringuin and Deglaize, from the northern boundary of the parish to Lake Oksibe. The lands lying on the forks of Alabama Bayou, and between them and Grand River, are also occupied by plantations. In the southern part of the parish, along lower Grand river and its tributaries, bayous Pigeon and Sorrel, the lands have been partially cleared, and are of fine quality, but the overflows prevent their occu- pation to a great extent. Bayou Plaquemine, connecting Grand River with the Mississippi, is a large, navigable stream, and is thickly set- tled along both of its banks. The court-house town of Plaquemine has a flourishing business in the shipment of agricultural produce and (cypress) lumber. The "coast" of Iberville is remarkable for the highly improved con- dition and great extent of its plantations, there being many handsome residences, surrounded by parks of live oak and pecan trees. Cleared lands lie also along Bayou Goula and Manufactory Bayou, extending back almost to Lake Natchez, by which they are thoroughly drained. There are 15,556 hogsheads of sugar produced in the parish, and 11,171 barrels of rice. JACKSON PARISH. BY HON. N. M. SMITH, VERNON. Is bounded on the north by the parish of Lincoln, on the west by the parish of Bienville, on. the south by the parishes of Winn and Caldwell, and on the east by the parish of Ouachita. It contains about 567 square miles. It was organized in the year of A. D. 1844. The present rate of taxation for all parochial purposes is ten mills. The assessed valuation of property, as shown by the assessment roll for the year 1880, is $318,000. The soil generally is an undulating sandy loam, with a elay sub-soil, some portions being stiff mulatto soil. All heavily timbered ; a greater variety of timber can hardly be found in any county; pine, hickory, beech, gum, ash, walnut, maple, all the various kinds of oak, and other trees are abundant. No other parish in North Louisiana is better watered ; it has numerous clear, running branches and creeks, kept up by everlasting springs. The Castor and Dougdemonia are the largest water courses in the parish. These, as well as many of the smaller streams, abound in fish of various kinds — the more numerous kind being the perch. The water used is princi- pally well water. Settlers find no difficulty in getting good water 164 LOUISIANA. wherever they may choose to dig a well. The depths of wells vary from 20 to 60 feet. The parish is generally considered healthy. The principal sickness being chills and fever in the summer months. The total population of the parish, as shown by the census of 1880, is 5330. Whites, 2924; colored, 2306. Males over 21 years of age, 995; registered voters, 722. There is only a small portion of Government and State land unen- tered in the parish. Private land can be purchased, improved and unimproved, in tracts to suit purchasers, varying in price from one to live dollars per acre. Improved land can be bought from two to five dollars per acre, and the purchaser can have time to make the money on the land to pay for it. Improved fenced land may be rented from two to three dollars per acre or one-third of corn and one-fourth of cotton. The religious denominations are "Methodist, Baptist and Presbyte- rians. The Methodists have seven churches for the white and one for the colored people. The Baptists have six churches for the white and four for the folor^d people, and there is one Cumberland Presbyterian church in the parish. The white had eight and the colored people ten public schools last year. The number of children and youths between the ages of 6 and 21 is 1522. Of these, 405 whites and 515 colored attended the public schools last year. The laborers employed generally are colored men and boys. Al- though not very reliable, we would not exchange them for Chinese. Chinese are not wanted. The price paid for laborers varies from $5 to $12 50 per month, Laborers can work nearly all the year on the farm with safety. Industrious white men can find employment at all sea- sons of the year. Mechanics charge from $1 50 to $3 per day. Not much demand for their labor. A few immigrants are coming in yearly from Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi. Portions of the parish are well adapted to stock raising. In the east- ern and southeastern part, where the long-leaf pine abounds, the sum- mer range is exceedingly fine, and the Castor and Dougdemonia swamps are covered with switch cane, which furnishes fine grazing for cattle in winter. None are now specially engaged in stock raising. We think the business could be engaged in with a fair prospect of suc- cess. There are now in successful operation in the parish three water gin and mills. With a little skill and ingenuity in damming, many of the creeks would furnish water power sufficient to run almost any kind of mackinery. Cotton and wool factories could be established with a fair prospect of success. Also shoe, harness, saddle, and wagon fac- tories. The products best adapted to cultivation are cotton, corn, sugar cane, oats, sweet potatoes, Irish potatoes and almost every variety of vege- tables. Peaches, apples, plums, grapes and figs do well. No fruits or vegetables are raised for marketing. Trenton, the nearest market at which the products of the parish are sold, is thirty-two miles from Ver- non, the parish site. While the average cotton crop will not exceed one bale from every three acres and the average corn crop will not exceed twelve bushels per acre, we know farmers who have this year gathered twenty-five bushels of corn per acre and one who will gather six bales of cotton from seven acres. The writer hereof has two acres of ground which was taken in from the wild woods since the first of January last from which he will gather two heavv bales of cotton this year. An industrious man can cultivate from 15 to 25 acres of land in this parish and make as much and sometimes more than he can gather. LAFAYETTE PARISH. 165 JEFFERSON PARISH. BY PROF. E. W. HILGARD. Population: 12,166. White, 4864; colored, 7302. Area: 395 square miles. Woodland, 170 square miles; marsh and marsh prairie, '225 square miles. Alluvial, 170 square miles. Tilled land: 19,767 acres. Area planted in cotton, none; in corn. 2065 acres; in sweet potatoes, 8S acres; in sugar cane 6136 acres. Jefferson parish stretches from Lake Pontchartrain on the north to the head of Barataria Bay on the Gulf coast. Most of the tillable lands lie in the northern portion, along the Mississippi Kiver, just west of, as well as opposite to, the city of New Orleans. The relatively high banks of the Mississippi, on which the towns of Algiers and Gretna are located, form a dividing ridge, from the south side of which the water drains southward through Bayou Barataria and its connections into Barataria Bay. On the higher land accompanying this bayou, as well as Bayou Dauphine or Des Families, there are some fine sugar planta- tions, although the tillable lands are of little depth, and from about the junction of the two bayous, near the eastern end of Lake Washa, the marsh prairie closes in upon their banks. In this southern portion the surface of the parish is almost entirely covered by swamp, marsh prairie, and sea marsh, traversed by an in- tricate network of bayous and dotted with lakes, resorts of fishermen and duck-hunters only. Numerous shell-heaps form the only eleva- tions in the level plain ; they are almost exclusively composed of the "clam" or gnathodon. and will doubtless in the future be made profit- able for the making of roads, as are those on Lake Pontchartrain. Through Ver-et Canal light-draught steamers and other craft canpass from the Mississippi, near Algiers, into Bayou Barataria, and Harvey's Canal establishes similar communication farther west. Barataria Bayou is navigable, and through its connections the waters of the Gulf are reached without difficulty. Prior to the construction of the Southpass jetties, this route was strongly urged as the most desirable outlet for the shipping from New Orleans ; and it may even yet become of considerable importance for the coasting trade, since there is but little current to be encountered in making the passage up from Bara- taria Bay. The shore of Lake Pontchartrain, at the northern end of the parish, is bordered with four to five miles of marsh prairie, whose landward' limit is marked by a belt of live-oak, forming the background of the landscape as seen from the river. The lands intervening between the live-oak belt and the river are thickly settled and highly productive of sugar. The production of sugar in the year 1880 was 5.570 hogsheads; the production of rice 8,888 barrels. LAFAYETTE PARISH. NEW ORLEANS DEMOCRAT. It is bounded on the north and west by St. Landry, on the east by St. Martin, and on the south by Vermilion parish. Although one of the smallest parishes in that section of the State, it is comparatively well settled, containing at the present time a population of about 14,000. The lands are principally prairie, except in the vicinity of bayous and other bodies of water, where it is well wooded and broken, and in some places might be termed hilly. Vermilion Bayou, which runs almost through the centre of the parish, is navigable at most sea- 166 LOUISIANA sons of the year as far up as the town of Vermilionville. The unset- tled condition of the Slate government for several years after the war, combined with the oppression imposed upon the people by the malad- ministration of public affairs, operated injuriously to the improvement and settlement of this as well as other portions of Louisiana. The burden of taxation, the insecurity to property, and general disorder, were the influences which contributed more or less to this end. We are glad, however, to realize a different state of affairs, altogether fa- vorable to peace, security and general prosperity, under which a great many changes are occurring in the way of industry and enterprise, which are everywhere visible in all branches of business throughout the country. Climate and Health.— Like other parishes in this portion of the State, Lafayette can justly boast of a remarkably salubrious climate, the at- mosphere being remarkably pure and invigorating. The days, even in midsummer, are rendered comparatively pleasant by the pure breezes that almost constantly sweep over the broad prairies,while the winters are never very cold. This region is highly favorable to sound lungs and to the prevention of diseases common to the respiratory organs. Consumption and bronchitis are said by physicians to be rarely ac- quired here. The healthy attributes here met with are conducive not only to a long life, but, what is better, a vigorous and active one. As evidence of tnis, one has only to refer to the numerous veterans who have spent their lives in this region, some of whom are almost able to celebrate the centennial of their natal day. Quality of the Soil— The soil throughout most of the parish is either of a grayish yellow or a cold gray color, but is much better than is generally supposed, and improves wonderfully under proper cultiva- tion. By manuring, tramping, draining and deep plowing the prairie soil gets better every year that it is cultivated. Coulees and bayous course through it in a north and south direction, on the borders of which grow fine forests of timber. The prairie is gently rolling. Timber.— The timber of the parish is mainly confined to the water courses, although groves or clusters of oak and other trees are found scattered about in the prairies. The timber is of a fine quality and great variety, embracing oak, several varieties, ash, locust, gum, magnolia, cypress, hickory, mulberry, pecan, persimmon, dogwood, etc. The giant cypresses on the lakes and bayous are numerous enough to last a century. The scarcity of timber in the western and northern portions of the parish has long since rendered necessary a resort to other methods of fencing lands than that usually employed in countries where wood is both abundant and convenient. The sys- tem most generally adopted has been the planting of hedges of bois d'arc and Cherokee rose, the latter being most in favor at the present time as more compact and requiring less attention in the matter of trimming. Some attention has also been given to wire fencing in the prairie regions. Water.— The principal water courses of the parish is Vermilion Bayou, which is navigable at most seasons of the year as far as the town of Vermilionville. There are also a number of small streams or coulees scattered throughout the country, which furnish an ample supply of water for stock, while pure water is everywhere obtained from wells and cisterns, the latter being extensively used in towns by preference. Field Crops arid their Yield.— The leading field crops at present pro- duced in the parish are cotten, sugar, corn, rice and potatoes, but a great variety of other products might be profitably added to the list. The average yield per acre of these crops is estimated as follows : Su- gar, 1 to 2 "hogsheads ; molasses, 2£ to 3 barrels ; cotton \ to f of a bale ; corn, 20 to 25 bushels ; rice, 10 to 20 barrels. Other crops can be grown LAFAYETTE PARISH. 167 with equal success. A live, industrious man, a true and skillful far- mer, can realize from $100 to $2u0 an acre from the rich sugar lands of this State, while other crops are proportionately remunerative. At present there are no very extensive sugar plantations in Lafayette parish, but the business is engaged in by small farmers, who have fully demonstrated its paying qualities. The cotton crop of the parish is quite large, and rice culture is increasing in extent every year. In fact, the lands of this portion of Louisiana are capable of yielding a richer reward than the mines of California, and are infinitely more certain to reward the man of industry, and that perpetually, for, as previously stated, the more these lands are worked and cared for the more valuable they become. Price of Lands.— The amount of public land in the parish subject to entry or sale is very small and is not of a very desirable character. Other lands will range in value from $3 to $20 an acre, according to quality and location, and maybe secured in tracts to suit the require- ments of purchasers. Improved lands are usually leased on the share system— that is, the tenant receives three-fourths of the crop where he furnishes his own teams, implements, etc., and one-half of the crop if everything is furnished by the lanlord. As a general thing the char- acter of improvements oh land is inferior, except on sugar estates, where they often cost as much as $50,000. . On small plantations, with horse mills, the improvements cost say one tenth that amount. Prai- rie places of one hundred and sixty acres can be bought, having indif- ferent dwelling, a small stable and crib, without sugar mill or cotton press, with forty to seventy-five acres enclobed, tor about $1,000 to $1,500. Unimproved lands may be had in some instances as low as $1 per acre, but tne quality is nut likely to be attractive. Churches and Schools. The parish is well supplied with public as well as private schools, and the rolls show a large attendance of both white and colored pupils during the regular terms. There are no academies or high schools yet established, but the convent at Ver- milionville may be regarded as an excellent institution of learning, being superior to any in this portion of the State. In the way of churches it may be remarked that nearly all the religious denomina- tions are represented, although the Catholics are largely in the major- ity, as is the case in most of the Attakapas parishes. The Episco- palians, Presbyterians, Baptists and Methodists all have congrega- tions, and are suitably provided with buildings for public worship. Labor and. Wages. — The present supply of labor, although by no means equal to the demand, is of a reliable and permanent character, being about evenly divided among the white and colored races. The latter usually find employment on the sugar plantations in preference to the whites, but white labor is in more general demand elsewhere. Field, hands receive from $10 to $12 per month, with board and lodging, while something more is paid on the sugar plantations. However, the planters prefer to let their lands to tenants on sharing terms to em- ploying hands by the month, especially corn and cotton producers. During the period when slave labor was principally employed through- out the State, free labor was not properly respected, but since the war a wonderful change has taken place. White men who labor in the field are everywhere regarded with respect, and the creole population have shown themselves possessed of an energy which few imagined them capable of, and thus, without any considerable, immigration, the coun- try is being rapidlv developed and brought under cultivation by them. In the cotton and sugar districts the colored people also work well and produce large crops of those valuable staples. Stock Raising.— Lafayette, like the adjacent parishes, may be termed a first-class stock raising region, particularly for horned cattle and sheep. The cattle grazing regions are as extensive as remarkable. 168 LOUISIANA. The vast prairies are covered with rich pasturage all the year round, and thousands of cattle roam over them at will. In the marshes even, cattle and horses subsist and graze the year round. All the prairies of Western Louisiana are perennially green, and upon them were once located the largest vacheries in the United States — vacheries whose owners sometimes branded 5000 calves apiece yearly. Sheep by thou- sands were also raised, but both these important industries seem to have largely fallen off since the war between the States. Cities and Towns.— Vermilionville is the principal town in the parish, while Royville and Broussardville, on the Morgan Railway, are flour- ishing settlements. The population of Vermilionville at this time is 1500, and is constantly increasing. It is regularly laid out, well drained, policed and officered. It has several good public buildings, amon? which may be mentioned the new convent, also a number of handsome private dwellings. The grounds surrounding the residences being liberally supplied with shade and ornamental trees renders it impos- sible to obtain a "bird's-eye view" of the place, hence the visitor will be puzzled at times to ascertain whether he is "in town" or outside of its limits. There are five churches in the place, three occupied by the whites and two by the colored people. Being the point where the Lou- isiana Western intersects the Morgan Railway, and where the machine shops of the former are to be located, Vermilionville may be regarded as on the highway to prosperity. The Lafayette Advertiser, a well- conducted weekly newspaper, is printed and published here, while the Cotton Boll, printed in Nev? Iberia, is circulated in the parish by the proprietor of the Sugar Bowl. Sundry Industries.— The usual number of small industrial establish- ments, such as cooper-shops, blacksmith, tinsmith and cacoenter- shops are to be found distributed throughout the parish, which," added to the supply of manufactured articles received from abroad, have served to meet the ordinary demand of the population. The growing importance and development of the country, however, is beginning to require some additions in this respect, and persons willing to engage in tanning leather, manufacturing shoes, saddles, harness, cotton and woolen goods will here find every facility for building up a large and remunerative business. In short, skill and industry are sure to be liberally rewarded in Lafayette parish. Market Facilities.— New Orleans, which is accessible by water and rail from Vermilionville. offers the nearest and best market for this section of the country. By means of rapid communication and cheap freights the Lafayette produces will be able to place his fruits and vegetables in market so as to compete favorably with all rivals. These products include figs, peaches apples, pears, plums, cherries, melons, strawberries and almost everv garden vegetable known. In fact there is no limit to the capacity of the soil for producing vegetables and fruits of the finest character. State of Society.- The society of Lafayette is all that could be ex- pected or desired by unprejudiced persons. It is only necessary to say that under the new regime violations of the statutes are comparatively unknown. Immigration.— In June last some of the most enterprising citizens and land owners of the parish organized the " Lafayette Immigration Association," the executive committee of which is now engaged in preparing valuable statistical information concerning the resources of the parish for general distribution abroad. Inquiries concerning lands from intending: settlers may be addressed to the association, as above, at Vermilionville. Bod and Gun. — Northern visitors spending the winter in Louisiana will find in Lafayette parish an abundance of game and fish with LAFOURUEE P ARISE. 169 which to pass away their idle moments while taking refuge from the frigid regions of their section of the country. Good shooting can be had with very little effort, as the amateur sportsmen have not been so numerous as to seriously alarm the game and cause it to take refuge in inaccessible localities. LAFOURCHE PARISH. BY SILAS T. GRISAMORE, THIBODAUX. Its Boundaries and Topography.— Lafourche is a long and narrow parish, bounded on the north by Assumption, St. James, St. John, St. Charles and Jefferson parishes, on the east by St. Charles and Jeffer- son parishes, on the south by the Gulf of Mexico and the parish of Ter- rebone, and on the west by the parishes of Terreboneand Assumption. It is composed entirely of alluvial lands, some of which are arable. and the remainder swamps and sea marsh. Its Bayous and Navigation.— Bayou Lafourche which leaves the Mis- sissippi Kiver at Donaldsonville, eighty miles above New Orleans, enters the parish of Lafourche twenty-seven miles from its inlet, and flows easterly through the entire length of the parish and empties into the Gulf of Mexico. This stream is navigable for about seven months in the year for steamboats and all species of water craft. By it stone, coal, fire brick, hoop-poles, sand, lime, lumber from the west are landed in front of the various sugar plantations and towns ; also rafts of saw logs are landed at the saw mills, floated from the swamps of Upper Louisiana and Mississippi. By this stream, either on steam- boats during high water, or by flat boats in low water, a large amount of the sugar machinery, etc., necessary in the culture of sugar, and merchandise, is Drought to the different landings, and the crops made are transported to market. From the sea shore, by means of luggers, oysters, game, fish, melons, oranges, etc., are brought to the railroad stations for reshipment to the New Orleans market, or peddled along the bayou to the residents on either bank. Bayou des Allemands is a beautiful stream that flows along the northern line of the Parish, rising near Donaldsonville, and emptying into Lake Salvador, where it is lost in the numerous bays and outlets extending to the Gulf of Mexico. It is navigable for steamboats draw- ing four feet of water, and through it many of the products of Lafourche finds an outlet to market. This bayou drains all that section of coun- try found between Bayou Lafourche and the Mississippi Biver as far down as the parish of St. Charles. Bayou Blue flows from Thiboudaux to the Gulf, and from Lake Fields down could be rendered navigable, Bayou Chiebey, Choupic, Malogay and Grand Bayou, and various others, serve as drains to the country, and may at some future time be navigable for small craft. lakes.— Lake Fields, in the rear of Lockport, and Lake Long, in its rear, are beautiful bodies of water, noted for their excellent fish— such as cat, sac-a-lait, perch, buffalo, etc. Lake Salvador is a magnificent body of water north of Lockport, and is the entrauce to one of the most charming body of lakes, that lead into the Gulf at Grand Pass, that can be found on the globe. Lake Allemands is a large body of water between Lafourche and St. James. These lakes are supplied with fish and crabs at all seasons, and during the hunting seasons are favorite resting places for the immense flocks of poule d'eau and ducks, that come down from the colder climes of the North. 22 170 LOUISIANA The Soil.— The soil is generally a rich alluvial deposit. The arable lands fronting on the bayous and extending backwards to greater or ess distances. Those fronting on the north side of Bayou Lafourche extend back from two to three miles, from the upper part of the parish to Longue- ville, thence gradually they diminish in depth until they become a narrow belt, and are finally lost in sea marsh. Those fronting on the south side, as far down as Thibodaux, have a depth also of about three miles. From Thibodaux they resemble those on the other side below Longueville. In thej rear of those lands on the north side are the " Brulees," Ohoupic,^Bayous Sec, Malogay, Baton Pilon, Coteau Folse, Vacherie, Livoudais, Dugue, all being good culturable lands, extending on either side of interior bayous. On the south side are the "Brulees," Guillot and Grand Chene and the Acadia Bidge. Large bodies of land, designated as "Floating Prairie," the surface consisting of matted roots and decayed vegetation, often half con- cealed under the surface of the water, and often of sufficient strength to support grazing cattle, which feed upon them, are found in various parts of the parish. Islands, etc.— Outside of these lands is a ragged edge of islands, peninsulas and points upon which there is little save sea grass to be seen, with an occasional fisherman's cabin elevated upon a high point. Timber.— The arable lands are covered with ash, oak, gum, cotton- wood and magnolia trees, whilst the swamp lands abound in, cypress, of which many trees are found to be more than four feet in diameter. The cypress is a superior timber, and is almost exclusively used for building purposes, for manufacturing sugar hogsheads and barrels, picket fences and shingles. Thousands of railroad cross-ties are made from the cypress in the Lafourche swamps. Agricultural Products. Sugar cane is the principal product; rice, corn, Irish and sweet potatoes, onions and all varieties of garden vege- tables are grown. The sugar cane is grown principally on the deep lands facing Bayou Lafourche. Bice, corn, potatoes and onions on lands that are more narrow. In the "burlees" but little cane or rice is found in cultivation. Sugar cane is calculated to yield one hogshead of sugar and two bar- rels of molasses for each arpent of cane grown, including that put down for seed. Single acres sometimes yield three or four more hogs- heads, but a good yield is considered about 2500 pounds for cane with a good stand. Bice on an average should give 1500 to 2500 pounds to the acre. Irish potatoes often give twenty-five to thirty-five barrels for each barrel of seed planted, but ten to fifteen barrels is considered as satisfactory. Sweet potatoes and onions are prolific. Hay.— Quantities of hay are made from the native grasses that grow spontaneously, whilst cow peas yield a very heavy percentage of hay, that mules prefer above all other kinds. Oats can be grown success- fully for early hay. Fruits.— The cultivation of fruits is only beginning to attract atten- tion. Enough is known, however, to prove that oranges, peaches, plums, persimmons, pecans, walnuts and berries can be raised success- fully and abundantly, with little care and attention. Cherries and apples could be, very probably, grown were proper efforts made to dis- cover suitable varieties adapted to this climate. Figs grow in great abundance. Cattle.— Cattle for household purposes do well in this parish. The Golden Banche plantation, in the Vacherie Livaudais, has been raising LAFOURCHE PARISH. 171 large herds with fair success, which feed upon the wild cane of the high lands and the prairie grasses adjacent. Sheep.— The soil appears to be too damp and the heat of the sum- mers too long for this sensitive animal. Small herds can be grown successfully. Poultry and Eggs.— Chickens, ducks, geese and turkeys are grown in great quantities, many families supporting themselves almost from the proceeds of the poultry yard. Dairies. — No effort to establish dairies, except for neighborhood de- mands, has ever been attempted. It is not likely that such an attempt would be remunerative. Moss.— The trees of the forests are covered with a fine quality of moss, that can be easily gathered and prepared for market. The sup- ply seems almost inexhaustible, and when properly rotted and colored, brings a ready sale in the markets of the world. System of Farming.— The system of land owners cultivating their own lands, by their own or hired labor has heretofore prevailed almost universally. Sugar and rice growers on a large scale have all pur- sued this system. Colored labor has been preferred under such a method. Some few sugar planters have partially worked their lands by ten- ants, grinding their cane for them on shares. This has operated sat- isfactorily where the planter has rolled all the cane grown by the tenant. But when the result of the tenant's summer toil has been caught in the winter freezes and lost, it has proven disastrous. It is not believed that any system of tenantry on a large scale working on shares will prove satisfactory, and no one tries it. But several plan- tations are now leasing lands to tenants, paying them so much per ton for all cane brought to the sugar houses, and dividing in such pro- portions as may be covenanted the surplus of corn, potatoes or other products the tenant may grow. By this plan all tenants will be placed upon an equalitv. All will have the benefit of time for their cane to profit, and all will partially share any losses that may be had by cold or other misfortunes. Agricultural Implements.— The scarcity of laborers annually increas- ing, has caused an inquiry into the value and practicability of im- proved implements for cultivating, and new articles of that nature are rapidly coming into use. Labor.— For the cultivation of sugar cane, on the larger plantations, colored labor is principally sought and used. The cultivation of rice, potatoes, onions, etc., is generally done by white labor, which is also largely employed during the sugar making season in its manufacture. The foolish assertion that white men cannot do anything that a col- ored man can do in this climate is too silly to justify a refutation. Labor of the colored race is becoming more, unreliable as the old slaves pass away. The native whites do not seem disposed to work as day laborers on sugar farms, but do well as tenants when proper oppor- tunities are afforded. Many of the best and most reliable colcred men are getting homes of their own and cultivate their own lands, and follow ditching or wood-chopping when not employed in their own fields. Climate.— The temperature in summer is generally from 80° to 90°. In winter it seldom gets below the freezing point, and then only remains for one day or two. During the summer the heat is modified by occasional breezes that blow daily, while the nights are rarely too warm for comfortable rest. A good deal of rainfall occurs annually, the principal seasons of rain being January, July and August. Health.— The health of Lafourche is as good as that of any parish or country. During the fall malarious fevers are somewhat frequent, but 178 LOUISIANA. easily yield to treatment. Typhoid fever and pneumonia are of rare occurrence. The drainage of the low lands, which is now initiated, will very likely reduce the malaria infections, and perhaps remove food for yellow fever epidemics, which have never extended to the lower parts of the parish. The last census found numerous citizens over SO years of age, and fifteen or twenty who were centennarians. Manufactories.— On each sugar plantation of ordinary capacity the sugar cane grown thereon is manufactured into sugar and molasses. There are four refineries for making white sugars in the parish. There are two iron foundries, one boiler making shop, several saw mills, two tinware manufactories and numerous cooper shops, that make barrels and hogsheads for sugar growers. Fisheries and Hunting. Several hundred people residing on the lower Lafourche and interior lakes earn a comfortable subsistence in transporting oysters, either to residents up the Lafourche or by way of the lakes and canals to New Orleans. In winter others follow duck hunting, snooting these migratory birds for the New Orleans market and home consumption. Education. — The want of any fund to aid in maintaining public schools places the entire burden upon the taxpayers to support these indispensable adjuncts to civilization. In addition to what the State distributes to the parish, the police jury assesses two mills for pay- ment of teachers' salaries, and a small contribution tax to build and repair school houses. These houses are built upon lots, leased for fif- teen or twenty years, free of rent, and are used for private schools during vacation of public schools. White and colored schools are maintained separately. The corporation of Thibodaux assesses a two mill tax in addition for support of schools in her limits. Churches.— The white population is nine-tenths Koman Catholic. That church has three churches and some half a dozen chapels. St. Joseph's Church in Thibodaux is considered the finest building of the kind in Louisiana, outside of New Orleans. In Thibodaux the whites have an Episcopalian and Presbyterian church. The colored people have a great many churches in the parish, principally Methodist and Baptist, Freedom of religious opinion is universally tolerated, and unless a person makes himself offensive no hindrance is ever made to his expressing his religious views. Plantations, Farms.— Sugar plantations cultivate from 100 to 1000 acres of land ; rice, from 100 to 500 acres. Farms range from one- fourth of an acre front, running back 40, 60 and 80 acres in depth. Drainage.— All lands drain from Lafourche into interior streams, through which the surplus waters find an outlet into the Gulf of Mex- ico. Recovered Lands.— An attempt is now being made to drain all the lands in the Lafourche, south side, below Thibodaux, which will be accomplished in a couple of years. This will recover about 300,000 acres of splendid land, and bring into market from 200,000 to 275,000 acres. Fertilizers.— No fertilizer is equal to the Carolina cow pea, which not only enriches the soil but makes a superior quality of hay for animals and good for men. For stubble cane, cotton-seed meal appears to have the preference over all others. Population.— The census of 1880 gives 11,282 whites ; 7831 colored. Area.— The area is 1024 square miles. Woodland, 295 square miles; marsh and marsh prairie, 729 square miles. Tillable land, 44,802 acres. Area planted in corn in 1880, 16,018 acres ; in sweet potatoes, 331 acres ; in sugar cane, 12,249 acres. LIVINGSTON PARISH. 173 Towns.— Thibodaux, the capitol town is situated at the junction of Bayou Terrebone with Bayou Lafourche 34 miles from Donaldsonville, and 60 miles from New Orleans. A branch railroad connects it with Morgan's Louisiana and Texas Railroad at Terrebone station. The population of the incorporated town is put down at 1,515, but one-third of the town is without the corporate limits. The true population is about 2,500. Lockport is 22 miles below Thibodaux, and has a population of 171, Longueville is immediately opposite Lockport with a population of 101. Conclusion.— With but little care garden vegetables of all kinds can be had every month of the year. In the fall and early winter ducks, paule d' eau, etc., can be hunted nearly all over the parish. Oysters are brought to the citizen's doors fur six months in the year. The population is principally of the latin descent. The people are hospitable, charitable and kind. The health of the parish is good, and upon the whole there is no land more agreeable for a residence than the parish of Lafourche offers to an honest man. LINCOLN. BY PROF. E. W. HILGARD. Population— 11,075 ; white 6177, colored 4898. Area— 485 square miles. "Woodland, all. Oak uplands red lands, about 240 square miles ; yellow loam, etc., 245 square miles. Tilled Land— 108,084 acres. Area planted in cotton. 22,990 acres; in corn, 21,602 acres ; in sweet potatoes, 265 acres ; in sugar cane, 232 acres. Cotton Production— 9732 bales ; average cotton product per acre, 0.42 bale, 603 pounds of seed cotton, or 201 pounds cotton lint. Lincoln parish, formed lately from portions of adjoining parishes, is, par excellence, the red land parish of the State. It may be esti- mated that quite half of its surface is occupied by red soils, and is often quite hilly and almost too broken for cultivation. This is espe- cially the case in the northwestern portion, where rough red rocks are strewn all over the country ; but wherever cultivable these rocky lands have proved very productive and durable. The rest of the parish is more gently rolling, and has a yellow loam soil with more or less of the red subsoil. The timber is oak and hickory, mingled more or less with short-leaf pine. The degree of this admixture, and the size of the trees, form very good indicatioDs of the relative productiveness of the several varieties of soil. Cotton, corn and sweet potatoes are largely produced. The farms are small but Avell kept, and many small vil- lages are scattered through the country. Communication with markets is mainly with the Washita country. The projected line of the Northern Louisiana and Texas Railroad tra- verses this parish. LIVINGSTON PARISH. BY HON. H. SKIPWITH IN THE NEW ORLEANS DEMOCRAT. This paristi is bounded by the parish of St. Helena on the north ; by the Amite River and the parish of Ascension on the west ; by Lake Maurepas on the south, and by the Tickfaw River and parish of Tan- gipahoa on the east. Its superficial area contains 280,000 acres, much of which is already under cultivation, most of the cultivated land lying along the margin of the Amite and Tickfaw Riv ers, and on the margin 174 LOUISIANA. of Bayou Barbary, Gray's creek and the Colyell. Its forests, which cover the largest division of its area, still abound in timber of great marketable value. In the eastern division, on the water-shed draining into the Tickl'aw, the forests, although growing magnolia, beach, oak, gum and hickory in large quantities, are stiil interspersed with a con- siderable growth of pine. In the western division, or on the water- shed draining into the Amite Biver and Lake Maurepas, pine is rare, and magnolia, oak. beach, gum, hickory and cypress form the staple of forest growth. Along the margin of the lake there are some very productive farms under cultivation ; so, also, on Bayou Barbary and its three prongs, on all of which soil of great natural fertility may be had in abundance at government prices, or rates almost as cheap from the proprietors. Throughout the southwestern division, which I have been describ- ing, the productive wealth of the parish is derived chiefly from the forests and swamps, and this is the case as high up as Port Vincent, a small but growing town on the banks of the Amite Biver, a short dis- tance below the intersection of the Bayou Manchac ; Port Vincent at present being the seat of parish government, although Springfield, on the Natalbany, is by no means content that Port Vincent shall become the permanent parish seat— a question angrily mooted between the two ; a question also which will depend upon whether the tide of im- migration shall flow strongest to the westward or eastern division. In this point of view, the question of immigration presents a lively bone of contention to the advocates of the claims of both competitors. Which section offers the most favorable inducements to immigrants ? Which can provide the best and cheapest lands and the most comfort- able homes ? It is manifest that the immigrants are to become at no distant day the arbiters between the rival factions. Mr. W. H. Merritt, a large and prosperous merchant of Port Vincent and one of the largest landed proprietors of the parish, says Port Vincent shall be the place if he has to build a court-house at his own expense ; and from the liberal, offer he makes to promote immigration, I infer that he already discerns its import, not only on the question of enhanced production, but on the court-house question as well. On the morning I left Port Vincent he handed me the following memorandum : 'Tor each laboring family, up to thirty in number, to be settled in Livingston parish, or in Ascension parish, adjoining Livingston, I will sell, on a credit of ten years, without interest, forty acres of land, and furnish them with the necessaries of life at the very lowest market S rices, on a credit, and sell them all the horses and mules they may ave use for working purposes, and cows and hogs in sufficient num- bers to live on, and grant them free transportation from New Orleans to Port Vincent ; and furnish them houses to live in until such time as thev can build for themselves. W. H. MERBITT. "Julv 21, 1880." Oh, Father Time! how wonderful are thy revelations! A century ago, in the days of the old Spanish regime, when Port Vincent had its schooners on the coast of Africa, waiting for cargoes of slaves to sell to the planters of Eastern Louisiana, who could have prophesied that such a generous offer for free laborers would ever emanate from Port Vincent ? The prophet, had there been one, would have been classified as a vissionary dreamer— a lunatic too dangerous to trust out of his cell. A few miles below Port vincent, seated along the margin of the Biver Amite is a hamlet universally styled ' the French Settlement." A cote joyeutie, on which many descendants of emigres from La Belle France enact their happy role, composed of almost equal parts of work and fun, for so wags the world in the French settlement. Each habitant has his cane, corn, oats, rice and potato patch, occasionally, LIVINGSTON PARISH. 175 too, a patch of cotton, and each in almost equal proportions, (further- more no "grande hommes de province" in the French settlement,) has his flock of goats and sheep, his hogs and his herd of fat cattle. Those enumerated are all behind him ; in front he has as much good cypress timber as he can cut and float in the next half century. Altogether, with the combined product of his pastures, of his flocks and herds, and of his raids upon the cypress forests in front of him, I should say that the habitues of the French settlement can well afford to spend, as they do, every Saturday night in fiddling and dancing, and to en- liven the interval between dances with a bottle or two of claret. It is an isolated colony; and there is no better community in the world. Some of their peculiar characteristics grow perhaps out of their isola- tion, viz : indifference about the great events which are stirring other parts of the world, dislike of anything which smacks of chanee, par- ticularly in the matter of a reformation of religious. Such a commu- nity, while reliable to make a resolute defense of its home interests, would probably contribute a scant quota to an army in the field. But with all its peculiarities it is a happy, virtuous, law-abiding commu- nity. If it contributes not much to the revenues of thecommon- wealth, it costs tne commonwealth nothing to enforce the public justice against its offenders, for it has none. From Lake Maurepas up the Amite, as high as Port Vincent, there are lands in large bodies which in natural strength of soil are sur- passed only by the alluvial lands of the Mississippi valley— lands which in choice spots Avill produce two hogsheads of sugar, 2500 pounds of seed cotton, 35 barrels of corn and 50 bushels of rice to the acre. The same estimate of the capacity of the soil will apply to fresh, well- drained lands north of Port Vincent, up to the northern boundary of the parish ; such lands are still to be found in large bodies along the Amite and in the valleys of Gray's creek and the Colvell. Much of the land, however, which is now cultivated, has been "in cultivation for many years, and its capacity has been much reduced by years of neglect and maltreatment. This last remark applies with almost uni- versal truth to the farming statistics of the eastern division of the par- ish; although it must be admitted that there are still some very pro- ductive farms in the valley of the Tickfaw, near which is seated the ancient town of Springfield, which, before the New Orleans, Jackson and Chicago Eailroad was constructed, and before its younger rival. Port Vincent, inveigled the court-house away from it, was a commer- cial centre and shipping point of great importance ; and there are yet lingering traces of the vast warehouses which received on deposit the supplies of a rich back country, and housed and shipped across the lake its bountiful crops. There is nothing in scenery more beautiful or more sad than the landscapes from the rotten wharves and warehouses (ghosts of former commercial splendor as they are) to the crown of the bluffs of old Springfield, on whicn once stood an old Spanish fortress, on which now stand several monarchical live oaks, teaching puny man how ephemeral are his works contrasted with those of his Master. Near Springfield there is a small vineyard under the management of a thrifty German, skilled as a vine grower. Small as it is, its yield is amazing, producing grapes in large quantities for market, which are shipped by the N. O., J. and C. Eailroad, only six miles distant, and enough wine and vinegar to supply the family and the neighborhood. Along the valley of the Tickfaw the natural soil was very productive, but long usage and neglect has exhausted much of its original produc- tive force. There are still, however, some large bodies of fresh virgin soil. The bluffs frequently jut out until they overhang the channel of the river, affording many most picturesque sites for building and beautifying a country seat. The stream yields readily, even to a novice, strings of trout and perch which would set the eye of old Izaak 176 LOUISIANA. "Walton dancing with delight. As it flows from north to south, nearly parallel to the railroad, every acre of land on its margin is accessible to market, and all its products are within reach of cheap, fast trans- portation. Added to which the schooner freightage across the lake, which is not so fast but cheaper, and a land where no disease except occasional chill and fever ever penetrates ; with generous soil, with ex- cellent market facilities, with magnificent fishing and hunting— for the deer, the wild turkey, the squirrel, rabbit and partridge still abound— what more could an immigrant desire in the choice of a home ? MADISON PARISH. BY PROF. E. W. HILGARD. Population : 13,906. White, 1261 ; colored, 12,645. Area : 672 square miles. Wooland, all. All alluvial lands. Tilled land : 48,391 acres. Area planted in cotton, 28,103 acres ; in corn, 7797 acres ; in sweet potatoes, 140 acres. • , ■ Cotton production : 23,391 bales ; average cotton product per acre, 0.83 bale, 1185 pounds seed-cotton, or 395 pounds cotton lint. Madison parish is included between the Mississippi Eiver and Bayou Macon, with Teifsas Eiver traversing its western half. In this respect, as well as in its soils and forest growth, it greatly resembles Tensas parish. The same is true as regards the occupancy of the cultivated lands by cotton as the chief crop. No details of its agricultural features have been accessible to me. The following gen- eral statement is made bv Mr. A. C. Gibson, of Waverley Station, on the Vicksburg and Texas Eailroad : The entire parish is alluvial, level, intersected by bayous, but no hills; all subject to overflow; only protected from inundation by levees. It is in the center of the genuine cotton producing belt. Timber is sweet gum, oaks, hackberry, pecan, persimmon, cotton- wood ; cypress in the swamps. The soil varies from sandy loam to a prairie-like clay (buckshot ) ; color, blackish or black ; most of it warm and well-drained (by underlying sand?), easy to till, warm and early. It is best adapted to cotton, and three-fourths of the cleared land is occupied by that crop ; the rest is in corn. Five feet is the average height of the cotton plant. It inclines to run to weed in wet seasons, but can be restrained by shallow cultivation. The land, when fresh, will produce 500 pounds of lint per acre ; on old land about 400, and on the latter J 520 pounds of seed cotton is needed for a 450-pound bale. The staple from old land rates about the same as from fresh. It is a shade finer, but not so strong. Cocklebur and crab-grass are the most troublesome weeds. About one-half of lands once in cultivation now lie turned out ; when again cultivated these lands yield as well as ever, after the firsr year. Cotton is shipped chiefly in November, and to New Orleans ; the rate of freight is $2 25 per bale, MOREHOUSE PARISH, NEW ORLEANS DEMOCRAT. Morehouse parish is situated in the extreme northern portion of the State, immediately upon the Arkansas line. It is bounded on the north by Arkansas, while its other boundaries are : On the east, West Carroll, from which it is separated by Bceuf Eiver ; on the west by Union and the Ouachita Eiver, and on the south by Eichland and Ouachita, with Bayous Boeuf and Lafourche as the dividing lines. MOREHOUSE PARISH. 177 Settlement of the Parish. -Morehouse was formerly a part of Ouach- ita parish, which included (forty years ago) nearly all that portion of Louisiana west of the Tensas and north of the Ked. This section was very thinly settled in earlier days, excepting some portions of the Ouachita valley, now included in Ouachita parish, where a few hunters lived in the last century, and where, as early as 1795-7, some French farmers and planters had settled and Avere cultivating the land. Varieties of Land. —Morehouse includes more varieties of land than any other par'sh in the State. It has some cypress swamps, some loAvlands or alluvial bottoms, pine lands, uplands and even prairie. The bottoms are the most abundant and cover about two-thirds of the parish, the uplands nearly one-third, while the prairies amount to only a few thousand acres. . Morehouse is in shape something like a semi-circle, with the Arkan- sas line as the arc. It is forty-three miles from east to west and thirty- five miles from north to south, and contains about 760 square miles or 486,000 acres, divided as follows : Prairies ,3955 Bceuf Kiver bottoms , ..185,000 Bayou Bartholomew bottoms 125,000 Uplands 170,000 Topography of the Parish— The general topography of the country is a ridge, cove'red with pine, running down the centre of the parish from north to south and sloping towards lowlands on each side of it. On the Avest is the Bayou Bartholomew bottom ; on the east the Bceuf Biver bottom,*a large portion of Avhich consists of cypress swamps, sub- ject to overflow, and therefore very thinly settled and very littlo culti- vated. The most prosperous section is along Bayou Brrtholomew. The country is well settled here, open to trade, in easy communication with the markets and not subject to overflow. Here are situated the larger plantations, as well as many small farms, cultivated by their OAvners, white men, and producing nearly all that is needed in the way of supplies, such as pork, corn, etc. The section of the country subject to overflow is that lying between Bceuf Biver on the east and the Oua- chita on the west. The overfloAv does not continue long, and much of the land is planted after the waters subside. About 80,000 acres, or one- fifth of the parish, is subject to this overflow. The Prairies.— The prairies are feAv in number and small, embracing altogether onlv a few thousand acres. Prairie Mer Rouge, the largest, and which embraces some of the richest lands in Morehouse, lies nearly in the centre of the parish and not many miles distant from BastroD. Prairie Jefferson is in the Southern part of the parish, in the Bceuf Biver country, Avhile Prairie Sycamore lies in the northern part, near the Arkansas line. It is but an atom, however ; not more than a square mile in extent. The Best Lands— Nearly all the lands in Morehouse are fertile, but there is, of course, great diversity in their productiveness. The best lands are those of the Bayou Bartholomew bottom. Those on Bceuf Biver are too low and swampy for cultivation, while the uplands, be- ing largely pine woods, are not as fertile or productive. "With refer- ence to the hills, it is generally considered that the higher the hill is the poorer the land. The highest ones are thickly covered with black- jack oak, generally regarded as evidence of the poorness of the soil. The better uplands, however are good second-rate land, and while they are not as prolific in cotton, producing only about half as much as the bottoms, they are fully as good for corn, and better for fruit, vines, etc. Very little cotton is raised on them, except on new lands— corn, oats, etc., being the usual crops. The hill lands have one adA'antage, that of not sending forth as luxuriant a foliage as the bottoms, so that less 23 178 LOUISIANA. labor is required to keep the crop in order. The common esitmate is that a hand can cultivate fully 50 per cent more of uplands than bottom land. This fact makes the hill country a favorite section for raising corn and such crops, and explains how Morehouse raises such a large proportion of its own supplies. A very small proportion of the parish is cultivated, not more than one-eighth being tilled, while one-third could easily be worked with scarcely any expense in the way of draining, leveeing, etc. Indeed, the parish could support a population of 50,000, instead of the 14,000 persons it now contains. The best planting sections are the Bayou Bartholomew country, Oak Kidge, Gum Swamp and Prairie Mer Kouge, some of which regions boasted early this season of one and a quarter bales of cotton to the acre. The Farmers.— -The Morehouse farmers are generally in prosperous financial condition, and taxes are well and freely paid. Price of Zand.— Some land is still held by both the Fed -ral and State governments, mainly in the pine ridge section, the centre of the par- ish, where, by-the-by, there are many excellent saw-mill sites to be purchased. This land is high and healthy, well watered and adapted to nearly all kinds of crops, and exceedingly inviting to the newcomer. From private parties a great deal of good land can here be purchased at the rate of $1 per acre. The general price of lands, however, is as follows : First-class open lands, with good improvements, houses, dwellings, etc., $20 to $30 per acre. First-class wild land, $4 to $6. Most of the land, however, is leased by the year, when the prices are : For improved lands, in small tracts, one-fourth the crop or from $4 to $6 per acre. For large plantations, with dwellings, gins, cabins' and all the neces- sities for the thorough cultivation of the soil, from $3 to $4 per acre. Labor.— There is plenty of labor, both for the saw-mills, of which the parish contains a number, and the farms and plantations. Agri- cultural labor on the large plantations is mainly negro, while the small farms are cultivated mostly by their owners, who are small white farmers. Wages are liberal, bu*: the hands generally prefer to cultivate on the share system, and a majority of them are now working on shares. Of course the receipts of a laborer vary as he works well or as the season proves favorable, but the usual estimate is" that an in- dustrious hand can make from eight to ten bales of cotton and from 100 to 150 bushels of corn a year without difficulty. Products.— The estimated yield of good land per acre is, for excellent alluvial land, one bale of cotton per acre, or thirty-five bushels of corn, or from thirty to forty bushels of oats ; for medium bottom lands two- thirds of a bale of cotton per acre, and for the uplands one-third of a bale. The value of the yield per acre is, in cotton, good bottoms' $45 to $50, fair bottoms $30 to $33, hill land $15 to $16; in corn, $26 to $35. The parish last year produced about 15,000 bales. Its yield of corn, pork, etc., compares favorably with most of the other piAishes of North Louisiana. Some sugar cane is grown in the parish, but wholly for the manufac- ture of syrup, the local demand being thus satisfied. The average yield of syrup is 250 to 300 gallons per acre, which is readily disposed of at excellent prices. Stock and Sheep.— There is very little stock-raising in the parish at present, although its canebrakes afford an excellent range for them, while the hill lands are admirably adapted for sheep. MOREHO USE PARISH. 1 79 Wood and Lumber.— Morehouse is fairly timbered with all the trees known in Northern Louisiana and Southern Arkansas, among which maybe mentioned the pine, cypress, hickory, dogwood, various kinds of oak, sassafras, sweet gum, osage orange and black walnut. Lumber is abundant and cheap, pine selling at $10 per thousand feet and cypress at from $12 50 to $15. . Fruit. — Peaches, apples, pears and plums do best. The hill lands are much better for fruit raising than the rich bottoms. Morehouse is admirably adapted for the cultivrtion of the grape, many indigenous varieties of which grow here luxuriantly in the for- ests. Among these may be mentioned the grape called the Battura, which was discovered here in abundance by the early French settlers. This grape is of dark blue hue, grows near the water's edge, and pros- pers when it has been covered by overflow, the grapes bursting forth as soon as the water goes down. Vines do best in the hills. Rivers and Bayous.— The parish is well cut up by rivers and bayous, and watercourse between all sections of it is easy. The leading streams are the Ouachita and Bceuf rivers and Bayou Bartholomew, all of which are large and navigable a greater portion of the year to steamers carrying 1500 or more bales of cotton, The other chief streams are Bayous Bceuf, Bonne Idie, Little Bonne Idie, Cypress, Pawpaw, Du Bute, Trinsey, Shemanana, Caney, Coffee. Lathers and Gallion, all of which streams drain into the Ouachita. Fish.— These, and a number of lakes in the parish, are full of the best eating fish, among which may be mentioned the trout, bass, bank and white perch, cat and buffalo. In Bayou Bartholomew a fine va- riety of bar fish is to be found. Shipping Facilities.— There is no lack of shipping facilities in More- house, as all of the Ouachita and nearly all of Bayou Bartholomew and Bceuf Riv^r are navigable to large steamboats during five months in the year. There are no less than 196 miles of navigable streams in the parish, on each mile of which there is some shipping point. Point Pleasant, near Bastrop, is the chief one, and ships the greater portion of the produce of the parish. Bates are exceedingly cheap to New Orleans, the freight charged on a bale of cotton being from $l'25 to $1 50. Bastrop is situated nearly in the centre of the parish and about two miles from the Bartholomew. It is on hilly land, surrounded by an abundance of pine timber, and exceedingly healthy. It has all the advantages of any country town in the State, nossesses an enterprising newspaper, tae Morehouse Clarion, a daily n ail, churches and schools in abundance, a fine brick court-house, situated in the centre of the town, and all the social, religious and educational advantages desirable. It boasts of a large number of stores, built mainly of brick, and does a thriving business with all parts of the parish, as well as with other and neighboring parishes. Climate.— The climate of the parish is excellent, being moderate both in winter and summer. The pine lands are the healthiest section, as on the lowlands subject to overflow chills and fever sometimes prevail in the summer, following an overflow. All things considered, however, the parish suffers from few evils and can make a showing of an un- usually large number of aged persons, eighty and over, Sshools and Churches.— There is no lack of schools and churches. Of the latter Morebouse boasts of no less than twenty-eight ; among which there are three Episcopal and one Catholic church, and Baptist. Presbyterian and Methodist in abundance. Bastrop has two colleges, one for boys and one for girls ; also, two public schools, for whites and blacks respectivelv, besides a nnmber of {)rivate seminaries. And every other neighborhood in the parish haa ike advantages. 180 LOUISIANA. Water.— Natural springs abound, and where none of these are to be found the people depend on wells and cisterns. In the alluvial lands cisterns are mainly used, although dug and driven wells are also em- ployed, the drove well being a favorite, and costing about $20. In the hills wells are dug usually about sixty feet, when fine, cold and pure water is obtained. Other Advantages.-— Among other advantages that Morehouse may boast of are its roads. It contains also fine water-power on the nu- merous streams pouring into the Ouachita, and where good sites for gins, mills, etc., exist. NATCHITOCHES. BY PROF. E. W. HILGARD. Population : 19,707. White 7638, colored 12,069. Area : 1290 square miles. Woodland, all. Long-leaf pine hills, 600 square miles; oak uplands, 300 square miles; Eed river bottom, 390 sqnare miles. Tilled land: 58,969 acres. Area planted in cotton 26,784 acres; in corn, 17,871 acres ; in sweet potatoes, 197 acres ; in sugar cane, 28 acre3. Cotton production: 15,320 bales; average cotton product per acre, 0.57 bale, 816 pounds seed cotton, or 272 pounds cotton lint. Natchitoches is one of the oldest parishes in the State, and, although nearly one- half of its area is hilly pine land, it ranks third in popula- tion and fifth in cotton production among the upland parishes. The chief area of production is, of course, the portion of Bed river bottom embraced in its limits and the oak uplands adjoining the same on either side. South of the old town of Natchitoches, and outside of Red Eiver bottom, the uplands are mainly of the pine hills character, varied only in the hilly, broken country on Bayou Casatche by the occasional ap- pearance of limestone, and of lime-loving trees in the deep, narrow valleys, while the hills are often capped with ferruginous sandstone. The bluff banks of the river at Natchitoches and Grand Ecore are crowned with pines. To the northwestward, however, beyond Spanish Lake, the pine is absent, and rolling oak-uplands, with an admixture of short-leaf pine among the timber, and with a reddish loam soil of fair fertility, take the place of the pine hills. These oak-uplands are substantially identical in character with those of the adjoining par- ishes of Sabine and De Soto. North of Red River the long-leaf pine appears on the bluff at Campti, forming a tract isolated from the main body of the long-leaf pine hills farther north and east, by the lowlands bordering on Black Lake, with their growth of oaks and short-leaf pine. ABSTRACT OF THE REPORT OF JOS. HENRY, WILLOW P. O. Seven-eighths of all the land cultivated is the red alluvial soil of the Red River bottom. The timber is pecan, oak, ash, elm, hackberry, locust, cypress. The (front land) soil is porous, as much as twenty feet in depth ; pretty well drained. The crops grown are cotton, corn, sweet potatoes, and some tobacco for home use. Cotton and sweet po- tatoes are the chief crous, the former occupying two-thirds of the cul- tivated land. The plant frequently attains a height of eight feet, but is most productive at live feet. The land produces 2000 pounds of seed cotton when fresh ; after fifteen years' cultivation, about 1800. About 1460 pounds are needed for a 450-pound bale of lint ; the staple rates OUACHITA PARISH. 181 good middling. Perhaps one-eighths of land once cultivated lies out now; when again cultivated it produces nearly as well as fresh land. The most troublesome weeds are cocklebur and rag-weed. Tne prevalence of south winds is thought to be especially favorable to the growth and productiveness of cotton. Communication with market is by Red river steamers to New Orleans ; freight on cotton $1 per bale. ORLEANS PARISH. Population, 216,090. White, 158,367 ; colored, 57,723. Area, 187 square miles. Alluvial land, 20 square miles ; marsh. 167 square miles. Tilled land, 4,436 acres. Area planted in cotton, 7 acres ; in corn, 35 acres : in sweet potatoes, 48 acres ; in sugar cane, 1,162 acres. Cotton production, 12 bales; average cotton product per acre, 1.71 bales, 2,442 pounds seed-cotton, or 814 pounds cotton lint. The city of New Orleans and its suburbs, with a population of 216,090 covers nearly all of the higher land lying within Orleans parish. The rear of the city itself almost touches the swamp land, originally tim- bered with cypress, passing into the marsh prairie that borders Lake Pontchartrain with a depth of from 3 to 4 miles. The Great Levee protects the city front from the flood-waters of the Mississippi ; but the enemy not uncommonly finds its way to the rear, through breaks in levees above or below, not so well cared for, when the northern part of the city suffers more or less from water. Bayou St. John and Gentilly, heading near that part of the city, then serve to convey the overflow into Lake Pontchartrain. The New Orleans and Mobile railroad traverses the portion of the parish lying between lakes Borgne and Pontchartrain, a region of lit- tle else than swamp and marsh prairie, of which small tracts are gradually being reclaimed for market gardens. The body of those supplying the New Orleans vegetable market, lie however, above the city, in the adjoining parishes of Jefferson, St. Charles and St. John Baptist. The parish of Orleans produced in the season of 1880-81 797 hogs- heads of sugar and 7657 barrels of rice. OUACHITA. Population : 14,685. White, 4502 ; colored, 10,183. Area : 640 square miles. Woodland, all. Alluvial land, 340 square miles; long-leaf pine hills, 190 square miles; oak uplands, 110 square miles. Tilled land : 48,847 acres. Area planted in cotton, 29,040 acres ; in corn, 13,143 acres ; in sweet potatoes, 379 acres ; in sugar cane, 36 acres. Cotton production : 18,729 bales ; average cotton product per acre, 0.64 bale, 918 pounds seed-cotton, or 306 pounds cotton lint. Ouachita parish, nearly equally divided between upland on the west and lowland on the east, has long-leaf pine hills of the usual charac- ter in its southwestern portion ; the lower slopes of the ridges bearing an oak growth, while the crests are sandy and covered with long-leaf pine, the latter gradually disappearing as the Bayou Castor is ap- proached. The northwestern portion has hilly oak-uplands with admixture of short-leaf pine, as in the adjoining part of Union parish. Among the ©ak and hickory timber of these uplands the large-leaved magnolia 182 LOUISIANA. (Magnolia macrophylla) is noteworthy, being rare elsewhere in the State. It usually denotes a soil rich in lime, and therefore thrifty. In the lowland swamps the genuine tupelo (Nyssa uniflora) forms a promi- nent (and, in Louisiana, somewhat unusual) feature. Between the long-leaf pine hills and the oak uplands west of Monroe there lies an extensive cypress brake, known as Cheniere au Tondre, I'mbraeing about seven square miles. Numerous bayous emptying into 1 lain brake overflow much land, and render it difficult to reclaim. The area lying east of the Washita River is wholly alluvial, except only a narrow upland ridge, with oaks and short-leaf pine, which lies between the River and Bayou Lafourche. Much of the alluvial land is above any overflow experienced so far. This is especially the case with "the Island," lying between the Washita River and Bayou De Siard, which is considered the garden spot of the region, producing both corn and cotton. On the Washita River, near Monroe, the prevalent timber growth is water oak, sycamore, honey locust and black locust, indicating a soil containing much lime. The river and navigable bayous render the alluvial country very easy of access, and afford great facilities for transportation of produce. PLAQUEMINES PARISH. NEW ORLEANS DEMOCRAT. Plaquemines parish is situated on both sides of the Mississippi river below New Orleans. It extends to the ends of all the " passes" or mouths of the river, embraces within its limits many of the islands immediately off the southeastern coast of the State, and is separated from Jefferson parish on the west by Bayous Barataria, Dupont and St. Denis and by Barataria Bay. In length it reaches a hundred miles along the Mississippi River. About ninety-nine one-hundredths of the cultivable portion of this parish lies along both banks of the Mississippi River, within sixty miles of its northern parochial boundaries, or above the forts Jackson and St. Philip. The lands below the points designated, or along the last forty miles of the river and passes being low, unprotected by levees, and subject to frequent tidal overflow from the Gulf, are totally unfit for cultivation, and will be until levees, both front and rear, are built and a resort is had to artificial drainage. The land is arable along the river above the forts named at an aver- age distance or "depth" from either bank of about one-half mile. The population of this parish live and its productions are grown almost exclusively within this region of sixty square miles. A small proportion of its inhabitants live at the pilot villages and marine sta- tions on Pass-a-1'Outre, Southwest and South Passes, while a few of its people dwell upon the "chenieres" and ridges that rise above the sea marsh or upon the low sand islands of the coast. About four-fifths of the total area of the parish is swamp and sea marsh, a portion of which lands may be reclaimed at a remote date, but of which the greater part is covered with the "Marais Tremblante" or floating prairie; beneath this hard bottom is often too deep or dis- tant for discovery. There is comparatively little timber country in Plaquemines. That which remains is the live oak on the isolated chenieres and cypress in deep swamps. Sugar house furnaces and abandoned saw mills have long ago consumed almost all the accessible wood and timber. To-day there is not a lumber mill in the parish, and its thirty-five sugar manu- factories use coal and bagasse almost exclusively for fuel. The remain. PLAQUEMINES PARISH. 183 ing wooded land affords plenty of fuel for domestic purposes, and an abundance of cypress for fencing more lasting than the famed cedar of Lebanon. ,..,,.. ^. , The public lands within the parochial limits are comparatively value- less. They are located in the unreclaimed and probably irreclaimable marshes. Almost every square foot of soil that will bear the weight of a man and a mule has been entered, and the greater part of it has passed through the trying ordeal of Spanish, French and American titles, till they are unassailably and irreproachably fixed. All the valuable lands are private property. Value of Lands— Sugar plantations, stocked in cane and drained by means of machinery, and bearing orange groves, command from $100 to $500 per square acre. . Terms for Leases.— The rice lands are freely rented at prices ranging from $7 50 to $10 per square acre, or at the rate of a barrel and a half or two barrels of rough rice for every acre planted, payable after the crop has been harvested. These lands are generally already ditched, levied and prepared for irrpgation. Lands suitable for cultivation in cane, corn or garden truck, thoroughly ditched and deeply drained (often by steam machinery) command from $10 to $30 per acre on an- nual leases. Probably longer leases could be obtained at lower figures. Various methods of share-working in the sugar fields have been tried. That which we believe to be practised to the largest extent is for the landlord to furnish the tenant with lodging, land, seed, teams and implements, in return for which the tenant is expected to deliver the cane produced to the landlord's mill or manufactory at $2 50perton. Where small farmers cultivated cane entirely at their own expense they sell it. at the large manufactories for $4 and $5 per ton. Productions.— The staple productions of this parish, named in the order of their value, are sugar, rice, oranges, corn and farm and garden vegetables In 1878-9 the crop of the two former was 13,000 hogsheads of sugar, 19.000 barrels of molasses and 56,000 barrels of clean vice. In 1853-4 the sugar cJop of the parish, produced on a larger number of plantations, was 24,000 hogsheads. However, the annual average pro- duction of rice at that time was not over 10,000 barrels. Sugar —There are at present in the parish of Plaquemines thirty- five active sugar plantations. Three of its former plantations have been devoted to rice culture, two to pasturage, while three more have been absorbed into adjoining plantations. Of the thirty-five in active operation, eighteen are equipped with .improved machinery, using the vacuum and centrifugal process. Of those now using the open kettle process, probably three will be fitted with the more modern machinery before the season closes. . „', , , ,, . • , , From the most complete, statistics obtainable the following yields per acre and per ton of cane are gathered : A crop of 297 acres of cane, consisting of 122 acres of plant cane with 175 acres of first and second year's stubble, yielded in 1879-80, (5974 tons of cane, from which were extracted 856,000 pounds of sugar and 30,000 gallons molasses, be- ing 23 48-100 tons cane per acre, and 2882 pounds dry sugar per acre, and 122 73-100 pounds dry sugar per ton. Three other crops of the same year are quoted ; one of a little more than 400 acres returned over 1,100,000 pounds of sugar, another of 370 acres produced 940,000 pounds sugar and 1200 barrels molasses, and the third grinding about 340 acres, yielded 825,000 pounds sugar. The average yield throughout the parish was probably less than 2000 pounds sugar and 120 gallons molasses to the acre. . Re urns for Labor.— An entire crop of cane has been cited as having Yielded 23 48-100 tons to the acre. The maximum tonnage irom this parish, yielded on four or five acres of a plantation forty-two miles be- low New Orleans, was forty-two tons to the acre. Other plantations 184 LOUISIANA. report a maximum yield of thirty-eight tons, while a yield of thirty- five tons has been frequently obtained. It seems plausible, therefore, to consider a yield of twenty tons to the acre within the bounds of ab- solute certainty. One man cannot properly cultivate ten acres ef cane, yet four men, with two mules, can cultivate forty acres and raise enough corn and forage for their team besides. They should be able to make seed enough to plant one-third of their land every year and cut 800 tons for grinding. With sugar at its present price tnis would be worth at least $4000. The value of the salable crop would thus be $1000 per capita for the laborers, provided these laborers were inde- pendent of the manufactory in land, team and supplies. The labor usually employed on the sugar plantations is distributed at the rate of about one first-class hand to every seven acres of cane cultivated, and double this force night and day during harvesting. In cultivating sea- son the "gross" wages paid amount to nearly $30 per month ; that is, $10 cash, $5 for rations, $5 estimated value lodging laborer and family, and fuel, garden patches and other privileges worth $2 or $3 per month. In harvesting or "rolling" common laborers obtain gross wages amounting to nearly $50 per month for sixteen hours daily labor— ten hours day work at $25 per month, six hours night work at $12 50 to $15 per month, and board worth from $8 to $12. Rice.— This parish produced before the war nearly two-thirds of the total rice crop of the State of Louisiana. Since the war its proportion of the total production has decreased to less than one-third, but has ^ actually increased in quantity five-fold. The enormous increase in the crop was due to its extension into hitherto idle lands, to the entire de- votion of several large sugar plantations to this culture, and to the planting of the lowlands on several other large sugar plantations in rice. A very large proportion of the crop in Plaquemines is grown by white farmers, who work in their own fields, cultivating farms of from 20 to 200 acres in extent. There is proportionately more white labor engaged in rice growing in this parish than is employed in the production of any other crop in the South, and here it is a fact worthy of note that the most arduous labors to be performed in rice culture fall in the months of June and August. A fair yield of the crop is considered here to be twelve barrels of rough rice to the acre. The maximum reported was twenty-four bar- rels to the acre from forty acres on the Oakland plantation in 1878. Value of One Man's Labor.— It is considered that an industrious man can cultivate fifteen acres of rice and produce therefrom 180 bar- rels of rough rice, worth, at present prices, $5 per barrel. It is also held that, and with some show of justice, an intelligent as well as energetic laborer can cultivate twelve acres and produce therefrom 180 barrels, and that of a better quality. This is. properly speaking, an eight months' crop. In fact, many of the laborers of the rice fields and the smaller farmers are employed three or four months of the year on sugar plantations, earning plant- ing and harvesting wages. The monthly wages paid hands who work in the rice fields are larger than those received by the corresponding class on sugar plantations. The former class have to contend against the disadvantages of working in the water and summer harvesting. The wages paid rice hands are from sixty cents to $1 per day during plowing, planting and "grassing" or weeding, and from $1 to $1 50 during harvesting. There are three first-class rice mills located in various portions of this parish, which establishments clean and prepare for market a very large proportion of its product. PLAQUEMINES PARISH. 185 Orange Groves.— Cultivation of the orange has been carried on here since the organization of the parochial government. In fact, it is claimed that some of the trees in the lower part of the parish are over a hundred years old. In the central and southern portion of the par- ish, on the west bank of the river, orange culture has been almost uniformly a profitable business. The most favored location for the tree is on the right bank of the river from a point forty-three miles below New Orleans, to a short distance above Fort Jackson. On the the thirty miles of coast designated there is almost a continuous grove of orange trees. The largest solid grove is fifty-seven miles below New Orleans. This is 100 acres in extent, and contains ten thousand trees. Another, forty-seven miles below the city, is composed of over four thousand trees. The most productive groves are situated in " Bu- ras settlement," along several miles of the river bank immediately above Fort Jackson. The annual return from full grown orange groves in the favored locations mentioned is from $100 to $200 per acre. The hundred acre grove yielded fruit last season which sold for $12,000. Smaller groves have often returned more than $200 per acre. Lands planted in bearing orange trees command almost fabulous prices. Some of them could not be purchased for $500 per square acre. A full bearing grove is not obtained till at least ten years after the seed is planted, unless grafted upon sour orange stocks, or from six, seven or eight years after the trees have been transplanted from the nursery; trees in the nursery are worth from ten to fifty cents each. During the first three or four years' growth of the young trees the groves may be planted in crops which are not exhausting, though this is considered a doubtful policy. After the trees commence bearing little care is re- quired to keep the groves in order, though a degree of intelligence and skill is required in caring for them which few other fruit trees need. The most proiiticfruit in Plaquemines parish, after the orange, is the fig, almost every variety of which grows here in prolusion. Excellent peaches are also raised. The date, lemon, citron and banana are raised in the lower part of the parish. These tropical fruits are, however, very uncertain, and those raised are kept for home use by the producers. The rarest fruits in Plaquemines are the pomegranate and persim- mon, though, strange to say, the parish derived its French name from the last. Among the nut-bearing trees the walnut and pecan thrive particu- larly well in this soil. Small Farming and Gardening— The fertile soil and mild climate of this parish give it superior advantages for small farming and garden- ing. Many of the best vegetables and esculents grow here throughout the year. The spring and early summer vegetables mature unusually early. A profitable business is done on a small scale in supplying the market with early potatoes, peas, cauliflower, tomatoes, melons, etc., when these command fancy prices and are largely sought. This busi- ness could be extended to advantage. A large business is carried on by the gardeners in supplying the New Orleans market with its earliest melons. Every vegetable which -thrives in the temperate zone grows with ex- traordinary profusion in this soil. The quality and yield obtained by careful cultivation are sufficient to bring remunerative reward to the farmer and gardener. The potato bug, Colorado bettle and Kansas locust or grasshopper are unknown here. In the season of 1879-80 fall planted Irish potatoe's ripened in Decem- ber; strawberries! matured in February; green peas, cauliflower and other spring vegetables were gathered in March; new Irish potatoes were dug in quantities in the beginning of April, 24 186 LOUISIANA Every part of Plaquemines parish is accessible to a market for its products within a few hours from their gathering. The remotest part of the parish is daily connected with New Orleans by steam and sail. Freights are moderate and transit rapid. Fish and Game.— The oyster fisheries of Plaquemines have long been famous throughout the State, while their reputation has even extended into other States of the South. Innummerable bays, bayous and nar- row inlets extend from the gulf far into the coast of this parish. The shoaler parts of these waters are generally covered with oyster beds. The sources of the most abundant supply of this bivalve are the bays on the eastern coast in rear of Fort St. Phillip and the Quarantine Station, East Bay, between the delta strips of South and Southwest Passes, and most of the bayous and bays on the west between the Mis- sissippi River and Barataria Bay. Most of the oyster banks are within a few hours' sail from the river, and are reached through canals which connect with the river or which extend from the rear of plantations and farms into the net work of bayous near the southern seaboard. The bodies of water designated also abound in immense numbers of crabs and sea shrimp or prawn. The business of canning thebe shrimp is profitably pursued in New Orleans. It could be probably carried on with greater profit on the shores of the bavs of Plaquemines. By far the most delicate of all the Crustacea is the river shrimp. These are caught in the summer and fall all along the river banks by the bushel. All of the finer kinds of Southern fish are accessible to the people here. The redsnapper grounds are only a few miles from the southern coast, while all the salt bays, lakes and bayous swarm with redfish, sheephead, flounder, croakers, speckled trout, Spanish mackerel, moonfish and mullet. The fresh water bayous and canals are filled with "green trout" or pond bass, goggle-eye perch, sun perch and other delicate fish. The Mississippi River affords an unlimited supply of the less luscious catfish and caspago. From the first of October tiil the beginning of April the marshes, f>onds and bayous are frequented by all kinds of water fowl. Count- ess flocks of wild geese fly or float over the open bays ; all varieties of duck, from the stately canvas-back to the diminutive and delicious green-winged teal, feed on the ;?rass flats and marshes ; while the low- lands in the rear of the plantations and rice fields abound in snipe and several kinds of rail. Most of the hunting of feathered game or the waterfowl, particularly, is done in small boats called "piroguts." These are made just large enough to carry one man and light enough for one man to carry, as the occasions requ] res. The onlv four-footed game sought by the white population are deer and hare, which are numerous." Numbers of» others are trapped for their fur in the marshes around the mouths o 1 the river. Their frequency in the locality named caused the second la gest mouth of the river to be called Pass-a-Loutre. There are between four and five hundred men professionally engaged on the waters of these bays and bayous in the oyster fisheries, which they c rry on in a hundred or more luggers and other small craft. About a hundred more follow fishing and hunting for a living during the si x cooler months of the year, while they cultivate small farms and gar ens on th« Gulf islands, "chenieres" and bayou banks, and during the spring: and summer months. Stock Raising, Poultry, Bees, Etc. — The pasturage is good at all sea- sons of the year, while forage crops for fattening produce large yields with little cultivation. This is notably the case in the yield of pea- vine hay, one of the most nourishing articles of food that can be fed to stock. The native breeds of horses and horned cattle have been kept and bred in so long that they are of inferior size, resembling similar races PLAQUEMINES PARISH. 187 belonging to the French Canadians. Thoroughbred horses and horned cattle preserve their respective superiority if kept from mingling with the native stock. The business of fattening cattle for the New Orleans market, or for home consumption, is profitably pursued. Inferior and lean cattle are purchased at the stock landing in New Orleans immediately after their arrival from Texas, and are turned in the fall and winter on the pas- ture lands and stubble rice fields in this section. In a few months they are greatly improved in weight and condition, and resold in New Or- leans at a large prefit, or slaughtered here. All of the finer breeds of domestic fowls, except geese, thrive, and are prolific in this parish. Geese are discountenanced because they are particularly destructive on the young cane and rice. The production of honey is extremely profitable. The flowers bloom perennially, while a large amount of the spring honey is gathered from orange flowers, which furnish the finest marketable quality. Climate.— The annual rainfall in this section is sixty inches, accord- ing to the most reliable meteorological statistics, The range of the thermometer during the three months is from 70 to 90 degrees Fahren- heit, the lowest noted being 67° and the highest 96° for a term of ten years. The average summer temperature is '83°. In winter the ther- mometrical range is from 20° to 80°, the lowest noted during the past ten years being 19° in January, 1879. The average winter temperature is 56°. The summer temperature is, for obvious reasons, lower in Plaque- mines parish than it is in regions several degrees further north. Plaquemines is a narrow peninsula, projecting into the waters of the gulf in a southeasterly direction. The gulf is not more than ten miles distant from its central line. The vast volume of water poured by the Mississippi Eiver down through its centre, for a hundred niles, assists in reducing the temperature. Every breeze that blows over its lands, except the northwest wind, is fresh from the sea. The northwest, or "land wind," is usually pl?asant. The sea breeze follows the land breeze about 1 p. m. in summer, moderating the midday heat. In Au- gust, the general direction of the wind is easterly, as the "peninsula" is in the track of the northeast trade wind, which blows at that season ne\r our coast; hence August is often the most pleasant month of the summer here, while its suns are parching interior States several hun- dred miles north of us. Thus it can be well understood how white laborers can work here in the fields throughout the summer. The identical causes and conditions which have served to reduce the temperature in summer rob it of its colder rigors in winter. The warmer breezes of the gulf sweep over the land, and even the waters of the Mississippi Eiver, with an average temperature of about 50°, serve to moderate the temperature at times and to partially prevent the dan- gers of frost. The cold northwest wind travels down over the less cold waters of the river, and frequently crossing and recrossing over their surface, has its temperature elevated at least two or three degrees. Hence often a "northwester" whose temperature is two or three de- grees below the freezing point, and which kills the cane crops above New Orleans, comes to Plaquemines, and there, robbed of its icy sting by the proximity of the warmer waters of the gulf and by the surface of the river, blows over the sugar fields and leaves them comparatively unscathed. That wonderful certainty of the stubble cane crop in thi3 parish, njted with so much interest by planters of other localities, is simply due to the fact that from the above mentioned causes the win- ter climate here happens to be a few degrees milder than it is in other portions of the sugar district. Population : Whites 4251, blacks 7324. The larger portion of the white population are French Creoles or descendants of the old French 188 LOUISIANA. colonial settlers. The Anglo-Saxon is next most numerously repre- sented among the whites, and a sprinkling of Austrians (Dalmatians), Italians, Spaniards and L)aues form the remainder. A small Asiatic population of Chinese and Manillese is not enumerated. The largest numerical proportion of the agricultural class is engaged in rice cul- ture. Those engaged in sugar culture employ more capital and culti- vate a greater acreage. More than 10,000 of this population is located within the sixty square miles along the river, which embraces the sugar, rice and orange region. The inhabitants in the section named number 170 to the square mile. The villages and towns within this district are Point-a-la-Hache, the parish seat, about its centre; Jesuit's Bend, in the northern part, and Buras Settlement, in the southern part. Beyond the agricultural dis- trict there are Pilot Town and Port Eads, on the mouths of the river. The old Belize, a former town in that locality, has been abandoned. The Catholic religion is the most largely represented among the people of this parish. There are four consecrated churches and organ- ized congregations— three Catholic and one Episcopalian. The Roman Catholic churches are placed at Jesuit's Bend, Point-a-la-Hache and Buras Settlement, and the Episcopal church on the west bank of the river opposite Point-a-la-Hache. There are, besides these, various chapels and school-houses where religious services are held at intervals. There are several well ordered and efficient private schools in the parish, and separate public schools for white and colored pupils in the wards. The number of organized public schools is twenty-one ; active seventeen ; white ten ; colored schools seven. The class of buildings for private residences is above the average among country residences, being generally substantial brick or frame dwellings. Building materials are extraordinarily cheap. Pine and cypress lumber is delivered at building sites at barely a profit over the Srime cost in the heart of the lumber regions. Freights are low, either y fiatboat, sail or steam. The health of Plaquemines parish is generally good. It has never been more than once within the past twenty years visited by any fevers in an epidemic form. Typhoid fever is a rarity. The most prevalent form of fever is intermittent during the summer rainy season. Of other ills that flesh is heir to, pulmonary affections, diseases of the digestive organs and eruptive complaints, it can probably claim less than its share ; but humanity suffers here from ithese afflictions as well as everywhere else. Great longevity is common and infantile mortality at a low rate. There is a medical association in the parish. There are seven practicing physicians and two at the quarantine, the most of whom are graduates of the foremost medical universities in the coun- try—the schools of New Orleans, Philadelphia and New York. Immigration.— No organized efforts have been made to attract im- migration to the fields of this parish for several years. Ten years ago two or three hundred Chinese were introduced; but few of these re- main at present. Several colonies of Italians were introduced on dif- ferent plantations, about haif of whom are probably living in the parish now. An abundance of white labor comes here from other States and parishes during the harvesting seasons, when wages are high, and of these a few remain every year. It'has been shown that white laborers cultivate the fields of this parish throughout the entire summer, and that they produce a very large proportion of its crops. It is reasonable, therefore, to suppose that other white laborers could come here and till the soil, or that white farmers from other States and countries could purchase or lease the land, live and get their crops cultivated. Whatever inducements they have to bring them here have been faithfully portrayed in the POINT COUPEE PARISH. . ISO above lines; the drawbacks of drainage by artificial means, leveeing, etc., have also been depicted. The security of protection from Hood, guaranteed by the National Government in any levee act or law, would overcome one of these objections to settlement. The figures used above concerning agricultural statistics have not been gathered from heresay reports or random estimates ; they have been obtained from careful and accurate compilations of the labor actually performed. The same may be done in future years as long as terrestrial conditions remain tue same, or as long as the human mind is forced to devise the means and plans of providing for a subsistence and human muscle executes them. To summarize the chief poinrs of what has been written: The pro- duct of an industrious and intelligent man's labor is worth from $700 to $1,000 ; the gross wages paid to common agricultural laborers vary according to the season from $25 to $50 per month. The soil is of inexhaustible fertility; it is easily cultivated; there is not a rock or stone to blunt the plow in 25,000 acres of land. Intelli- gence and industry directed here to agricultural pursuits can reap re wards such as are returned to willing labor in few other agricultural regions. The same rewards, however, await the husbandman and har- vest-hand in every rich parish in Southern Louisiana. The time will come when that magnificent region will teem with population like the banks of the Rhine or the vine hills of France. As a land of promise it invites the sturdy yoemanry of the Eastern and Western Continents. POINTE COUPEE PARISH. nON. H. SKIPWITH,.IN NEW ORLEANS DEMOCRAT. This parish is somewhat abnormal in its social and industrial char- acteristics. It is divided into separate agricultural colonies, eacn in grofound ignorance of what the other is doing ; the tie3 of neighbor- ood would perhaps be much closer if the ravages of the periodical floods which overflow the parish from the waters flowing in at the Grand or Morganza levee could be permanently checked, and there the agricultural industries which have languished for the whole period to which the settlement of the parish dates back, except for a few years of protection which existed before the war, would speedily revive. The vigilance of the agriculturist has reclaimed for the plow every acre which it would be safe to invest their labor on, and still after summing up fairly the results, three-fourths of the soil is surren- dered to the floods. On the Grosse Tete, a navigable bayou on the west border of the parish, there are only about 5450 acres in cultivation, and in the same region there are fully 13,000 acres subject to overflow. On the False river, where the oldest community of the parish is seated, the proportion of cultivatable land is about the same. At Poydras Col lege, which has a front of two arpents on False river, and which is about the centre of the False river community, the depth free from overflow is only sis arpents. The condition of the settlements around the old post of Pointe" Coupee is nearly as bad. " The Island," in pro- portion to area, is less disastrously affected by the floods than any other pa^t of the parish. Although of late years the narrow strip of land which lays between False river and the Baton Rouge line has been exceptionally free from overflow, because the floods are kept out of False river and the flow of the waters is forced west of the thriving settlements south of False river, which are rapidly growing up as ex- emption from overflow becomes more assured. They owe that exemption measurably to the fact that they are out of the track of the floods from the crevasse, and to the fact that the 1 90 LOUISIANA. protection of "The Island" depends upon keeping the floods out of False Biver. To the fortunate exemptions, already enumerated, may be added the land aloug the Bayou Fordoehe, along the Missis- sippi, and in a small tract of country about six miles long and six miles wide, called the Canebrake— in all adding a surface of nearly 28,- 000 acres of productive land, protected from overflow by a legalized ievee system, which compels all lands tributary to the system to pay a -mall annual tax for protection. Until the levees were built none of i he lands on the Bayous Fordoehe, Maringouin and Grosse Tete, nor in the! Canebrake section, were considered safe from overflow. The levee district created by the special act extends down the Maringouin and Grosse Tete into the parish of Iberville, and it is not an overesti- mate to say that 60,000 acres of land are already reclaimed for the plow by the direct influence of the special act. In view of the reclamations from the floods already detailed, it must be admitted that the signs point to a revival of the agricultural industries of Pointe Coupee, which nave languished for two centuries from the inability of man without organization to cope with the wild waters of tne annual overflow of the Father of Waters. It is pleasant to dwell upon the probable develop- ment of such a magnificent soil in such a genial climate to its full capacity, which will ensue upon the locking out of the waters by the construction of solid levees at Morganza and Grand Levee, which will add to production a half million of acres now lying waste and idle in the parishes of Pointe Coupee, West Baton Bouge and Iberville alone. What a vast field of wealth is presented to immigrant labor in these hitherto slandered lands. The Grosse Tete, a navigable bayou, and the Baton Bouge and Grosse Tete Bailroad afford ample and cheap means of shipment for the crops of sugar, molasses and cotton raised upon the Bayous Fordoehe and Maringouin, and in the Canebrake countries, all lying in the far west- ern border of the parish. Hermitage, on the Mississippi Biver, at the lower dyke of False Biver, and Waterloo, also on the Mississippi, at the upper dyke of False Biver, are convenient shipping points for all the produce raised upon False River, upon "The Island" and upon the narrow strip of land between False Biver and the West Baton Bouge line. Further up the river are Morganza, situated just at the head of Bayou Fordoehe, and "New Texas," three miles above, both of which are used as shipping points for the produce raised along the Fordoehe, and even reaching back to the Canebrake plantations. New Texas ships much the largest quanity of produce. It is a very flourishing business point, fifteen miles above Bayou Sara, and eleven miles from the Atchafalaya by the State road, which was constructed by the State in better days, and has since the war been so much neglected that it has become useless as a thoroughfare. New Texas ships annually 4000 bales of cotton and 500 hogsheads of sugar, produced chiefly by the communities working along the banks of Bayou Fordoehe and Lati- nache, and from the Canebrake. It has besides the shipments of sugar and cotton a very large and important branch of business in the re- ceiving, cleaning and shipping of moss, an article of trade which adds to the productive wealth of the parish at least $50,000 per annum. Mr. Oubre, who conducts a large mercantile and shipping business at New Texas, is also a manufacturer on a small scale, he being the owner of a steam gin which can gin and bale thirty bales per diem, and a moss picker which cleans and bales twenty bales of moss per day. He is likewise a producer on a small scale, having produced on his premises si sty barrels of onions per acre, which he shipped to St. Louis and sold them on an average of $6 per barrel. His Irish potato crop, which ripens as the onions do in April, yields even more barrels per acre, but he can scarcely say that he has realized as much as $3 75 par barrel for potatoes. Moss, onions and Irish potatoes supply the POINT COUPEE PARISH. 101 laborers who have been unemployed through the winter months with an early supply of means wherewith to embark in the main crops of cane, cotton and corn. The moss gathering is an industry which is dependent upon the receding of the floods, and the top of every cypress tree which has been felled by the swampers in the track of the crevasse affords many hundred pounds of well-rotted moss. One thousand pounds is not an extraor- dinary yield for a day's toil. At SI 40 per hundred in its uncleaned state it yields the gatherer $14. What other country presents a more remunerative industry? And the money flows in at a period of the year when the laborer needs it most to help him pick his main crops. So, too, with the proceeds of the onions and potatoes which ripen in April. The importance of the spring crops can only be estimated by keeping in mind that many acres of the main crop of cotton and corn are planted in the mud as the waters from the crevasse recede, which oc- cur usually in May, and the labor to plant and cultivate these late planted crops is paid for by the receipts from the spring crops of moss, onions and potatoes. It may be judged, from the facilities for market already enumerated, that the communities throughout are well served in that respect ; but above New Texas there are quite a number of points which receive and forward the groceries and general supplies for the communities behind them and receive and ship all the produce which they raise. The prin- cipal of those above are William sport, Eaccourci, Hog Point and Bed Eiver Landing, at one or the other of which the heavy crop produced on the Latinache and the Letsworth find an outlet to market. "Bayou Letsworth.— This bayou formerly flowed out of the old river, opposite Turnbull's Island below the mouth of Bed Eiver and emptied twelve miles below into the old river opposite Eaccourci Island, near the village of Wilhamsport. Both ends are now closed forming a long narrow lake of clear water, which abounds in fish of many varieties. Between Bayou Letsworth and Eed Eiver landing are the Moreau Lakes, famous as the breeding place, in summer, of water fowls, and as the feeding grounds of myriads of ducks in winter. The bayou is bordered on either side with cotton plantations, the planters' residences standing a short distance back in magnificent groves of forest trees. Large canebrakes are in the rear of the planta- tions. Here are found innumerable deer, some bear and an occasional panther. The Letsworth soil is a red sandy loam, easily tilled and very productive. Altogether this is the most desirable portion of the parish." Along the banks of the Atchafalaya, for twenty miles westward be- hind the levee, are some of the most fertile plantations in the parish- After that they cease for the want of a protecting levee, and not by any means from any diminution of the productive capacity of the soil. It has been demonstrated that the soil of Pointe Coupee is composed en- tirely of rich allnvial deposits ; that it is nearly all of it penetrated by or within easy reach of some available wat er highway,and that f our-fi fths of it is still lying waste and idle, the agriculturist having been checked in endeavors heretofore by the prevalence of annual overflows, which are caused by breaks in Grand and Morgan za levees, and in the northwestern extreme by the total want of a levee system for the Atchafalaya. Its climate is softened by the presenoe everywhere of lakes and bayous, and this last feature gives assurance of greater se- curity for harvesting the late crops— cane and cotton - in the autumn, and for realizing at the earliest from the spring crops, such as onions and Irish potatoes. When all the soil shall be reclaimed from the de- vastating floods this"parish,with its 338,0UU acres of as good land as can be found on any part of the globe, will become a miracle of productive wealth, and when that shall come to pass more steamboats and more < 192 LOUISIANA. railroads will have to be built to move its enormous productions of sugar, rice, cotton, potatoes and onions, and more merchants will be reaping princely revenues for handling them. On the Atchafalaya River, a region on its north and west border, are some of its most productive farms, protected by a levee commencing at the Mississippi River, extending down the Atchafalaya River about ten miles below Simmsport. Its Cypress relts.— As an element of wealth yet to be realized allu- sion should, in the spirit of truth, be made to its two exhausfcless belts of cypress timber- -one east of the Grosse Tete, in the basin between Grosse Tete and False River ; the other lying between Bayou Fordoche and the Atchafalaya, the last extending down the banks of Bayou Alabama These are said to be the richest reserves of cypress now "left standing in Louisiana. Percolated as they are by navigable streams, they are destined to fill a conspicuous niche in the catalogue of Louis- iana's industries. There are no cultivated plantations now below Churchville, a village on the St. Landry side of the Atchafalaya. Be- fore the war there were several, and some as low down as Alabama Island, which were up to the war producing as high as GOO bales of cotton. RAPIDES PARISH. BY A CITIZEN. Position and Extent— Rapides Parish occupies a position immediately south of the centre of the State, and is one of the range of parishes through which Red River flows, The parish lies between 31° and 32° north latitude, or on a line passing east and west through the extreme southern portions of Alabama and Georgia. The 15° 30' meridian of longitude west from Washington passes through the parish. In ex- tent it is about thirty-seven miles square— its outline being spmewhat irregular— and has an area of 1320 square miles, or 845,000 acres. General Description— The Valley Country.— Rapides parish embraces the upper portion of the Red River delta; the river flows diagonally across it from northwest to southeast, and its course through the par- ish, by the ineanderings of the stream, is about sixty miles in length. The valley lies mainly on the west side and has on average width of about ten' miles. Through this alluvial territory west of Red River, and nearly parallel with it, flow the Bayous Rapides, Robert and Boeuf, forming almost a continuous stream. The distance intervening be- tween the river and these bayous varies from two to about seven miles. In this section the plantations and farms which are contiguous are located on the river and along the bayous, near which stand the resi- dences of the planters and the quarters for laborer? • here, also, are located the sugar mills, cotton gins, and the other bu'ldings of the farm, and near the margins of these streams run the highways which traverse the country. The section which is here described occupies the middle portion of the parish, extending across it from north to south. It may be defined as a plain, intersected at intervals by broad natural canals, called bayous, which serve a two-fold purpose— they carry away the surplus water from rains, and retain a supply for stock and of the other wants of the farm during dry seasons. Nearly the whole of the territory here described is above overflow, and every acre can be reclaimed and brought into cultivation. This section is by far the richest portion of the parish, and here are found many of the largest and most productive cotton and sugar plan- tations in the State ; it was originally covered with dense canebrakes, but these have been destroyed by the inroads of herds of stock, or have POINT COUPEE PARISH. 193 given place to the varied crop3 produced in this portion of Louisiana. The uncleared parts are covered with dense forests of oaks, cypress, ash and other timber, with a thick undergrowth of vines and small trees, which furnish an abundant supply for fuel, fencing and building purposes. The population of the parish is most dense in this section, and here is concentrated the bulk of the negro population. The land- scape which meets the eye as the traveler journeys through this charming and delightful country is highly pleasing, and everything attests the prodigal hand with which nature has bestowed her choicest gifts. During summer, continuous fields of luxuriant cotton, corn, sugar cane and various other crops greet the view upon every hand, and extend across the whole breadth of the parish from north to south. Proceeding along the bayous with their green, sloping batiks and in- viting shade there are encountered at intervals the residences of the planters, surrounded with beautiful groves. The area of this section is about 250,000 acres. The Western Section of the parish is an upland country, through which run numerous creeks, communicating with the Calcasieu River or the bayous in the Red River valley. It has a considerable population, mainly of whites. They are thrifty farmers and stock- raisers, who have* settled .along the streams and creeks, where the lands are quite productive. The surface is generally rolling and in parts hilly, and is covered with pine forests and in other portions by a mixed growth. The great adundance of pure water and its extensive range for stock render it attractive to those who would combine farm- ing and stock raising. The fine timber found here will yet make lum- bering the chief industry. The Eastern Section.— This portion of the parish is separated from the remainder by Red River, and in its general characteristics it is similar to the western section. There is a small area of alluvial land in the northern part and a small extent of prairie in the southeastern portion. The creek* bottoms produce good crops and considerable stock is raised. It is a fine lumber region and has good water-power facilities. The population is mainly white. Population— Character of the People —The total population, as shown by the census of 1880, is 24,681. The whites number 12,111 and the ne- groes 12,570. The increase in population during the past ten years has been about 43 per cent. The white population mainly consists of na- tive bom Anglo-Americans, but there are many from other States, a considerable number being from the Northern and Eastern sections of the Union. There are quite a number of foreigners, including Irish, French and German; the French Creoles are few in number. The Jews constitute a considerable element of the mercantile community. In their general character the people are law-abiding, industrious and hospitable. Freedom of thought and speech are recognized as the right and privilege of the citizen, and mutual confidence and good feelings prevail among all classes. Agriculture constitute the chief employment of the people, and they are generally contented and prosperous. Extreme poverty does not exist, and there are no paupers. The general condition of all classes is rapidly improving and the majority, by the exercise of moderate frugality, realize a handsome suiplus after the payment of yearly expanses. Climate and Health.— -The climate is mild during all seasons; the ex- tremes of heat and cold are never felt. "Work on the farms is carried on throughout the year. The average temperature during winter is about 40°, and about 80° in summer. Snow seldom falls and ice is only found at intervals during the continuance of cold weather. Streams are never frozen. The rainfall is greatest during the winter and early spring ; droughts are seldom experienced. 25 194 LOUISIANA. The healthfulness of the parish is not excelled by any portion of the South, and is as nearly perfect as that of any country. Instances of longevity among the resident population are quite common. Foreign- ers and natives of the higher latitudes experience no inconvenience in becoming acclimated, and encounter exposure to all the vicissitudes of the weather with the same impunity as the native population. Sun- strokes seldom or never occur, and ho enervating effects of climate are experienced. Towns.— Alexandria, the parish seat, situated upon the west bank of Eed River, 150 miles above its mouth, is a town of considerable impor- tance, and has a population of 2000. It stands at the head of low wa- ter navigation on lied River, and is the business centre and chief ship- ping point of an immensly fertile region. It contains numerous churches and several schools, and is now rapidly improving. Pine- ville, which stands on the opposite side of the river, is the second town in the parish, and has about 6?0 inhabitants. A large business is done by the merchants of this place, and it ships a large quantily of cotton. Cheneyville, Kanomie, Gotile and Lecomte are villages of some note. All of them are situated in the valley section. Soils.— These may be classed under three heads: 1. The alluvial is the most productive, and is equally adapted to the production of the great staples, cotton and sugar. 2. The uplands and creek bottoms, on which the soil is generally a sandy loam,* varying in depth, quite productive, easy of cultivation, and yielding oftentimes a bale of cotton and forty bushels of corn per acre. 3. The pine lands, consisting of a thin soil with an nnder stratum of clay, susceptible of being highly enriched by manuring or by the application of the ordinary fertilizers. Timber.— In the bottoms are found a variety of th'e oak, cypress, ash, hackberry, elm, gum, cottonwood, beach, willow and many other kinds. On the hills, upon both sides of Red River, the yellow pine constitutes almost the entire growth. The saw mills in the parish supply the home demand for lumber, and ship large quantities to points on the Red and Mississippi Rivers. Water.— The parish is well watered. Red River is the principal stream flowing through it : Little River touches its eastern border, and the intervening territory is intersected by numerous small streams. In the western portion the branches of the Calcasieu River, and other streams which unite with the bayous in the Red River valley, penetrate every part. Water for stock is everywhere plentiful. In the upland regions fresh water springs abound ; excellent water may also be ob- tained in wells from ten to twenty-live feet in depth. On the river and bayous cisterns furnish water for drinking and domestic purposes. Minerals. —But little is known of the minerals of the parish. Gyp- sum has been discovered near the eastern line of the parish, and iron ore has been found in various localities. In the northwestern and southwestern portions of the parish there are mineral springs highly impregnated with sulphur and other ingredients and possessing valua- ble medicinal properties. Lanls.— The following table shows the quantities under the several headings : Acres. Alluvial lands 256,000 Heavily timbered pine lands.... 350,000 Creek bottom and hammocks.......... 233,000 Amount entered -- 520,000 Amount vacant - 325,000 POINT COUPEE PABTSII | 195 Cleared lands 175,000 Wooded lands 670,000 Prairie lands 5,500 School lands 14,500 The alluvial lands range in value from $5 to $20 per acre, and up- lands from %1 to $5. Lands can be purchased in almost any portion of the parish. The best alluvial lands can be rented from $3 to $5 per about acre and uplands for $1. • Agricultural Products.— The principal products are cotton, sugar cane, tobacco, oats, rice, peas, broom corn, sorghum, sweet and Irish potatoes, besides a great variety of garden vegetables. The average yield of these crops, per acre, is about as follows : cotton, from a half bale to a bale and a half; sugar cane, from one to twb hogsheads; corn, 10 to 60 bushels ; tobacco, 800 to 1,000 pounds. Fruits and Vegetables. — A great variety of fruits are grown in the parish. The more common are peaches, apples, pears, plums, grapes, figs, pomegranites, quinces, nectarines, apricots and melons. Of the small fruits, the strawberry and raspberry succeed admirably; black- berries and dewberries are indigenous, and here attain their greatest perfection. Of the wild fruits may be mentioned the plum, pawpaw, persimmon, whortleberry, muscadine, and a variety of grapes, pecans, hickory nuts, chinkquapins are plentiful, the black walnut is a native also. Vegetables may be planted during the early part of the vear com- mencing with the month of January and continuing until June. Fall gardens which are planted during the month of August, may be made to furnish, during favorable seasons, as great a variety as those of spring, and they often flourish until December. Stock Bai sing. —Stock raising is very profitable. The river and creek bottoms afford fine pasturage during the winter, and stock that have access to them keep in good condition without feed throughout the year. The hill section is" peculiarly adapted to sheep, and, with proper attention, profits would reach 100 per cent, in one year. Cattle range in value, for grown stock, from $12 to $30. Various Industries.— Some experiments were made a good many years since in silk culture, but the efforts were not prosecuted for any considerable length of time, and no sufficient test has ever been made. The conditions are probably as favorable here as anywhere in the United States. No factories for cotton, wool, shoes, saddles or wagons exist at the present time, but the natural facilities for them aie highly favorable, there beingr abundant water-power. Fish, Game, Etc.— Fish are plentiful in the rivers, bayous and creeks. Tront, bass, mullet, pike, perch, catfish, buffalo, and many other kinds are caught from all the streams. The finest trout and perch are caught from the clear- water streams in the hills. Deer are numerous; and quails, turkeys and woodcocks are found in every locality; waterfowl, including ducks, geese, bfants, cranes, etc., frequent the water courses during certain seasons. Labor and Wages.— On the large cotton and sugar plantations negro labor is mainly employed, but there are a considerable number of in- dustrious white men with families who have settled on these lands; many of them have become proprietors and others rent land. All are prosperous and are quite independent. Industrious white men can find employment at remunerative wages, and a limited numberof mechanics could And steady work. The wages of field hands are from $12 to $18 per month, with rations, and $1 per day during the busy season. Me- chanics receive from $2 to $3 per day, In the share system, the tenant receives one- half the crop when team, tools and feed are furnished, and one-third when rations are added. 196 LOUISIANA. Schools and Churches.— Educational facilities are only such as are afforded by the public school system and a few private schools. There have been about twenty public schools distributed throughout the par- ish, and it is hoped there may be a sufficiency of funds to keep that number open eight months of the year. The principal religious de- nominations are the Methodists, Episcopalians and Catholics ; these have churches throughout the parish. Manufacturing Facilities— Theve is abundant water power afforded by the numerous creeks and streams in the parish. This power, as yet, is onlv utilized as a motive power for gins and mills, but could be made available for factories of various kinds. The volume of water that passes through the Bayou Eapides, which unites with the Bed Eiver just above the town of Alexandria, is sufficient to drive the ma- chinery of the larger cotton mills. How soon these wasted forces may be made to employ their energies in building up the waste places and adding to the wealth of the State depends only upon enterprise and necessary capitol. Immigration. - "Within the past ten years there has been considerable immigration, mainly from Southern States east of the Mississippi Eiver. Immigrants who settle in the parish generally remain here, and this influx of population has greatly benefited some portions of it. The preference has been generally in favor of the uplands, but there is a growing disposition to settle on the richer lands along the river and bayous. The people of the parish will welcome all who come within her borders to seek homes, and to join with them in developing her magnificent resources. Here they will find representatives from every Northern State, and almost from every country in Europe, con- stituting one community ;. none need fear persecution or proscription. Bailroads — There are three lines of projected railroads which pass through Alexandria, a branch of Morgan's Texas Railroad, now in course of construction, the New Orleans Pacific, the Natchez, Vidalia and Trinity. Inducements and Suggestions to Immigrants.- No part of the State offers greater inducements to the immigrant than Eapides parish. Here will be found every variety of soil, while the diversity in natural features is very great; wooded hills, rolling uplands, prairie and allu- vial plains of unexcelled fertility are comprised within the area of the parish. Comfortable homes can be found in every quarter. There is a large quantity of public land upon which homesteads of one hundred and sixtv acres can be obtained by a residence of a few years, at no cost. The climate is everywhere salubrious. The profits of farming in Eapides parish are as great as anywhere in the world, and depend only upon the skill, energv and judgment of the farmer. The parish pos- sesses excellent ratural facilities for manufacturing of every kind. Those who desire to share the general prosperity now dawning upon the South, or who would participate in her rapid march of improve- ment should not delay. The comforts of life, independence and for- tune await all who would claim them. RED RIVER PARISH. Win. H. Harris, Commissioner of Agriculture and Immigration, New Orleans, La.: My Deak Sie— Tour favor of the 1st inst. is just to hand, and I hasten to replv as briefly as possible. Eed Eiver parish extends from Caddo, in the north, to Natchitoches, on the south, and from Bienville, on the east, to DeSoto, on the west. The Eed Eiver, as crooked as a ram's horn, thereby giving it a river RICHLAND PARISH. 197 front three times its direct length, flows directly through it, and its alluvial lands are justly celebrated as the richest in the world. Besides these alluvial lands of the Red River, the eastern portion of the parish, known as the "Hill," is very productive, and is settled with an intelligent and thrifty population, the descendants of the best blood of Georgia, Virginia and the Carolinas, Alabama, etc, of the South. This parish was organized in 1871, by the Radical Legislature— a hoard of carpet-bag adventurers— and they assfssed the river lands, improved, at $40 per acre; which, with 23£ mills State taxation, and the same for the parish, they were extorting the entire income of the people, and in many instances were forcing confiscation upon them. During these trying times a constant stream of emigration was mov- ing, at great sacrifice of property and household goods, to Texas, and the parish feels to this day the irreparable loss of so many of its best citizens. Law and order now reign supreme. The humblest black man is pro- tected in his rights as thoroughly as the richest nabob in the land. Many of those who took refuge in Texas have returned. Immigrants are constantly coming among us. Our population has increased 25 per cent in the last four years, and prosperity is everywhere and uni- versal. State taxation is only six mills. Our parish site— Coushatta— is one of the most thriving towns in America. With the carpenter's hammer sounding on all sides, you would imagine you were in Leadville. As to the healthfulness of our people, I think it will compare with any locality in the cotton States. We have some malarious fever, but it is easily handled. There are thousands of acres of land which can be bought improved and unimproved, but the improved lands are raising in value. Churches and schools are building up all over the parish. Labor is good. The black man finds he is protected in life and prop- erty and it is quickening his energies. The white people are all hard working and industrious in their various callings, from the field to the pulpit. Chinese are not wanted. Debauchery and vice common amongst them are frowned down, and the parasitical influences as evi- denced in California are not wanted here. The steady Caucasians, be they from the Scandinavions, the Anglo-Saxons, the Gauls or the He- brews are welcome. A few more of Africa's noble sons could find em- ployment, judging from the encouragement given those here. His color recommends him. No quesiions are asked. This country is the ideal "Kansas" of the black man. If he don't take care of himself, the whites will for him. Without corn, meat, horse, home or land he is everywhere welcome, and has never to tramp for a job or a home. I have not the data to answer all your questions and if I did I would fill your book, and will close by saying Red River parish is one of the Edens of the world now. If she continues improving as she is daily under Democratic laws there is no calculation which can approximate her future status. With high regards, B. W. MARSTON. RICHLAND PARISH. This parish is situated in the northeastern portion of the State, be- tween the Ouachita and Mississippi rivers, and is traversed from east to west by the Vicksburg and Monroe Railroad. The principal towns are Delhi and Rayville, containing from two hundred to three hundred inhabitants, with schools, churches, and all the accessories of civiliza- tion required by an intelligent and refined community. 198 LOUISIANA. The parish is well watered in every part. The principal streams are Bayous Bceuf and Macon, which are navigable in winter and spring by- large steamboats, affording ample transportation to market for all the products of the parish. The soil of the parish is alluvial, and the bluff formation known as the Bayou Macon hills. The lands bordering the bayous are as good as any in the State, the actual yield §according to the census report being four-fifths of a bale of cotton and fifteen bushels of corn. While this is the average yield of the entire parish, the yield of planta- tions on the bayous in the alluvial lands often reaches one and a half bales of cotton per acre and fifty bushels of corn. Not more than one-tenth of the parish is under cultivation, although there is not an acre of barren land in its limits. All the land not under cultivation is covered with a heavy growth of magnificent timber among which is found the oak, ash, elm, gum, black walnut, beech, magnolia and other growths of alluvial and bluff formations. The principal productions of the parish are cotton, corn and sweet potatoes; oats, rye, millet and many of the domestic grasses grow well especially in the hilly part of the parish. According to the United States census report for 1880-81. the production of cotton was 11,631 bales, of corn 140,853 bushels, and of sweet potatoes 6,643 bushels. Only cotton is exported, other products being entirely for home consumption. Fruits and vegetables of all kinds which grow in the temperate zone are plentiful at all seasons, and these, as well as a variety of other products of garden and field, could be raised for profitable export, but here, as well as elsewhere in the State, the one-crop system handed down to us by our fathers prevails, and only immigration, bringing in new men and advanced ideas, will lift the planters out of the well worn and time honored ruts in which thev travel. According to the late census the population is 8440, of which 3161 are whites and 5279 negroes. The latter are generally civil, quiet and industrious, some of the more forehanded of the race having bought small farms and accumu- lated a nice little stock of hogs and cattle around them. The importation of fine cattle has of late years been successfully accomplished by several planters. Notably among these is a little herd of Jerseys imported by the Hon. H. P. Wells, of Delhi. Cattle and hogs generally farewell in the parish, requiring no shelter summer or winter, grass, switch cane, mast and swamp furnishing abundant feed to all stock which range at large. The labor upon large plantations is generally performed by negroes, The share system generally prevails but when wages are given they range from $12 to $15 per month. Many white men cultivate small farms, with their own families, with an occasional hired hand. They are almost universally prosperous and out of debt, and are really the most independent class of people, rais- ing their supplies at home. The health of this section will compare favorably with that of other portions of the South, aDd the climate is not subject to violent extremes of heat and cold. Foreigners and immigrants from other States already here have found no difficulty in field work at all seasons. The people desire immigration, and will welcome all classes and creeds. SABINE PARISH. BY PROF. E. W. HILGARD. Population: 7344. White, 5486; colored, 185S. Area: 1008 square miles. Woodland, all. Oak uplands, 658 square miles ; central prairie region, 200 square miles ; long-leaf pine hills, 150 square miles. SABINE PARISH. 199 Tilled land : 18,524 acres. Area planted in cotton, 5952 acres ; in corn, 7971 acres ; in sweet potatoes, 191 acres ; in sugar cane, 85 acres. Cotton production : 2313 bales ; average cotton product per acre 0.39 bale, 555 pounds seed cotton or 185 pounds cotton lint. Sabine parish, as a whole, is occupied by rolling oak uplands, ex cepting only a few townships in the southeastern corner, where the long-leaf pine prevails, as it does' in the adjoining portions of Vernon and Natchitoches parishes. From these hilly, long-leaf pine lands, whose soil is sandy and unthrifty, there is rather a sudden transition to the better soils of the "central prairie region," beginning west of the Bayou Toreau. Here oaks, mingled with more or less of short-leaf pine, prevail; the pale yellow subsoil gives place to a deep-tinted orange or red clayey loam on the hills, while in the valleys there are occasional black prairie spots and trees indicative of the limy ingi e- dients of the marine tertiary formation prevail. See an analysis of a subsoil from this region. Belts of deep red soils, derived from a shelly ironstone that underlies them, are occasionally found. Lands of the character described form a band of six or seven miles wide, running in a northeast direction from the Sabine river to the line of Natchitoches parish, where the long-leaf pine again sets in. Bidges crested by the latter run out into the uplands northward of Manny ; but on the flanks of these, as well as in the valleys, a good oak-growth mingled with short-leaf pine prevails, and so continues toward De Soto parish, on the dividing ridge between the Sabine and Bed rivers. The lands on Bayous Negrete and San Patricio are reputed to be the best of the re- gion, and greatly superior to those on the Bed Biver side of the divide. A fine staple of cotton is grown on these lands, which are both pro- ductive and lasting. Communication with the New Orleans market is via landings on Bed Biver. ABSTRACT OF THE REPORT OF D. W. SELF, MILL CREEK. This is a rolling-upland parish, with numerous creek and bayou bot- toms; the latter have a stiff, heavy, gum soil, subject to overflow in the back-lands, while the front-lands are sandy and characterized by beech timber. The creek bottoms are the most important for cotton culture, forming quite one-half of the land on which cotton is grown. The timber is lowland oaks, sweet gum, hickory, holly and magnolia. The soil is a clay loam, sometimes putty-like; color, from yellow to blackish, and black when containing lime ; it is 15 to 24 inches deep ; the subsoil is heavier and more sticky, but becomes similar to the sur- face soil under tillage. Heavy or pipe clay underlies at 5 feet. Corn, cotton, sweet potatoes, peas, oats and rice are grown— the last to a small extent only, but yields well on the stiff soil. The bayou bottoms are best adapted to cotton, and 40 to 50 per cent, of their land is in that crop. The stalk grows from 4 to 6 feet high ; is most productive at 4 feet, being inclined to run to weed on this soil in regular seasons, and doing best in dry ones. Close, deep plowing will restrain it ; when well advanced, topping. From 1200 to 1500 pounds of seed-cotton per acre are produced, of which from 1350 to 1400 pounds make a 450-pound bale. The staple rates good middling when clean ; fifteen years' culti- vation make little difference in quality or quantity of product. Very little of this land lies out : some has been in cultivation for forty years ; when resting four or five years, it produces almost as well as when fresh. The sandy front land or beech soil, forming about one-fourth of the cultivated lands, is more generally planted in corn and potatoes. Its timber is beech, magnolia, white oak, holly, wild peach, etc. It is a fine sandy loam, yellowish, down to two feet depth ; ^he subsoil is heavier and of a more yellow cast. It admits of earlier planting than the . WO LOUISIANA. back lands, being well drained. Cotton grows six to eight feet high when the land is fresh ; six feet is best. About 1200 pounds of seed cotton is the product on fresh land, staple, etc. the same as on the back land. Crab-grass is the most troublesome weed on both of these soils. Cotton in these lowlands is subject to injury; in cold, wet sea- sons, but fruits so much better and is so much less liable to shedding that we prefer the lowlands to the uplands for cotton culture. Hummock, or upland soil, forms about one-fourth of the tillable lands. The timber is post, red and black oaks. The soil is fine and sandv, of an orange-red tint, from twelve to fifteen inches deep. The subsoil is heavier, and clay is found at a depth of two feet. It tills easily at all times ; it is mainly given to the culture of corn and pota- toes. Cotton grows from three to five feet, best at the latter height ; it yields 800 to 1000 pounds of seed cotton per acre. About 1050 pounds of seed cotton are required for a bale ; it rates low middling, and about the same after six years' cultivation, when the yield falls to 600 or 700 pounds. A good deal of such land lies turned out, and without manure it is worthless for further cultivation. It washes on slopes, but the valleys are benefited by the washings, and "we let it go." Cotton is hauled to Natchitoches and generally sold there. ST. BERNARD PARISH. BY HON. ALBERT ESTOPINAL. The parish of St. Bernard begins at the lower limit the parish of Orleans on the left bank of the Mississippi River, ami has a front of some fifteen miles on said river, extending to the upper line of the parish of Plaquemines, it then follows the bayou Terre-aux-Boeufs in an easterly direction to the Gulf of Mexico, a distance of about 100 miles. It also includes Proclorville on Lake Borgne and the Ridge known as Lachincha lying on both sides of the Bayou La Loutre, a small stream which flows into Lake Borgne. The parish was origi- nally settled by immigrants from the Canary islands about the year 1778. According to the census of 1880 the population is about 6,000, about one-half colored. The assessment for 1880 amounts to about $700,000. The parish owes about $10,000 and has a sufficient amount of back taxes due to extin- guish this indebtedness. The climate is pleasant and healthy. The soil of St. Bernard parish is as rich as any in the State, the area of arable land is about 25,000 square acres, and easily drained, being formed by ridges on both sides of the Terre-aux-Bceufs and La Loutre Bavous, sloping gently towards the cypress swamp on either side. There are many small streams which flow into the numerous bays and lakes along the gulf coast, which serve as outlets to carry off surplus water. Along the Mississippi River and small water courses the surface is a rich sandy soil, towards the cypress swamp the soil is rich clay loam. The crops at present raised are sugar cane, corn, rice and some cot- ton, on the Bayou La Loutre, especially the sea island, which grows luxuriantly and yields generally from one to one and a half bales. All kinds of vegetables are also raised in large quantities for the New Or- leans market. The largest portion of that part of the parish lying on the Terre-aux- Bceufs and La Loutre is cut up into small farms, where vegetables are raised. There are twenty sugar plantations, which made in 1879 about 5000 hogsheads of sugar. ST. CHARLES PARISH. SOI The population is not as large as it should be, owing to the want of good means of transportation to the Mississippi river from the interior there being but one road, which becomes very bad during the rainy season. Lately the accommodations for traveling have been greatly improved by the creation of the New Orleans and Terre-aux-Bceufs Transportation Company, which is running a line of stages to a point ten miles from the Mississippi Kiver down Terre-aux-Bceuts ia connec- tion with the steamboats Daisy and Martha, for New Orleans The people generally applaud and encourage the enterprise, and are doing all in their power to secure its permanent success. A railroad from JNew Orleans to Proctorville would make St. Bernard one of the richest parishes in the State. Fish and game abound, and many people earn a livelihood by fish- ing and hunting. J Fruits of all kinds flourish in St. Bernard, especially the orange. which grows magnificently. 6 ' Schools are neglected, but a favorable change is expected soon I he court-house and jail are in a dilapidated condition, but the present police jury have made provisions for the necessary repairs, and will no doubt, before the end of the present year, carry out their pur- pose with regard to said repairs. ST. CHARLES PARISH. ST. CHARLES HERALD. The parish of St. Charles is the second parish above the city of New Orleans, on the Mississippi Kiver. Its soil is alluvial, wonderfully fer- tile and probably as rich as any in the world. The parish is rather OT£t» 1 ^/ot in the world where the dairy business can be conducted with such profit as right here. Cows do well and give a large quantity of milk all the year round on the range alone, ST. CHARLES PARISH. SOS although they -yield a better quantity and quality if slightly fed a por- tion of the time. Milk, butter and butter-milk always command high prices. Cows are cheap, and yet veal in the New Orleans market always brings a high price. The product of dairies established along our river coast could easily and daily be shipped to the city by various means. There is no land in the world where poultry raising is so easy and profitable an occupation as in this parish. Turkeys, geese, ducks, chickens, Guinea fowls, pigeons, etc. here live, thrive and increase without expense to the owner ; and besides supplying his tables with eggs and delicacies, enable him to dispose of a large number each year for shipment. The lakes, bayous, ponds and river furnish a constant supply of dif- ferent kind of tish. The fields and woods afford fine sport to the huntsman. Hares, rabbits, squirrels, raccoons, and many varieties of birds are plentiful, while sometimes a deer or bear is met with. The facilities for transportation of freight or passengers is tolerably good. Three railroads from New Orleans pass through the parish, namely: the Donaldsonville, the Morgan, and the Chicago Railroads. The Mississippi River, the lakes, and Bayou des Allemands afford facilities for water crafts. The public road along the river puts the planter who is on horseback or in a buggy within easy access to the city. There are several saw mills in the parish, from which large quanti- ties of cypress lumber are furnished. The making of pickets, clap- boards, shingles, hogsheads and barrels gives employment to many. At Boutte citation, in the southeast corner of the parish, resides a camp of Choctaw Indians, whose living is made by manufacturing all sorts of baskets and wares from the native cane, and by gathering the leaves that are ground into g\xmho fille. There is an old rice mill (So- niat's) in the parish, and at Hahnville there are quite a large number of mechanical industries. At Bayou des Allemands many men do handsomely by hunting, and in the winter months large numbers of wild duck are shipped to New Orleans from this point. The gathering and curing of moss, the cut- ting and marketing of wood affords profitable employment. Soil in the vicinity of the river is well adapted to the manufacture of bricks and common pottery. Boutte Station, on the line of the Morgan Railroad, is a pretty little village, with several stores, a public school and a number of pretty homes. The Star plantation, one of the finest in the parish, about three miles above Hahnville, was the home of the Chevalier Darinsbourg, the chief of the early German colonists. There is now a Catholic church and grave-yard at the lower front corner. Everybody knows or has heard of the Red Church. It is the oldest Catholic church in this part of the country. It is supposed to be exactly twenty-five miles from Canal street, New Orleans, and has been for fully one hundred years a landmark to travelers on the river. It adjoins the beautiful plantation of the late J. A. Rost, who was a judge of our Supreme Court, Confederate States Minister to Spain, and a gentleman of varied acquirements and great popularity. Freetown is the name given to a creole settlement at the river termi- nation of the Boutte Road. Here there are a number of white and colored families with small gardens. There are several large stores at this point. The place is well shaded by pecan and other trees. There is a Catholic chapel and a colored church here. Hahnville.— Hahnville, situated on the right bank, about twenty-eight miles from Canal street, is one of the prettiest villages in the State. There are here two schools, two churches, a newspaper, several tine 204 LOUISIANA stores, blacksmiths, carpenters, bakers, butchers, etc. In fact, Hahn- ville is a nourishing place, offering many natural advantages to those in search of a field for enterprise and a pleasant, healthful Southern home. It enjoys a daily mail to and from the city, and is the centre of the business and gaiety of the parish. The court-house is situated one-half mile below Hahnville, and is half-way between each end of the parish. We have room for more people. We want mechanics and industrious people of all classes to come and make their homes here. This place presents as good an opening to energy and pluck as any other, and ■vre want the country to know it. Its surrounding is noted for the ex- cellence of its climate, the fertility of its soil, the variety and abun- dance of its products and the wealth, refinement, congenial and friendly character of its older citizens. The New Orleans and Donald- sonville Railroad track stretches along its rear ; the great, rapid river rolls by its front, and the tireless steamers, proudly bearing their golden freight, ply their trade and float upon its heaving bosom as far as the human eye can see up or down. By these facilities New Or- leans can be reached in two hours. Here land, lots and houses are offered for sale as cheaply and on as favorable terms as the same can be had anywhere. Can any more be said for any country? Where under the sun are there better opportunities presented to the poor, ambitious planter or industrious mechanic? It is astounding to re- flect that this vast and wonderful country, so rich in its thousand re- sources has never been touched by the hand of energetic enterprise. What is to prevent the tide of emigration from setting this way, and occupying our idle lands with the hardy tillers of the soil— the world's strongest, bravest and most intrepid people, the settlers and pioneers? Nothing! The sweet light of our future prosperity is now dawning; the day of Louisiana's glory breaks ; we dwell in peace at home, and the dark clouds which hitherto obscured the vision have been lifted and dissipated. ST. HELENA PARISH. Hon. Wm. H. Harris, Commissioner of Agriculture and Immigration State of Louisiana : Dear Sir— The parish of St. Helena is bounded north by the 31st parallel of latitude, separating it from the State of Mississippi; east by the parish of Tangipahoa, south by the parish of Livingston, west by the Amite River, which separates it from East Feliciana and East Baton Rouge parishes. Its superficial area contains 550 square miles, or 352,000 acres. Greensburg, the parish site, is 12 miles west from Amite and 10 miles from Tangipahoa Station, on the New Orleans, St. Louis and Chicago Railroad, and 12 miles east of Amite River. Its population is about 300. It contains about thirty neat residences, court-house and jail, three law offices, one printing office (The Gazette), one commodious Masonic Hall, two churches (Baptist and Methodist), Norvilla Fe- male Institute, three private schools, one butcher, one shoemaker, two blacksmith shops, one jeweler, one hotel and boarding-house, one livery stable, two good physicians, one millinery establishment, five stores, one farmers' co-operative store. Grangeviile, 12 miles west from Greensburg, on the Amite River, (Third Ward), contains one co-operative Grange store, one store under construction, one drug store, two doctors, one blacksmith shop, one brickyard and a post-office. ST. HELENA PARISH. 205 About two miles above on the river is situated, in a pleasant locality the Amite River Academy— Principal, Rev. G. M. Headen. This is a flemishing school. Our parish tax is eight mills on the dollar. Our poll tax is one dol- lar which goes to the school fund. This is a rolling piney-woods parish, interspersed with numerous rivers, creeks and branches. The principal growth is pine, mostly long leaf yellow, oaks of several varieties, gum, poplar, magnolia, beech, bass-w T ood, maple, sumac, hickory, dogwood, etc., on the water courses, birch, elm, cherry, etc. ; a small quantity of cypress in the small river swamps. The lands on the river banks from a quarter to a mile wide, are nearly all cultivatible. Our rivers and creeks are subject to overflow from heavy rains in the spring and late in the fall, making it safer to fertilize the uplands. The uplands are in general sandy, with good clay sub- soil. The branch, creek and river flats are the cream of the uplands, washed off by the rains, they are a dark, sandy loam, with good clay subsoil. The principal streams in the parish are, Natalbany and Tickfaw Rivers, Darling's creek, Twelve Mile, East and West Hogbranches, Brusley creek and Amite River. These waters empty into Lake Mau- repas. Late appropriations by Congress will likely give us navigation up the Amite River as far as Grangeville or Williams' Bridge. There are many fine mill sites in the parish, affording sufficient water power for factories and machinery. A number of saw mills and cotton gins are now run by them. The quality of our soil is generally productive. No minerals developed in this parish yet. Small quantities of iron ore can be seen in many places. We can grow almost any kind of crops, including many from the tropics. Cotton is cultivated by the majority of farmers in this parish as the money crop. On land not fertilized the average yield is from one-half to three-quarter bales of cotton per acre. Lands well fer- tilized and cultivated will yield, with favorable season, one bale weigh- ing from 400 to 500 pounds. The average crop of corn on lands not fertilized is from ten to fifteen bushels. By fertilization some farmers have made this season from forty to fifty bushels per acre, worth at home from fifty cents to one dollar per bushel. Sweet potatoes, cultivated for home use are a profitable crop, yield from 100 to 300 bushels per acre, worth from twenty-five to fifty cents per bushel at home. Irish potatoes yield about the same. We can raise two crops a year. Oats yield about the same as corn. Sugar cane is not generally cul- tivated in this parish. In our ward (the fourth), situated on the Amite River, a livelier interest is evinced in cane patches this year. Little portable mills and copper evaporating-pans are resorted to in the man- ufacture of syrup. Parties having mill and fixtures go from place to place in the fall, and grind on shares, usually one-sixth for use of mill and man to tend it. When the miller furnishes team and help the toll ranges from one- fourth to one-third. We can make, with very little work, one hogshead of sugar and four barrels of molasses per acre. Sugar is worth from 10 to 12J cents per pound and molasses from 40 to 50 emits per gallon at home. Sorghum cane produces well, and makes an excellent feed for rais- ing hogs. It will make from 60 to 100 gallons per acre, worth 40 and 50 cents per gallon. It is not cultivated much in this parish. Rice is cultivated with but little work on new-ground lands. Broom corn will do splendidly here. 206 LOUISIANA. Hops will do well without any culture. Tobacco will do as well here as anywhere. Three euttings a year can be obtained. There is a good deal raised in the parish for home use ; none for the general market. Crab grass and pea hay is generally cut and saved for stock here. Pea vines plowed in just as the pea turns to ripen is the best and cheap- est fertilizer we can use, and, by actual test, it will redeem barren lands in three years to their primitive state of fertility. Fruits.— Almost every farmer has some fruit trees, generally peaches. The climate and soil is well adapted to the culture of a large Variety of fruits, — quinces, pomegranates, peaches, pears, some few varieties of apple, plums of every variety do well, figs never fail, some few varieties of grapes do exceedingly well, strawberries do well ; watermelons, ex- ceedingly fine, often weighing from 40 to 50 pounds ; pumpkins and kershaws are excellent. Jute will do well by actual test, seeds planted in the latter part of July or first of August this year on ordinary land is from six to seven feet high and a vigorous grower. As soon as a company now organized in New Orleans get ready for manufacturing it, we will plant for market. Our climate is delightful— the doctors often say distressingly healthy. Atmosphere pure and salubrious at all times. We have no epidem- ics in our parish. Our mortality list will compare favorably with any other section of the United States. We are much less liable to sun- stroke than in the State of New York ; in fact, sunstroke is hardly known here. Our drinking water is as good as anywhere in the world ; it is ob- tained from numerous bold crystal springs, wells and cisterns. Population of this parish from the census of 1880 : Whites, 3241 ; blacks, 4253 —total, 7494. Nationalities : American and mixtures from the different countries of Europe. We have English, Scotch, German, Swedes, French and Irish. The general character of our inhabitants will compare favorably with the best in the United States. Lands of all kinds we have; ean be bought, woodland and im- proved lands— prices varying from $1 to $10 per acrp, according to locality and improvements. Terms can be made in most cases to suit Eurchaser. Thousands of acres of unsurpassed saw-mill timber can e had at the Government price, per acre $1 25, or even less. Labor.— The usual contract for labor is, for the farmer to furnish the land, teams, feed and implements necessary to cultivate and gather the crop, and give one-half of all the crops raised. When rations are furnished the laborer gets one-third of the crop. When wages are given the range is from $10 to $12 per month, with usual rations. When parties rent they pay according to value of land, condition of fences and improvements, etc; easy terms can be made. The rent of a mule or horse ranges from $20 to $25 for the year, paid out of the crop or as may otherwise be agreed upon. A hand can cul- tivate from fifteen to twenty- five acres of land, according to the crops raised. We have fourteen churches, and the Baptist and Methodist denomi- nations predominate in the parish. Public schools in the parish, forty- two ; private, twelve. We have a large flourishing school in the town of Greensburgr. incorporated and empowered to graduate its pupils, stvled the "Norvilla Female Institute. " Principal, Prof. S. S. Norwood. Board can be procured at $10 and $12 per month. Chinese are not wanted here, nor do we invite any mongrel race. ST. HELENA PARISH. 207 We invite honest, well meaning, white immigrants from all quarters of the globe. They can find employment here at remunerative wages, and can work all the year round in the fields with perfect safety. Capitalists and manufacturers are needed to develop the incalculable resources o^our country. Good mechanics get fair wages. We have had but little immigration in our parish as yet, we have a few from other States in the Union, a few from Sweden, Germany, England, France and Ireland. In the Fourth Ward we have the "Fourth Ward Agricultural Society. " As we are in our infancy, as it were, we have had no time or means to do much in the cause of immigration. We are in full sympathy and feel deeply interested in it and will do all in our power to assist it, but at present we would not advise the immigrant to come here without some little means, at least enough to run him the first year. We are plain in our statement of facts and honest in what we tell you, After reading just how, and what we are, if you are inclined to come and cast your lot with us and take your chances you are heartily welcome to do so. The natural facility, and ease of production, of forage of every kind, with mildness of climate and unlimited wild pasture, makes this nat- urally a fine stock country. Horses, mules, cattle, sheep, goats and hogs can be raised here with as much profit as anywhere. The average price of our native sheep is $1 50 per head ; beef cattle, yearlings, at home, from $5 to $6 per head ; milch cows from $15 to $20 per head. The cost of raising is comparatively nothing, as in this climate stock can get along without wintering. In the months of February and March they need some little attention. Hence stock raising with us is nearly all profit, The manure alone will pay for the attention given to stock. Milk, butter, hides and wool are a great source of profit. Lumber sells at the mills from $8 to $10 per 1000 feet. We have good home markets in our numerous country and village stores for everything we raise. From the western portion of the parish the most of our trade and shipping is carried to Baton Eouge. Flowers.— The woods proverbially are a natural flower-garden the year round, and every variety of tame, native or imported plants that can be cultivated in the United States, will do well here— but few needing any winter protection. Game.— We have turkeys, rabbits, squirrels, deer, opossums, coons, ducks, woodcock, snipe, quails, etc. Fish.— We have a fair supply in our streams, including perch, trout, catfish, buffalo, gaspagoo, soft-shell turtles and hard-shells of several varieties. Birds.— We have a variety of native song-birds — the American canary, lark and mocking-bird, the imitator of all birds, filling the air with its delightful warble day and night; the oreole, wren, humming- bird, blue-jay, thrush, blue, red and blackbirds, and many others of of varigated colors. This year, 1880, we have an unusual beech mast, and from the observa- tion of some of our oldest settlers every third year the beech trees are ladened with fruit. Oak and pine masts are generally plentiful. Geo. W. Church, Greensburg postoffice, has 400 acres of land, situated on Darling's creek, ten miles northeast of Greensburg. These lands are a fair average of the parish ; contains fine mill sites for water power. Offers to give in forty acre lots to heads of immigrant families, a guarantee title when possession is taken ; 150 acres of the land is cleared. Germans or Sweedes preferred, but have no objections to others. 208 LOUISIANA, There is an unlimited field here for any enterprise of the capitalist. Gentlemen, come on. The first that come will get the cream of the W. W. MATTHEWS, Chairman; N. B. CALMES. ISAAC ODOM, WM. DENNIS, S. PBAVES, Committee of Citizens. ED. McD. ANDERSON Secretary Fourth Ward Agricultural Society, Dennis' Mills Postofflce, St. Helena Parish. L&. ST. JAMBS PARISH. BY PROF. E. W. HILGARD. Population : 14,714. White 4850, colored 9864. Area : 308 square miles. Woodland, 253 square miles; alluvial land, '253 square miles ; marsh and marsh prairie, 55 square miles. Tilled land : 54,675 acres. Area planted in cotton, none ; in corn, 11,303 acres ; in sweet potatoes, 139 acres ; in sugar cane, 15,227 acres. The parish of St. James, north of the river, resembles more the river parishes further north than those of the delta plain proper. The high- lands near the river are highly productive and densely settled, and mostly occupied by sugar plantations. Northward of this belt the drainage is toward Lake Maurepas, through Bayou des Acadiens and Mississippi Bayou, which head a few miles from the main river. The belt of marsh land fringing the shores of Lake Maurepas is only from three-quarters to one mile wide, and the land along the bayous south of the river ; the cultivated border belt of the usual width of from two and a half to three miles is somewhat abruptly terminated by the marsh prairies that border the Lake Des Allemands, which thence ex- teud westward as a belt about six miles in width, a little beyond the principal meridian of the survey, about half-way between the river and Bayou Lafourche. Last season's production of sugar 10,688 hogsheads; last season's production of lice 20,312 barrels. ST. JOHN BAPTIST PARISH. BY PROF. E. W. HILGARD. Population: 9686 -white, 3855; colored, 5831. Area : 190 square miles, woodland, all. Nearly all alluvial land. Tilled land: 29,213 acres. Area planted in cotton, none; in corn, 2888 acres ; in sweet potatoes, 3 acres ; in sugar cane, 9453 acres. This small parish, reaching southward to the Lake Des Allemands and its bordering marshes, while to the northward it embraces the neck of land that separates Lakes Pontchartrain and Maurepas, is in most respects similar to St. Charles. Between the main 'river and Lake Maurepas, it comprehends a fine expanse of agricultural land of great productiveness and in a high state of cultivation. Fields of sugar cane and market gardens occupy most of the cultivatable lands in the par- ish. The region between the two lakes is partly marsh prairie, partly cypress swamp, rendered almost impenetrable by a thick undergrowth of saw palmetto. The prairie on the border of Lake Pontchartrain is partly of the "trembling" character, which is perceptible even to the ST. LANDRY PARISH. 209 passer-by on the great highway— the New Orleans and Chicago rail- road—that traverses it. A few cultivated spots and settlements exist in this region also. "In this parish is made the famous peri que tobacco; annual product 5000 carrats. Last season's sugar crop 17,328 hogsheads ; last season's rice crop 31,545 barrels." ST. LANDRY PARISH. ST. LANDRY DEMOCRAT. The parish of St. Landry is next to the largest one in the State. It is bounded on the north by the parishes ot Rapid s and Avoyelles, on the east by the last named parish and the Atchafalaya River, on 'the south by Bayou Turtle Tail (which separates it from the parishes of Lafayette, St. Martin and Vermilion) and the Bayou Carancro, and on the west by the Mermentau River and Bayou Nez Pique. These lim- its embra -e about sixty-rive townships— equal to 1,405,000 acres. < mi the east are the Bayou Courtableau and the Atchafalaya River, con- necting with the Mississippi River, and thence to New Orleans ; and on the west the Mermentau River opens to us the ports of Galveston and New Orleans, via the Gulf of Mexico. By the Morgan line of railroad a direct communication is established to New Orhans. And via the Louisiana Western Railroad, at the town of Vermilionville, to Lake Charles, in Calcasieu parish, and thence to Houston and other points in Texas. The Morgan line, which is to extend to Alexandria, will bring us in direct communication with the great Red River valley. Diversity of Natural Wealth.- Perhaps no inland parish is more boun- tifully provided with the means and f tcilities required by the farmer stock raiser, mechanic and Poorer than the parish of St. Landry, when its area and the diversity cf its natural wealth are takon into consider- ation. Tiie diversity which our parish presents— from the hill to the gently undulating prairie, from the dense forest to the grand natural meadow- gives fuil scope for the many tastes and pursuits of man. There are localities, too, where the scenery is both pleasing and picturesque, and where the tired denizen of the city may find rest and peace, and even solitude, should he desire it. Within 'the limits thus imperfectly de- scribed there is room for thousands of families, possessing intelligence and versed in all the later improvements in agriculture, endowed with high purposes of progress, and who desire to elevate their own condi- tion by well-directed and skillful farming operations. We will wel- come all such with open arms. The Norllaoestern Section.— The northwestern section of our parish is bounded by the Bayou Nez Pipue on the west, the Bayou Crocodile on the north and east, and the Bayou Cane on the south and southwest. • The area embraced within this circle amounts to nearly 38,000 acres of : land. This portion of our parish presents a formation somewhat different from the other parts, inasmuch as we are in the hill country. These elevations are the southwestern termination of the same hills which extend through northern and middle Mississippi, and are offshoots from the Appalachian range of mountains which form the eastern boundary of the great basin of the Mississippi River. Within this region we have an extensive deposit of beautiful black marble and pebbles as the main geological features, and beech, pine, magnolia, oak and hickory the forest growth, with clear running brooks and pellucid lakes, abounding in trout and other fish. Along that portion of the Bayou Crocodile within, the limits of our parish is found a narrow strip of bottom land subject to inundation' 27 210 LOUISIANA. during heavy rains. This, whilst rendering the land unsafe for culti- vation, affords the lumber men the means of floating timber for the use of saw mills, and furnishes fine winter pasturage for cattle and hogs. The pine forests open an inviting field for mill men, and also to those acquainted with the manufacture of naval stores. In this forest region are also found bodies of land growing black walnut, chinkquapin and the wild cherry. The body of timber encircled by the water courses above named, although great in extent and valuable in kind, does not cover the entire area under consideration- the great Mammou prairie lying mostly within the same limits. Here roam some of our largest herds ; here is beheld one of those great natural meadows over which the eye wanders with delight, affording abundont sustenance to thousands of dumb beasts. A few years ago we saw 6000 fine beeves within the com- pass of six miles north and south, and four miles east and west, await- ing the pleasure of the New Orleans butchers. Tide water ascends the Nez Pique and Cane some distance above their junction with the Mermentau Kiver (the outlet to the Gulf of Mexico) ; and the soft and cooling breeze of the sea brings to the set- tler health and refreshment. As we approach the junction of the last named streams the timber changes, and we find, in addition to the other qualities, red cypress, sweet and black gum, dogwood, redbud and elm. The streams are wider and deeper, having a depth of twenty feet the entire year ; and on or near their oanks are found several min- eral springs of considerable medicinal virtue. The soil within this belt of country is not extremely fertile in its nat- ural condition. Its character may be thus staged : the surface is a vegetable mould of from six to fourteen inches, reposing upon a bed of beautiful clay ; it is not subject to wash, and whenever manure is employed its virtues are entirely secured. In its normal condition it produces fair corn, the finest of potatoes, excellent vegetables, and is admirably adapted for fruit ; but its great advantage [consists in the raising of cattle, horses and hogs. For these purposes, neither Indiana nor Illinois can compete with it. Its wealth of grass for cattle, its mast for swine, its fine water and timber, give it a value for the small farmer and stock raiser beyond computation. The Western Section.— We shall now take up that portion of our parish embraced within the natural boundaries fixed by the Bayous Cane and Mallet. This belt of country embraces an area of nearly 160,000 acres, rather more than one-half of which is prairie of a better quality than the prairie of the section just described. The lands bordering on these, and the other streams of our parish, were donated in former times by the Spanish Government to individuals, with a front upon the stream and extending back the depth of forty arpents, or nearly one and a half miles. This mode of donating was, in a country like this, divided between wood and prairie— a wise system. It enables each proprietor to have access to the water and enjoy the advantage of the timber. In the immediate rear of these tracts lies an expanse of prairie, hav- ing a width of from four to sis miles. The Prairie Faquetaique (or Turkey-hen) is within the area bounded by these streams, and the soil, in portions thereof, is of excellent qual- ity. Corn rice, tobacco, sugar cane, cotton, potatoes and fruit do well, and were a better system of culture developed, more labor-sav- ing machinery introduced, and more brain-work evoked, the increase of production would be very great. The land is gently undulating, not liable to wash from flooding ralna, is easy of cultivation, and susceptible of perfect drainage with little &Mt ol labor . Tk© streams afford as abuadaae© of water fos gtooke aad fFT. LANDRY PARISH. $11 the prairie a luxuriant growth of grass for their support. To the north extends a heavy forest, growth breaking off from both man and beast the chilling blast of winter, and at the same time affords a trrateful re- treat from the heat of summer. _ Hay of an excellent quality can be made from this prairie «rrass and in quan cities to supply a dense population arid leave a large surplus for exportation. Men used to the labor-saving machines of the North and West, and combining therewith a practical knowledge of curinsr and preparing this article of commerce, have presented to them a sure and profitable business. Swine in great numbers can be raised, and at small expense, the oak forests affording a heavy mast. The mildness of our climate, facility for procuringsalt, and easy access to market combine to render this a most lucrative branch of industry. Timber for making barrels and for hoops, as also for the construction of all necessary buildings is immediately at hand. g ' ° Sheep raising can be successfully engaged in also. The mutton of this section js of a most delicious flavor, and the best qualities of wool have been produced. • Sweet potatoes, as an article of food and for the purpose of fattening cattle and hogs, yield an immense crop.' It may be put in reason- able bounds at 350 bushels per acre. Pears, peaches, grapes and fiffs nourish in great periection, and can be made a source of great The health of this section is unexceptionable. As many centenarians will be found within our borders as in any other portion of the United Towns of Washington and Opeloiisas.-Vte will now attempt a descrip- tion of that portion of our parish embraced and bounded by the Bavous Cane and Mallet on the west, Courtableau on the north and east and Plaquemme Brulee on the south. ' Taking Washington as the initial point let us turn our faces south- west. Crossing the Bayou Carron in the rear of Washington, we ascend the bluff, and are upon the common table land which extends to the Bayous Cane, Mallet, Brulee, etc Passing amidst farms and a gently undulating country, we, at the distance of six miles reach One- lousas, the seat of justice, and one of the handsomest and most pleas- ant towns in the State, containing some two thousand or more inhabi- tants. It is beautifully located, exceedingly healthy, and is suscep- tible of being made one of the most important of our rural cities Flourishing schools are to be found here. And, in a social point of view, we believe that our community will compare favorably with anv Place of its extent. Here will be found that innate politeness and delicate hospitality which so highly characterize our French citizens combined with intelligence and refinement. The American population embraces several families of high culture, polished manners and that general knowledge of the world which lends a charm to social inter- course. In fine, with a location of great beauty, a back country of great resources, nearness to water communication and a railroad completed, in the midst of a genial climate and healthful in all respects, with good institutions of learning and an intelligent and pol- ished society, we feel warranted in asserting that no locality in the Southern States combines more, if as many, inducements as we offer to people of all classes to come here and make their homes with us A Beautiful Rolling Prairie Dotted With Farms.- -Leaving the town of Opelousas, and turning our faces towards the setting sun we pass on over a beautiful rolling prairie country, dotted with farms in a high state of cultivation. ° At the distance of some seven miles from town we reach a po*nt in the prairie region where the timber of the Bavou Mallet on the north %12 LOUISIANA and the Plaquemine Brulee on the south juts out, enclosing that belt of landknoWn as the Plaqueraine ridge. The width of this ridge is, from one lineoltimber to the other, some six miles. The land from the centre of the ridge inclines gently to either stream, affording eveiy facility for drainage and favorable ground for building. The farmers within this prairie paradise have added to its charms by planting groves of the oak and china trees, which resemble fairy islands. In addition to these bright spots, in the spring of the year the growing corn, the flowering trees and shrubs and the earth with its luxuriant enamel of ' green, furnish us with a picture pleasing to the eye and filling the heart with thanksgiving to the Creator for such "a goodly habitation." Prairie, Hayes. — This beautiful prairie is everything that can be de- sired. Fine lands, good water, timber, etc. Cattle and horses are the chief objects of care, and from the immense range and small ppr cent, of loss this branch of industry is very lucrative. Hay of a superior qualitv can be cut on this prairie, the yield being two or more tons to the acre. Cotton, corn and bugar cane do finely. Sheep and hogs increase very rapidly. Meat keeps perfectly well here. Packing-houses might be profitably erected in this section as safely and at less cost than in Cincinnati and Louisville. The great salt mine of Judge Avery can be easily reached from this point by water. The best of oak and cypress is at 'hand for the making of barrels, and the hoop-poles stand ready to be fashioned into barrel hoops, and .New Orleans and Galveston invite to their mart. Every variety of field produce thrives here, and garden vegetables and fruits of all kinds — thus giving great variety to" labor and furnishing all those necessaries which tend to give pleasure to man. Tide water reaches this point, and the sea-breeze comes with health and comfort in its breath. The Louisiana Western Railroad passes through this lovely section. The Eastern Section.— St. Landry has a waterfront upon the Atchafa- lava biver of some sixty miles. This portion of the parish, embracing several townships, is covered with a dense growth of timber and cane- brakes, and is within the overflowed section of our State. On the im- mediate banks of the Atchafalaya, in ordinary seasons, crops may be made ; and were the same means used as formerly, in securing the levees, much valuable land would be brought under cultivation. On the Bayou Rouge, a branch of the Atchafalaya River, are found some rich and valuable lands, excellent for corn, cotton and su«ar. The same may be said of the Big Cane, Dry Bayou, Waxia, and other interior streams. The Courtableau, formed by the Crocodile and Bayou Bceuf, connects our parish with New Orleans byway of the At- chafalaya and Mississippi rivers. To within a few miles of "Washington the lands on the Courtableau are subject to annual inundation, and have therefore but little value in an agricultural point of view. S.till this vast belt of timber will always be of great value to the parish' for building and fencing materials. Until such time as the prairie lands shall be settled, this body of land will not be sought for farming purposes, owing to the great labor re- quired for clearing the same. Continuing up the Courtableau to the junction of the Bceuf and Crocodile, we enter one of the most beautiful portions of the parish. On either side of the Bceuf are seen large and valuable plantations, covered with luxuriant sugar cane, cotton and corn. The Southern Sect Ion.— "Upon leaving Opelousas we enter the timber which borders Bayou Callihan. Leaving this a short distance after crossing the said bayor^, we enter the prairie which spreads eastward from the Bayou Plaquemine Brulee. Following the edge of this prairie for a mile and a half we enter the heavy timber of Bellevue. The rail- road and old stage road pass for some five miles through a forest of magnificent oak, magnolia, hickory, ash and other valuable trees.when ST. MABTIN PABISE. 218- we debouch upon the beautiful prairie where stands the ancient village . of Grand Coteau. ."..„.'' .-■'-., , , The land of this prairie is very fertile, and produces fine crops of cotton, corn, oats, etc. ■ . The famous St. Charles College, in charge of Catholic clergymen, is situated at Grand Coteau. It is an old but large institution, capable of . accommodating a couple of hundred or more students. The Convent . of the Sacred Heart is under the superintendence of Jesuits. Before the war these institutions were very flourishing, as many of our best , citizens received a fine education, and many of our most accomplished women their tuition within their walls. They have, connected with the seminaries, a model farm, upon which they raise stock, as well as everything required for the support and comfort of these institutions. The chief attractions of the village are the superb gardens and shrub- bery with which it is ' • ~" mnded. Everybody here seems to be living in ease and comfort. Tha railroad depot has been located about one mile west of the villa.. _. *-.,-. Wild Game, etc.— Many portions of St. Landry abound in the finest of game. In the fall and winter and the early part of spring ducks and geese are to be found almost everywhere about the ponds and sloughs, which are quite numerous in the prairies. Prairie chickens are pretty abundant some distance west of Opelousas, as are also snipe, quails, etc. Bear, turkeys, deer roam the dense woods border- ing on the Atchafalaya, Calcasieu, Boeuf, Crocodile and other streams. Our hunting grounds afford much pleasure and recreation to sports- men, and not a few of them literally pass the hunting or game season with gun in hand and a brace or two of well-trained pointers or setters £\ t" t" \\ PIT* T"l pp! S The finest kind of fish— trout, bass, white and sun perch, and all other varieties of the finny tribe— can be caught in our larger streams and lakes and lagoons. Temperature, Location, etc.— The location of the table lands of St. Landry is high above overflow, and, in point of health, will compare favorably with any portion of the Western States. The average tem- perature' of the summer in this section is not oppressive owing to the regular sea breeze which refreshes and invigorates. Strangers are struck with the beauty and coolness of our nights. There is not expe- rienced that lassitude in the morning which is felt at St. Louis and other points in the North after enduring the stifled and heated atmos- phere of the night. Sleep is enjoyed ; and the only trouble we have experienced is, in being willing to retire to resc and lose the enjoyment of a Southern night. Its soft and balmly air, the clear and limpid firmament above, the sweet song of the mocking bird, all conspire to charm us into a forgetf ulness of "dull and carking cares," and we rise from such a night of slumber with health, and spirits and strength renewed for the labors of the day. We most urgently request, the stranger and pilgrim to turn their faces to our land of prairie, carefully look at its position, its resources, its beauty and productiveness, and then we ask no more. Population,— The census taken recently show a population of 39,271 in the parish. This is larger, by several thousands, than any other parish in the State except Orleans. ST. MARTIN PARISH. NEW ORLEANS DEMOCRAT. The parish of St. Martin is bounded on the west by Lafayette, on the south by Iberia and on the east by the parish of Iberville. The ex- treme length of the parish is twenty-four miles, and its extreme width $U LOUISIANA about the same. It contains 500 square miles of rich prairie, swamp lands, heavily timbered and tillable lands, covered with the finest bodies of timber in the State, suitable for sugar wood, building pur- poses, cabinet work, wagons, plows, and woodenware generally. The parish, as originally settled about the year 1762 by the Acadian refugees and French emigrants, embraced all of the territory from the eastern boundary of St. Landry to Berwick's Bay, but was organ- ized with its present outlines in 1804. . The population, according to the census of 1870, was 9370, which has increased to 12,844 in 1880. The water surface of the parish includes, perhaps, one-tenth of the entire area comprised within its boundaries, which is increased to about one- fourth during the prevalence of strong winds and high tides. The elevation of the uplands will range from fifteen to twenty-five feet above low tide- water. Climate and Health.— The health record of St. Martin parish is re- markably favorable, there being few diseases that are common, and these generally of a malarial type, brought about by exposure in the swamps and lowlands, where persons are engaged in the business of lumbering. During the summer months the mercury rarely rises above 90° or falls below 28° in the winter. There are no swamps, ponds or wet prairies near the Bayou Teche to generate disease ; the grown people and children look healthy, and there is a goodly number of old folks in the parish, 70 and 80 years not being considered unusual ages among those born in the country or acclimated. Yellow fever is un- known in the parish, except in isolated cases derived from infected sections, and these have never been known to spread. At the time of this writing the town of St. Martinsville, with a population of 1600, has only three persons reported on its sick list, and it is thought that one active phvsician might readily do all the practice of the parish, if pro- vided with adequate transportation from point to point. Quality of the Soil.— As to the richness of soil and all the qualities that are essential to any soil— drainage, ease of cultivation, its wearing and enduring properties— no portion of Louisiana can excel those of the valley of the Teche in the parish of St. Martin. The average width of tillable lands on the west side of the Teche is over three miles. Very nearly one-half of the parish consists of alluvial lowlands of remark- able productive capacity, but requiring some expenditures in the matter of levees and drainage. The remainder is a dark, heavy and somewhat sandy soil, which is readily cultivated and yields abundantly. About one-third of the land surface of the parish is prairie, and one-half of . this is probably under cultivation at the present time. Timber.— From the open prairie, which runs parallel with and near the Teche to the Atchafalaya Kiver, on the eastern boundary of the farish, is an almost unbroken forest of the finest timber in the State, n the swamps of the Atchafalaya are to be found millions of cypress trees, many of which are from three to four feet in diameter. Between these and the Teche prairie, on the tillable land there | are timber for- ests of ash, gum, hickory, black walnut, magnolia, various kinds of- oak, linn, pecan, sycamore, and other growths of less importance. At this time there are three excellent steam saw-mills in operation, which turn out enough lumber to supply the local demand as well as that from some of the adjacent parishes. Hedging is carried on to some extent, in portions of the parish, with the Cherokee rose and bois d'arc; out during the war some of the largest hedges were permitted to go to destruction, and have not since received attention. In almost every section may be found an abundance of timber. Water.— Among the most important bodies of water in the parish are the following: Vermilion, Tortue, DeGlaize, Long, Boute and Pigeon Bayous ; Dauterive, Grand, Fosse Pointe, Tasse, Martin and Catahoula Lakes, and the Atchafalaya, Grand and Alabama Bivers ST. MARTIN PAKlbE. 215 All of these bayous and rivers are navigable within the limits of the parish, except Vermilion and Tortue Bayous. There are no wells used m the parish, the numerous water courses supplying an abundance of water for stock, while cisterns furnish rain water for domestic pur- poses. Field Crops and Their Yield,— The soil of St. Martin is adapted for the successful and profitable cultivation of a great variety of field and garden crops, but up to the present time the attention of the in Habi- tants has been especially devoted to the production of sugar, cotton, corn and potatoes. The yield per acre under suitable or ordinary cul- tivation, such as is generally practiced in the country, is about as fol- lows : Sugar, from one and a half to two hogsheads ; molasses, from two and one-fourth to three barrels ; cotton, from one-half to one bale ; corn, from 20 to 25 barrels ; sweet potatoes, about 300 bushels ; Irish potatoes, about 190 bushels. Other crops, such as onions, pumpkins, cabbages, turnips, tobacco and indigo, are successfully grown. Two crops of Irish potatoes may be harvested during a single year, while the sweet potato grows all the year round. The sugar crop for 18S0 -81 was 3549 hogsheads, at which time there were seventy-eight plantations under cultivation, with thirty-nine sugar-houses, twenty-two of which were operated by steam and seventeen by horse power. There were also at the same time in use in the parish two vacuum pans, thirty-five open kettles and two open pans. Carrat tobacoo is manufactured at Grand Pointe, three crops being sometimes harvested during the year. Prices of Lands.— There is no land at the present time in the parish for entry under the United States government homestead acts, and that belonging to the State being classed as swamp lands, cannot be considered desirable for immigrants, especially those with limited means. There are, however, an abundance of first-class lands in the hands of private persons, along the Bayou Teche and in other desir- able sections of the parish, which may be had upon favorable terms and in tracts to suit the views of the purchasers. In fact, all the prin- cipal land-owners in St. Martin are disposed to encourage immigration to the parish, and will sell off their surplus lands in small parcels at reasonable figures for cash or on time. Some of the best of the unim- proved lands in the parish can be secured at prices ranging from $5 to $10 per acre, and there are improved places that may be had at about the cost of the improvements on the same. As an evidence of what may be accomplished in St. Martin by persons with limited means is cited the fact that since the war a number of industrious colored men purchased, on credit, small tracts of land, ranging from forty to fifty acres, at from $15 to $20 per acre, from the cultivation of which they have since realized enough to pay for the land and supply themselves with comfortable homes and with all necessary horses, horned cattle, hogs and farming implements, while some of them have a surplus of cash on hand for future investment. Churches and Sc/too/.s- —The most extensive religious denomination in the parish is the Roman Catholic, but most of the Protestant churches are represented In the population, and some of them are pro- vided with suitable buildings for public worship. The parish is also supplied with free schools during a few months of the year and several private schools, all of which are well attended while open. Labor and Wages.— The supply of field labor is principally drawn from the colored population, who, as a general thing, appear to be giving satisfaction at the present time, although white laboiers, equally reliable, are preferred. Field hands receive from $10 to $18 per month with rations. The share system has been extensively adopted by the planters of St. Martin, and so far as ascertained gives general satisfac- tion, especially to the tenants and croppers. St&ck Eaising. —There are some persons in the parish who devote 216 LOUISIANA. attention to raising stock, but mainly with a view to supply the local demand, although sales are made from time to time to the inhabitants of adjoining parishes. The facilities for stock raising in St. Martin are not surpassed in the State. (Mies and Towns.— St. Martinsville, the seat of justice of St. Martin parish, is located on the Bayou Teche, and has a population of 1600 i arson's. It has long been an important shipping point for the products of St. Martin and adjoining parishes, the navigation of the bayou be- ing good all the year. The town is supplied with a good brick court- house, jail, four churches, two public and two private schools, twenty- three stores, a brick market house, three blacksmith shops, one tin- smith, three cooper shops, several carpenters and builders, one tailor, three bakers, four coffee-houses, four physicians, six lawyers, four livery stables, two hotels, a brass band, two fire companies and a weekly newspaper— the Attakapas Sentinel -published in the English and. French languages. The town is well governed and orderly, and the local business is reported flourishing;. The inhabitants at this time are agitating the project of a railway connection by means of a branch to St, Martinsville station on Morgan's Louisiana and Texas Eailroad, a distance of five miles, which is now reached by a daily line of hacks. To a stranger the town of St. Martinsville appears rather old-fashioned and, to some extent, dilapidated; but a brief sojourn will convince him that a large amount of business is still transacted here in a quiet and unassuming way. Breaux Bridge is a very pretty little village about half-way between St. Martinsville and the junction of the Fuselier and Teche. It has a livery stable, hotel, Catholic church, good schools, a lyceum, a brass band and other proofs of progress and civilization. Market Facilities.- St. Martinsville is distant from New Orleans 135 miles by rail, and has uninterrupted water communication with the same city throughout the entire year. As a fruit growing region St. Martin is unsurpassed in both variety and quality. These fruits in- clude oranges, lemons, figs, plums, peaches, pears, bananas, grapes, apples, persimmons, pomegranates, and, in brief, every other variety common to a semi-tropical climate. In the way of garden vegetables, as previously stated, tnere is scarcely a limit to the productive capacity of the soil. Miscellaneous.— At present there is no organization in the parish looking to the encouragement of immigration from abroad, but the people seem to be thoroughly aroused as to its importance. As evi- dence of this it can be stated that many large owners have divided their lands into small tracts and are offering the same to newcomers, as well as to residents of limited means, at very low rates, agreeing to receive crops at stipulated prices in payment for the same. In the matter of game and fish St. Martin excels most of her neighboring Earishes. Sheephead, perch, catfish, trout and numerous other small sh are abundant in the waters, while wild ducks, geese, woodcock, snipe, quail and lone plover may be had in season. In the way of quadrupeds there are bears, deer, rabbits, squirrels, etc., all of ■which are within easy reach of a steady nerve and quick trigger. ST. MARY'S PARISH. BY B. F. WINCHESTER, FRANKLIN. One glance at the map of Louisiana will show that the parish of St. Mary is about eighty miles in a southwesterly direction from New Or- leans, the great emporium of the South. Though marred of her full and fair proportion by the creation of the new parish of New Iberia in ST. MARY PA RISTT. 217 18G8, St. Marv may still be considered the empire parish of Louisiana, Her population amounts lo ](>.470, one-third of which is while, the balance colored. The whites are mostly of American and French de- scent, and hot h languages are heard spoken throughout the parish;, Surrounded by navigable waters, except where she borders on the par- ish of Iberia, St. Mary presents an arcadia, fertile in resources, of about twenty miles wide, by a length of over double the distance. Fanned by the cool breezes of the Gulf, the traveler whether he goes through this parish on one of the daily packets that plot gh the quiet bosom of the classic Teche, or comes dashing back on the iron horse of the Morgan Railroad, feels that all his senses have been gratified and delighted. The rapid panorama of his trip, will ever keep fresh in his mind, multifarious wealth of luxuriauce such as no other spot can ever present or satisfy. But sugar is the great crop of the parish. The crop of isr.i c>2 amounted to 48,779 hogsheads. The large landed Baronial system which existed at that day. is gradually fading away. No longer does the wise planter of to-day think that he must own. and do everything and have everything on his own plantation under his sole control, be agriculturalist and manufacturer at the same time. Advancing civili- zation and its attendant benefrs, together with the uncertainty of labor, have evolved from a harsh necessity the great advantages of the division of labor. And to-day central sugar houses, where the crude article is refined into white clarified sugar, are springing up through- out the parish. But a few years ago,' every man planted his cane, ground and made ir, into low" brown sugar. To-day, many who could not erect sugar houses, have their cane now ground at the local refin- eries. The expense and extravagance of many little sugar houses have been put aside. Lands that were heretofore useless as sugar lands, for want of means to erect sugar houses, however intrinsically good for splendid cane, are now rendered valuable by the separate manufacturer taking all that the agriculturist can produce. The breaking up of the old-fashioned plartaiion system throws into market lands of every price and size for sale. The lands of St. Mary are not swampy and all marshvasmany would think. Belle Isle and Cote Blanche are more than 1 60 feet above the level of the Gulf; the balance of the arable land ranges from ten to fifteen feet above tide-water, which is from one to two feet in all the bayous and lakes of the parish. The sea-marsh, which is only under water during storms from the Gulf, and so easily faried, can Well be reclaimed for rice, as so conclusivelv shown hv the Land Reclamation Company of Louisiana. Any soil that is alluvial, imbedded in rich and deep vegetable deposit, is inexhaustible, and such is the geologi- cal formation of the greater part of fc»t. Mary. Reclaimed lands are fine for rice, sweet and Irish potatoes, pumpkins, peas, hay v cabbaeres, tobacco, beans, castor oil be'.ns, ramie and indigo, not to mention * \a island cotton, which in a season not too wet, is more remunerative tk\m anv other crop. The yield of cane is one hogsheads and a quarter per acre ; in a good .season this amount is nearly doubled. St. Mary lands, not flooded, produce 1500 pounds of rice per acre. Oranges, from the 8eed, bear in about six years, though some trees in favored localities bear earlier A full-grown healthv orange tree will produce between 4500 and 5000 oranges, and 300 to 400 will fill a common flour-barrel. The Japan plum, or mespilus, is so common that it is looked upon as indigenous. Severe cold will cause the fruit to fail, but never kills the trees. The ordinary muscadine, or black scuppernong grape, is found wild in the woods and swamps, whilst a white grape is cultivated in family 28 218 LOUISIANA. gardens— the delicate flavor of which reminds the connoisseur of Inateau Yquem. Blackberries and dewberries are found growing wild everywhere along the roads, hedges, fences and ditches. Strawberries require care and attention. The great basin of the Atchafalaya, which receives the surplus water. of the Mississippi at the mouth of Red Eiver, and in its course to the gulf serves to drain the innumerable bayous and lakes of St. Mary, not only converts our winter climate into the Indian summer of the Mid- dle States, but opens to our trade an inexhaustible supply of lumber. At Morgan City the steamship wharves are made from cypress ob- tained from but a short distance, and at small cost, from the neighbor- ing woods and swamps. Millions -of erossties taken from the same localities, received at this port, along with sawed and dressed lumber from mills throughout the parish, are shipped to Texas, and have been the economical means of building so cheaply the great railroads from this point to the centre of the Lone Star State. Berwick's Bay, with a width of nearly a mile and a depth at Morgan City of eighty i'eet, pre- sents every facility for ship building. For, over and above" the great supply of cypress, it is within a few miles of the great " live oak re- gion," where these monarchs of the forest, with their gnarled and knotted compactness, still flourish in undiminished numbers in spite of the drafts of the United States Navy from here to supply their At- lantic yards, But, besides the oak and cypress, the bayous and wood- land of St. Maiy are lined with ash, elm, sweetgum, black walnut, hickory and the beautiful magnolia, whilst the china, catalpa and black locust, which grow rapidly when planted about dwellings, serve for firewood, and burn well even when green. So high and rapid are the remunerative wages of the swamper and dealer in logs and lumber, that moss, which heretofore was quite a thriving enterprise, going band in hand with the felling of trees, has declined considerably, and from 100,000,pounds of export has fallen to perhaps less than 40.000 pounds. Thus the big, grasping speculator in large enterprises casts aside and passes by these lessor articles and neglects what in a dense population. with economy and thrift, becomes with "If, petit commerce" a source of great wealth. "At Lincoln Cathedral there is a beautiful painted win- dow which was made by an apprentice out of the pieces of glass that had been rejected by his master. It is so far superior to every other in the church that, according to the tradition, the vanquished artist killed himself from mortification." The blind hog may eventually stumble upon the acorn. The 115 sugar-houses of the parish give constant employment to skilled labor, and the work of the mechanic is as high here as in any place in the country. . Franklin, the county-seat, is a beautiful village, situated on the Teehe, near the middle of the parish; has a population of 1500, with fine private aesidences, shrubbery, brick-stores— all indicating fixed capital and comfort. It has a Methodist, Episcopal and Catholic church— the colored people have three churches ; a ship-yard, ice-fac- tory, saw-mill, three or four high-schools— which make Franklin a very desirable locality. Morgan City, the commercial entrepot of Attakapas, situated on Berwick's Bay, about 18 miles from the Gulf, and with a population of 2000 inhabitants, has a network of communication, by water courses through the Atchafalaya and Missssippi Rivers, to the western cities and New Orleans. By steamboats to St. Martin, Iberia, Vermilion ; by steamships to Galveston, Indianola, Corpus Christi and Brazos, and next month to Vera Cruz. It has a half a mile of wharves for the Morgan's Railroad and Steamship Company, a Methdist and Catholic church, a large Episcopal School, where service is held ; a Jewish st. Tammany' parish. j.19 synagogue, two colored churches, three private schools, city hall, jail, a large and spacious public hall, etc., answer the requirements of the present public. , . . i..,^. ±i But it is the situation of Morgan City and its future capabilities that make it peculiarly attractive to the man of energy and capital. A sugar refinery at this point could get concentrated syrup from the small planters of St. Marv, from Cuba and Demerara, refine and ship the white sugar by means of our railroad connections to Texas, Kansas and the far western territories before sailing vessels with the crude article from the gulf islands could carry the same to New York and Boston to be refined. Being but a few days sail from Cuba the saving of time and heavy freight on the raw material is apparent. There is, perhaps, no spot to be found on the map of the United states where oysters, shrrmos and vegetables, such as tomatoes, could be more cheaply canned." Oysters are peddled in the streets of Morgan City at ten cents a dozen, can be bought on the oyster boats at the wharf at fifty cents a hundred, and a million a month can be furnished if contracted for at thirty cents a hundred, if taken immediately on arrival. The luscious quality of the Berwick Bay oyster is too well known in New Orleans and Texas to require a word of praise here. En passant, we will mention that Mrs. F. E. Lawrence, who owns some 2000 acres of land, mostly bordering on the bay front, just outside and above the corporation of Morgan City, and from whose father the town of Brashear was named, makes a standing offer to donate a sufficient quantity of land for the site of a sugar refinery or manufactory ot any Berwick, a thriving little village of 700 inhabitants, situated on the western side of Berwick's Bav and opposite Morgan City, with its two ship-yards and latest improvements, challenges any other yards of the Union, to build, launch or repair sea going vessels, or furnish bet ter bottoms at cheaper rates than they can. Pattersonville. Centreville and Charenton, little villages on the Teche, with churches, schools and stores need more mention than can be given them in this short article. The lands of St. Mary with their rich returns, so feebly portrayed herein, can be bought from $6 to $30 an acre, depending upon locality and improvement. The public lands are mostly subject to tidal over- flow and are sold by the Government at from 25 cents to Si. 25 per acre, and are ten times more productive than the lands of Holland, when similarly reclaimed. A parish where sugar and molasses pay so well, of course, fails to estimate the traffic in which otter and coon skins, alligator hides and oil, poultry and eggs, fish and shells abound, and which aids so considerably the poorer classes in meeting their necessary Wcints TlieState Superintendent of Public Education reports twenty-one colored and eleven white public schools in the parish of St. Mary. The statistics of health compares not only favorably with the healthiest of climes, but shows a ratio of longevity in St. Mary seldom attained Labor is" needed in St. Mary, but Chinese are the last to be accepted. ST. TAMMANY PARISH. BY JUDGE J. M. THOMPSON, COVINGTON. Position and Extent- This oarish is situated in the southeastern cor- ner of the State immediately north of Lake Pontchartrain, and ex- tends about thirty-three miles from east to west and about thirty-six miles from north to south. It was organized in 1814, and at that time 220 LOUISIANA. contained the territory now embraced in the parish of Washington and a large portion of the parish of Tangipahoa. The present rate of tax- ation is ten mills. The entire parish is heavily timbered. Pearl river and Bogue Chitto, forming the eastern boundary, have bottom lands along their banks varying from one to three miles in depth. The other numerous streams have but a narrow skirt, only a few hundred yards in width. Bonfoucca, Bayou Liberty, Bayou Lacombe, Tchefuncta, Abita, Pont- chatoloway and Bogue Falia are all navigable streams, some of them being navigated for twenty miles above their mouths. The entire par- ish is filled with streams of clear, cold water, and there is scarcely a spot in the parish where fine well water cannot be found at a short distance from the surface. With the exception of the creek" and river bottoms, and the swamp above Lake Pontchartrain, the surface of the parish is covered witn a heavy and valuable growth of pine. Numerous creeks afford a cheap and easy mode of carrying the logs, wood, charcoal, tar, and other .products of this forest, to the New Orleans market. In the bottoms of the creeks and rivers, magnolia, beech, gum, oak, hickory, ash, 'cypress, dogwood and holly abound. Along the lake coast are valua- ble tiacts of live-oak. In the bottoms of Pea 1 Kiver and Bogue Chitto vast quantities of white-oak timber are found. Quality of Soil. —The bottom land is productive and similar to that lying along all the small creeks and bayous of the State. The pine lands generally have a surface soil of sandy loam, varying from sit to twelve inches in d3pth, under which is found a stiff cla»y, impervious to water. No minerals are known to exist. The clay is of a fine qual- ity for making brick, and m> to the commencement, of the" late war all the paving brick and a large proportion of the building brick used in JSew Orleans were made in this parish. A very fine article of pot- tery has also been made from it. Sand suitable for the manufacture of glass is found in large quanti- ties. Products. — No me would suppose from the appearance and nature of the pine lands that they could be cultivated with any success. Without fertilizers they are good for nothing after the timber has been re- moved, yet it is doubtful whether any other soil can produce such results with the application of an equal quantity of manure. Up to 1870 it would have been considered foolish for anv one to have planted a crop of sugar cane on this soil. About that time a few enter- prising men commenced experimenting with small patches of cane, and the results were so encouraging that there are now over thirty small sugar mills in operation. Two thousand pounds of sugar have been frequently obtained from one acre of pine land. With 2U0 pounds of bone dust, costing about $4 delivered at the farm, more than one hogshead to the acre can be relied on. The same amount of bone dust will produce from twenty-five to thirty bushels of corn, from twenty to thirty bushels of oats and three-quarters of a bale of cotton per acre. Irish and sweet potatoes, peas and rice are all raised with suc- cess. The area planted in sugar cane and oats is rapidly increasing each year, and these bid fair to be the favorite crops. A good market for all products can be found in Covington— the parish seat— at very little under the New Orleans prices, but the chan-es for freight between Covington and New Orleans are so very low, that the farmers generally ship to that market. Freight charges to New Or- leans are as follows : Cotton, 25 cents per bale ; sugar, 75 cents per boas- head ; potatoes, 15 cents per barrel; corn, 15 cents per sack; cattle, 75 cents to #1 pur head, and other things in proportion. There is great need of larger sugar mills and improved machinery. A large central manufactory at Covington is much needed. With the ST. TAMMANY PARISH. 221 present imperfect modes of manufacturing sugar, the profit on an acre of cane will average fifty dollars. Health.— There are no large swamps to produce malaria. Most of the pine woods are high, dry and open to the air. The heat is never in- tense, and many winters pass without its being cold enough to produce ice, consequently the parish is remarkably healthy. Although this parish has always had daily intercourse with New Orleans and never established a quarantine, no epidemic has ever prevailed. In 1867 and 1878 many persons traveled daily between New Orleans and Covington and hundreds of families found refuge in St, Tammany, yet not a single case of yellow fever occurred and the health of the parish was remark- ably good. Good water is found in abundance all over the parish- all clear, cool and pleasant to the taste. In the vicinity of Covington are many fine mineral wells and springs. The Abita Springs, three miles from Cov- ington, are the resort of a large and constantly increasing number of invalids, and many of the wells in Covington have acquired quite a reputation by their numerous cures. The thermometer rarely reaches 88° in the summer or falls below 40° in winter. The nights are cool and the air seems to possess remarka- ble curative powers in all diseases of the lungs and throat. A well- authenticated case of sunstroke has never been known in this parish. Population. — The estimated population is about 7000, principally of American descent. On Bayou Lacombe and Bonfoucca there are a good many Creoles, and several hundred Germans are scattered around the parish, generally within a few miles of the towns. They all make successful farmers. The whites exceed the blacks by from 1500 to 2000. There is not much improved land offered for sale in this parish. The Erice of improved land varies from $1 to $5 per acre. More than one- alt' the land still belongs to the State or United States government. Private land can be purchased in tracts of from five to six hundred and forty acres. Improved land is rented for one-fourth the net proceeds. Nearly all the religious denominations are well represented. The Catholics, Methodists and Baptists have churches all over the parish. Every ward in the parish has either a public or private school— some- times both. Labor.— Around the town colored labor is generally employed. Most of the farming is done by white men, who generally own the land. Industrious white or colored men can always find employment at about $15 per month with board, If they prefer to work the crop on shares they get one-quarter, farmer furnishing everything. The supply of mechanics is equal to the demand. No Chinese wanted, but there is a great demand for reliable labor, either white or colored. White men. both native born and foreign, can, and do, work all the year in the field with safety. Both land and living are so very cheap that there is no place where the immigrant can make a start on less money. Immigrants from any portion of Europe would be eagerly welcomed, but no efforts have yet been made to secure any. Suitable land can be obtained from the Government under the homestead law, and the timber for fences and buildings will be found on the land. Stock Raising.- Neither cattle nor sheep are fed during the entire year. Both are profitable, but sheep pay far better than cattle. At present the busieess of stock raising is very badly conducted. Many stock owners do not see their stock for months at a time. No herders are ever in charge of the sheep, and they are turned adrift at the mercy of hogs, dogs and buzzards. Consequently the losses are heavy, and yet with all these drawbacks the business is very profitable. There are no burs to injure the wool, and they do not seem to suffer from any 222 LOUISIANA. diseases. The flocks of cattle vary from forty to five hundred head in number and sheep from one hundred to one thousand. Cattle yield 25 per cent, profit; sheep from 45 to 50 per cent., accord- ing to the amount of attention paid to them. The streams of the parish afford plenty of water power for manufac- turing, but there are no manufactories in the parish. The water is remarkably clear and pure, and many fine locations could be found for paper manufactories. Market.— New Orleans is the nearest and best market. Schooners and steamboats ply daily, making the trip in a few hours. iruus.— Figs, pomegranates, peaches, apples, pears, plums, cherries, grapes, pecans and walnuts grow in every portion of the parish. Straw- berries are profitable. Along the lake coast the orange thrives very well, and a good many orchards have been recently planted. Several varieties of the grape have proved very profitable and some of our German and French citizens have commenced making wine on a small scale. Vegetables. — All kinds of vegetables grow well. The health of the parish is yearly attracting large numbers of people to the towns of Cov- ington and Mandeville. This affords a ready market for all the vege- tables and fruits that can be raised by those engaged in this business. In fact the supply is not near equal to the demand. Industries. — The nearness of the New Orleans market and the cheap- ness of transportation, render this parish a fine site for almost any industry. When disease prevailed to an alarming extent among the silk worms of Italy, the Government of that country sought to renew the stock of worms by importing eggs from other countries. For this purpose a premium was offered for the finest eggs. Mr. John Kocchi carried off this premium, with eggs raised at his place in Covington. All varieties of the mulberry flourish with great vigor and there is no doubt but silk could be produced with profit. Bees succeed well and produce fine honey. The fine grass range makes the production of milk and butter very profitable. Poultry require but little feed or care. There is but one "tannery in the parish. It is doing a profitable busi- ness. The vast quantity of pine timber in this parish makes it a fine site for saw mills. Fine sites for brick-yards are found along the navigable bayous and rivers of the parish. Several brick-yards and saw mills are now in operation. Game and Fish. — All the bayous and rivers are well stocked with every variety of perch, black bass, striped bass, catfish, buffalo, rock- fish and suckers. In Lake Pontchartrain sheephead, redfish, croak- ers, flounders and other varieties of salt-water fish are found. Game is abundant. Deer, turkeys, squirrels and quail are found all over the parish. In the swamps of Pearl river there are a good many bears. Ducks, woodcocks and snipe visit us in winter. An industrious man can cultivate from fifteen to twenty acres in mixed crops, say four in cane, four in cotton, ten in corn, two and a, half in sweet potatoes. Besides these crops he can cultivate several acres in red oats, they being planted in the fall and reaped in June. In addition to this work, he can attend to a small stock of sheep and cattle. Now, in estimating this crop I will place the result at the figures actually produced by five or six g-ood farmers of this parish : Four acres in sugar, 1800 pounds per acre, 7200 pounds. Two barrels of molasses (80 gallons) at 20 cents. Four acres in cotton, one bale per acre, 2000 pounds. TANGIPAHOA PARISH. 223 Ten acres in corn, 30 bushe's per acre, 300 bushels. Two and a half acres in potatoes, 150 bushels per acre, 375 bushels. Sugar, at 6 cents per pound $432 00 Molasses, at 20 cents per gallon - 10 00 Cotton, at 10 cents per pound - - 200 00 Corn, at 50 cents per bushel — 150 00 Potatoes, at 30 cents per bushel ..- .... *.— . 112 50 Total •-, ...$910 50 The oat crop should be worth at least $100 more. The wool product would of course be in proportion to the number of sheep. A flock of 100 sheep will yield the following results in a good year : 50 head of lambs, $1 50 per head $75 00 3ilbs. of wool to each grown sheep, 350 lbs. in all. at 25c, *$ ft>.. 87 50 Total product $162 50 If the sheep were properly attended to, these figures could be relied upon as a fair average ; but as the sheep are never fed and have no herder in charge of them, some getidrowned, others are killed by dogs, and the buzzards and hogs pick up many lambs. In spite.of these drawbacks, however, the profits will average 50 per cent. It would be difficult to select special cases of individual success, for they are numerous. Any industrious, intelligent man will certainly succeed at either farming or sheep-raising in this parish. "We have Germans, Irish, English and French farmers who labor in the field all the year round. They neither suffer from heat nor ill-health, and are rapidly accumulating property. TANGIPAHOA PARISH. BY ROBERT LYNNE, INDEPENDENCE. This parish has an average length north and south of fifty miles by twenty wide, with a railroad through its centre, connecting with all roads to cities north and west, having New Orleans for its southern terminus ; is one of the new parishes created since the war by taking slices from St. Tammany and Washington on the east and Livingston and St. Helena on the west. Parallel with the railroad, and distant from it but a half mile on the north end, and six miles on the south end of the parish, runs the Tangipahoa Kiver, now navigable for twenty miles only, but with a constant depth of two and a half feet water; can be made navigable for a distance of sixty miles from its mouth by the removal of overhanging trees and logs. At present an appropriation by the National Government is announced, but the amount ($5000) will not be sufficient, and a further one will no doubt follow. The southern half of the parish is generally level pine woods! land, whose sparse population is mainly occupied in timber getting, with some few pretty large stock ranches near the lake marshes where the stock winter well in the cane. The northern half is mainly agricul- tural ; but four saw mills, one brickyard and one cotton gin factory. The main business is farming-; the little stores, repair shops, etc., are supported by the farmers. No manufactories other than those men- tioned, and even the products of the farm for export is restricted to cotton, chickens, egps ? butter and such things as do not weigh much and are worth something more than double the cost of freight and commissions. Soil well adapted for potatoes, hay and all garden veg- etables. Potatoes and hay don't pay to ship and only enough produced 224 LOUISIANA. for home use. Some facilities lately offered by the railroad promises a future for small fruits and vegetables for shipment to Northern mar- kets, but this branch of agriculture is new to our people and is looked upon with distrust because they don't understand it. The northern half is undulating pine woods, with a strip of swamp or hummock of from one to fire hundred yards on the margins of the streams and creeks. All of this land has a clay sub-soil and is easily made highly productive. The best of the fresh cleared lands will bring but three or four good crops without manure, and it may as well be remarked that poor farming won't pay here, while every effort at good farming has been successful. To clean up a virgin soil and cultivate till worn out has been, and to some extent still is, the time- honored custom. Any farmer from the older-settled States or Europe can make these abandoned fields productive cheaper than he can tame a new one. 1 have by the application of twenty-five cart loads of stable manure to the acre made 7 hogsheads of sugar and 16 barrels of mo- lasses from five acres of one of these old pine fields, and on another piece a bale of cotten to the acre by the same means. The average Eroduct in cotton is one-third bale ; of corn, 12 bushels ; potatoes, 50 ushels ; oats, 18 bushels. This low average is due to primitive style of culture, and is no criterion of the real productive capacity of the soil. The prices of these products for 1879 was : cotton, 10 \o. per pound; corn, 75c. per bushel ; oats. 65c. ; potatoes. 40c. The production of sugar is yet in its infancy, but enough is known now to rank it at the head of the money crops on the farm; lack of knowledge to manufacture a merchantable article, and lack of means to procure the necessary apparatus, still prevents its adoption., The custom of advances on the growing crop also contributes to prevent it, as these advances are only made on cotton ; hence the inducement to grow cotton is often beyond the power of the farmer to resist. A shiftless husbandry produced this species of usury, and usage con- tinues it "till the unpaid bill of items becomes oppressive and the un- systematic farmer either billets himself on relatives or moves off to the thick woods." This is about how we do in a country having in summer a constant breeze, good spring and well water, land well adapted for good farming, well drained and free from malaria, whose sugar, wool, dairy products and small fruits can be sold for cash in any market and the profits on which will reward skill with competence. The present population were born here, and their ancestors for three or four generations— the whites in the ratio of three-fifths and blacks two-fifths -both peaceable and generally well behaved. Some few for- eigners-Germans, Irish, Danes, and one Chinaman ; and that is as much of the Asiatic as we care for. He may prove useful on the plan- tations, but let him go home when he has saved enough. We don't want him as a citizen ; his older civilization has produced a thrift and economy that would eventuate in his becoming the employer and the white man shoved north of the lakes. There is enough labor here, and the only immigrants desired are such as can pay their own ex- penses and have some means to start farming with when they get here. To come here from Europe and expect employment at wages that will in a few years buy farms will not do to rely on. These promises of $20 a month sometimes mean pay in goods from the store at 50 to 150 per cent profit. I am a foreigner myself, and have no desire to mislead. Some few might come coatless, and succeed- -such instances occur everywhere— but the mass of skilled or unskilled would be disap- pointed. Any one who is a successful farmer in the older countries and can bring with him enough to make a start here, will in ten years be glad he has made the change. He will find a climate in which a great variety of crops can be grown ; can work every day the year round if TENSAS PARISH. 225 he wants, and enough schools and churches to keep his moral and mental even with his material prosperity. There are no public lands worth having near the railroad. Private lands in any desired quantity, improved or otherwise, at every distance from the railroad, can be purchased at from $1 to $20 per acre, im- proved places can be rented at one-fourth the crop, but as only good farming will pay, and good farming implies here the use of manure, it is bad management to rent and fertilize another's land when you can become the owner on very nearly as easy terms as you can rent. No effort to induce immigration has ever been made and yet few places in the State afford better advantages to the immigrant; any branch of farming can be adopted that he is most familiar with. The experienced farmer will know that a light, naturally drained soil, with a climate of 92° F. in summer and 29° in winter (extreme ranges) is adapted to nearly all crops, and the selection only determined by taste and facilities to market. New Orleans is the nearest market, distant sixty miles by rail from parish centre, The sending of small fruits and vegetables by rail to Northern cities in the spring, is a business now in its infancy. The raising of family cows for the New Orleans market can be done at a profit. That half of the parish east of the Tangipahoa Eiver is well adapted for sheep and many flocks are now there— this is the most profitable stock in this rolling country not thickly settled. When the river becomes navigable other industries can be introduced, but railroad tariffs where there is no competition compel these to seek other localities. To any one desiring special information, I will try and spare time to furnish it, and do what I can to help any industrious new comer— have no time to waste on any other. TENSAS PARISH. BY HON H. R. STEELE. This parish, known as the Banner Cotton Parish of the State, lies between 31° 50" and 32° 50" north latitude and 91° and 92° west longi- tude. Iti~ bounded north by Madison parish, east by the Mississippi Eiver, south by Concordia and west by Catahoula aDd Franklin par- ishes. It has about eighty miles fron,t on the Mississippi River, with uninterrupted navigation, whilst its. western boundary, through its entire course, is washed by the Tensas River, navigable for from four to six months in each year by small steamers, which ply through almost its entire length, thus facilitating the exchange of products and at the same time acting as a grand canal for drainage of all the lands within her borders. It comprises an area of over 400,000 acres of land, eight-tenths of which are susceptible of cultivation. With slight modification of her present boundary Tensas was erected into a parish in the year A. D. 1843, and is one of the sub-divisions of the parish of Concordia, which originally stretched from the Arkansas line on the north to the mouth of Red River on the south, with the Mississippi River for its eastern and the Red River and the Macon and Tensas Bayous for its southern and western boundaries. Taxation for the present year is twenty mills on the assessed, which is equal to about one per cent, on positive values. The soil is a rich and exhaustless alluvium, varying from the generous sandy loam of lake and bayou fronts to the glutinous "buckshot" of the palmetto and open swamp lands. Fortunate is the man who can claim his heritage here, for his estate is real and sticks as close as a brother. 29 226 LOUISIANA, Its surface is diversified bayous and lakes, which teem with fish and fowl, and which add largely to the products by reason of their drainage. Four large lakes, originally parts of our grand old river— like broken and disconnected links of a monster chain, lies along its eastern bor- der, with numerous smaller lakelets, which are scattered over the whole interior. These, together with the river fronts, are cleared to the average depth of 1\ miles through their whole extent, and are the favorite localities for the labor we now have. They are the garden spots; but the traveler may leave the river front, and following the streams which flow westward to the Tensas Biver, pass through almost continues fields for twenty-five miles, once thickly populated, now lying waste, though as fertile as any lands within her borders. The original forest is composed mainly of oak, gum, ash, black and honey locust, sassafras, pecan, hickory, persimmon, and various others, indicative of a generous soil. The products of the soil are various and abundant, but cotton is dominent. All others, though they can be produced in greatest pro- fusion, are comparatively neglected. Peas, peanuts, vegetables of all kinds, fruits and melons are wonderfully productive when properly cultivated. But now everything gives way to the cultivation of cotton. Even corn is at a discount, and the "staff of life" is secondary to "the staple." Hence the dependence of her people on the outside mar- kets. Previous to the war our lands then open were fully cultivated, and Y our capacity twenty years ago was equal to 100,000 bales of cotton. There was no demand for hay, corn or oats, and vegetables, or fruits, and only a partial demand for hog products. Now, for want of labor, two-fifths of all our open lands lie fallow. These lands are already open and ditched and require very little effort for their recovery. They invite the surplus labor of older com- munities, and may be had free of cost, for a term of years, and may be bought for from $2.50 to $10.00 per acre, accordfng to locality. Other lands are being - sold at judgment sale, the title guaranteed, in settlement of back taxes. Others still may be redeemed from the State, having reverted for non-payment of taxes, and except these, none are subject to entry. Two-fifths of her open lands are unvexed by the plow, and two-thirds of her entire area is unproductive for want of fixed and regular labor. Here is offered the finest field for the hum- ble tiller or the rich capitalist, or both. Her greatest need is a work- ing population, which inevitably compels capital. Again, prospec- tively, the capitalists will find a good investment, in the large bodies of available lands for surely, her present policy will compel their early occupation. The seemingly high rate of taxation is the result of a determined effort to secure the parish from the chance of overflow, and not to await the uncertain result of State or National aid, This result was reached before the war by parochial effort and it can be done again. It will be done again. Are the lands not worth as much now as then with the same protection? Are her people less intelligent now than then? Are they not practically the same? The sentiment of her tax- payers is strongly in this direction, and growing by "what it feeds on." It pays a heavier percentage than any other investment and her lands are her capital. Before the war the parish of Tensas, by agreement with the State, for certain immunities, took charge of her own levee system. Her lands enhanced in value progressively. In 1850 the best plantations could be purchased for $20 per acre ; in 1858 these lands were taxed 7 per cent on a valuation of $40 per acre, and could not be purchased for §75 per acre. This was a tribute for protection. The tariff was high ; the levees were higher, because "more dirt;" but our lands were high- TENSAS PARISH. 227 est of all. If a Tensas planter appeared on Carondelet street he was known and far more highly appreciated than now ; indeed, ranked in "sweetness" next to the most lordly of sugar planters. Let these levees go up again, and her planters will appreciate accordingly. Our lands are generally owned and occupied by an active and resident proprie- tary, whose presence and energy are causing them to blossom as the rose. We are not much cursed with absenteeism, which incubates and nourishes idleness and decay. The health of her people is exceptional, the census lately taken under government auspices showing the aver- age mortality to be about one in sixty. This result is wonderful, when the habits of the negro race are known. They constitute nearly four- fifths of her population, which is now about 18,000. Of these about 2000 are white, of various nationalities, blacks and intermediate shades, about 16,000. Among the former we have the Anglo-Saxon and descendants, the German (Protestant and Jew), Scotch, Irish, Swiss and Swede ; of the latter, the Indian or North American, the Chinese, mulattoes, quadroons, octoroons and shining black negro— the nation's hopeful wards. The homogeneousness of these various peoples is characterized by the quietness and confidence which exist between them. For water supply wells driven, bored or dug are the common resort. This water, from its coolness, satisfies the want of the negro race, and for him seems to be as healthy as any other kind. To him the coldest is the best, believing as he does, that he will not ie until "his time comes." Experience shows that pure cistern or tank water is essential to the white man. The average temperature in winter is from 35° to 40° and in summer from 80° to 85° Fahrenheit.- The solace for most ills suffered by our people is found in the cool and balmy night breeze, which comes to us every evening and induces early and pleasant sleep. It comes from the Mexican Gulf and mitigates and tempers the heat to such extent that sunstroke is almost unknown and makes com- paratively pleasant a climate otherwise insuppc rtaole. The long enervating summers, except for these periodical winds, would exhaust the strongest muscle. As it is, whites and blacks can and do labor all through the days and the years, when one-half the time diligently and intelligently applied insures a generous living fro T -;. her fruitful soil. So applied the results are: Old lands without manure, corn thirty bar- rels ; cotton, one bale per acre ; old lands with manure, corn forty-five barrels ; cotton, one and one-half bales per acre ; new lands with manu -e corn, fifty barrels ; cotton, two bales per acre. German millet gives the heaviest crops known in any climate. So with potatoes, sweet and Irish, peas and esculents of all kinds. These'results are modified by damages from overflow and worms when present. Our educational advantages, for the present, are very much crippled in consequence of defalcation of the treasurer of school funds. There are four or five white and from ten to fifteen colored schools whose teachers are paid by taxation, and sale of lands devoted to school purposes. Numerous church buildings, of a modest architecture, are scattered all over her borders and are largely attended by the colored population. There are very few churches owned by the whites, and these are so little frequented that the dust has long since been shaken from the shoes of the average minister. Practically, the civilization of the day in this locality ignores the claims of Chistianity. Our civic necessities cost the people $60,000 per annum; our devotional ways about $1000 per annum, if diligent! v sought! Almost a "free Gospel," almost "without money and without price." And yet her planters, merchants, jurists and physicians are noted for intellect and energy above the average communities. The proof is patent ; her buildings, roads, bridges and levees point and .'picture the first pur- pose of her people. 228 LOUISIANA. The luxury of her people, particularly of the laboring class, black more than white, is phenominal. Who, in any other country, ever saw the masses of her laboring class owning, riding and driving, on horseback or on wheels? That class in this parish alone own property of assessed value amounting to $150,000. There is plenty room for more of the same sort. There is room for white, negro, Chinese, or any other determined labor, to fill up and cultivate 75,000 acres of open, ditched, but fallow lands, to say nothing of our timbered highlands. An experiment is being inaugurated in the centre of the parish, which, as yet, is only partially developed. Messrs. Baker & Blanche have lately purchased 7,000 acres of land, 2,000 of which have been long ago cleared, ditched and successfully cultivated. They say, "'we will offer, on and after the first day of January, 1881, 5,000 acres of land, 2,000 of which are open, under fence and enclosed by a levee suf- ficient to protect against high water. Said open lands are now sur- veyed and laid off in 40 acre farms, and will sell from 50 to 100 acres of woodland. Prices vary according to quality and location, say from 100 to 500 pounds of lint cotton per acre, and the use of gin furnished at the customary rates. Each 40 acres will contain two houses 16x24 feet with 8 feet gallery, all built of good cypress timber, and sold with the land. Terms of payment on 40 acres of open land not less than five bales or 2,000 pounds annually for five years, after which time eight per cent interest will be charged on all unpaid balances." Numerous large tracts of just such lands are now on sale in all parts of the parish, together with many other small ones, and yet for want of co-operative efforts, the world knows not that such lands exist. Our parochial interests are being controlled by a far-reaching policy, intended to guard and protect it from water. Ante-bellum ideas again are working to insure this protection, and it is due to this action that Tensas alone of all the river parishes was this year comparatively free from over- flow. Close attention to the laws of health finds its remuneration here as in overy other climate, to the foreigner more than the native, but once acclimated, he enjoys comparative immunity from disease. Men, women and children do sometimes die, and the worms eat them, but our statistics speak well for the general health of our people. It is well known that diseases in our moist climate give way more readily to treatment than those of higher and dryer regions. Brickmasons, plasterers, house and gin builders all find remunera- tive work. The axeman, timberman and ditcher all find ready employ- ment. For regular field labor, wages usually paid are, to wit : Boys and girls, from $3 to $6 per month ; women, from $6 to $10 per month ; men, from $12 to $15 per month, together with the customary monthly rations of meal, pork, etc. Large numbers of timbermen are now needed all over the parish for making fencing material, boards, shingles, rails and fence building and general improvement. For rails $6 to $10 per 1000, boards and shingles $2 50 to $4 50. For rough mechanics, $30 to $60 per month. The lands (cultivated) rent from $4 to $10 per acre. When worked on shares the planter furnishes the land, stock and feed, implements and house room ; the laborer, his labor and food and clothing. Each furnishes his own bagging and ties, ginning free of cost. White immigrants, except as traders and dealers, are too scarce for the proper development of our capacities. For want of proper com- bination on the part of planters, very little has been done. It is a distinctive need of our people, and no time should be lost for want of co-operative effort. The unoccupied and sparsely settled por- tions of the parish are admirably adapted to stock-raising, with no drawbacks except that of overflow and the consequent change of pas- ture. Yearlings are worth $5, two years old $10, three years old $15 ; TERREBONNE PARISH. 229 oxen, broken and unbroken, $20 to $25 ; cows from $15 to $30, ordinary grades. It is attended with no cost except salt and herding ; beyond that all is profit. It is not adapted to water power. It too often be- comes uncontrollable, and her people entertain a wholesome dread of that kind of agent. Steam is the power almost universally in use, only here and there a horse power, now and then a wind mill worthy of being seen, but don't have the rashness to' attack them ! Any industry, such as bee raising, poultry, dairy products, black- smithing, wagon making and mending, saw milling, etc., intelligently and assiduously conducted, may be made profitable. The sportsman will find in our lakes and bayous the trout, the bass, the perch tribe, the buffalo or carp, the catfish, soft and hard-shell turtles, gar and alligators in "multiplied thousands." These lakes and bayous and tracts of marsh lands are also the resort in their proper season of every variety of ducks, geese, water tui ley, etc. The forests abound with squirrels, hares, the opossum, raccoons, wild turkey, the deer, the bear, wildcat, panthers and smaller fry, such as hawks, buzzards and skunks.' The partridge is becoming more abundant as overflows dis- appear. Our exports find a market in New Orleans within forty hours ; freight per bale of cotton seventy-five cents to one dollar. To the working-man, without regard to politics, race or previous condition, Tensas says, Come! If so minded, "Come as the waves come." She will take you in her ample bosom, extend to you what- ever of kindness and consideration you may desire. To the "bloated bond-holder" she says come, it will be a relief to both to have some of his "stuffing" withdrawn, to be bpread over her lands. When the war began Tensas ran up her flag, upon whose folds ap- peared these two words, "TrvUs." She was "tried," and though found somewhat "wanting," learned on that hard-fought battle-field one wholesome lesson, " Go home and build up your waste places. " Since that time she has made wonderful strides towards rehabitation. Now, again, she runs up to her mast-head a more peaceful banner, but with the same advice, "Try us," and all her people say, " Her home shall be thy home, and she will do thee good all the davs of thy life." Come! "Try us!! TERREBONNE PARISH. NEW ORLEANS DEMOCRAT. The parish of Terrebone is the most southerly in the State, extending along the Gulf of Mexico from Timbalier Bay on the east to Atchafa- laya Bay on the west, a distance of over seventy miles. It has for its northern and eastern boundaries the parish of Lafourche and a portion of Assumption, while on the west it is bounded by the parish of St. Mary and the Atchafalaya Bay and river. The parish covers an area of abo ut 1 ,584 square miles and was originally settled by Acadian s about the year 1765. A large portion of the land lying along the Gulf is sea marsh, and, therefore, not available for agricultural purposes unless properly drained. In the northern portion of the parish, however, will be found a very superior quality of alluvial soil, which is wonderful in its pro- ductive capacities and is extensively cultivated. In this section, say in the vicinity of the town of Houma, the surface of the earth is about eleven feet above tide- water, and by means of numerous bayous is readily drained. The parish was organized in 1822, and at the present time has a population of near 25,000. It is clear from debt and has a surplus jf funds on hand. The last assessment was for $2,000,000, upon which a tax of 17 mills, for the State, parish and levees was levied. Climate and Health.— {See Plaquemines parish). Quality of the Soil.— {See Plaquemines parish). 230 LOUISIANA. Timber.— At the present time an abundance of timber exists in the parish except in the immediate vicinity of some of the largest sugar plantations, where the supply has been in some degree exhausted. This timber is found in the greatest abundance along the bayous and in the swamps, and consists of several kinds of oak, cypress, ash, elm, gum, magnolia, pecan, china, willow, persimmon and a large variety of small trees and shrubs, Cypress is commonly used for fencing, although some effort has been made to introduce the barbed wire, which is objected to by stock owners on account of the injury such fencing is liable to inflict upon animals coming in contact with it. There are several saw mills in operation in various parts of the parish that supply the local demand for lumber ; but no shipments are made of timber or sawed lumber to points abroad. Water.— The parish is intersected by numerous bayous and filled with lakes, which would lead persons to conclude that it is, throughout its entire extent, a low, wet, swampy region. They imagine its surface to be a great plain of wonderful fertility, where at all arable, with an in- definite succession of dense jungles, tangled swamps, marshes, lakes, sloughs, cane and cypress brakes. These misconceptions will, how- ever, be speedily dissipated by a journey into the interior. In fact, no more beautiful sites can be found for summer resorts, for rural homes, or even for manufacturing purposes, than some of the lakes of Louis- iana, while the bayous, affording excellent drainage, render the lands in their vicinity susceptible of profitable cultivation in most instances. Among the most prominent of the water courses in the parish are the Bayous Terrebonne, Little Caillou, Grand Oaillou, Black, Du Large, Chacahoula, L'eau Bleue, Point au Chien, Cateau, Chene, La Cache, Sale, Four Points and La Cire. The principal lakes are Quitman, Feli- city, Caillou, AVasha, Du Cadre, Long, Chien and Billiot. Bayous Terrebonne, Black and Little and Grand Caillou are partly navigable at this time and the authorities of Terrebonne have undertaken to open the principal bayous so that steamers will have tide water navigation to Houma, the year round. The South Louisiana Canal and Naviga- tion Company will also open steam navigation between Houma and New Orleans, having already commenced cutting a canal from the Bayou Lafourche to the Bayou Terrebonne, some twenty-five miles below Houma, which it is expected will be completed about the first of November next. Cistern water is generally used in the parish for drinking and domestic purposes. Field Crops and their yield.— (See Plaquemines parish). Prices of Lands.— Although there are some lands in the parish sub- ject to entry under the homestead laws or subject to purchase from the State, they are not of a desirable character for immigrants, being classed as "swamp" or "coast marsh," and therefore requiring expen- sive drainage before they could be brought into cultivation. There may, however, always be found land of a desirable character in the hands of private owners which can be purchased, although it has in- creased in value during the last few years, and is likely to increase with the public and private improvements now in progress and con- templated. Unimproved land may be said to range in value from $5 to $20 per acre, while the price of improved land is governed entirely by the quality and quanity of improvements, location, etc. Some of the planters of Terrebonne are becoming deeply iuterested in the new system of labor. All of their plans lean towards a central sugar-house system, the planter to be the manufacturer and the tenants to make the cane and deliver it at the mill— a group of small farmers and a central factory. The plan of dividing large bodies of land into small tracts has also been tested with marked success, it being clearly de- monstrated that by this means better prices can be realized than by selling in a single body, while at the same time it gives encouragement TEBEEBONNE PARISH. 231 to a valuable class of the population in securing homes, and who are always able to supply reliable labor. Churches and Schools.— The prevailing religion in this as well as in the adjacent parishes is Roman Catholic, while most of the Protestant denominations have organizations in the towns and large settlements. Nearly all of these religious denominations are supplied with suitable church buildings. The free school system is well organized through- out the parish, there being twenty- four in operation, with a few excel- lent private schools in certain neighborhoods. When open the free schools are largely attended. Labor and Wages.— The labor employed by the planters is principally colored, but small crops of sugar cane are admirably adapted to white labor. The cane may be planted in the fall, winter or spring, and laid by before the first of July, and then no labor is required in the crop till the first of November, when the matured cane is ready for the mill. Small sugar farms, where from twenty to one hundred hogsheads of sugar are made by white labor, are very profitable, and even on the largest plantations there is no good reason why white men cannot be employed to as much advantage as blacks. The wages paid to field hands on the sugar plantations range from fifty to seventy-five cents per day with rations. At present there is very little land to lease on the share system, although it appears to have given fair satisfaction whenever tried, and may in time be generally adopted. Cities and Towns.— Houma, the seat of justice of Terrebonne parish* is a town with something over one thousand inhabitants, and is one of the most pleasant places of residence in Southern Louisiana. It is handsomely laid off, and the streets are supplied with suitable drain- age and sidewalks. Many of the private residences in the place are surrounded by orange groves, which at certain seasons of the year afford delightful protection from the rays of the sun, and yield an abundance of delicious fruit for home consumption. These rural resi- dences are constructed so as to meet the requirements of the climate, and some of. them are of handsome design. The town is well supplied with stores and shops, there being fifteen or twenty dry goods and gro- cery establishments, three drug stores, three cooper shops, two watch- makers, one gunsmith, four carpenters and builders, two blacksmiths, one carriage and harness maker, and two tailors. It can also boast of six churches, four schools, three doctors, four lawyers, three hotels or boarding houses, a masonic lodge, a handsome court house and sub- stantial jail, two temperance societies, and several barrooms. It has two excellent weekly newspapers, the houma Courier and Terrebonne Chronicle, is out of debt, and has prospects for improvement ahead. Tigerville is a prosperous little town, with a population of about two hundred, and is located on the main line of Morgan's Louisiana and Texas Railway, twenty-five miles from Houma. Houma is connected with the main line of the Morgan Railway by a branch from Terrebonne station, some fifteen miles distant. The branch road makes close connection with all passenger trains on the main line, and is operated with the skill and promptness which distin- guish the Morgan corporation. Market Facilities— New Orleans, fifty-five miles distant by rail from Terrebonne station, is the market for the products of the parish. For heavy freights the railway is employed, but the luggers ply in the bayous. The soil is adapted to all garden vegetables and al] semi- tropical fruits. The whites and blacks are on good terms with each other, and the citizens generally are hospitably disposed toward immi- grants. 232 LOUISIANA. UNION PARISH. BY PROF. E. W. HILGARD. Population : 13,526 ; white 8014, colored 5512. Area : 910 square miles. Woodland, all. Oak uplands, 840 square miles (one-fifth red and "mulatto" lands) ; alluvial land (Washita), 70 .square miles. Tilled land : 62,661 acres. Area planted in cotton, 28,308 acres ; in corn, 25,551 acres ; in sweet potatoes, 229 acres ; in sugar cane, 60 acres. Cotton production : 11,692 bales ; average cotton product per acre, 0.41 bale, 588 pound? seed cotton, or 196 pounds cotton lint. Union parish resembles generally that of Ciaiborne, though on the whole there is perhaps more poor or uncultivatable land. The country between the forks of the D'Arbonne consists of high, level, dividing ridges, broken only near the streams, as in Claiborne, the soils also being similar. The best farming districts lie on the smaller tributaries. The northwestern part, between the D'Arbonne waters and Bayou L'Outre, is more hilly ; much of the hills, however, being of the red- lands chai'acter. Farmersville is on a red-land ridge, and the road thence to Sperrysville leads over a continual succession of hills and val- leys, with much ironstone, underlaid by pebbly beds. The region is pretty well settled with small but thriving farms. The northeastern portion is rather billy, and the soil largely red, but rather sandy and thin ; the region more thinly settled. A small area of the Washita bottom is here included within the parish. Southeast of Farmersville, toward Trenton, in Ouachita parish, there is, for five miles, a broken, hilly country, too broken for cultivation ; thence southward the country is more level and a better farming region. The forest growth, in uplands as well as in bottoms, is the same as in Jackson and Claiborne parishes. ABSTRACT OF THE REPORT OF J E. TRIMBLE, FARMERSVILLE. The uplands are hiliy or rolling, and there is a little prairie. There are two chief varieties of upland . soil, viz : sandy loam and red stiff land. The former comprehends fully three-fourths of the lands in the parish. Its timber growth is short. leaf pine, oak, hickory, dogwood in the uplands; sweetgum, bay, mulberry, ash, etc., in the lowlands. The soil, to the depth of ten to twelve inches, is fine, sandy clay loam, of a yellow, brown or mahogany tint. The subsoil is heavier, and fre- quently contains small, dull red, angular sandstone gravel and rocks. The soil tills easily at all times, and is warm and early. The crops grown are corn, cotton, sweet potatoes, peas, small grain, sugar cane, tobac- co ; the two last, with cotton, seem to be the best adapted to the soil. Cotton forms about one-half of the crops planted; usual height of stalk, 4 feet. In rainy seasons and on fresh land it sometimes run s to weed ; this is remedied by topping. The seed cotton product on fresh land is 1,000 to 1,500 pounds per acre, of which about 1,350 are needed for a 450-pound bale. The lint, when clean, rates in market as middling to fair middling. After five years' cultivation the product is 500 to 800 pounds, about 1,460 being then needed for a 450-pound bale; the staple is shorter, and not so strong; will class as good ordinary or low mid- dling. The most troublesome weeds are rag-weed, cocklebur, hog- weed and butter : weed. About 10 per cent, ot this upland is turned out for want of labor ; ers when again taken up it will yield from 750 to 1000 pounds of seed- cotton per acre. The soil washes or gullies readily on slopes, but the VERMILION PARISH. 238 injury done is not generally serious ; the valleys are benefited by the washings. Horizontal izing has been practiced with good effect. The red or "mulatto" lands occur most frequently in the southwest- ern part of the parish, but more or less in all, forming about one-fifth of the land. Timber; short-leaf pine, oaks, gum, mulberry, hickory, sumach. It is mostly a gravelly clay loam, very sticky, of a brown or mahogany tint. The subsoil is red clay, containing flinty, white, rounded gravel, underlaid by gravel or rock at 3 to 10 f et. It tills easily in dry seasons, and with difficulty when wet; is rather cold, and late in spring. It is apparently best adapted tc corn and grain ; about half is planted in cotton ; the stalk is about four feet high ; the seed- cotton product, 800 to 1200 pounds; rates as middling in market; no material difference after five years' cultivation. The same weeds pre^ vail as on the other soil. None of this land lies turned out; it washes readily on slopes, with serious damage ; the lowlands are not injured thereby. In the lowlands, on the streams and bayous, the natural growth is oak, hickory and swamp pine. The soil is black clay loam, several feet in depth ; subsoil lighter than surface. About two-thirds of the crops on these lands are cotton. The seed-cotton product on fresh land is from 2000 to 3000 pounds, the stalk attaining a height of 6 to 8 feet ; the staple rates as good middling. No change in quantity or quality of product has as yet been noticed after years of cultivation. Cotton is shipped during the fall by "rail and steamboat to New Or- leans ; rates of freight per bale vary from 75 cents to $3. VERMILION PARISH. BY HON. FRANK R. KING. Vermilion parish is situated on the Gulf coast in the southwestern portion of Louisiana, between parallels 29° and 30° north latitude, and about 126 miles due west from the city of New Orleans. It covers an area of about 800 square miles, and in the general topography is open prairie and sea marsh. There are belts of forests lining the banks of the bayous and streams, and along the sea marsh there are spots of woodland on the slightly elevated points. The coast marsh lies in the southern portion of the parish, and extends north from the water line of the Gulf of Mexico to a depth varying from ten to twenty miles. The marsh is low, wet and devoid of any vegetation except grass, and generally is impassable. To the north of the marsh stretch out gently undulating prairies, dotted over with small lakes or ponds, and traversed in different directions by running streams of pure fresh water. Small clusters of planted shade trees, interspersed over the face of the prairie, indicate the humble abodes of the inhabitants, and groves of forest trees following the water courses interrupt the view at intervals. Population.— YermWion parish has increased in population about 80 per cent, during the last decade. The census of 1880 gives the parish 8857 souls, about one-half of which comprise the French Creoles ; there are in the parish about 1500 negroes, and the remainder of the inhabi- tants are Americans or descendants of families from the States. The dominant language is French, but English is becoming more generally spoken every year. The creole half of the population are descendants of the French Acadians, who, driven from Nova Scotia more than a century ago, found an asylum from persecution in this beautiful "Eden of. Louisiana." The story of their woe and a veracious description of the land of their exile is immortalized by Longfellow in his 'Tale of 234 LOUISIANA. Acadie." The French cf the uneducated is a patois that would fall on the Parisian ear as almost the sound of a foreign dialect; these Acadians, or as in common colloquial parlance they are termed 'Cajuns, are generally illiterate, and as a race non-progressive and unenter- prising. Though of America they refuse to become Americanized in habits and ideas— a primitive, pastoral people, who cling with peculiar pertinacity to the ways and religion of their forefathers, and are sus- picious of educated Americans and of all innovations. They are kind and polite, and even the lowest class have a manner singularly suave and gentle. The men are fine specimens of manhood, of splendid physique and graceful in action ; the females are pretty usually, with expressive faces and gentle, vivacious movements. They are a merry race, extremely fond of dancing and constantly indulging in social reunions among themselves. Their neighborhood balls are perpetual institutions, and the grace and beauty seen at one of them would astonish the fashionable belle or beau who wots not that these charms ate found outside their own "set" and particular circle. The Koman Catholic religion is universal among the Creoles, and farming and stock raising is their exclusive mode of making a liveli- hood. The American portion of the population are mostly intelligent planters or farmers from the Southern States, and are hospitable and industrious. They are nearly all Protestant in religion. The popula- tion as a whole are exceptionally peaceful, industrious and law-abid- ing. They reside in small, unostentatious frame houses, one style of architecture being almost universal in that region, and as a rule have an abundance of the necessaries, not to say the good things of life, and are generally content, happy and well-to-do. The Climate. — The climate is semi-tropical, tempered by the cool, re- freshing breezes that sweep with unobstructed sway across the prairies from the salty gulf. Tires are needed indoors for comfort during the greater part of the winter season, while the heat of the summer is never so intense as to interfere with field labor. The natural humidity of the atmosphere prevents sunstroke and relieves the heat, of its oppression. Emigrants from northern latitudes labor at all outdoor pur- suits., and toil in the sun with prefect impunity, and enjoy excellent health. Kefreshing showers fall throughout the summer season and floating clouds keep an ever varying shade over the face of the coun- try . The mean temperature is about 60° Fahrenheit in winter and about 80° in summer. The warm weather begins about the middle of May and ends about the middle of October. Spring and autumn are most delightful seasons in this parish. Tlie Sou.— Is sandy alluvion, and throughout the eastern half of Vermilion is rich and highly productive. When once broken up by sub-soiling, it is easily cultivated, by the native Creole ponies, that are raised on the prairies, and subsist winter and summer upon no other food than the indigenous grasses of the country. In the western part of the parish the soil becomes of a light, sandy character, not so fertile, but sufficiently productive to intelligent farmers, and affording fine pasturage. There are some small islands lying in the sea marsh, these "islands" are elevated spots of land surrounded by sea marsh. They are covered with forests and dense undergrowth and are remark- ably fertile, but almost inaccessible. The natural undulations of the prairie lands afford sufficient drainage so that ditching is seldom necessary. Rivers and Lakes.— The Vermilion Eiver rises in the parish of St. Landry about ninety miles from its mouth, runs south through the parishes of Lafayette and Vermilion, and empties into Vermilion Bay. It derives its sources from numerous natural springs of pure, fresh water, which flow from its banks and tributaries, and runs south in a clear, rapid current. The water is excellent for both drinking and VERMILION PARISH. 285 washing purposes. The banks of the river are high and picturesque, and never subject to overflow until they reach the sea marsh a few miles above its mouth. It is navigable all the year for steamboats from its outlet to its intersection with Morgan's Louisiana and Texas Railroad, near the town of Vermilionville in the parish of Lafayette, thus affording cheap and easy transportation to the people of Vermil- ion parish, either by rail or water to the city of New Orleans and Texas. Down to the sea marsh this beautiful stream is skirted on both sides with a fine growth of timber, consisting of magnolia, ash, oak, gum, hickory, pecan, sycamore and other trees, and studded with well tilled and improved farms and plantations. The Vermilion River is affected by the ebb and flow of the Gulf tide for a distance of about forty-five miles. To this point it is navigable at all times for large schooners and other water craft which ply along the Gulf const. The parish is bounded on the west by the Mermentau River, a large fresh water stream running north and navigable for steamboats and schooners to its intersection with the Texas railroad. At one point the Mermentau expands into a broad sheet called Lake Arthur, a lovely spot and famous for its orange groves. The Bayou Queue Tortue is on the northern boundary line, dividing Vermilion from the parish of St. Landry, it is a dull, sluggish stream affording little water, and running southwest empties into the Mer-, mentau River. On the bank of this bayou are some fine cypress swamps, furnishing lumber for building purposes and pieux for fencing. On the eastern boundary of Vermilion, partly dividing it from the parish of Iberia, is an inland lake, about twelve miles in circumfer- ence, commonly known in the country as Lake Simonette, but desig- nated on the maps as Lake Peigneur. On Orange Island, on the south- ern shore of this lake, is the Southern residence of Mr. Joseph Jeffer- son, the inimitable comedian of "Rip Van Winkle" fame, Searching the world over, the genius of the noted actor could not have selected a lovlier spot in which to seek repose from the glare of the foot-lights and rest from the labors of his distinguished histrionic career. Here Mr. Jefferson has recently built a handsome residence, and expends large sums in experimental farming and in the introduction of fine blooded stock. One of the experiments of the actor, is a new fence— a hedge of the Chickasaw rose— for several miles surrounding his lands; a fence that appeals at once to the eye of the artist and also to the utilitarian in a region where timber is scarce. This resort of the actor is a gem on Nature's bosom, and its many attractions are destined to make it a favorite resort of persons who seek quiet homes in the midst of pretty scenery, good boating, the perfume of orange and masnolia groves, pure sea-breeze and balmy clime, where they can enjoy the best of piscatorial and field sports. White Lake, in Vermilion, remains an almost terra incognita to even the inhabitants of the parish, so difficult of access, lying in the midst of a wilderness of sea marsh, that but a few adventurous spirits have dared to wander on its mystic shores. White Lake is so named from the snow-like sand at the bottom, gleaming through its transparent waters. It is quite a large body of fresh water, fifteen miles long and ten miles wide. At one time it undoubtedly had a deep, secret outlet to the open gulf, and in the days of yore it was a favorite haunt of pirates, its gloomy isolation peculiarly adapting it to the concealment of lawless plunder, and it would be difficult for the imagination to con- jure up a spot more fit for "treason, stratagems and spoils." Through the clear waters are still to be seen, embedded at the bottom of the lake, the wrecks of vessels supposed to have been once afloat on its bosom, bearing the treasures of the famous Lafitte and his piratical crew, for so many years the terror of the gulf. Tradition has it that 23$ LOUTSTANA. fabulous wealth is buried here, but all efforts of daring explorers have so far failed to discover treasures hidden by the banditti. To go still further back into the traditional history of White Lake : There is a vast shell mound on the northern shore of the lake, containing relics of interest to the antiquarian. Traces of brick foundations and human bones are also found here, said to be the remains of the Attakapas In- dians, who found here a safe retreat when driven by attacks from more ferocious tribes. At present this isolated spot is the retreat of every kind of game and wild animal, Providence wisely ordaining this unin- habitable abode a safe asylum for them where the exterminating rifle of the huntsman rarely breaks the silence, and human presence sel- dom disturbs its solitude. Productions.— All the staple products of Louisiana, cotton, corn, sugar, rice and tobacco, do well in Vermilion parish. Cotton gives a greater yield in the northern portion of the parish ; sugar does best along the rivers and bayous, while the low, flat lands throughout the prairie make tine rice fields. There is a vast area of untitled soil in this parish that could be easily utilized for the culture of rice. In favorable years cotton yields per acre from three-quarters to a bale, sugar from two to three hogsheads, rice from fifteen to twenty barrels, and corn from twenty-five to thirty bushels per acre. A good deal of tobacco is made for home consumption. Owing to the general atten- tion heretofore given to stock-raising, very little impetus was given to agriculture until the past few years. There are now some fine sugar plantations on the Vermilion Eiver, below Abbeville, and a few in other portions of the parish. Iruit— Oranges of a more delicious flavor than those from Cuba or Florida grow to perfection and yield abundantly in this parish ; figs also do well. These branches of industry few have embraced exclu- sively up to this date, but almost every farm has its orchard of fruit trees. Other fruits, such as peaches, apricots, pears, apples, grapes, quinces, Japan plums and melons grow well in Vermilion. Strawber- ries do well here, and the common blackberry flourishes wherever al- lowed to spring up. The pecan tree, when planted, grows to unbra- geous dimensions, and yields barrels of fine nuts that always com- mand a good price in the New Orleans market. Vegetables— All vegetables and esculents common to the Southern latitude of Louisiana flourish nowhere better than in Vermilion. The sandy character of the soil renders it peculiarly adapted to the growth of yams, Irish potatoes, peanuts and vegetables generally. t Owing to the mildness of the climate, many vegetables can be raised through- out the winter. Game and Fish.— Vermilion is the paradise of the sportsman, and a Srofitable field for the pot hunter who would ship his game to the ew Orleans market. Game and fish of boundless variety can be found at different seasons throughout the country. The extensive sea marsh, embracing the southern area of the Parish, and in fact the en- tire Gulf coast of Louisiana, is the grand rendezvous of all the ducks, wild geese, brant, snipes, woodcocks, and other wild fowls that an- nually migrate from the north southward. These birds begin to appear the latter part of September and remain all winter, feeding upon the swamps, prairies and sea marsh of Louisiana, and begin their migration northward the latter part of spring. From an elevated point in the sea marsh the writer has looked as far as his vision would take in, and seen myriads of wild geese, brant and ducks feeling upon the prairie. It is customary in the early fall for stock raisers to burn off the tall grass and the tender shoots that soon spring up furnish delec- table food for these wild fowls. The rice fields are also a favorite feed- ing ground for all species of birds. In the spring and summer when the northern feathered tribe have made their exodus, migratory birds VERMILION PA RISK 23 7 from the tropical regions take their place. That favorite of the epi- cures, the famous papabot, the ortolan, paroquets and several species of the plover, now put in an appearance and are slaughtered by the thousands. The papa bot is about the size of a spring chicken feeds upon the open prairie, and they are easily approached on hors'eback or in a buggy, the usual mode of bunting them. In July and August they grow very fat by feeding upon Spanish flies, which impart to them a peculiar flavor, greatly relished by the gourmands of the country. The country abounds in a variety of native game fowls, which never migrate. Among these are the wood and black duck-distinct species— the prairie chicken, common to the Northwest, quails, marsh hens and grosbeck. There are now laws in Louisiana for the protection of native game during certain months, which laws are generally observed and enforced. To the Vermilion Bay and Gulf to the south of the parish are found oysters and every variety of salt water fish common to the New Or- leans market. The Iz'aac Waltons find abundant piscatorial spoils in the lakes, ponds and bayous, as these abound in fine fresh water fish such as trout, perch, cat, buffalo, casburgo, bream and bar. Poultry— The indigenous grasses, insects and seeds furnish poultry with an abundance of healthy, nourishing food, and fowls thrive and multiply in a remarkable degree. Poultry raising is carried on exten- sively, and the good housewives and farmers of Vermilion pocket thou- sands of dollars annually from the sale of poultry and eggs for the New Orleans market. Stock Raising.— The mild climate and perennial growth of the grasses, which are green aud tender at all seasons, render Vermilion parish one of the most highly-favored countries in the world for stock- raising. The extensive prairies and sea-marsh of this parish furnish an abundance of pasturage for thousands of cattle, horses and sheep Stock-raising has always been the principal business in Vermilion parish, and many handsome fortunes have been realized from the profitable pursuit. Cattle and horses require no shelter, and keep fat winter and summer upon no other food than the native grasses New Orleans and the Mississippi Kiver parishes always afford a ready market at good prices. Very little attention so far has been given in this parish to the introduction of the finer breeds of cattle. Towns.— Abbeville, the parish seat of justice, is the only town of any importance in the parish. It is situated on the Vermilion Bayou 35 miles from its month, and has a mixed population of about 800 souls There are good schools and Protestant and Eoman Catholic churches in the town. The place is incorporated and is quiet and orderly Ab- beville can be reached by steamboat from New Orleans, or by the Texas Railroad, connecting with steam packets at the Bayou' Ver- milion Station. Abbeville has now a considerable local trade, and is steadily improving with the gradual development of the parish. When the fertile banks of the surrounding countrv are settled with an enter- prising population, which will be at no distant day, Abbeville is des- tined to become an inland city of some importance. It offers a good field to those who wish to engage in professional, mechanical or mer- cantile pursuits. Skilled mechanics and caruenters are yery scarce in Vermilion, and a number of such could find work— profitable em- ployment there now. Health.— There is no healthier eountry in the world than Vermilion parish. In this salubrious clime people generally live to a green old age, and there are many cases on record of remarkable longevity, Ac- 288 LOUISIANA. cording to the census statistics, the rate of mortality in this parish is smaller than anywhere else in the United States. General Remarks.— Good drinking water can be had anywhere in Vermilion parish by sinking wells twenty or thirty feet. This region is not subject to long, protracted drouths. Eain in abundance falls throughout the seasons. It is usually dry in the autumn, when the farmers are gathering their crops. Wind storms sometimes occur, but never assume the violence of a tornado. The price of day labor is from $1 to $1 50. The latter wages are readily paid during the sugar-making season. The farm s are generally small, and usually cultivated by the owners and their families. Negro laborers are mostly employed on the large plantations. The price of land depends much on the locality and value of im- provements. Those along the Vermilion river best adapted to sugar culture command from ten to twenty dollars per acre. There is a vast region of good prairie country, however, convenient to navigation, where lands can be bought from one to two dollars per acre. Owing to the mildness of the climate, very little fuel is required. There is no part of the timber so remote from fuel that wood cannot be obtained by hauling a few miles. It requires but a few years to raise a forest by planting out young trees. There is no country on the globe which all the year round furnishes so many table luxuries— vegetable, animal and fish— as this highly favored region. With a small farm, a few head of cattle, a gun and fishing rod. one man can easily provide for a large family. It is a mystery how Eastern and European emigrants can overlook such a fine country and in preference settle upon the bleak prairie deserts of Western Kansas and Nebraska. Southwestern Louisiana is a para- dise in comparison. If those seeking new homes in America would only lay aside their prejudice and cease to listen to the partisan abuse and misrepresentation of the South by a certain class or political scribblers and speakers in the North, they would find a country in Vermilion parish of surpassing beauty and fertility, a good govern- ment and a kind-hearted people ready to welcome them. VERNON PARISH. BY A CITIZEN. The parish of Vernon is bounded on the east by Rapides parish, on the north by Natchitoches and Sabine parishes, on the west by the Sabine River and on the south by Calcasieu parish. The ninety-third meridian of longitude west from Greenwich passes through the parish. In extent it is about forty-four miles east and west and thirty-two miles north and south, its outlines being to some extent irregular, and area about 885,000 acre3. It was named "Vernon" in memory of the home of George Washington. The parish site is situated on section 23, T. 2 N., R. 9 W., and named Leesville. The Sarish was created by the Legislature in 1871 from Rapides, Sabine and Tatchitoches parishes, and its present rate of taxation is 8J mills on the dollar. The parish is mostly an upland country, though a good deal of lowland and cypress brakes are near the Sabine River. There are some prairie lands a few miles northwest, north and south of Leesville which are very productive. The large Anacoco creek passes entirely through the western part of the parish and affords a good deal of fine lands, besides some State lands well timbered. Numerous creeks run through that portion of the parish emptying into the Anacoco. and a a large nnmber pass through the eastern portion, which empty into WASHINGTON PARISH. 239 the Calcasieu River. The lands are well adapted to cotton, corn pota- toes, rice, sugar cane and various olher articles. The total population is about 5000, mostly whites. The farmers tire doing well and have settled n? ar the prairie lands and along the creeks and rivers where they have access to swamp and' pine lands, though in many instances they have settled in the pine woods where they cultivate excellent pine lands and raise stock The surface of the parish is in general rolling and in parts hilly, and the yellow pine grows in abundance. The swamp lands are of two grades— a low stiff bottom land and a high sandy swamp land and all well timbered with oak, gum hickorv magnolia, ash and various other growths, The immense range for stock and pure water in abundance make it all one could desire who seeks to combine farming and stock raising. The pine and cypress timber have attracted a good deal of attention and a lively business is now going on (especially in pine) running loss down the Anacoco creek and Sabine Eiver for the Orange timber mar- ket at quite remunerative prices. This trade is fast increasing Private lands are almost without a price, there being so much vacant public land well adapted to farming upon which immigrants can set- tle without money or price, free from all fear of being disturbed for since the hrst settling of this country, there are but three or four cases where the claims, rights and interest of such settlers have been infringed upon by other parties entering the land The character of the people is law abiding and hospitable, but few cases ever occur of a grave criminal nature. As proof of this the Police Jury of the parish levied a tax of only $650 to defray the entire criminal expenses of the parish for the year 1880, deeming it ample for that purpose. yo Agriculture, cutting and running timber to market, and raising stock are the chief employments of the people, and as a general thing thev are easy and prosperous. s ' The health of the parish is extremely good «f^£ he ,ff eek f.2 fford A fl l h in abun dance. Deer and turkeys are plen- ££\J n £ 1 y° cahties - A fl °e <*>rn crop has been made this year, which can be had on reasonable terms, and the citizens of the parish are pre- pared to welcome all who come to look up homes. pe WASHINGTON PARISH. BY PROF. E. W. HILGARD. Population ; 5190 ; white 3475, colored 1715 ^ a i ? 68 f