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LOUISIANA 
 
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 The Opportunities for Successful Investment, 
 and Information for 
 
 THE FARMER, 
 
 THE MECHANIC, 
 
 THE LABORER, 
 THE MERCHANT, 
 
 THE MANUFACTURER 
 
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 A COMPREHENSIVE 
 STATISTICAL DESCRIPTION OF 
 THE STATE OF LOUISIANA, COMPILED 
 FROM LATEST REPORTS. 
 
 
 
 WOODWARD & TIERNAN PRINTING CO., ST. LOUIS, MO. 
 
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 jr*HE annals of Louisiana will always be an interesting chapter in 
 AJ the history of the world. It does not concern merely the area 
 which is now included within the boundaries of the present 
 State; it embraces the story of the repeated and persistent attempts of 
 France to found an empire in the new world which should extend from 
 the mouth of the St. Lawrence across the Great Lakes to the mouth of 
 the Mississippi. 
 
 The Louisiana of the seventeenth century extended from the Allegha- 
 nies to the Rocky Mountains, and from the Rio Grande and the Gulf to 
 the dim regions which now constitute British America. It was first 
 visited by Europeans in 1541. De Soto, the Spanish adventurer, with 
 his followers, explored the coast west of Florida to the Mississippi river 
 and beyond, and he visited the country on both sides of the river where 
 now stands the city of New Orleans. In 1542 he was taken sick and 
 died. In order to conceal his body from the Indians, his followers 
 buried him in the Mississippi river, at the point where it is now met by 
 the Red river. 
 
 In 1673, Father Marquette and his Canadians, starting from Canada, 
 descended the great river from Illinois to the mouth of the Arkansas. 
 The river was again descended by La Salle in 1682, who took possession 
 of the country in the name of Louis XIV., and for him named the 
 land Louisiana. He explored the river to its mouth, and, returning to 
 France, organized plans for establishing a colony. The ship failed to 
 reach the mouth of the Mississippi, and the colony landed in Texas. It 
 is doubtful whether any colony was established in Louisiana before 
 1699, when Iberville, with a company, attempted a settlement at 
 Biloxi. This was the chief town until 1702, when Bienville moved the 
 headquarters to the west bank of the Mobile river. The soil of Biloxi is 
 very sterile, and the settlers seem to have depended mainly on supplies 
 from France or Ban Domingo. 
 
 998196 
 
UNCLE AND AUNTIE—AFTER A DAY S WORK 
 
LOUISIANA. 
 
 C IH,V5 
 
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 On the 26th of September, 1712, the entire commerce of Louisiana, 
 with a considerable control in its government, was granted to Anthony 
 Crozat, an eminent French merchant. The grant to Crozat, so mag¬ 
 nificent on paper, proved to be of but little use to him and of no benefit 
 to the colony, and in 1718 he surrendered the privilege. In th(j> SaijrW 
 year, on the 6th of September, the charter of the Western, or Missis¬ 
 sippi, Company was registered in the parliament of Paris. The exclusive 
 commerce of Louisiana was granted to it for twenty-five years, and a 
 monopoly of the beaver trade of Canada, together with other extraor¬ 
 dinary privileges, and it entered at once on its new domains. Bienville 
 was appointed governor of the colony for the second time. He had 
 become satisfied that the chief city of the colony should be situated on 
 the Mississippi river, and, therefore, in 1718, New Orleans was founded. 
 
 It was about this time that the engineer, Panger, reported a plan for 
 removing the bar at the mouth of one of the passes by a system very 
 much the same as that so successfully executed in recent years by 
 Captain James B. Eads. It was a mooted question, however, for some 
 time, whether New Orleans, Manchac or Natchez should be the colonial 
 capital; but Bienville had his own way, and removed the seat of gov¬ 
 ernment to New Orleans in 1722. 
 
 The Western Company possessed and controlled Louisiana some 
 fourteen years, when, finding the principality of little value, it 
 surrendered it in January, 1732. In 1763 occurred an event which left 
 a deep impression on the history of Louisiana. On the third of 
 November of that year, France, by a secret treaty, ceded to Spain all 
 that portion of Louisiana which lay west of the Mississippi, together 
 with the city of New Orleans and the island on which it stands. The 
 war between England and France was terminated by the treaty of 
 Paris, in February, 1764. By the terms of this treaty, the boundary 
 between the French and English possessions in North America was 
 fixed by a line drawn along the middle of the Mississippi from its 
 source to the river Iberville, and from there by a line in the middle of 
 that stream, and lakes Maurepas and Pontchartrain to the sea. The 
 French inhabitants were astonished when they found themselves trans¬ 
 ferred to Spanish dominations. Some of them were even so rash as to 
 organize in resistance to the cession, and finally, in 1766 ordered away 
 the Spanish governor, Antonio di Viola. In 1769 Alexander O’Keilly, 
 
 5 — 
 
LOUISIANA. 
 
 the commandant of a large Spanish force arrived and reduced the 
 province to actual possessions. The colony grew slowly from this time 
 until the administration of Baron de Carondelet, but under his manage¬ 
 ment, from 1792 to 1797, marked improvements were made. 
 
 THE FIRST NEWSPAPER. 
 
 I N 1794 the first newspaper was established, The Moniteur. On the 
 first of October, 1800, a treaty was concluded between France and 
 Spain, by which the latter promised to restore to France the 
 province of Louisiana. France, however, did not receive formal 
 possession until November 30,1802. But France did not remain long in 
 possession. The cession to her had been procured by Napoleon, and 
 he did not deem it politic to retain such a province. In April, 1803, it 
 was ceded to the United States, and on the tenth of March, 1804, the 
 United States took possession. The price paid was 60,000,000 francs, 
 besides $3,750,000 for French spoliation claims. 
 
 In 1804, the territory of Orleans was established by order of Congress. 
 The rest of the immense purchase was at first erected into the district 
 of Louisiana; then in 1805 into the Territory of Louisiana, and in 1812 
 into the Territory of Missouri. At the time of the American possession, 
 in 1803, Laussat, the French colonial prefect declares that justice was 
 then administered “worse than in Turkey.” With the American 
 domination came new ideas. In 1808 a civil code of laws was for the 
 first time adopted by legislature in Louisiana. It was based, to a large 
 extent, on a draft of the Code Napoleon. By act of Congress in 
 November, 1811, the inhabitants of the Territory were authorized to 
 form a constitution with a view to the establishment of a State 
 government. The debates in the national House of Representatives on 
 this bill were long and interesting. The bill having been passed, 
 however, the constitution of 1812 was framed and adopted, and on 
 April 30, 1812, Congress passed an act for the admission of Louisiana 
 into the Union. 
 
 Three months after this, war was declared against England by the 
 United States. The contest continued until the treaty of Ghent, 
 December 24, 1814. But before the news of peace could cross the 
 
 6 — 
 
LOUISIANA. 
 
 ocean, a force of 12,000 English soldiers, under Sir John Packenham, 
 landed in Louisiana, and made an attack on New Orleans, which was 
 successfully resisted by General Jackson with only 5,000 men, most of 
 whom were militia from Tennessee and Kentucky. 
 
 The progress of the State from this time until the outbreak of the 
 civil war was very rapid. Louisiana had a large interest in slavery. 
 On account of the extensive cultivation of cotton, rice and sugar cane, 
 and the consequent demand for labor, her slave population almost 
 equaled her white. At the outbreak of the war Louisiana promptly 
 took a position in favor of secession. Its ordinance of secession from 
 the Union was passed December 23, 1860, by a vote of 117 to 113. On 
 March 21, 1861, the same convention adopted the Confederate Constitu¬ 
 tion, without submitting it to the people, and, in order to conform it to 
 their State Constitution, passed amendments for that purpose. From 
 this time until the close of the war the State Government was 
 nominally in the hands of the Confederates, though for the last two 
 years of civil strife its territory, for the most part, was in the hands of 
 the Federals. Some of the earliest, as well as the latest, scenes of the 
 war were enacted in this State. 
 
 In April, 1862, Farragut’s command entered the Mississippi river. 
 He succeeded in passing, and in silencing, Forts Jackson and St. 
 Philip, which defended the approaches to New Orleans, and captured 
 the city on the 25th of April, 1862. By July, 1863, all the Confederate 
 strongholds on the Mississippi were reduced, the towns captured, and 
 the river opened to navigation. In 1863, General Banks brought the 
 Attakapas country into subjection to the United States, and, in 1864, 
 other excursions into the region of the Red river were made by him 
 with but partial success. 
 
 In April, 1864, a new constitution was drawn up preparatory to the 
 act of readmission of the State into the Union. This constitution was 
 ratified by the people in September, 1864. Under this constitution 
 officers of the State were elected, but the general government refused 
 to recognize the constitution. In December, 1867, another convention 
 was called, and its constitution was submitted to the people to be voted 
 upon according to the provisions of that act. This constitution was 
 adopted March 6, 1868. Louisiana was again admitted to the Union on 
 condition of her ratification of the fourteenth amendment. This was 
 
AT WORK IN THE COTTON FIELD, LOUISIANA. 
 
LOUISIANA. 
 
 done on July 9, 1868, and on the 13th of the same month the govern¬ 
 ment was transferred from the military to the civil powers. 
 
 Louisiana is one of the southernmost States, and is bounded on the 
 north by Arkansas, on the east by Mississippi, on the south by the Gulf 
 of Mexico, and on the west by Texas. The western line begins on ihe 
 Gulf at the mouth of the Sabine river and follows a line drawn along 
 the middle of that stream so as to include all islands to the thirty- 
 second degree, north latitude, and thence due north to the thirty-third 
 degree. The northern line follows this parallel of latitude to a point in 
 the middle of the Mississippi river. From this point the eastern line 
 follows the middle of the river to the thirty-first degree and runs on the 
 parallel to the eastern branch of Pearl river; the line then follows the 
 middle of this stream to its mouth in the estuary which connects Lake 
 Pontchartrain with the Gulf. 
 
 The State is 290 miles from east to west and 200 miles from north 
 to south. The area is a superficies of about 48,000 square miles, 
 Louisiana being in extent about equal to North Carolina. It has 1,060 
 square miles of land-locked bays, 1,700 square miles of inland lakes 
 and 540 of river surface, which leaves 45,420 square miles of land area 
 for the State. 
 
 CLIMATE. 
 
 S HE climate of the State is semi-tropical. The mean annual tem¬ 
 perature is between 60° and 75° Fahr. The mean temperature 
 for the hottest month is 85° and for the coldest month about 45°. 
 Summer continues for five months, and there are many warm days in 
 March and April, October and November. 
 
 The fall of the year is the most pleasant season in Louisiana and 
 when the wind is northerly the sky is remarkably serene. The transi - 
 tion from winter to summer is by an extremely short spring. The 
 winds are generally erratic and changeable, blowing within a short 
 space of time from every point in the compass. 
 
 — 9 — 
 
LOUISIANA. 
 
 SURFACE. 
 
 B Y a singularity, of which, perhaps, Louisiana offers the only 
 instance, the more elevated ground in the State is found on the 
 banks of its rivers. No part of the State is much above 400 feet 
 above sea level, and the average elevation of the whole State is 75 feet. 
 Back from the rivers, especially from the Mississippi, are found swamps 
 which drain the arable land. Each of the larger rivers flows through a 
 bed of alluvial soil. In the case of the Mississippi it varies in width 
 from ten to fifty miles. The Mississippi rises at its flood higher than 
 the neighboring land and inundates it where it is not protected by 
 levees; but these embankments have been largely increased during late 
 years and are constantly being added to. Thus the river flows on a 
 ridge formed by its own deposits. The declivity of the land on the 
 east side of the river towards Lake Pontchartrain shows that the earth 
 which the water of the Mississippi deposited, formed, in the course of 
 time, the island on which the city of New Orleans now stands. All the 
 maritime coast of Louisiana is low and marshy; that from the mouth 
 of the Pearl river to the Perdido is faced by low and sandy islands, of 
 which the principal ones are those of Chandeleur; besides those, there 
 are a large number of islets. 
 
 The swamps extend inland from ten to sixty miles, and the water 
 courses afford the only means of approaching the coast, except when 
 the ridges which contain the rivers approach the Gulf. Here and there 
 may be seen a live oak ridge, or a small extent of slightly elevated 
 prairie. This coast region, where cultivated, is devoted to raising rice 
 and sugar cane. 
 
 RIVERS AND LAKES. 
 
 S HE largest river of the State is the Mississippi, which has 600 
 miles on the border of and through the State. At its mouth in 
 the Gulf, the east pass, which is largely used, is the shortest, 
 being twenty miles in length; the south pass is twenty-two, and the 
 southwest twenty-five. The bars which obstruct these passes are sub¬ 
 ject to change, but immediately on entering the river there are from 
 
 -10— 
 
LOUISIANA. 
 
 three to thirty fathoms of water. The channel of the river is very 
 deep, which helps to preserve its course at flood times, when it over¬ 
 flows its banks. It requires much thought and engineering skill to 
 contain the mighty stream. 
 
 Eed river empties its waters into the Mississippi. This juncture of 
 the two rivers is memorable as being the spot on which the army of 
 Charles I. of Spain, under De Soto, towards the middle of the six¬ 
 teenth century, committed the body of their chief to the water, in 
 order to prevent its falling into the hands of the Indians. The 
 Ouachita or Washita, Sabine and Pearl are among the other large 
 rivers of the State. All are navigable except the Pearl. The southern 
 part of the State is much cut up by rivers, which have received the 
 local appellation of bayous. They are secondary outlets often for the 
 larger rivers or lakes, and furnish a means of draining the swamps. In 
 flood time this network of bayous is almost indispensable for carrying 
 off the surplus water. Some are useful in navigation, as the Achafalaya 
 bayou, Bayou la Fourche and Bayou Bceuf. The name bayou has come 
 to be a common one, and is applied to almost any sluggish stream. 
 
 Considering the low level of the land, it is not strange to find the 
 State, especially the southern part, interlocked with lakes. Along the 
 coast there are Pontchartrain, Borgue, Maurepas and Sabine lakes. 
 These, with others situated along the Gulf coast, are properly lagoons. 
 Along the river lakes are formed by a change of channel—the deposit 
 of silt gradually cutting off portions of the river and forming little 
 lakes. This happens frequently in the Mississippi, and sometimes on 
 the Bed river. A third class of lakes is that which the “ raft” in the 
 river at flood times forms by causing a “set-back” in the water. 
 This is the case in the river above Shreveport. 
 
 VEGETATION. 
 
 S HE alluvial lands furnish a soil of remarkable permanence and 
 fertility. Louisiana, like Florida, is a land of flowers, and the 
 flowers yield the richest perfume. The swampy land of the 
 State is covered with lofty cypress trees, or wide-spreading live oaks, 
 from which hangs the Spanish moss in long festoons, giving the forest 
 a most weird appearance. The trees that flourish in the alluvial regions 
 
 —11— 
 
LOUISIANA. 
 
 are the ash, hickory, sweet gum, walnut, magnolia, and the Spanish, 
 black, white, post, water and chestnut oaks, also Florida anise, tulip tree, 
 linden, lance-leafed buckthorn, acacia, cherry, holly, pomegranate, arbor 
 vitse, lime, pecan, tillandsia, white cedar, red cedar, sycamore and 
 yellow pine, besides the willow, cottonwood, basket oaks, and other 
 similar species. On the uplands or tertiary formations are found 
 poplar, elm, maple, honey locust, prickly ash, persimmon, box elder, 
 dogwood, hackberry, mulberry, sassafras, tupelo and black locust. 
 
 The principal fruit trees are the orange, pawpaw, peach, quince, plum, 
 fig, and olive. In the tertiary region Indian corn yields a better crop 
 than in the alluvial, and cotton is grown here as well as in the alluvium. 
 The coast lands are unsurpassed for the production of rice and sugar 
 cane while the deltas raise sweet potatoes, buckwheat, barley and figs. 
 On the islands off the coast is produced the famous sea island cotton to 
 a limited extent. Oranges grow abundantly in the southern part of the 
 State, and their blossoms together with the jessamines, camellias, 
 oleanders and roses, as well as other flowers native to a semi-tropical 
 climate, make the air redolent with perfume through nearly the entire 
 year. Almost every kind of fruit common to a similar climate is to be 
 found in Louisiana. 
 
 GEOLOGY. 
 
 S HE geological formations so far as can be seen are in no wise 
 complex. The Mississippi and Red river basins covering three- 
 fifths of the area of the State, are alluvial anddiluviaMormations. 
 Some of these deposits are sixty feet deep. These made lands, especially 
 upon the deltas, are constantly growing and pushing out into the Gulf. 
 The rest of the State, which comprises the region west of the Ouachita 
 and Calcasieu rivers is tertiary. The alluvial region belongs to the 
 quaternary formation. In the tertiary region is found lignite or 
 brown coal, iron and salt deposits. The salt strata on Petit Ause 
 Island has been extensively worked. In the southern part of the 
 State there are sulphur deposits 112 feet in thickness which yield from 
 60 to 96 per cent of pure sulphur. Copper," jasper, agates, sardonyx, and 
 onyx have been found in the tertiary region. 
 
 — 12 — 
 
LOUISIANA. 
 
 POPULATION. 
 
 The following table shows the growth of the State since 1810: 
 
 Year. Population. Density. 
 
 1810. 
 
 . 76,756 
 
 1.7 
 
 1820. 
 
 . 152,993 
 
 3.4 
 
 1830... 
 
 . 215,739 
 
 4.7 
 
 1840. 
 
 . 352,411 
 
 7.8 
 
 1850. 
 
 .... 517,762 
 
 11.4 
 
 1860. 
 
 . 708,002 ‘ 
 
 15.6 
 
 1870. 
 
 . 726,915 
 
 16.0 
 
 1880. 
 
 . 939,946 
 
 20.6 
 
 1890. 
 
 .1,115,000 
 
 .. 
 
 HEALTH. 
 
 D R. C. P. WILKINSON, president of the State Board of Health, in 
 an address delivered in New Orleans, after stating that he would 
 go abroad for his testimony and present the disinterested evi¬ 
 dence of outsiders, quoted the words of William P. Stewart, actuary 
 and vital statistician of the Mutual Life Insurance Company, of New 
 York, w T ho said that the general healthfulness of Louisiana was so well 
 assured that his company had hastened to establish its agencies in the 
 State. Dr. Wilkinson then compares the mortality among the whites 
 in Vermont, Tennessee, Indiana and Texas with that of Louisiana, and 
 finds these facts: 
 
 “Vermont has a white mortality of 15.12 per 1,000; Tennessee, 15.21; 
 Louisiana, 15.45; Indiana, 15.88; and Texas, 15.86; or, in this group of 
 known healthy States, Louisiana stands superior to two and presents 
 only a very small fractional inferiority to the others. 
 
 “Returning to official figures, and now excluding the large cities, we 
 arrive at tables which meet our purpose—the relative salubrity of the 
 rural portion of each State. 
 
 “The highest on record in percentage of deaths from malarial fever 
 stands Florida, with 9.53 per cent of its total mortality from this dis¬ 
 ease ; the lowest, Rhode Island, with only .08 per cent. In between 
 these two extremes come the other States, those adjacent to our great 
 
 — 13 — 
 
FARM SCENE NEAR ALEXANDRIA—LOUISIANA 
 
LOUISIANA. 
 
 streams showing a higher rate than the others. Arkansas has 7.65 per 
 cent; Alabama, 7.36; Mississippi, 7.06; Louisiana, 6.06, and Texas, 6.04. 
 Our own State showing more favorably than any of our neighbors, save 
 one, in a mortality springing from a disease largely preventable by 
 ordinary attention, by the mass of the people, to the plainest and sim¬ 
 plest laws of hygiene. 
 
 “The least infant mortality is exhibited in New Hampshire, which 
 has 20.88 per cent of infant to the total mortality; Maine, 23.57; Ver¬ 
 mont, 24.10; California, 25.31; New York, 25.39; Connecticut, 26.75; 
 Massachusetts, 29 21; Ohio, 33.36; Rhode Island, 33.69; Oregon, 34.99; 
 New Jersey, 35.52; Wisconsin, 35.61; Pennsylvania, 36.15; and then 
 Louisiana with 38.05, the list ending with Kansas and Nebraska, the 
 highest rates in the Union—Kansas with 47.56 and Nebraska with 49.12 
 per cent.” 
 
 In this list Louisiana is not preceded by any other Southern State. 
 
 The oft-quoted advice of Horace Greeley, “ Go West, young man,” 
 has well served its time and purpose. But the Great West is no longer 
 the poor man’s paradise. For twenty years countless thousands of 
 sturdy homeseekers have followed the setting sun, and the West is 
 filled. The countless thousands still seeking their own vine and fig 
 tree are now looking southward, and the vine and the fig tree are 
 literally and of a surety there to welcome them. 
 
 The first and most important item to a homeseeker is to find a place 
 where himself and family will enjoy good health. It has very many 
 times been demonstrated, in very many countries and by many people, 
 that, no matter how serenely the goddess Fortune may smile upon 
 mankind, if the element of health be omitted the structure is not only 
 incomplete, but wrecked. A sick man cannot be happy. He may have 
 bags of gold, he may have lands and palaces, he may have influence 
 and high station, he may hold scepters and the destinies of nations 
 within his grasp, but if he has not health he may not be compared in 
 contentment with the common toiler of the field. We claim health to 
 he regulated by climatic influences. A cast iron man will weaken in a 
 latitude where one goes to bed in summer and wakes up in winter. 
 No man can have health and consequent contentment in a country 
 where for weeks and weeks the sun hides its face behind deep banks of 
 lowering clouds. Old Sol is a great health maker, and where the sun 
 
LOUISIANA. 
 
 shines perennially you will find a joyous, happy, contented and healthy 
 people. This is the history of mankind. Southwest Louisiana ?s a 
 land of sunshine—not the hot, blistering blaze of an arid deserl, but 
 the rain-tempered sunshine of an April morn, where life in its most 
 radiant form springs forth in the abandonment of luxuriant ritality. 
 It is a land where the birds sing in fuller octave, where the flowers 
 give forth a more subtle perfume, where the fruitage of Eden is granted 
 a more delicious flavor, where the grass takes on a deeper green, where 
 the rivers reveal clearer waters, where the rich garden of mother earth 
 holds her choicest treasures, and where God’s greatest work, His own 
 image, lives every hour of the day, and enjoys life as it was intended 
 he should. The next world is a speculation, an unrevealed and un¬ 
 fathomed boundary. The singers of Zion may tell us of the golden 
 streets and inspired harps, of the lands of many mansions, but no 
 traveler has ever returned from that mysterious bourne, and no legend 
 reveals the story. This life is real and earnest. We are here to make 
 a happy home, or dwell in halls of desolation, just as we elect. It is 
 not true that one grows indolent and heedless beneath the benign 
 influence of this land of sunshine. As the sea voyage instills new life 
 and ambition, so does the ocean air you breathe at every breath 
 awaken new vitality and new energy. The great Gulf of Mexico is but 
 a few miles distant, and life on the fertile prairies or blooming wood¬ 
 lands of Southwestern Louisiana is as a continuous sea voyage, and the 
 soil tiller is invigorated and strengthened to such a degree that labor is 
 a pleasure instead of a dreary round of endless monotony. 
 
 VARIETY OF PRODUCTS. 
 
 C OUISIANA, contrary to the general impression outside the State, is 
 capable of producing, and does produce, a great variety of agricul¬ 
 tural products. The writer of a pamphlet published by Welch 
 & Marye, real estate and immigration agents at Alexandria, essays to 
 enumerate these products, and says: 
 
 “In cereals we can produce oats, rye, barley, buckwheat, India corn, 
 sugar cane, a great many varieties, and many varieties of sorghum.” 
 
 — 16 — 
 
LOUISIANA. 
 
 Having gone thus far the writer pauses to insert a foot-note, in which 
 he “begs the reader to understand that he speaks advisedly’’ and 
 then continues as follows: 
 
 “In textiles we can produce cotton, flax, ramie, and jute. The writer 
 has never seen any hemp growing in this State; but cannot but believe 
 it would succeed. 
 
 “In grasses, the list is simply legion; all the favorite Northern 
 grasses; many Southern grasses; and several far superior to any of the 
 former. And we can have our fields green the whole year with the 
 richest herbage; our rainfall and heavy dews playing most important 
 parts in summer and our genial sunshine in winter. 
 
 “It has been demonstrated (as a corollary of the above), that we can 
 raise the finest stock—Short Horns, Devons, Jersey’s, Holstein’s, and 
 Galloways in cattle; that we can raise fine mules; also fine thoroughbred 
 and trotting horses—the great Lecompte having been a native. Sheep 
 of almost every breed have been tried (except the Saxony), and South- 
 down, Merinoes, Leicesters, Cotswolds, Shropshires have all succeeded. 
 It is one of the best sheep countries in the world, in its pine woods 
 belt. Hogs of almost every breed have been tried and approved— 
 Berkshire, Poland China, Jersey Red or Duroc, Yorkshires, Guinea, 
 taking rank about as enumerated. Here and there one commends the 
 Chester White; but that opinion, we think, larger experience will 
 change. The Irish Grazier no one now regards favorably. It is a 
 wonderful country for poultry. Hens lay the whole year round, and 
 broods of chickens are easily reared at almost any season. This 
 suggests spring chickens ahead of competition in St. Louis, Chicago, 
 etc. Geese, turkeys and ducks are all in high feather; having a beauty 
 of plumage, a health and flavor of flesh quite surpassing. In vegetables 
 it would be absurd to attempt an enumeration. There are few that we 
 cannot successfully raise. Asparagus, celery, cauliflower (thought only 
 a little while ago to be barred by our climate), we have demonstrated 
 that we can successfully produce. Horse-radish we can raise to 
 perfection. In fruits, the list is endless almost in its varieties: oranges, 
 bananas, peaches, pears, apples, quinces, grapes, blackberries, dew¬ 
 berries, raspberries, strawberries, pomegranates, figs, Japan persim¬ 
 mons, plums, apricots, nectarines, Japan plums, whortleberries, 
 mayhaw, sloe. We firmly expect to see this State take great prom- 
 
 — 17 — 
 
LOUISIANA SCENERY 
 
LOUISIANA. 
 
 inence in grape-growing in the next few years. We have some 
 information as to foreign grapes that promises great things. We are 
 assured that the Delaware is a grand success near Alexandria. If this 
 be so, it will mean a great deal for the country. Raising early fruits 
 and vegetables will be a matter of course in the future. A very 
 superior pecan has come to the front, introduced by Mr. W. R. Stuart, 
 of Mississippi, and we have been shown by him one superior to any he 
 has yet disclosed to the public. A pecan orchard of this superior nut is 
 one of the best heritages one can leave children. Chestnuts, filberts, 
 almonds, walnuts (black and white) can be successfully produced. 
 
 4 ‘Tobacco, ginger, indigo, tea—these are some of the products we do 
 not classify. 
 
 “There is a spirit of experimentation pervading the people generally. 
 The agricultural fairs, the Farmers’ Alliance, and the experimental 
 stations of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of the State, under 
 the charge of Prof. Wm. C. Stubbs, Ph. D., as director, are all stimulat¬ 
 ing the people. Looking through and around the whole field of experi¬ 
 ment, it is doubted if there is any investigation so broad, so scientific, 
 so aggressive in the United States as the last. The experiments cover 
 agriculture, horticulture, stock-raising, truck-farming and vegetable¬ 
 raising. The trials in sorghum and sugar cane are unapproachable. 
 In a few years the results of these experiments of Prof. Stubbs will 
 afford the most authoritative criteria for all operations in the farm and 
 garden, and he will be regarded as the spokesman of nature, as it were, 
 the interpreter of soil and climate. To his experiment stations will 
 repair the future enquirer for information, as to any line of industry he 
 may think of engaging in. The grape grower can learn the best variety 
 or varieties; what will and will not succeed, so in any line of horticul¬ 
 ture. We have prefaced thus, because we propose to press into our 
 service some of Professor Stubbs’ beneficent work in behalf of the State 
 and general progress. These experiments are not haphazard. They 
 are based on methods both practical and scientific (at bottom, much 
 the same), and show there is no land in this State that is not amenable 
 to reclamation, and almost illimitable improvements. The basis of 
 experiments at Baton Rouge and Calhoun were lands that, from ordi¬ 
 nary standpoints, were next to execrable. The crops produced are 
 certainly inspiriting, and are prophetic of an exalted plane of agricul- 
 
 — 19 — 
 
LOUISIANA. 
 
 ture in a few years. We commend to any one contemplating a rural 
 vocation, a study of the reports of the Commissioner of Agriculture of 
 /he State. In them are embodied the experiments of Professor Stubbs, 
 as well as much other very interesting matter relating to the farm, field 
 and garden. We now give some facts that upset the idea that any 
 lands in Louisiana are too infertile to be worth culture. In 1886, Pro¬ 
 fessor Stubbs raised 103 6-32 bushels of oats at Baton Rouge. The 
 experiments ran from a production of fifty-one bushels per acre (not 
 fertilized), up to the above—103 6-32. At Kenner Station (where the 
 land is naturally much superior), the best results in 1887 were 79 7-32 
 bushels of oats per acre. In 1888, at Baton Rouge, 65^4 bushels of oats 
 per acre were raised. In 1889, 78.3 bushels of oats per acre was the 
 best result at Baton Rouge. They encountered a severe drouth. Mr. 
 McQuade, at Baton Rouge, raised 62 bushels of oats per acre, on very 
 thin land, fertilized. Experimenting on thirty acres, Mr. Story raised, 
 in St. Bernard Parish, 60 bushels to the acre. Mr. A. W. McLaurine, 
 of Rapides Parish, says that he seldom raises less than 60 bushels per 
 acre, a not uncommon crop here. 
 
 “At Baton Rouge there were 17 % bushels of wheat per acre in 1888. 
 In the same year at the same experiment station, 51 bushels of barley 
 per acre were produced. In 1889, Michigan Bronze wheat yielded 19.9 
 bushels per acre. 
 
 “In 1889, a large experiment in Irish potatoes was made. In that 
 year, on March 22, three hundred and three varieties were planted. 
 They were dug on June 21 and 22. A light rain, enough to produce 
 germination, fell immediately after planting; but from that time until 
 just before harvest there was not a drop. 
 
 “The following are some of the best results: 
 
 
 Bushels 
 
 Bushels 
 
 
 per acre 
 
 per acre 
 
 
 mer’ble. 
 
 culls. 
 
 Platts No. 505. 
 
 . 299.2 
 
 93.5 
 
 Early Perfection. 
 
 . 187.8 
 
 78.2 
 
 Sunset. 
 
 . 178.6 
 
 88.0 
 
 Nights Early Standard. 
 
 . 178.6 
 
 87.4 
 
 Cay ago... 
 
 . 173,4 ' 
 
 24.6 
 
 “A large number of varieties went below 100 bushels per acre. Only 
 55 out of the three hundred and three varieties, or 10 per cent, gave a 
 yield of 100 bushels or over per acre. The above experiment was made 
 
 — 20 — 
 
LOUISIANA. 
 
 without fertilizers, if we do not misconstrue it. The potatoes were 
 planted at a wrong time, and some gathered when unripe. And the 
 crop is not a criterion, by reason of need of rain. 
 
 “Another experiment was conducted at the same place to try the 
 merits of different fertilizers, and showed much greater production. 
 Space forbids our giving the full table. We select one fertilizer as a 
 sample. 
 
 Experiments in Fertilizing Potatoes. 
 
 Yield in Bushels per Acre. 
 
 HOW FERTILIZED. 
 
 Nothing. 
 
 1,000 lbs. Cotton 
 Seed Meal, 
 
 500 lbs. Kanite, 
 500 lbs. Acid 
 Phosphate. 
 
 Name of Variety. 
 
 Mer. 
 
 Culls. 
 
 Mer. 
 
 Culls. 
 
 Extra Early Vermont. 
 
 67. 
 
 134. 
 
 279.5 
 
 96. 
 
 Nova Scotia Rose. 
 
 144.5 
 
 85. 
 
 448.5 
 
 187.5 
 
 Mammoth Pearl. 
 
 200.6 
 
 59.5 
 
 376.0 
 
 132.5 
 
 Early Beauty of Hebron. 
 
 184.5 
 
 89.5 
 
 356.5 
 
 191.0 
 
 Early Sunrise. 
 
 154.5 
 
 91.0 
 
 444.0 
 
 104.0 
 
 Early Snowflake. 
 
 160.5 
 
 148.5 
 
 588.0 
 
 140.0 
 
 Burbank... 
 
 336.0 
 
 73.0 
 
 490.0 
 
 141.5 
 
 White Star. 
 
 264.5 
 
 850.0 
 
 514.5 
 
 123.5 
 
 Peerless. 
 
 143.0 
 
 140.0 
 
 511.0 
 
 174.5 
 
 
 “If space permitted, we should be glad to show other results, under 
 other auspices, in potato culture. And, for the same reason, we are 
 compelled to leave out the crops of hay, peas, beans, melons, etc., etc., 
 of these experimental farms, and debarred enumerating the varieties of 
 grapes, peaches, pears, apples, quinces, plums, strawberries and rasp¬ 
 berries that are on trial. 
 
 CORN. 
 
 “We now give an enumeration of some crops of corn, made in vari¬ 
 ous parishes, in various years, by persons who, in most instances 
 (perhaps), were seeking best results in competition with their neigh¬ 
 bors. The results were always (presumably) achieved by the use of 
 fertilizers; almost always either cotton seed or cotton-seed meal. Jack- 
 
 21 — 
 
LOUISIANA. 
 
 son parish in 1886, reports as best results, 50 bushels per acre; Lincoln 
 parish reports from 60 to 87 bushels per acre; Ouachita, 62 bushels; 
 Rapides, 60, on common sandy soil; Richland, 50 bushels per acre; 
 Caddo, 87)^; Webster, 85, 97, 117 and 1093^ bushels per acre. In the 
 year 1887, De Soto parish reports one farmer as raising 75 bushels per 
 acre; another, 119; Union, 63 and 126 on uplands. In 1887, Claiborne 
 reports from 68 to 100 bushels of corn per acre: Bienville reports 87>£ 
 bushels corn to the acre, on hill land, fertilized with cotton seed; Boss¬ 
 ier, several farmers raised 75 bushels per acre; Calcasieu, same year, 
 50; Claiborne, 60 to 120 bushels of corn per acre; Jackson in 1887, prize 
 acres produced from 50 to 100 bushels corn per acre; Morehouse, 75 
 bushels corn to the acre; Terrebonne, 60 bushels corn to the acre; Union, 
 42 to 72 bushels corn to the acre. In 1888, in De Soto, 155 bushels corn 
 per acre; in Morehouse, 100; in Ouachita, 80; Baton Rouge (Professor 
 Stubbs), 79.6; at Calhoun (experimental station, first year on poor land). 
 Many parishes that make no show on this list have far better soil than 
 those producing many of tho above corn crops; better man any, perhaps, 
 with very few exceptions. These results in production of corn are owing 
 to a stimulus to improved culture and fertilization. To whatever they 
 may be owing, they demonstrate the folly of people who assert that 
 Louisiana is no corn country. 
 
 “Considering that the crops were produced (with a possible exception 
 here and there), without analysis of soils; that the land was not in best 
 tilth; that the experimentalists were generally tyros; that the soils 
 could not have been at their best (because high fertilizing counts best 
 on richest soil), but on the contrary that the crops were made, often, 
 on poor soils, crudely fertilized; considering all that, we think it is a 
 good demonstration of the recuperativeness, durability and tractable¬ 
 ness of our soils; that they are not a vexatious problem to the agricul¬ 
 turist, and do not keep him in waiting; but most generously respond to" 
 all attentions. And the easy lesson from the above is that: Given a 
 fair season, decent tillage, and a dollar or two of cotton-seed meal to 
 the acre, our poorest lands will bring surprising crops of corn. 
 
 STOCK RAISING. 
 
 “Stock raising and dairying would be most remunerative industries 
 here. A creamery is one of the matters that ought very soon to materi¬ 
 alize here. Professor Stubbs puts the former matter thus: ‘That 
 
 — 22 — 
 
LOUISIANA. 
 
 dairying and stock raising can be made exceedingly profitable all over 
 the South admits of scarcely a doubt.’ Of course, many cattle breeders 
 south knew that more than a decade ago; but it is just as well that the 
 facts should have the authority of his name, for doubting citizens or the 
 distant uniformed. 
 
 “It has been amply demonstrated that mule-raising is perfectly feas¬ 
 ible. The demand for mules in Louisiana is greater than in any other 
 State of the Union ; and this is the market of ultimate value. The cost 
 of raising them here is a bagatelle, compared with the West. Their 
 health, steady growth and early development, in fact, every desideratum , 
 unmistakably foreshadow the business to be one of the future prom¬ 
 inent industries of the State. A mule can be turned into market per¬ 
 fectly grown and broke at three years old. A fourteen to fifteen and 
 a half hand mule can be raised from a fourteen and a half Louisiana 
 mare, when bred to a proper jack. * 
 
 “Hay making can be made exceedingly profitable. The large crops 
 possible with our rainfall and long season of sunshine; the adaptation 
 of our soil and climate to an innumerable variety of grasses; the fact i 
 
 that the South still imports a great quantity of hay, indicate to those 
 who would make hay a most lucrative business. If space permitted, 
 we could show some surprising results in favor of various clovers, 
 timothy, orchard, red top and other grasses. And this matter of grass 
 all the year round, will open up to us the business of sending in fat 
 cattle of choice beef-strains to St. Louis and Chicago, early in the sea¬ 
 son, before Western grass-fed beef are ripe. 
 
 “We have given a view of the products of the soil of Louisiana; but 
 there is a world of riches in the waters of the State, which would take 
 large space to enumerate. It must not be forgotten that Louisiana hai 
 the Gulf of Mexico for her storehouse in exhaustless stores of the most 
 superb fish, along all her southern border. And here are to be found 
 the most prized inhabitants of the deep; the celebrated diamond back 
 Terrapin of the Chesapeake waters; the Prawn—known as shrimp—so 
 dear to Englishmen; and the oyster of superb flavor and greatest 
 abundance. And one has but to help himself to these wonderful boun¬ 
 ties of the sea. Then Louisiana has fresh-water fish (of entirely 
 different species from those of the salt water), in her many rivers and 
 lakes, and innumerable clear-water streams. Indeed, the store of fish 
 
 -23 — 
 

 THE PICKANINNY^ HEAVEN. 
 
LOUISIANA. 
 
 is a wonder to those who are fond of the sport of fishing. And it is no 
 exaggeration to say that Louisiana has an unfailing support for man in 
 her waters alone. 
 
 “Then the supply of game—deer, wild turkeys, squipels, pubbite, 
 quails, wild ducks, wild geese, even bears. These, and other game afford 
 not only delight to the sportsman, but a very matbtial element of sub¬ 
 sistence for her people.” 
 
 SUGAR. 
 
 B EFORE the war, Louisiana produced more than half the sugar 
 consumed in the country. In 1861 there were 460,000 hogsheads 
 made. In 1865 the product was only 16*000 hogsheads, for the 
 war had practically destroyed the industry. The industry has 
 
 wonderfully expanded since the beet has been used for the production 
 of sugar. The following are the\atest facts from the highest authority, 
 the London Grocer: 
 
 “The combined crops of 2,340,000 tons cane, and 3,660,000 tons beet 
 sugar for the ensuing season represents a gigantic total of exactly 
 6,000,000 tons, and beet sugar which two or three decades ago 
 
 contributed the smallest proportion to the whole available supply, now 
 affords the largest, and makes up a heavier crop by 1,320,000 than that 
 turned out by cane sugars. It is also worth while to note that 
 
 the yearly consumption of sugar in this country is equal to about 
 1,266,000 tons, so that putting these amounts together we get a 
 
 total of 2,766,000 tons as the quantity necessary to meet the regular 
 wants of consumers in England and America, which does not allow 
 more than 3,234,000 tons as the consumption of sugar for the rest of the 
 populations of the universe that can be enumerated — a fact highly 
 suggestive of the pertinent question: Whence shall be brought sugar 
 that these may eat and be filled?” 
 
 From 1850 to 1860 the price of sugar was low; hogsheads selling at 
 $40.00 each, and the molasses in the cistern at fifteen cents per gallon, 
 but the planters made money. Indeed, an eminent authority says: 
 “From 1850 to 1860 the prosperity of lower Louisiana was a marvel to 
 the inhabitants of her sister States.” Lands sold readily at $50 per 
 
 — 25 — 
 
LOUISIANA. 
 
 acre, and highly improved plantations at higher prices. John Dymond, 
 President of the Louisiana Sugar Planted Association says that the 
 United States consumed in 1888 nearly 1,500,000 tons of-sugar, most of 
 it produced abroad, and costing nearly one hundred and fifty millions 
 of dollars. It is his computation (we believe), certainly that of 
 Bouchereau and Professor Wm. C. Stubbs—the very highest authorities 
 —that the State of Louisiana can produce all the sugar now consumed 
 in the United States. In 1888, Judge Emile Rost tells us, sugar 
 was manufactured in twenty-three parishes. But the area of possible 
 and profitable sugar production from sugar cane is susceptible of great 
 enlargement, as we shall show hereafter by figures from Professor B. 
 B. Ross, of the Louisiana State University, delivered in an address at 
 Baton Rouge, La., in February, 1891. These facts are a revelation, are 
 electrifying, and have a most startling significance. But this is not all. 
 Professor Stubbs has conclusively demonstrated that, from sorghum, in 
 Louisiana, can be produced nearly or as much per ton of sugar as used 
 to be made from sugar cane here under the old process of “open kettle .’ 9 
 And sorghum, being supplemental to sugar cane, can keep in employ¬ 
 ment an expensive plant that, under sugar cane, is in use only a few 
 months in winter. 
 
 The demonstrations of Professor Ross, as to the enlargement of area 
 of sugar cane, and as to the higher sugar content of sorghum here, we 
 think, conclusively show that Louisiana will be able to produce 
 all the sugar the United States will consume in the next fifty years, to 
 the value of not less than two hundred and fifty millions of dollars. 
 
 The possibilities of sugar production from the beet have been 
 demonstrated in the West, and particularly in California. If European 
 beet sugar could be eliminated from the problem, or if its product could 
 be curtailed the situation in our favor would be greatly strengthened 
 and fortified. 
 
 The Grocer says, in view of all the facts: “Whence shall be brought 
 sugar that these may eat and be filled?” The advanced manufacture of 
 sugar in Louisiana seems to turn on the diffusion process. According 
 to Prof. Ross, there were, in 1888, seven hundred and seventy-six sugar 
 houses, representing $100,000,000 worth of machinery in Louisiana sugar 
 houses, and eight or nine diffusion plants. There are not, probably, a 
 dozen diffusion plants as yet. Of course, a diffusion plant will work up 
 
 26 
 
LOUISIANA. 
 
 a great deal more cane than the old-time process, yet any one can see 
 theri is abundance of room for this last great innovation in sugar man¬ 
 ufacture. Assuming that Louisiana shonld only revert to the number 
 of acres in cane before the war, in round numbers certainly ucjt less 
 than a quarter of a million acres, and that each acre will average twen¬ 
 ty-five tons of cane to the acre, there would thefi be six million, five 
 hundred thousand (6,500,000) tons of cane. With the utmost work of 
 a diffusion plant, there could only be worked into sugar, in the course 
 of a season, one hundred thousand tons of cane—the estimate of John 
 Dymond, President of the Louisiana Sugar Planters’ Association. This 
 would leave room for over sixty large diffusion plants. 
 
 SUGAR MAKING ON A SMALL SCALE. 
 
 [A paper read by Major J. G. Lee, Assistant Director of North Louisiana Experiment 
 Station, before the State Agricultural Society at Mansfield, January 27th, 1893.] 
 
 When we consider the vast agricultural possibilities of our State, vouch¬ 
 safed to us by nature, a feeling of honorable pride takes possession of 
 us, but when we consider the development of these natural advantages, 
 of fertile soil, of ample moisture, and of salubrious climate, we are 
 chagrined, that so poor a use of opportunity has been made by us 
 towards the development of our resources. 
 
 As my subject relates particularly to the small farmer of Louisiana, it 
 is to them my remarks are chiefly directed. Sad experience of the recent 
 past, has brought us to see the “error of our ways” in pursuing the “all 
 cotton system,” and that the diversified system of farming, practiced 
 more or less, the past year, though forced to it, finds us in better con¬ 
 dition, as a rule, than previous years have found us. A necessity has 
 proven a blessing. Let us hope that the prevailing price of cotton will 
 not entice us back to our first love, excluding other crops, but rather let 
 us be even more persistent in following the new and better system ; the 
 system that raises every product possible on our farms for man and beast 
 that the soil, with our early springs, long summers and late autumns, 
 will produce, the only system that will develop our magnificent agri¬ 
 cultural advantages, and make us prosperous on the farm—it is the 
 system of intelligent diversified farming. Following up this idea, let 
 me add one crop to our farming, that of sugar cane, and advocate its 
 manufacture, on a small scale, into sugar and molasses. 
 
 Formerly, the people of North Louisiana looked upon the culture and 
 manufacture of sugar cane as something belonging to their more opulent 
 neighbors in the southern part of the State, and believed the people of 
 that favored section possessed some wonderful alchemy called “sugar 
 making,” that filled their coffers with gold. The term “sugar planter” 
 
 — 27 — 
 
LOUISIANA. 
 
 meant a personage that the hill farmer almost envied, but never dreamed 
 of emulating. 
 
 In the primitive days of which I speak, a row of sugar cane in the 
 farmer's garden was a luxury. My first recollection of this staple was 
 a short row in my father’s garden, planted for the delectation of the 
 children of the family, and so highly prized were the purple juicy stalks, 
 that they were oft6n numbered among the delicacies that fell to the 
 share of the small boy at Christmas tide. 
 
 Finally, not many years ago, a progressive farmer grew cane and 
 made syrup from it, other farmers followed, and in a short time rude 
 mills and pans were erected all over the country, and cane syrup, for 
 home consumption, had discounted that of sorghum. At this juncture, 
 the North Louisiana Experiment Station came upon the scene, and from 
 that time on has given its best efforts towards the development of this 
 small industry. Sugar cane was planted, machinery bought, boxes 
 made for juice, and a small sugar house erected in the fall of 1890. The 
 entire outfit costing only $150 complete. The apparatus was just such 
 as was in common use in the country, consisting of a Victor horse mill 
 No. 1 and a 1% foot Cook’s evaporator. How well they have availed 
 themselves of the opportunity is attested by the fact that nearly every 
 farmer in our vicinity makes his own sugar and molasses. 
 
 4 ‘But how do you make sugar?” is often asked. I regret that my 
 serious illness, two years ago, prevented me from responding to an in¬ 
 vitation from Mr. Hewitt, of this town, asking me to come and teach 
 sugar making to a number of farmers here, at a named date. I hope 
 the opportunity will present itself again, for we are anxious that this 
 enterprise shall go forward in North Louisiana. In the meantime, a 
 brief description of the process I presume will not be out of place to-day. 
 
 The outfit of sugar manufacture on a small scale consists of a one- 
 horse mill and evaporator, boxes, barrels, etc., to be used as juice tanks, 
 and a sulphur machine, lime, litmus paper, and a Beaume of hydrometer, 
 to determine density of juice, syrup or masse cuite. The mill should be 
 substantially built and the pan placed on good brick foundation. The 
 rollers should be kept tight to insure good extraction. The bagasse 
 should be pressed until it comes from the mill broken in short, dry 
 pieces, when about 70 per cent extraction is obtained, otherwise not 
 more than 50 per cent is secured. It is bad economy to grow the sugar 
 and then throw it away in the bagasse. As the juice goes from the mill 
 to the sulphur box, it should pass through metallic or cloth strainers to 
 relieve it of trash and finely ground cane, which is objectionable in the 
 after work. The sulphur machine is a water tight box, say 6 feet long, 
 2 feet deep and 1 foot wide. Inside the box is fastened a series of very 
 shallow, flat troughs, 6 inches wide, running lengthwise one above the 
 other, with an oblique fall to throw the juice one from another. The 
 
 — 28 — 
 
LOUISIANA. 
 
 juice enters at top of box, falling directly in trough No. 1, runs slowly 
 down and falls on trough No. 2, then back on to No. 3, etc., until it passes 
 out at bottom of sulphur box into a 50 gallon juice tank. In the mean¬ 
 time the fumes of sulphur enter at the side and bottom of the box and 
 opposite that, where the juice enters, and rising up is absorbed by the 
 juice, the excess of fumes passing out at top of box through an escape 
 pipe. The object is to give slow transit to juice so that fumes may act 
 well on juice. The sulphur furnace may be built 3 brick long, 2 wide 
 each way, with opening at front large enough to pass a small iron cup, 
 in which rolled sulphur is placed and burned, a pipe conveying the 
 fumes to juice box as described. 
 
 The objects of sulphur are three fold, 1st, it disinfects; 2d, it bleaches, 
 and 3d, it assists in the defecation of the juice. Instead of sulphur, 
 bi-sulphite of lime, prepared by Mr. H. Bonnabel, of New Orleans, may 
 be used with similar results. In this case use about one quart of the 
 liquid to every fifty gallons of juice. After sulphuring, the juice is 
 transferred to another fifty gallon tank, resting directly over the evap¬ 
 orating pan, where it is immediately limed. Slack lime is used, to 
 which a quantity of juice is added to make a thick milk of lime. Cane 
 juice, naturally acid, becomes more so by the use of sulphur, and inver¬ 
 sion or the converting of sugar into molasses rapidly takes place. This 
 milk of lime is added to prevent this inversion. It combines with the 
 acids and other deleterious elements, and neutralizes and precipitates 
 impurities. Care must be taken, however, not to add too much lime. 
 Blue litmus paper must be your guide here. If you dip a piece of blue 
 litmus paper into your cane juice, the blue is changed to red instantly 
 on account of the acids present. To the juice now add the milk of lime, 
 gently stirring to mix well, until the litmus shows only a purple tinge, 
 which indicates the juice to be near neutrality. At this point stop. 
 Let the juice remain awhile until all precipitate has subsided, when it 
 is ready for the pan. The pans are generally divided into three com¬ 
 partments, 1st, the grande; 24, the syrop; 3d, the batterie, with little 
 gates connecting each. For better results fasten these gates down 
 securely to prevent leakage. The juice enters the grande first, passing 
 thence into the syrop and batterie in the process of cooking raw juice, 
 following up in the grande, the first compartment, e. g ., the boiling, 
 throws the impurities to the surface, and they must be rapidly removed 
 with perforated ladles, accompanying the pan. After the juice has 
 been skimmed in the grande, it is dipped into the second compartment, 
 called syrop. Here an ebullition is obtained which permits of brushing 
 from the surface all particles of dust in the scum that rises, by means of 
 a small wooden paddle. The juice is thoroughly cleaned here and con¬ 
 centrated to a density of thin syrup, say 20 to 25 degrees Beaume, when 
 it is transferred to the batterie, where it is cooked to the sugar point, 
 
 — 29' 
 
LOUISIANA. 
 
 which is 40 to 42 degrees Beaume, or until the thermometer shows a 
 boiling point of 238 to 242 degrees Fahrenheit. The valve is now turned, 
 and the liquid mass pours into coolers, which may be tight wooden 
 boxes or half of molasses barrels. Granulation begins immediately, 
 and in twenty-four hours the box is almost solid sugar. 
 
 The semi-liquid mass or “masse cuite” as it is called, is now ready for 
 potting. Take a good flour or meal barrel and bore three holes, one inch in 
 diameter, equidistant, in the bottom of the barrel; insert three canes with 
 their ends beveled into these holes, so as to form an outlet for the molasses. 
 The barrels are then placed over troughs or half of molasses barrels to re¬ 
 ceive the molasses. The masse cuite with all lumps well mashed, is now 
 taken from the coolers and placed in the barrels. The molasses escapes 
 down the canes and out of the barrel into the tub below. In a few weeks 
 you have a barrel of good brown or yellow sugar and several gallons eft 
 molasses, not syrup. The molasses is better than syrup and will keep a 
 long time, neither fermenting nor granulating. The same end is ob¬ 
 tained by putting masse cuite into heavy cotton bags, and these sus¬ 
 pended over tubs, etc. If quality of syrup is desired* add lime to neu¬ 
 tralize and cook as high as 42 to 45 degrees Beaume, 
 
 At Calhoun the past year we grew 21 tons of cane per acre, the juices 
 analyzed in October 14 per cent of sugar. The average yield of sugar, 
 per ton, for three years is 126 pounds and 8 gallons of molasses—the ex¬ 
 traction of juice ranging from 65 to 71 per cent. At one price, 2 cents for 
 sugar and 30 cents for molasses, we have the neat little sum of $129.78 
 as the gross proceeds of one acre. These results, coming as they do 
 from such a small outfit, may seem large to you, but they are within 
 your reach. It is not many years ago when 15 and 20 tons of cane per 
 acre, and 100 pounds of sugar per ton of cane, were considered satis¬ 
 factory yields in South Louisiana. But now, sirs, progressive planters 
 have reached 30 and 40 tons per acre and 200 pounds of sugar per ton, 
 and by the diffusion process 250 pounds. Science and better methods 
 came into their fields and into their sifgar houses and brought about 
 these results, and when these things shall have come to us likewise, we 
 too, can increase our results. 
 
 But there is another idea so important in this connection that it can¬ 
 not be passed by without notice. I refer to the central factory, which 
 is growing rapidly in favor in South Louisiana among progressive 
 planters, indeed, there are several already in operation in that part of 
 the State. These factories buy their cane from the producer, paying 
 him, according to the sugar contents of juice, from $3.75 to $5 per ton. 
 I nnderstand the system is highly satisfactory to both buyer and producer. 
 
 Now with the central factory in view, let me give you a side thought 
 on sorghum. At Calhoun we have obtained 100 pounds of good brown 
 sugar to a ton of sorghum. However, its manufacture by the milling 
 
 30 — 
 
LOUISIANA. 
 
 process is very difficult, owing to the starchy elements, gums, etc., etc., 
 contained in the juice. It cannot, with our present methods, compete 
 with sugar cane, but by the diffusion process of manufacture which must 
 accompany the central factory it will be an easy matter to utilize sor¬ 
 ghum for sugar production. 
 
 We know that our sandy soils grow a tonnage and sugar content 
 second to no country, and with sorghum to supplement our cane, we 
 prolong the season of manufacture, the profit of which is an important 
 consideration to both capitalist and producer. With our resources we 
 can accomplish all that we strive for, and if the farmers demand a cen¬ 
 tral factor}?' it will come to these hills, and luxuriant fields of sugar 
 cane will take the place of your pine trees. Sometimes when looking 
 over the results of our experiments on the poor pine hill soils and note 
 the effect of intelligent cultivation and fertilization upon crops, I fall 
 into a reverie, and before me stretches out a land so beautiful in its 
 entirety that it seems the El Dorado of our desires as the touch of 
 progress and enterprise is laid upon it. With its forests of timber and 
 its waterways, a climate unequaled in the world, a soil that gives us 
 what we ask it for, through the vista of coming years, I can see Louisi¬ 
 ana, fair and unshackled, crowned queen of the sisterhood of States, a 
 sovereign, by right of her natural gifts, and by right of the intelligent 
 efforts of the men who develop her resources and control her destiny. 
 
 As to profits, here is an item from Prof. Ross, of the Louisiana State 
 University that will settle the matter. The facts are with reference to 
 the central factory near Franklin, La.: 
 
 “I understand that that establishment, costing $525,000 has netted 
 this, its first season, though beginning late in the fall of last year, 
 $60,000, more than 10 per cent on the investment, and that it was sup¬ 
 plied by cane at a cost of $4.75 per ton; and, bear in mind, this is the 
 price it could afford to give and make a handsome profit with prices of 
 sugar ruling extremely low, with a short season, on account of com¬ 
 mencing late, and the mill probably not running at its full capacity a 
 good part of the time.” 
 
 The reasoning from the above is (outside of any of its facts) that if 
 that factory will pay 10 per cent, then the cane of Rapides parish, 
 yielding a higher per cent of sugar per ton, outside of less cost in 
 extraction, etc., ought to yield a higher profit. It is quite likely that 
 the sum of 10 per cent even would be regarded as a good investment by 
 the capitalists at the North and East nowadays. But the above invest¬ 
 ment in plant doubtless means something ornamental (or otherwise), 
 and is not a criterion. It is given as a fact that will improve the prom¬ 
 ise to investment, the more it is examined. 
 
 — 31 — 
 
LOUISIANA. 
 
 Here are some facts of more exactitude and circumstantiality, from 
 Mr. John Dymond, the president of the Louisiana Sugar Planters’ 
 Association. The practicability of the statements leaves nothing to be 
 desired. But the reader must be very careful to note two facts; that 
 the expense account is burdened by a high price for cane, $5.50 per ton; 
 next, that the profit side only shows: 
 
 120 pounds first sugar at 5 cents.$6 00 
 
 30 pounds second sugar at 4 cents.. 1 24 
 
 75 pounds molasses, at 1% cents. 90 
 
 “ A sugar house to consume 1,000 tons of cane per day can be built 
 for $250,000. It could produce an average of 150 pounds of sugar per 
 ton of cane. The present average of almost any community where such 
 a factory would be located will not exceed 100 pounds per ton. 
 
 “If such a central factory produced but 100 pounds of sugar per ton of 
 cane, or the common average of the community, it would still be a 
 more economical production for the community, because of the greater 
 economy of manufacturing expenses where the work is carried on in a 
 large way; but such a factory could pay to the producer, for sugar cane 
 delivered on the cars or at the factory, fully as much as the gross pro¬ 
 ceeds in New Orleans of the sugar and molasses, from the average sugar 
 house of to-day. 
 
 “Let us examine the figures, and ascertain whether or not they would 
 
 seem to warrant this conclusion. 
 
 “The good, average vacuum pan sugar house will make per ton of cane: 
 
 80 pounds first sugar, worth, at 5 cents per pound ..$4 00 
 
 20 pounds second sugar, worth, at 4 cents per pound. 80 
 
 50 pounds molasses, worth, at 1J4 cents per pound. 63 
 
 Total.$5 43 
 
 “The good, average open-kettle sugar house will make per ton of cane: 
 
 90 pounds sugar, worth, at 4 cents.$3 60 
 
 60 pounds kettle molasses, worth at 3 cents. 1 80 
 
 Total.$5 40 
 
 “In other words, the good, average sugar planter of to-day, after 
 planting, cultivating, harvesting and manufacturing his crop, putting it 
 into cooperage, transporting it to New Orleans, and then selling it in 
 the open market receives therefrom but about $2.50 gross proceeds per 
 ton of cane consumed. 
 
 -32- 
 
LOUISIANA. 
 
 “To prove that a first-class central factory could take this same cane, 
 delivered on cars at plantation where produced, and pay there $5.50 per 
 ton for the cane, and transport the cane, manufacture and sell the pro¬ 
 ceeds, and declare fair dividends, while the planter who produces the 
 cane would save the entire cost of manufacture, cooperage, transporta¬ 
 tion to market and expense of sale—we will take figures that are not 
 only possible, but that are below actual reported results of past season, 
 but occurring in different sugar houses. 
 
 “The first-class central factory can produce 150 pounds of sugar and 
 seventy-five pounds of molasses per ton of good cane, or 
 
 120 pounds first sugar, at 5 cents.$6 00 
 
 30 pounds second sugar, at 4 cents. 1 24 
 
 75 pounds molasses, at 1% cents.. 90 
 
 Total...$8 14 
 
 “These yields have been surpassed by Gov. Warmoth and by Mr. 
 Daniel Thompson, and probably by others, and hence may be 
 considered a safe estimate for the yield from good cane in a first-class 
 factory. Now, in regard to the cost of manufacture from the central 
 factory points of view, experience during several years has shown that 
 aside from the cost of general management, engineer and sugar maker, 
 250 tons per day can be taken from the cane yard, put through the 
 factory and the resulting sugar and molasses be placed upon the 
 shipping wharf at a cost for labor of $70 per day or tw enty-eight cents 
 per ton of cane. Mr. Daniel Thompson has made his crop with a 
 consumption of but three barrels of coal per 1,000 pounds of sugar. On 
 the basis of 150 pounds of sugar per ton yield, this would be three 
 barrels of coal for 6% tons of cane consumed or .451 of a barrel of 
 coal for one ton of cane, which, at 35 cents per barrel, would make the 
 cost of fuel 15% cents per ton of cane consumed. 
 
 “Experience has also show r n the cost of lubricating and lamp oils, 
 lamps, lanterns, belting, lacing, rivets, sulphur, lime, acids, tallow, etc. ? 
 to be about 12% cents per ton of cane consumed. On the basis of a 
 yield of 150 pounds per acre, one barrel costing 35 cents would be 
 required to contain the yield in sugar of two tons of cane, making a cost for 
 sugar barrels of 17% cents ]ler ton of cane consumed. On the basis of a 
 yield of 75 pounds of molasses per ton of cane, one barrel costing one dol¬ 
 lar, w r ould be required to contain the molasses from eight tons of cane, 
 making a cost for molasses barrels of 12% cents per ton of cane consumed. 
 
 -33 — 
 
LOUISIANA. 
 
 “At 35 cents freight to New Orleans per barrel of sugar of 300 pounds, we 
 should have a cost of 17% cents per ton of cane consumed as cost of the 
 freight on the sugar, and at 60 cents freight to New Orleans per barrel of 
 molasses of 600 pounds, we should have 7% cents per ton of cane consumed 
 as cost of the freight on the molasses, and a total cost for freight on sugar 
 and molasses to New Orleans of 25 cents per ton of cane consumed. 
 
 “The cost to central factory to manufacture and deliver would then 
 stand as follows, viz.: 
 
 Kailway freight, $6 per acre of 10 tons, per ton... $0 60 
 
 Labor in and about the factory, per ton. 28 
 
 Fuel consumed in manufacture, per ton. 15% 
 
 Oil, tallow, sulphur, lime, acid, etc., per ton. 12% 
 
 Cooperage, per ton. 30 
 
 Freight on produce to New Orleans, per ton.. 25 
 
 Total. $1 71% 
 
 Price to the clientelle of the factory for their deliveries of cane 
 
 on the cars. 5 50 
 
 Total cost of produce of one ton of cane delivered on the New 
 
 Orleans market. $7 21% 
 
 “We should then have, taken from actual data now current in our 
 community: 
 
 Gross value of a ton of good cane to a good, average vacuum-pan 
 
 or open-kettle sugar planter... $5 50 
 
 Cost of transporting same cane to central factory and its manufac¬ 
 ture and the delivery of the produce to New Orleans market... 1 71 
 
 Total. |7 21 
 
 Gross proceeds to the central factory. 8 14 
 
 Net gain per ton.. $0 93 
 
 “Our central factory should have a contributing clientele producing at 
 least 50,000 tons per day. 
 
 “The profit and loss account of the factory would then stand: 50,000 
 tons at net gain of 93 cents, $46,500, and against which we should esti¬ 
 mate the following charges: 
 
 Salary of manager in chief... $ 5,000 
 
 Salary of engineer... 1,500 
 
 Salaries of sugar maker and chemist..... 2,600 
 
 Salaries of clerks..*.. 1,000 
 
 Annual repairs and insurance. 10,000 
 
 Dividend of 10 per cent on $250,000. 25,000 
 
 Surplus for contingencies.. 1,500 
 
 Total... $46,500 
 
 34 
 
LOUISIANA. 
 
 “That these results can be realized every man familiar with the indus¬ 
 try will admit; that they have not been realized by many individuals 
 seems to have been the result of insufficient capital in individual hands, 
 and necessarily suggests the advantage of combination under corporate 
 management. We can hardly expect to produce sugar cane much 
 cheaper than we do now, but we can fairly expect to get much greater 
 yields than now from our sugar canes, but this can only be done at an 
 outlay too large for individual enterprise, and which must necessarily 
 be undertaken by corporations, which corporations should as far as 
 practicable be made up of the contributing clientele, in order that their 
 and their factories’ interests should remain largely identical.” 
 
 Here are some figures that give much light upon other points. We 
 are sorry that we cannot give the name of the author: 
 
 “Such a state of perfection, however, has been already reached, that 
 a tonnage of thirty tons per acre is not unusual. Now, suppose you 
 strive for that amount, what are your profits at $4 per ton ? Say you 
 have twenty acres in cane and ten in corn; one able man at $18 per 
 month, and two mules can take care of your crop from January 1st to 
 November 1st, ten months, with a little assistance in planting and corn¬ 
 gathering seasons, the amount of wages for the one man being $180; 
 supplement this with $100 more, amount for labor to grinding season 
 will be $280; put another $100 for new implements, repairs, etc.; total 
 $380. You have now, after saving seed to plant seven and one-half 
 acres, thirteen acres to sell; allowing twenty-five tons per acre, total 
 375 tons, which at $4 per ton will bring $1,500. It will take, probably, 
 $20 per acre to place the cane at the factory, hence the expense of cut¬ 
 ting and delivering fifteen acres of cane will be $300; this added to the 
 $380 for previous expenses makes $680; deducting this from gross sales, 
 leaves a balance of $820, or about $54 net per acre. Should you be so 
 fortunate as to get $5 per ton, your profits will be about $79 per acre. 
 
 “In conclusion, it may be said that the central factory system by the 
 diffusion process is the one that will obtain in the future.” 
 
 Prof. Stubbs puts it thus, in an address in the year 1889: 
 
 “The results of our experiments the past season suggest the central 
 factory of the future, located everywhere throughout Louisiana, fed by 
 cane and sorghum cut and loaded by machinery in the field, topped and 
 cleaned in the sugar house, diffused and clarified in the cell, concen- 
 
 — 35 — 
 
LOUISIANA. 
 
 trated in a multiple effect and granulated in a vacuum-pan by exhaust 
 steam; the dried leaves and tops, together with the upper white joints, 
 can be burned with the expressed chips in an improved Godellot fur- 
 nace, and perhaps supply all the needed fuel. Such a factory combines 
 the maximum of economy with the minimum of loss, the largest results 
 at the least cost. 
 
 “The year closed is believed to mark an epoch in the cane sugar in¬ 
 dustry of the State. Never before has such an intense interest been 
 awakened in the economy of sugar growing and sugar making. The 
 success of the diffusion process in extracting the juice from the cane; 
 the excellent work accomplished by evaporation in vacuo; the savings 
 of the scums and settlings hitherto thrown away, by the filter presses, 
 the presence of scientific aid in the sugar house, discovering losses hith¬ 
 erto unsuspected, point unmistakably to 200 to 250 lbs. of sugar to the ton 
 of cane as the future yield of Louisiana. To reasonably doubt this is 
 no longer permitted, the inexorable logic of facts having convinced the 
 most obdurate skeptics. The open kettle must go; the clarifier and 
 settling tanks must be dispensed with; the open evaporators must be 
 supplanted by double, triple and multiple effects, and the ponderous 
 five-roller mills be made to squeeze the water from the diffused chips, 
 rather than the juice from the cane. 
 
 “Of old good things all are over old; 
 
 Of good things none are good enough, 
 
 WeTl show that we can help to frame 
 A world of other stuff. 
 
 “The central factory, with all these foreshadowed improvements, is 
 surely coming, and the prophetic finger of the history of this checkered 
 industry points to it as the climax of its achievements.” 
 
 The American newspaper, published at St. Charles, La., has this to 
 say about sugar farming in a recent issue: 
 
 “There is no question that sugar farming is the most profitable of any 
 farming in the United States. 
 
 “It is true that it requires either time or considerable expense to go 
 into this business on a large scale. It would require the outlay of 
 $1,500 for seed cane to commence with a 100-acre field of cane. But in 
 many instances sugar factories will furnish the seed cane and take 
 their pay for it out of the first crop raised. But if the intending sugar 
 
 — 36 — 
 
LOUISIANA. 
 
 farmer does not wish to risk so much, he can purchase enough seed 
 cane for five acres. The cane raised on this the first year will plant 
 twenty-five or thirty acres, and his first five acres will produce a good 
 crop the second year. Thus a farmer starting with five acres can, by 
 the second or third year, begin to plant largely, and also begin to sell 
 large amounts of cane. 
 
 “Perhaps the best thing for a Northern farmer to do on coming to 
 this country and opening a farm is to commence with a small amount 
 of cane, and study the best methods of cane culture in the light of the 
 experience of the Southern cane farmer. While he is doing this, and 
 getting a supply of seed cane and learning the business, he can plant 
 rice and make an excellent living and money besides. Then, after two 
 or three years, he can enlarge his cane fields and curtail his rice fields 
 if he so desires, or continue the cultivation of both crops. 
 
 “The sugar farmer will need to change his crops on his land about 
 once in two or three years, or as soon as one planting of cane is 
 exhausted. A good crop with which to follow cane is corn and cow 
 peas. By keeping one-third of his land in corn and cow peas, and two- 
 thirds in cane, he will not only keep his land up to full fertility, but 
 will also produce the feed needed on his farm. 
 
 “The sugar farmer of Southwest Louisiana is destined to be a pros¬ 
 perous individual if he exercises energy and intelligence.’’ 
 
 RICE. 
 
 pSlCE is one of the remunerative field crops of Southwestern Louis- 
 | \ iana. It is cultivated ve.ry much like wheat, except that it 
 * requires to be flooded at certain stages of its growth. It is har¬ 
 vested and threshed with machinery similar to that used for wheat. 
 The profits of raising are from $25 to $40 per acre. In 1886 the South¬ 
 ern Pacific Railroad shipped 2,000,000 pounds of rice; in 1887, 4,000,000 
 pounds; in 1888, 8,000,000 pounds; in 1889, 16,000,000 pounds; in 1890, 
 50,000,000 pounds; in 1891, 113,000,000. 
 
 It is claimed that this year’s crop will be fully one-half of the entire 
 crop of the United States. 
 
 — 37 — 
 
IN THE TIMBER DISTRICT OF LOUISIANA. 
 
LOUISIANA. 
 
 THE LUMBER INTERESTS. 
 
 S HE city of Alexandria, the county seat of Rapides parish, is in the 
 center of the long-leaf pine district of the State. Within a 
 radius of seventy-five miles almost all of the long-leaf pine to be 
 found in Louisiana stands ready for the ax and saw. An estimate of 
 this pine closely approximates the enormous total of forty billions of 
 feet, a figure which is far beyond the comprehension of any man. 
 This means low prices and a bountiful supply of building material, not 
 only to Louisiana, but an enormous traffic to the railroads centering 
 there. It ought to mean the construction of car works and factories of 
 all kinds in the immediate future. 
 
 But this immense lumber area only foreshadows a part of the huge 
 cluster of industries that ought to diversify the future of Alexandria in 
 wood-working. Near at hand are the finest woods, which are a con¬ 
 trolling factor in almost all conceivable aspects of industries into which 
 wood may enter. Here are accessible and cheaply obtainable the finest 
 oak, ash, hickory, sweet and red gum, yellow poplar, magnolia, cypress, 
 etc. What an opportunity all these offer for agricultural implement 
 factories, wagon and carriage factories, for manufacturing furniture! 
 If the paper manufacturer wants wood for pulp, he can find inexhaust¬ 
 ible supplies in cottonwood, or in sap pine at nominal prices. The 
 woodenware manufacturer can have unlimited raw material in our 
 tupelo gum, the choicest material for his purpose. He who wants to 
 manufacture ax handles, spade and hoe handles, spokes, felloes, etc., 
 may find in the ash and hickories superb raw material, the cheapest 
 and best. He who wants to get the finest staves for hogsheads can 
 find cypress and white oak. Ash makes the very finest oars, in especial 
 request in the English navy. Nothing need be said on the topic of the 
 value of cypress for furniture, sashes, doors and blinds. 
 
 Southwest Louisiana not only has within her borders as fine prairie 
 lands as the sun ever shone upon, rich in rice, sugar, fruit and 
 vegetable possibilties, and splendid orange lands that can successfully 
 rival the best orange lands of California and Florida, but she also con¬ 
 tains some of the most extensive and magnificent forests of valuable 
 
 — 39 — 
 
LOUISIANA. 
 
 timber in the United States. From Lake Charles northward for more 
 than 100 miles stretches one magnificent forest of stately pine, cypress, 
 magnolia, oak, ash, etc., the pine predominating. 
 
 This pine is of an entirely different character from the short-leafed 
 and loblolly pine of Arkansas and Tennessee. It is the long-leafed 
 yellow pine, the finest in the world. This timber is the most beautiful 
 and durable of all the pines, and it is used wherever it is introduced 
 where beauty and strength are desired. It is rapidly coming into 
 prominence as the best lumber in the world for car building. It makes 
 the finest of finishing lumber, the best flooring, ceiling and dimension 
 lumber in the world. 
 
 The cypress of Southwest Louisiana is the finest in the South, and is 
 found in great abundance on the low bottoms of our numerous rivers 
 and bayous. This cypress makes the finest shingles in the world and is 
 also extensively used in shipbuilding and other building. Cypress 
 almost never rots. It is light, strong, easily worked and never-rotting. 
 These qualities make it very valuable. It sells higher on the market 
 than pine or almost any other lumber. It is so valuable for shingles 
 that most of it is saved for that purpose, for cypress shingles are con¬ 
 sidered the best in the world. 
 
 Magnolia is another valuable wood of which there is a good quantity 
 in Southwest Louisiana. This is a very hard, close-grained wood, 
 capable of receiving a very fine polish and almost everlasting. It is fine 
 furniture timber and also unexcelled for wagon hubs. 
 
 Oak of the finest quality is found in great abundance. This makes 
 the finest wagon and buggy timber in the world. There are the differ¬ 
 ent varieties of white, black and post oak. Mingled with the oak are 
 generally found ash, hickory, pecan and other fine hardwoods. 
 
 Of gum there are several varieties, such as sweet gum, black gum, 
 tupelo gum, etc. This timber is in great abundance. It abounds 
 not only among the oaks, but also in the cypress bottoms along the 
 rivers. It has not been utilized to any great extent as yet, because the 
 articles for which it is best adapted are not manufactured here. It is 
 very fine grained, tough and light. It is excellent barrel timber, 
 perhaps equal to any other wood grown for barrel staves. It is also 
 first-class box material, and makes fine furniture. When our mammoth 
 
 — 40 
 
LOUISIANA. 
 
 barrel factory is built here gum will become valuable, and will increase 
 in value when we have—as we surely will in the near future—box 
 factories and furniture factories. 
 
 Of curly pine there is considerable. This is, without exception, the 
 most beautiful of all lumber. When highly polished it rivals in beauty 
 the famous mahogany, and even surpasses it. It should be preserved 
 for our future furniture factory. It makes, when properly dressed, 
 most beautiful casings for door and window frames, and is unequaled 
 for fine paneling. 
 
 Lake Charles is the center of our present lumber manufacturing. 
 Here we have ten large saw mills, with a daily capacity of 700,000 feet 
 of board lumber. We have three shingle mills, with a daily capacity 
 of more than 200,000 shingles. These mills are all on the Calcasieu 
 river and lake front, and the logs are floated down the river in large 
 booms towed by a steam tug. The Calcasieu is formed by numerous 
 streams, which traverse the piue and cypress forests and unite into the 
 Calcasieu river some miles above Lake Charles. 
 
 The K. C., W. &,G. Ey. runs northward from Lake Charles through 
 the very best of the pine and hardwood forests, and will soon have a 
 large business transporting logs to the mills at Lake Charles, as well as 
 transporting lumber from the mills to the markets of the North. 
 
 While the mills are using vast quantities of logs, but little, com¬ 
 paratively, of the immense timber resources has yet been utilized. It 
 will take many years at the present rate to cut over the pine forests, 
 and by the time that is done they will be ready with another crop; for 
 the pine forests are unlike the Northern forests in one thing: when the 
 ground is gone over and the largest trees are taken off, the young 
 timber is left and grows about the rate of one inch each year, conse¬ 
 quently, in about ten years after cutting over, the young trees have 
 grown to large size, and the timber is as good as ever. Thus about one 
 crop every ten to fifteen years can be harvested. 
 
 41 — 
 
PICKING COTTON, LOUISIANA 
 
LOUISIANA. 
 
 COTTON MANUFACTURING. 
 
 O F all the industries to which Alexandria offers inducements, that 
 of cotton manufacturing enjoys supreme attractions. The 
 advantages of location of a cotton manufactory anywhere in the 
 South, on the scene of the production of the raw material is now a trite 
 topic. Fifteen or twenty years ago, New England contended that it 
 was preposterous for the South to think of manufacturing any grade of 
 goods from cotton. In a few years the South practically drove the 
 East out of all lines of coarser manufacture, and is now a virtual 
 monopolist in this line. The South is now entering the list for 
 supremacy in the manufacture of the finest goods; and it is only a 
 question of time and judicious location of manufactories, when New 
 England shall be driven from this field in perpetual abandonment of 
 cotton manufacture. The struggle in this line will be more severe 
 than the former, and victory will perch on the standards where the 
 fields of conflict are most wisely chosen South. A judicious selection of 
 the sites of the manufactories of this finer class of goods, will play a 
 most material part in the contest. The cost of site is an important 
 factor, as that, in a close contest, involves capital. When the cost is 
 nominal, it affords better scope for competition. Any one can see that 
 the advantages of a manufactory paying nothing for site over one 
 paying fifty to one hundred thousand dollars are great, in a manufac¬ 
 tory costing, say, a half a million dollars. 
 
 The cheapness of building material is another great element. 
 
 The cost and quality of labor are material figures too. 
 
 Climate is another consideration. If water power be used, that is 
 another matter of consideration too. If steam, then the cost of fuel. 
 
 But perhaps the greatest consideration of all is proximity to the choic¬ 
 est cotton, purchasable direct from the producer, without cost of trans¬ 
 portation, or with but trifling cost in that respect, and without the 
 charges of middlemen. Alexandria possesses all these advantages. 
 The combination ought to make her a peerless site for the manufacture 
 of the fine grade of - cotton goods. Here can be secured a free site; 
 
 — 43 — 
 
LOUISIANA. 
 
 cheap brick and lumber for the manufactory; cheap labor in abundance 
 can be secured by putting the young people of the neighborhood in the 
 manufactory as operatives. It has been abundantly tested, by years of 
 experience in Southern cotton mills, that this labor, under short train¬ 
 ing, has answered all requirements thus far. If the caviler shall allege 
 that a higher intelligence is requisite for the manufacture of the finer 
 grades of goods, the answer is that, while the demonstration of its 
 efficiency is not so large as in the manufacture of coarse goods, still this 
 labor has met the demands as far as it has been called upon. The insig¬ 
 nificant number of Southern cotton mills at work on the finer grades of 
 goods, only constitutes a stronger feature of inducement, provided the 
 practicability of their manufacture has been demonstrated, and at 
 remunerative figures. It gives the manufacturer who promptly seizes 
 the opportunity, time to educate his labor, to establish his reputation, 
 to introduce his goods, to know his customers, to get his labor at a rate 
 free from competition of a home manufacturer. And he is ahead in hav¬ 
 ing secured a free site for his cotton mill. 
 
 The climate has that degree of moisture in it so necessary, and which 
 is now more or less artificially supplied at the East in the manufacto¬ 
 ries. 
 
 If water power is desired, the beautiful clear stream,, fed from peren¬ 
 nial springs, the Eapides, is on the verge of the town, and can be made 
 to furnish abundant power. 
 
 If steam be preferred, coal can be had at very low rates, probably $2.50 
 per ton; and these prices will go still lower. Within the last two or 
 three months the Alabama coals have threatened to drive those of Pitts¬ 
 burgh from the market of New Orleans. In addition to this, the coal busi¬ 
 ness down the Tennessee river is on the verge of being putin operation, 
 and will still further cheapen coal. Alexandria has another feature of 
 transportation to cheapen coal, in a line which opens up the superb 
 smokeless coal of Arkansas. This road is under the control of the Mis¬ 
 souri Pacific Company. 
 
 — 44 — 
 
LOUISIANA. 
 
 NORTHERN LOUISIANA. 
 
 1 I /iTH the fact as guide to the subject of Ouachita river being a 
 II J dividing line between the greater lowland and the greater 
 
 upland regions of North Louisiana, if a map of the State is 
 consulted it will be seen that the territory lying between the Ouachita 
 and Red rivers, which is the upland region, is greater in extent than 
 that lying between the Ouachita and the Mississippi. 
 
 The last, which is the greater lowland region of the two, faces the 
 highlands from the point where the Ouachita enters this State until it 
 enters upon the flood plain of Red river, and is a most remarkable 
 country in whatever light w T e choose to regard it. The soil is of 
 alluvial, and, therefore, recent origin, with not a single element lacking 
 which could add to its value as the richest and strongest agricultural 
 land on the North American Continent. Its forest growth is the 
 densest and largest in the world within the temperate zone. And 
 withal, that much of it is never inundated, and its boundaries are as dis¬ 
 tinctly defined as those of the island of Great Britain. It is a product 
 wholly of the Mississippi river, supplemented in this case by action of 
 the Arkansas and Ouachita, even as in the alluvial district of Louisiana 
 south of Red river the Mississippi was supplemented in its action by 
 Red river and the Ouachita. 
 
 But, at the same time, we are tempted to wonder again and again at 
 the wonderful region which the Mississippi has evidently raised from 
 an arm of the Gulf of Mexico, and made it fit for man’s habitation and 
 use. It will be found that the highland region of North Louisiana is no 
 less wonderful in origin. It is, in reality, the southern half of a 
 peninsula which in time had stretched from the Ozark Mountains of 
 Arkansas to the rim of the Gulf of Mexico, even as to-day it continues 
 over as a peninsula system hedged between the valleys of Red river 
 and the Ouachita. That is, it is seen to be a survival of foothills once 
 connected with the Ozark Mountains, the height of which, though in 
 general diminished below the dignity of such association, is yet 
 strikingly preserved where the formation verges upon the flood plain of 
 the central Red river valley and the lower Ouachita. 
 
 -45 — 
 
LOUISIANA. 
 
 Excepting modifications due to local causes, not only is there an 
 apparent relation between the topography of the North Louisiana high¬ 
 lands and the Ozarks, where, figuratively speaking, the elements con¬ 
 tinue to grind fertilizing grist for the valley lands of Red river and the 
 Ouachita, but the connection is further established in analysis of soil, 
 in the universal forest covering of the two, and in a system of moraines 
 marking the region, the source of which can be traced directly to the 
 Ozark Mountains. Hence, though a classification which had been left 
 out of former accounts through neglect to compare the geology of 
 Louisiana and Arkansas, it is in fact a Piedmont country which will 
 average in general with territory in kind found in Virginia, Georgia, 
 Alabama and the Carolinas; and upon the whole will be found capable 
 of like crop production to its prototype of the older Southern States. 
 
 It is not wholly a highland region—that is, if we take the channels of 
 water courses as boundaries of the whole. But with all that, along the 
 western and southern edges of the system, Red river is seen to have 
 levied tribute, leaving instead a broad strip of alluvial territory of its 
 own making; along the eastern edge it is seen to have resisted the 
 combined action of the Ouachita and the Mississippi, until on the par¬ 
 allel of, say Natchez, the Mississippi valley remains contracted to a 
 width of only twenty-two miles. 
 
 Save and excepting the interior of the highlands, there is an almost 
 equal combination of hill lands and bottoms distinguishing the North 
 Louisiana parishes from other parts of the State. This rule seems to 
 have been so general when the boundaries of each were established, 
 that when lacking a due proportion of either highlands or bottoms, the 
 political and, therefore, the geographical jurisdiction of both the Red 
 river and Ouachita parishes were, with few exceptions, carried beyond 
 these streams. 
 
 Hence in the case of Caldwell parish we have an almost equal extent 
 of river lowlands and highland territory—the first lying east of the 
 Ouachita and the highlands which abut the river on the west. The 
 result is that in soil characteristics, in a great amount of hardwood for¬ 
 est on the one hand, and a still greater amount of long-leaf pine on the 
 other, we have a diversity of conditions,, whether the settler’s bent is 
 towards cotton production, grain, live stock or fruit; whether the choice 
 is that of a highland or lowland country, or whether the preference is 
 
 — 46 
 
LOUISIANA. 
 
 for agriculture, horticulture, stock-raising, or for manufactures adapted 
 to the natural resources of the country. And, indeed, adding to this 
 the fact of both its table lands and its lowlands being the cheapest 
 found to-day in the West with the H., C. A. & N. R. R. henceforth run¬ 
 ning daily through its territory—the day cannot he far distant when it 
 shall be one of the best known and most popular parishes of the State 
 situated north of Red river. 
 
 While upon the subject of the parish at large, it is, perhaps, not amiss 
 to stress in detail the fact of a low price of lands holding in this 
 instance as in other parishes before noticed in this State. And in the 
 light of the excellent class of lands had in both the highlands and the 
 bottoms, the facts of the case point to good investments for those who, 
 knowing something of this part of Louisiana, desire to purchase farm 
 or timber lands, now that there is afforded outlet both by rail and river. 
 
 It were in this connection, perhaps, also worth while to explain a 
 mistaken impression one encounters even among the best of these 
 people, of foreign land and railroad syndicates owning a greater part of 
 the forest region of the parish. An investigation of the tax books 
 proves that out of a total area of 345,600 acres, only 75,856 are so held, 
 of which 43,661 acres are yet to be earned by the Missouri, Arkansas & 
 Louisiana railroad, and the remaining 32,155 acres controlled by Jas. B. 
 Ellis, of England, trustee. 
 
 The average assessed value of land taxed in the parish is a fraction 
 less than $2 per acre, which fact in itself, while it goes to prove a healthy 
 financial condition of the parish, emphasizes the absence of the land 
 speculator, and, therefore, a low price per acre. This is borne out further 
 in the price of forest lands of the highlands, which in general sell at 
 $1.25 per acre, and also in the price of bottom lands which further on are 
 shown to be held at a remarkably low sum per acre. And in the case 
 of sixteenth section and school indemnity lands, owned by the State 
 and parish, the first can be had at $1.50, and the last at $2.50 per acre. 
 
 So it is respecting bottom lands or river plantations in cultivation. 
 For instance: “Bellevue Plantation,” a well-known estate of this 
 parish, 2,000 acres in extent, with 300 acres in a high state of cultivation, 
 and 150 acres in pasture—which the owner, C. C. Bridges, offers at 
 $15,000. It is suited to stock-raising, and to the growth of Southern staple 
 crops; it is distant from Columbia two miles; it has a river front; the 
 
 — 47 — 
 
SAW MILL SCENE, NORTHERN LOUISIANA. 
 
LOUISIANA. 
 
 titles are good; fences, tenant house, barns and gin are in good condi¬ 
 tion ; while to round out the bargain, there is a residence on the place, 
 the cost of which was $4,000. And in another case, applying to the 
 hill territory of the parish, R. R. Redditt, also of Columbia, offers a tract 
 of 1,100 acres at $3.50 per acre, with 60 acres open land. It is situated 
 twenty-two miles south of Columbia, eight miles from the Ouachita, and 
 twelve miles from the railroad, and is described by those who know it 
 as one of the best interior mill sites in the country. 
 
 The aggregate area of the parish is 345,600 acres, divided into 184,320 
 acres bottom and 160,280 acres highlands. 
 
 Number of acres land taxed or owned by private parties is 284,600, 
 and the remainder, consisting of 84,440 acres of sixteenth section 
 and school indemnity lands, and 32,240 acres United States public 
 land subject to homestead. Of the whole, it is assumed by the assessor 
 that 60,000 acres are open land. This is a discrepancy, for at the same 
 time it is stated that only 15,204 are actually in cultivation, and at a 
 glance this is contradicted by the annual crop production of the 
 parish, and by the fact that with a general prediction for the production 
 of cotton it were impossible that there should be three-fourths of the 
 open territory, or 44,796 acres in pasture. 
 
 The same thing applies when the crop production is summed up on 
 the Assessor’s books. It is known beyond peradventure that the 
 annual crop of cotton is rarely less than 10,000 bales—7,804 bales being 
 alone accounted for in the course of the local trade. And to say that 
 this latter amount was raised on the number of acres given below is to 
 assert a variance from fact, the cotton production of the hill country 
 being included in the estimate. 
 
 As given for what it is worth, only as a means of getting at more 
 light on the subject, the following is the crop report of 1891: Number of 
 acres in cotton, 9,656, the production of which in bales was 6,916. 
 Number of acres in corn, 5,046, which produced 59,710 bushels of corn. 
 Number of acres in potatoes, 397, and sugar cane, 105 acres, the 
 production of which was 22,775 bushels, and 304 barrels of molasses, 
 respectively. With nothing given on the books of pastures, meadows 
 and orchards from which to reason. 
 
 Value of live stock assessed in the parish $120,850 divided as 
 follows: Number of horses and mules 1,522, value $80,530, or an average 
 
 — 49 — 
 
LOUISIANA. 
 
 of $52.65 per head. Number of cattle 5,713, value $28,565, or $5 per 
 head. Number of sheep 1,775, value $1,775; and number of hogs 4,980, 
 value $4,980. 
 
 Value of land taxed $451,745, or a fraction less than $2 per acre, the 
 area assessed being 284,440 acres. Assessed value of personal property 
 $230,295; or a total assessment of $382,040, exclusive of a total assess¬ 
 ment of the colored population amounting to $50,365, which would 
 make the grand total $732,405. 
 
 Number of polls in 1891: Whites 586, and colored 579, or a total of 
 1,165. Total population, approximately, 8,000. School population: 
 Whites 1,188, of whom 595 were males and 593 females. Colored 
 1,203, of whom 620 were males and 583 females. Total tax collected 
 assessed in 1891, $10,253.65, exclusive of poll-tax, which, in this State, 
 is diverted to the use of the parish public school fund. The rate of 
 taxation for the year was as follows: State tax, 6 mills; parish tax, 8 
 mills; and district lease tax, 5 mills; or say in all 19 mills. And, 
 indeed, to all of which should be added the fact of the parish being not 
 only wholly out of debt, but that there is a surplus in the parish 
 treasury at this time of $4,252.13, of which $2,084.79 belongs to the 
 parish public school fund, and the remainder, $2,168.34, to the general 
 fund of the parish. 
 
 Of Columbia: Though always limited in number of inhabitants to 
 400 or 500, the history of this place is that of having led in large enter¬ 
 prises, and its citizens always of a class who brooked nothing that 
 would obstruct their public spirit and enterprise, once the exigences of 
 the case called for the investment of their time and money. And as a 
 consequence, though hidden away under the bluff banks of the Ouachita 
 highlands at a point where there would be scant room for a town of 
 2,500 inhabitants without mounting the hills, it will be found, in the 
 markets of the lower Mississippi valley, that there is not a minor point 
 in Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas which is better known and 
 appreciated than Columbia, La. 
 
 In fact, the writer speaks from a personal knowledge of the place 
 dating back nineteen years, when it is stated that it was the originating 
 point of both the Ouachita River Transportation Company and the 
 Houston, Central Arkansas & Northern Railroad—enterprises which, 
 more than all other possible combination of means, are tending to a 
 
 — 50 — 
 
LOUISIANA. 
 
 higher development of the central region of North Louisiana than yet 
 witnessed in the farm and forest territory of the Southwest. Or, in 
 other words, taking the brave energies of the place and the pace it ha** 
 set for the Ouachita valley country, it will be found that its right to 
 attention depends upon more than is seen upon the calm surface of its 
 affairs. For withal that there is much to do toward the general reclama¬ 
 tion of the country to agriculture, such is the bent of its public spirit 
 and enterprise as to put out of sight for a time other thought than that 
 of a system of small factories so-called, conditioned to material required 
 in the manufacture of wood pulp, cotton and woolen fabrics, wagons, 
 carriages and furniture. 
 
 Timber resources: The forest area of the parish being 248,600 acres, 
 if this sum is multiplied by 6,000 feet, which is the extreme minimum 
 of stumpage measurement per acre in this State, it will be found that 
 the total timber resources aggregate 1,707,600,000 feet board measure; 
 and of which it is accepted that 968,600,000 feet consists of white oak, 
 hickory, ash, gum and poplar, and 739,000,000 long-leaf pine. Conse¬ 
 quently, the central position of Columbia and its rail and river connection 
 being taken into account, we have in the sum of the whole and in the 
 kind of forest the variety and extent of its timber resources or at least 
 the amount which is locally within reach. 
 
 But, according to the process suggested in the outset for getting at the 
 facts of the case, if a map is consulted it will be found that the highland, 
 or pine, region of the parish, over which it has business and official 
 control, is only a fraction of the wide territory bounded by Red river, 
 the Ouachita and the Arkansas State line. The same thing applies in 
 case of the bottom territory of the parish. It is but a fraction of the 
 lowland country, or hardwood region, bounded by the Mississippi, 
 Ouachita, Red river and the Arkansas State line. And as a consequence, 
 notwithstanding the timber supply were in reason sufficient, if there is 
 added other territory by means of probable connections to strike here 
 en route from Shreveport and Texarkana to Natchez, Miss., at a glance 
 it is to be seen that the timber supply is practically unlimited. 
 
 The above is without timber resources in sight along the upper 
 Ouachita in this State and Arkansas as high as Camden, which would 
 insure a cheaper transportation to mill, and a better selection 
 according to the demands of manufacturers than any and all established 
 
 — 51 — 
 
LOUISIANA. 
 
 points it is possible to name in this State without the valley of the 
 Ouachita. And forsooth from all of which it is seen that the interest 
 which attaches for manufacturers on the side of its timber resources is 
 not without justification, especially since it now has the advantage of a 
 competing rail and river outlet, not to mention again the predisposition 
 of its citizens and the friends of the place to give substantial encour¬ 
 agement to manufacturing industries. 
 
 As under the head of timber supply, the same reasoning would apply 
 to textile material for small factories. For while, in both foreign and 
 American markets Louisiana cotton holds by comparison its own—the 
 fact argues nothing of an excellence it were possible to prove did a 
 demand spring up for a cleaner and more carefully handled grade of 
 cotton at a price equal to the labor required or say at a price possible 
 without the cost of freight, commissions, etc. While as to the wool 
 clip of the highlands, inconsiderable as it is, according to the extent of 
 hill territory r it is a fact that the wool of Western and Northern 
 Louisiana, class for class, outgrades that of Texas. At the same time 
 it is known to have made the fortunes of those through whose hands it 
 has passed in quantities to Eastern mills. 
 
 Or, in substance, taken together, the chances, as in case of the timber 
 supply, would be in favor of securing for manufacturing uses a supply 
 of material well worth looking into, either as a speculation or an invest¬ 
 ment. And as respects wood for the manufacture of paper pulp, the 
 resource at the minimum cost for transportation is the Ouachita valley 
 for 200 miles north of here. That is, if along with other suitable woods 
 tupelo gum is sought, than which there cannot be found the world over 
 a wood that would make better paper pulp, or at as low cost per ton. 
 Nor can there be found in the State a better supply of clear water and 
 as free from impurities as that of the Ouachita—an analysis, in fact, 
 having proved that, along with White river in Arkansas, it is one of the 
 two navigable streams west of the Mississippi whose waters are abso¬ 
 lutely approved by the manufacturers of cotton and paper. 
 
 The site of the town is a recess, or cove, along the bluff or western 
 front of the Ouachita, formed through the combined action of the river 
 and the weathering hills. The brow of the hill is a half mile from the 
 river front, and has a height above the town of something over 125 feet, 
 along which, at 65 feet less elevation, the Houston, Central Arkansas & 
 
 — 52 — 
 
LOUISIANA. 
 
 Northern Railroad threads its way, after having crossed the Ouachita five 
 miles above. Hence, at first glance, should the site seem open to the 
 objection of being limited in area, or that the height above the river is 
 not great enough, there is immediately at hand an unlimited territory 
 with advantages of elevation in its favor as a seat for residence, the 
 like of which cannot be found at any other point along the Ouachita 
 and Red rivers, excepting Shreveport. 
 
 The exports, or products, sent forward to market from Columbia are, 
 in general, cotton, cotton seed, wool, beeswax, furs, pelts, hides, cattle, 
 sheep, hogs, staves, egret and heron plumes. 
 
 CENTRAL-NORTH LOUISIANA. 
 
 S HE Houston, Central Arkansas & Northern Railroad enters 
 Louisiana near the northeastern corner of Morehouse parish, 
 twenty-five miles west of the Mississippi river, and just east of 
 bayou Bartholomew, and runs in a southwesterly direction across the 
 entire parish, passing through its rich and prosperous prairie farms, 
 and skirting its alluvial lands between and on bayou Bartholomew and 
 Boeuf river, which is one grand and unbroken cultivated section for 
 thirty miles, where it crosses the Boeuf into Ouachita parish. After 
 entering Ouachita for six or eight miles it skirts the uncultivated 
 hills and plat lands, and then enters the Ouachita river section to 
 Monroe, where it crosses the V., S. & P. Railroad. 
 
 From Monroe it takes a due south course along the Ouachita river, 
 through twenty-five miles of the finest planting interest in the State. 
 The river ranges one or more miles west, with a high bank, and never 
 overflows, while the railroad bed acts as a back levee, giving absolute 
 protection against overflow. Fifteen miles south of Monroe it enters 
 Caldwell parish, which extends ten miles above the Ouachita river, and 
 which is also a rich agricultural mine and is in a high state of cultiva¬ 
 tion, to where the railroad crosses the stream. 
 
 After crossing the Ouachita river it enters the hill country of Caldwell 
 parish and for fifteen miles runs in a southwesterly direction to where 
 it crosses into Catahoula parish near the corners of Caldwell, Catahoula 
 and Winn parishes, and for twelve miles in Catahoula it runs in a 
 southwesterly direction to the corners of Catahoula, Winn and Grant, 
 
 --53 — 
 
FOREST SCENE, LOUISIANA. 
 
LOUISIANA. 
 
 whiere it enters the latter parish just below the mouth of bayou Castor 
 and Dugdemonce creek, which forms Little river. It passes through 
 the east side of Grant parish in nearly a south course for about thirty 
 miles, where it enters Rapides parish and runs directly south ten miles, 
 crossing the Red river just above Alexandria, where it connects with 
 Gould's system, the Texas & Pacific Railroad for New Orleans, and also 
 the Morgan and the Watkins roads. 
 
 COTTON AND LUMBER. 
 
 I T is not possible for any road to have a better field for freight carry¬ 
 ing supplies, as the parishes through which it runs produce a joint 
 cotton crop of 60,000 bales, while the lumber interest in these 
 several parishes is immense, having pine lands equal to 1,500,000 acres, 
 besides cypress and oak lands for other lumber shipments, and there 
 are now fifteen to twenty mills on and adjacent to its line, and shipping 
 large amounts of lumber daily. 
 
 The amount of lumber cannot be given, but, as much of the pine 
 section is a virgin forest, the amount of actual supply can be approxi¬ 
 mated from the acres in the long leaf pine lands in the parishes: 
 
 Ouachita.. 
 
 Caldwell.. 
 
 Catahoula 
 
 Grant . 
 
 Rapides .. 
 
 Acres. 
 
 121,600 
 
 108,800 
 
 294,400 
 
 308,480 
 
 576,000 
 
 1,409,280 
 
 Less the amount that has been opened, which is comparatively small. 
 Cotton produced in 1890: 
 
 Morehouse 
 
 Ouachita... 
 
 Caldwell... 
 
 Catahoula.. 
 
 Grant. 
 
 Rapides. 
 
 Bales. 
 
 18,982 
 
 12,326 
 
 6,910 
 
 3,200 
 
 1,725 
 
 17,642 
 
 — 55 — 
 
 60,791 
 
LOUISIANA. 
 
 As an exemplification of the growth of the section a ten-years’ com¬ 
 parison in wealth and population is given below : 
 
 Population. Wealth. 
 
 1880. 1890. 1880. 1890. 
 
 Morehouse. 14,206 16,786 11,886,255 $2,170,885 
 
 Ouachita. 14,685 17,985 2.624,859 3,095,136 
 
 Caldwell. 5,767 5,814 614,870* 732,405 
 
 Catahoula. 10,277 12,002 1,254,685 1,636,160 
 
 Grant. 6,188 8,270 381,840 1,105,830 
 
 Rapides. 23,563 27,642 2,139,990 3,872,655 
 
 Total. 74,686 88,499 $8,902,499 $12,613,071 
 
 Increase in population in ten years, 18% per cent 
 Increase in wealth in ten years, 41% per cent. 
 
 Per capita wealth in 1880, $116.52. 
 
 Per capita wealth in 1890, $142.52. 
 
 Total 
 
 Morehouse. 
 
 Total Lands. 
 
 . 538,880 
 
 Cultivated 
 
 Lands. 
 
 69,230 
 
 Per Cent 
 
 13 
 
 Ouachita.. 
 
 . 409,600 
 
 45,738 
 
 11 
 
 Caldwell. 
 
 . 342,400 
 
 15,204 
 
 •4% 
 
 Catahoula. 
 
 . 881,920 
 
 20,000 
 
 2% 
 
 Grant. 
 
 . 410,880 
 
 16,328 
 
 4 
 
 Rapides. 
 
 . 956,160 
 
 72,130 
 
 7 % 
 
 
 3,539,840 
 
 248,630 
 
 
 Only 7 per cent of total lands in cultivation. 
 
 The decided increase in wealth should make it a very inviting field 
 for homeseekers, and the cultivated lands representing only seven per 
 cent of its total area should indicate that it is not overcrowded. There 
 are, of course, homeseekers who wish to know the cost of lands, and 
 for the benefit of such the assessed value of the open and timber lands 
 is given by parishes. 
 
 Average value of lands as assessed by the State in 1891: 
 
 
 Open Lands. 
 
 Timber. 
 
 Morehouse . 
 
 .. $10 00 
 
 $1 
 
 50 
 
 Ouachita. 
 
 . 15 00 
 
 
 50 
 
 Caldwell . 
 
 . 6 00 
 
 1 
 
 25 
 
 Catahoula. 
 
 . 5 00 
 
 1 
 
 25 
 
 Grant. 
 
 . 6 75 
 
 2 
 
 23 
 
 Rapides. 
 
 . 13 86 
 
 1 
 
 60 
 
 — 56 — 
 
LOUISIANA. 
 
 THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 
 
 S HE next question to the homeseeker is the condition of the 
 public schools. In three of the parishes, Morehouse, Ouachita 
 and Rapides, the public schools are in a fairly good condition, 
 for Rapides has a white teacher nine months for every 73% white 
 children in her borders, while Ouachita has a white teacher four 
 months for every 57% of her white children, and Morehouse has a 
 white teacher for over five months for every 56% white children in 
 her limits, and extra good school houses throughout the parish. 
 
 The enrollment of white children in these parishes represents in 
 percentage of school age as follows: Rapides, 50; Morehouse, 50, and 
 Ouachita, 55. If Rapides would employ a dozen more teachers, and 
 Morehouse and Ouachita lengthen their terms two months, they would 
 enjoy a standard school system nearly equal to any in America. This 
 good showing is the result of a thorough agitation and appreciation by 
 the people, and a consequent local tax by the police jury. The other 
 three parishes are not in a bad school condition, but have shorter 
 terms, and need a more thorough support in financial respects. In 
 Grant there is a white teacher four months for every 62 white children, 
 while in Catahoula there is a white teacher three months for every 55% 
 white children of scholastic age. 
 
 A small addition in everything would make these parishes enjoy a 
 standard school system for their white children. Parish finances con¬ 
 stitute an element of interest to homeseekers, and for such a careful 
 compilation is given below. In 1880 the parish taxes were uniformly 
 10 mills and yielded nothing to support the schools and left debts hang¬ 
 ing over the parishes as follows: 
 
 Morehouse. $ 6,765 
 
 Ouachita. 9,000 
 
 Caldwell . 1,908 
 
 Catahoula. 5,068 
 
 Grant. 2,413 
 
 Rapides. 19,630 
 
 Total. $44,784 
 
 Since which time this debt has been paid entirely and each parish has 
 money on hand, and in the parish of Morehouse it amounts to $11,000 
 after levying only 8 mills, and 2 of that for schools, and an addition of 
 $1,500 donated to the school board. This year the tax rate in More- 
 
 — 57 — 
 
LOUISIANA. 
 
 house is down to 6 mills, of which 2 mills are for school purposes, while 
 four years since it was 10 mills, and much credit is due the police jury 
 for this good financial showing. 
 
 In Ouachita there are a few thousand dollars surplus in the parish 
 treasury, and, while four years since it required 10 mills to operate the 
 parish, it will be necessary to collect only 6 mills this year. This parish 
 does not do as well for its public schools as Morehouse and Rapides, as 
 the former gives 2 mills direct and donates from its general surplus 
 additional aid, while Rapides gives 3% mills to her schools, and yet 
 Ouachita, in her splendid financial condition, only gave % of 1 mill for 
 school purposes. In Caldwell the surplus amounts to $2,400 out of a 
 tax rate of 7 mills for general purposes and 1 mill for school purposes. 
 Caldwell's tax rate in 1888 was 10 mills and her paper was worth about 
 90 cents on the dollar. 
 
 SMALL TOWNS. 
 
 S HE towns along this new highway of commerce are mostly new 
 and small, but with a brilliant prospect for rapid and permanent 
 prosperity. The first of these is Jones in Morehouse parish, which 
 is three miles from the Arkansas State line. There is a good church 
 building and a newly-built public school house. 
 
 Bonita, the next town has several general stores and a good school. 
 Below Bonita is the thriving little town of Gabon. 
 
 Nearby this point and connected by a railroad spur track is the exten¬ 
 sive saw mill of the Morehouse Lumber Company, which employs about 
 100 men. This mill has recently been erected by Northwestern capital¬ 
 ists, who brought with them many Western families, which constitute a 
 great addition in the way of making an important little town. 
 
 The mill cuts cypress lumber, which is shipped in large quantities to 
 the Northwest. Mer Rouge, situated in the heart of the rich prairie of 
 that name, is the next town and, in fact, the most important in the 
 parish on this railroad. 
 
 There is a nice Episcopal church and a splendid new three-room 
 public school building recently erected by the people there at an expense 
 of $1,500. The school board furnished it with new patent desks and 
 supplied it with two teachers, who have had a joint enrollment this past 
 session of fifty-four pupils. There is also a music department in connec- 
 
 — 58 
 
LOUISIANA. 
 
 tion with it. There is a strong Lodge of Knights of Pythias, and also a 
 good weekly paper, the Mer Rouge Vidette. 
 
 This town is nearly centrally located between Bastrop and Oak 
 Ridge, whose merchants receive their goods from this point. There 
 were 12,000 bales of cotton shipped this past season from this depot, 
 most of which went to New Orleans. At Collins, the railroad from 
 Eayville to Bascom crosses the H., C. A. & N. road. There are several 
 mercantile houses here, and a good school. Doss is the last station in 
 Morehouse parish. Entering Ouachita, the first station is Swarts. 
 Monroe is the next place. It is beautifully located on a large section 
 of almost level land, with its broad streets and tall, green, live oaks 
 overlapping its every street and sidewalk, its handsome houses and 
 fine flower yards, its many handsome brick business houses, opera 
 house, hotels, churches, fine court house and yard, and its new United 
 States Government and court building and post office, its many success¬ 
 ful manufacturing plants, including two oil mills, ice works, compress, 
 bottling works, sash, door and blind factory, foundry, railroad machine 
 shop, three very strong banks, two newspapers, two livery stables, 
 and one of the finest city public school systems in the State; with its 
 400 white children enrolled and 150 colored children enrolled, with two 
 wholesale grocery houses, two wholesale drug houses, one wholesale 
 dry goods house, one wholesale whisky house and its 40,000 bales of 
 cotton annually, it certainly is entitled to be classed as a first-class 
 modern, progressive young Southern city. 
 
 The town enjoys the luxury of a telephone service, but needs electric 
 lights, street car lines and water works, but the latter are soon to be 
 erected by New Orleans capitalists. No feature of Monroe stimulates 
 a greater city pride than her public schools, which are well graded 
 from the lower class to the high school department, with music, elocu¬ 
 tion, physical culture, etc., as an annex to the regular daily course. 
 
 Of Columbia, mention has already been made. Below Columbia, 
 all the improvements are entirely new and consist mostly of saw mills. 
 The first of these is the Bridger spur where a pine saw mill is operated. 
 Then comes Grayson station with one store and post office. Olla, 
 which is forty-seven miles north of Alexandria, is the dinner station. 
 Tullos, five miles South of Olla, comes next. Bear Spur, Little River 
 and Pollock come next in order, then Nugent, Levins and Alexandria. 
 
 — 59- 
 
LOUISIANA. 
 
 CENTRAL LOUISIANA. 
 
 f \ LEXANDRIA is the county seat or capital of Rapides parish, in 
 Jr\ the State of Louisiana. The town is situated on the Red river, 
 ▼ (one of the noblest streams of the State), and at the head of low- 
 water navigation. By river from New Orleans it is three hundred and 
 sixty miles, and by rail, one hundred and ninety-six miles. Communi¬ 
 cation to New Orleans is by two trunk lines, both of which are trans¬ 
 continental systems: The Texas and Pacific, and the Southern Pacific 
 Railways. The town is almost the exact geographical center of the 
 State. If regard to practical position be duly weighed, and a most 
 devious conformation in an unimportant area of her territory be not 
 strictly considered, this centrality, and the railroads now built, building, 
 and others morally certain to converge at the town hereafter, almost 
 assure her as the future capital of the State. Her unrivaled position 
 geographically, is most potentially emphasized by her position for a 
 great commercial mart and manufacturing center. 
 
 The town has a population of 3,500, and is growing rapidly. Has two 
 banks, one cotton compress, one ice factory, two planing mills, one saw 
 mill, one daily and three weekly newspapers, mineral water works, one 
 brick yard, a sash and door factory and a barrel factory, four railroads, 
 and five others chartered and being built to this place, street car line, 
 four good public schools, one convent, seven churches, court house and 
 U. S. Supreme Court building, steam laundry, four lines of steamboats, 
 three hotels, and other business houses generally found in towns of its 
 size. Is within seven miles of the center of the State, and surrounded 
 by very rich and productive sugar, cotton, fruit, stock and fine timber 
 lands. Alexandria wants a central sugar factory, cotton factory, 
 carriage and wagon factory, foundry and machine shops, sash and blind 
 factory, furniture factory, cotton seed oil mill, canning factory, whole¬ 
 sale houses, etc. 
 
 The United States has purchased a lot, and an appropriation of sixty 
 thousand dollars has been made for a court building and post office. 
 
 — 60 — 
 
LOUISIANA. 
 
 The town has been very liberal in encouraging railroads, and stands 
 in the highest rank of estimation as a desirable point for all project¬ 
 ing them. Besides the two great trunk lines already named as here 
 (the Texas & Pacific and the Southern Pacific), the Missouri Pacific has 
 recently completed its line, which gives Alexandria direct connection 
 with Little Rock, Memphis and St. Louis. Another road, the 
 Kansas City, Watkins & Gulf Railroad, is now completed 
 from Lake Charles to Alexandria, a distance of about ninety 
 miles. These last two railroads will open the iron and smokeless 
 coal of Arkansas, destined to play a great part in the industrial future 
 of Alexandria. 
 
 There is another road projected to Alexandria, called the Natchez, 
 Red River & Texas. The line is sixty-five miles, through a magnifi¬ 
 cent pinery, and is built from Yidalia, opposite Natchez, to Trinity, La., 
 a distance of thirty miles. This is a most important road, and its 
 possibilities will compel its completion. If, in addition to the present 
 railroad from Jackson, Miss., to Columbus, Miss., there shall be built 
 a projected road, Alexandria, with the short line just mentioned, will 
 be put on a most direct line between New York and the City of Mexico. 
 Another railroad, the Louisiana, Arkansas & Missouri, now being built 
 from Brinkley, Ark., to Delhi, La., and being surveyed from the latter 
 place to Alexandria, has eighty-one miles under contract to Delhi. 
 This road has immense land grants, which assures its completion. 
 
 Another road, called the Louisiana and Northwest Railroad, is now 
 completed from Homer, in the northern part of this State (crossing the 
 V., S. & P. Railroad at Gibsland), to Bienville City, sixteen miles 
 below or south of Gibsland, and the contract is now made to cut the 
 right of way to Winnfield, about forty miles north of Alexandria. 
 
 The tax on property in Alexandria is as follows: State tax, six mills; 
 parish, eight; corporation, ten. This assessment is on a half valuation, 
 the latter being low. The rapid enhancement in values insures a 
 diminution in rates. 
 
NEAR THE GULP—LOUISIANA 
 
LOUISIANA. 
 
 SOUTHWESTERN LOUISIANA. 
 
 S outhwestern Louisiana, comprising the country which lies 
 
 south of the thirty-first parallel, west of the Atchafalaya and 
 east of the Sabine river, has a population of about 200,000 
 souls. This district includes the whole of the parishes of Calcasieu, 
 Cameron, Iberia, Lafayette, St. Landry, St. Martin and St. Mary, and 
 the southern portion of the parishes of Avoyelles, Rapides and Vernon. 
 
 The general conformation of the country is level, except in the north¬ 
 westerly portion, where it is somewhat hilly and contains one of the 
 finest forests of pine and the hard woods to be found in the United 
 States. Here abound all the varieties of oak, cypress, beech, maple, 
 poplar, gum, ash, sycamore, magnolia, etc. South of this and onward 
 to the Gulf the land is prairie, except along its eastern limits, where it 
 is swamp, and though of unsurpassed fertility and abounding with a 
 vast expanse of magnificent timber, it is subject to overflow from the 
 freshets of the Mississippi and Red rivers. This immense tract of 
 prairie land is above overflow and stands generally on what is known 
 geologically as the bluff formation. It is about forty feet above the 
 overflow waters of the Mississippi river, and offers the advantages of 
 good and healthful homes to such as desire to cast their lots in this 
 favored section of the State. This prairie region is not, like some of the 
 great prairies of Texas and the West, almost absolutely devoid of fuel 
 and water. It is interspersed with streams of running water along 
 whose banks timber enough is generally found to supply the wants of 
 the inhabitant in improving his lands and affording him a constant 
 supply of fuel for present and future consumption. The blending of 
 prairie and woodland through this section furnishes the eye with a 
 scene of serene and marvelous beauty, and while the natural arrange¬ 
 ments of the scenes presented here are not such as to inspire the 
 mental conditions of sublimity which one would experience on being 
 thrown in contact with lofty mountains, deej) canyons, rushing cata¬ 
 racts, frightful precipices or the vast expanse of the ocean as it unfolds 
 
 — 63 — 
 
LOUISIANA. 
 
 itself before our eyes and leads to the recognition of that infinitude of 
 power which awes the mind with its terrific grandeur, and reminds us 
 that despite our great knowledge in the arts and sciences, we can with 
 our finite faculties, take in but a moiety of the mysteries of creation, 
 and render subject to our domination so small a share of the rude 
 forces of nature, as to impress us with the impotency of our strength. 
 
 Yet there is another class of mental conditions which arise from the 
 contemplation of natural objects. It is one that imparts serenity to the 
 soul and pleasant contentment to the mind. It is the offspring of a 
 sense of repose, or rest in nature, and produces a feeling correspondent 
 to the absence of domestic troubles or cares, in a well-regulated and 
 prosperous family. It tends to smooth down the rugged spots in our 
 natures and gives to our feelings that placidity and calmness which are 
 inspired by our surroundings when nature is in a state of repose, and 
 the earth presents none of her rugged and scarred places, the cicatrices 
 of ancient catastrophes, to obtrude upon our vision or ruffle the smooth 
 current of our sensibilities. Such are the impressions produced on the 
 mind by the natural phenomena of our country as contrasted with the 
 effects of the scenery of some other places. Ours is serene, beautiful 
 and pleasing. Theirs is awful, sublime, grand and ofttimes terror- 
 inspiring. 
 
 But there is another consideration which weighs heavily in favor of 
 Southwestern Louisiana as a dwelling place, and that is the superior 
 advantages of its soil and climate. Here one is not troubled with heat 
 and cold, as in other more northern and pent-in districts. The gentle 
 breezes from the Mexican Gulf are not obstructed by the interposition 
 of mountain ranges and immense and impenetrable forests, nor are the 
 sun’s ray reflected by the rocks on mountain sides and made convergent 
 on the valleys beneath, but healthful and invigorating fresh breezes 
 proceed directly up the plains unopposed in their march inland, dis¬ 
 pensing comfort and vigor to those who are so fortunate as to have cast 
 their lots in this favored clime. The thermometer in winter has an 
 average fluctuation of from 40 to 70 degrees; of course it is sometimes 
 below 40; it even goes beyond the freezing point; but this is the case 
 for only a few days during the winter, and the rest of this term may be 
 said to be free from frost, and life is pleasant outdoors, in fair weather, 
 all the winter through. In summer the mercury ranges from 80 to 96 
 
 — 64 — 
 
LOUISIANA. 
 
 degrees, registering the latter temperature but seldom. Such chronicles 
 of sunstroke and death as are detailed by the papers published in New 
 York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Louisville, St. Louis and other Northern 
 populous centers are things which never occur, even in New Orleans. 
 
 On account of the rapid evaporation on the Gulf of Mexico, the 
 temperature of the atmosphere is lowered and driven inland by atmos¬ 
 pheric currents, thereby relieving the heated term of much of the 
 sultriness and oppressiveness peculiar to climates where the air is more 
 rarefied, rendering the nights pleasant, endurable and restful, and 
 making it possible for persons to engage in outdoor labor, without detri¬ 
 ment to health, during the whole of the heated term. 
 
 RAINFALL. 
 
 S HE average annual rainfall is about 60 inches, and of quite even 
 distribution, bestowing immunity from the excessive drouths of 
 Western Texas and portions of the arid districts of the Northwest. 
 It falls in showers during summer, and though protracted spells of 
 showery weather occasionally occur it hardly ever falls in such volumes 
 as to inflict much injury, and in winter it seldom becomes too wet to 
 prevent the prosecution, in some manner, of the ordinary labor de¬ 
 manded on the farm at that season of the year. 
 
 The soil in most instances is extremely fertile, and though varied in 
 its general appearance, and character as to constituent elements, it 
 produces good crops, with results generally satisfactory to those engaged 
 in its cultivation. In the alluvial lands are to be found several varieties 
 of soil, the sandy loam, the clay loam—consisting of red, black or gray 
 clay and the mixed soil of sand and clay loam. All of these soils are 
 extremely fertile, but the pure clay is not adapted to the production of 
 all kinds of crops. It is fine for rice, cotton, corn, cow peas, etc., but 
 will not turn out the quantity of sugar yielded by the less tenacious 
 soils. 
 
 The soil in the prairies is in some places a black, sandy soil, and 
 ranges in color from a black to a grayish soil, and is generally underlaid 
 by a good clay subsoil which is very tenacious of manure, and for this 
 reason is susceptible of wonderful improvement. Along the eastern 
 
 — 65 — 
 
SCENE ON THE OUACHITA 
 
LOUISIANA. 
 
 belt of this prairie section, the land is extremely fertile, and produces 
 in profusion all the vegetables and staple crops grown in this latitude. 
 Further west the soil is not so fertile, and the principal and most 
 profitable crop grown is rice, but in the hands of the intelligent and 
 systematic agriculturist, who would introduce and employ the improved 
 methods of agriculture and pay some attention to supplying the wants 
 of his land, it could be made extremely productive, and would produce 
 any of the crops grown by its naturally more favored and contiguous 
 sections of country. The land contains a good and tenacious clay 
 subsoil, and a judicious use of the cow pea—the clover of the South— 
 would soon enrich this soil, supplying it with the elements of plant 
 food, and make it produce far beyond the expectations of its most 
 sanguine inhabitants. 
 
 Our pine lands, covering the western and northwestern regions of 
 this territory, present about such an appearance as the pine forests of 
 other sections of the South. They are generally well timbered and 
 watered, and possess a variety of hill, bottom or hammock lands. The 
 upland or hill lands are not profitable for agriculture, but are good 
 grazing lands, and the time will come when, apart from the value of 
 the timber they contain, they will be made remunerative to their 
 owners, as furnishing ranges for vast flocks of sheep. The hammock 
 or bottom lands of this section produce well, not only vegetables and 
 the staple crops, but some day, when they become accessible to lines 
 of transportation which must in the future traverse this country, they 
 must contribute to the world’s supply an immense quota of fruit of 
 such varieties as the fig, peach, pear, quince, several varieties of the 
 apple, plums, strawberries and grapes, all of which do well here under 
 intelligent management. The prices of these lands are to-day almost 
 nominal, but we opine that it will not be far in the distant future when 
 they will rival those of California as a grape-producing district. 
 
 — 67 — 
 
LOUISIANA. 
 
 PRODUCTS. 
 
 S HE staple field products are cotton, corn, rice, sugar cane, oats and 
 potatoes, both Irish and sweet, though other things might be 
 profitably raised. Jute and ramie and barley and tobacco grow 
 well here, as well as such varieties of the domestic grasses as clover, 
 red top, millet, alfalfa, lespedeza or Japan clover, and, no doubt, in the 
 future will be cultivated to a considerable extent, when the people of 
 this country recognize more fully the necessity for diversified agricul¬ 
 ture. All of the esculents grow here to perfection, and could be raised 
 with profit if enough people would engage in truck farming to justify 
 the railroads in making special preparations, as is done on the Illinois 
 Central Railroad, for handling that species of traffic, and thereby enable 
 them to offer a freight rate that w r ould stimulate and encourage invest¬ 
 ment in this line of business. 
 
 Cotton, sugar cane and rice are our most important money-producing 
 crops, but they are affected by several drawbacks, viz.: The over-pro¬ 
 duction of cotton, and the low prices consequent thereon; an insuffi¬ 
 ciency of sugar refineries, and the uncertainty and difficulty of 
 disposing of the crop at remunerative prices after the corn is raised, 
 and the absence of rice mills in the territory where this cereal is 
 produced. The subject, though, is now undergoing some agitation, and 
 the prospects are that sugar refineries will be multiplied and placed in 
 greater proximity to each other, thereby affording the cane raiser the 
 benefits of a healthful competition for his produce, and presenting to 
 him ample opportunities for its disposal. The spirit of resentment 
 engendered in the rice producer and the local merchant against the 
 action of the proposed recent rice trust will terminate in a healthy 
 state of affairs locally, and eventually result in the erection, by home 
 capital, of rice mills in the country, at several important points, which 
 will relieve the rice grower from the manipulations and extortions of 
 the city mill men. 
 
 It is a question with some as to which is the most profitable crop, rice 
 or sugar cane; but to one conversant with the cultivation and average 
 
 — 68 — 
 
LOUISIANA. 
 
 yield of both, all doubt soon becomes dispelled and the general verdict 
 is in favor of cane, where the proper facilities exist for its disposal. It 
 is not an overestimate to assert that at least $50 will result to the cane- 
 grower as a net profit on his average production, while with rice neither 
 his gross sales nor his average profit would be quite so large. The aver¬ 
 age yield of cane per acre is about 20 tons, while that of rice is about 12 
 barrels. Cane is worth $4 per ton f. o. b., and rice ranges in price 
 from $2 to $4 per barrel, so we may fairly estimate $3 as about the 
 average price. Now, basing our estimate on the above figures, which 
 we consider about fair, it will readily be seen that the profit from cane¬ 
 growing will exceed by % that which proceeds from rice-growing. In 
 the last six years the production of rice in Southwestern Louisiana has 
 increased from 12,300 to an estimated crop of 700,000 barrels of 161 lbs. 
 each in 1892, and the prospect now is that the crop of 1892 will nearly 
 double that of 1891. 
 
 There are men in this section of the country who have engaged in 
 the cultivation of rice and sugar within the last five years, who, when 
 they began, had comparatively nothing, and commenced their operations 
 on the credit system, but who are now independent, having amassed a 
 handsome competency, and who have invested it in good homes, sur¬ 
 rounded with all the comforts and pleasures of rural life, and who live 
 there under their own vine and fig tree, a life of prosperous peace and 
 contented ease. They have fought the wolf away from the door and 
 established themselves on a solid basis. 
 
 SCHOOLS. 
 
 C OUISIANA is not blessed with as good a system of schools as is to 
 be found in the Northern, Western, and some of the Southern 
 States, but has good school laws, and a spirit of intellectual and 
 moral advancement seems to be awakening, and as new people flow in, 
 and the country becomes more thickly settled, and its resources better 
 developed, marked progress in the way of education and the 
 more general dissemination of knowledge may be confidently looked 
 for. 
 
 — 69 — 
 
SCENE ON THE TESCHE BAYOU, LOUISIANA 
 
LOUISIANA. 
 
 The following list shows the total receipts from all sources for school 
 purposes in Louisiana for the years mentioned: 
 
 1884 . 1552,064 42 
 
 1885 . 536,659 52 
 
 1886 . 603,360 86 
 
 1887 .:. 611,255 60 
 
 1888 . 666,775 87 
 
 1889 . 842,954 29 
 
 1890 ... 951,423 93 
 
 The sources from w T hich this revenue is derived are the current fund 
 of one and one-eighth mills, the 16th section fund, the poll tax, fines 
 and forfeitures, voluntary contributions from police juries and corpora¬ 
 tions, the seminary fund of 4 per cent on $136,000, and the Agricultural 
 and Mechanical College fund of 5 per cent on $182,313.03. 
 
 The above figures speak for themselves. Comment is unnecessary. 
 They certainly show that the State is improving rapidly in her means 
 for education. 
 
 The increase of population in the State of Louisiana from 1880 to 1890 
 was only 19 per cent, while the number of pupils enrolled in the public 
 schools of the State for the same time increased 53 per cent. 
 
 Only one other State in the Union did as well. Virginia’s increase of 
 population was 9.48 per cent, and the increase of her public school 
 attendance 55 per cent. 
 
 So we see that Louisiana with Virginia, leads all the States in educa¬ 
 tional progress. 
 
 GAME AND FISH. 
 
 I T would appear as if all the ducks, geese, brant, etc., in America, 
 flock to the Gulf coast to winter. They are in such immense 
 numbers as to form an important part of the winter’s meat supply. 
 To say that the rivers are full of fish conveys no proper conception of 
 the facts, unless it be understood literally. Fish of the choicest varieties 
 are present in such immense quantities that they will eventually 
 become an article of commerce. 
 
 The small game on the coast, the abundant deer in the pine woods, 
 and the fish in the streams, with mild winters, make this country the 
 paradise of sportsmen. 
 
 - 71 — 
 
LOUISIANA. 
 
 On the newly-opened Houston, Central Arkansas & Northern Rail¬ 
 way, deer are plenty, and fish are abundant. Trout and perch can be 
 caught easily in any of the little and apparently insignificant streams 
 between the Ouachita and Red rivers. The country is very sparsely 
 settled and hunters should carry their supplies along, such as camp 
 equipage, etc. The country is one vast forest of pine, oak and cypress, 
 principally pine, between the above-mentioned rivers. 
 
 AS OTHERS SEE US. 
 
 Professor Hilgard, in his preliminary report of a Geological Survey 
 of Western Louisiana, remarks: 
 
 “Few sections of the United States, indeed, can offer such induce¬ 
 ments to settlers as the prairie region between the Mississippi Bottoms, 
 the Nez Pique and Mermentau. Healthier by far than the prairies of the 
 Northwest, fanned by the sea breeze, well watered—the scarcity of wood 
 rendered of less moment by the blandness of the climate, and the extra¬ 
 ordinary rapidity with which natural hedges can be grown for fences, 
 while the exuberantly fertile soil produces both sugar cane and cotton 
 in profusion, continuing to do so in many cases after seventy years’ 
 exhaustive cultivation—well may the T£che country be styled by its 
 enthusiastic inhabitants, the “Garden of Louisiana.” 
 
 One of the largest and most intelligent farmers in Central Illinois, 
 after a careful examination of the T6che and Attakapas country, said: 
 
 "I have heretofore thought that Central Illinois was the finest farming 
 country in the world. I own a large farm there, with improvements 
 equal to any in the country. I cultivate about two thousand acres in 
 small grain, besides other crops; but since I have seen the T6che and 
 Attakapas country I do not see how any man who has seen this country 
 can be satisfied to live in Illinois. 
 
 “I find that I can raise everything in Louisiana that can be raised 
 in Illinois, and that I can raise a hundred things there which cannot 
 be raised in Illinois. I find the lands easier worked in Louisiana, 
 infinitely richer and yielding far more, and with the fairest climate on 
 earth, and no trouble to get to market. I shall return to Illinois, sell 
 out, and persuade my neighbors to do the same, and return to Louis¬ 
 iana to spend the remainder of my days.” 
 
 — 72 — 
 
LOUISIANA. 
 
 The editor of the Chicago Tribune , after visiting the Teche country, 
 said to his 50,000 subscribers: 
 
 “If, by some supreme effort of nature, Western Louisiana, with its 
 soil, climate and production could be taken up and transported north, 
 to the latitude of Illinois and Indiana, and be there set down in the 
 pathway of Eastern travel, it would create a commotion that would 
 throw the discovery of gold in California in the shade at the time of 
 the greatest excitement. The people would rush to it in countless 
 thousands. Every man would be intent on securing a few acres of 
 these wonderfully productive and profitable sugar planes. These 
 T£che lands, if in Illinois, would bring from three to five hundred 
 dollars per acre.” 
 
 ORANGES. 
 
 I N Southwest Louisiana the soil and climate combine to make this the 
 natural home of the orange. Oranges are more easily raised here 
 and are of better quality than in any other orange-producing coun¬ 
 try in the United States. They command a higher price on the American 
 market than any other orange. The trees grow with less care, and bear 
 profitable crops at an early age. 
 
 Travelers who have eaten the oranges of Italy and those grown in 
 Florida and California unite in the decision that the golden-hued fruit 
 of Louisiana is the finest flavored in the world. 
 
 For decades the orange tree flourished in this region whenever it was 
 planted, or came up spontaneously, almost without care or attention. 
 It has been freely admitted by men from Southern California that 
 oranges here do as well as or better than in California. 
 
 But it is only of late years, since the once wealthy planters have 
 been forced to market their fruit, that the real value of the orange as a 
 staple article of commerce has been recognized in Louisiana. Groves 
 have been planted, the most improved methods of cultivation have 
 been adopted, care has been displayed in the packing and handling of 
 the fruit, and the result has been most gratifying in a pecuniary point 
 of view. 
 
 Orange trees commence to produce merchantable fruit in the sixth 
 year from the planting of the seed; but if the land is in good shape, 
 
 73 — 
 
SAW MILL ON THE H, C. A. & N. LINE, 
 
LOUISIANA. 
 
 and budded or grafted trees are planted and properly cared for, fruit 
 may reasonably be expected within two or three years, and a profitable 
 crop in three or four years. The yield increases and the quality of the 
 fruit improves up to the twentieth year of the Ijree^s existence. An 
 acre of land will support 100 trees. The average price for the last ten 
 years has been one dollar per hundred oranges, the purchasers to pick 
 and handle the crop from the tree. A young tree will produce 500 
 oranges, which would make the cash return from one acre $500, as a 
 minimum calculation. Many orchards easily average 1,000 oranges to 
 the tree, making an income of $1,000 per acre. The 1891 crop of Mr. 
 Bradish Johnson’s grove, situated on the Mississippi river, a few miles 
 below New Orleans, was sold for $40,000. This includes the product of 
 eighty acres of land of average fertility. 
 
 A few years ago the owner of 600 orange trees refused $50,000 for the 
 grove, and the same season sold his crop of oranges for $7,000. 
 
 Mr. Esau Chadwell, Cameron, La., has a grove of 1,500 trees on the 
 shore of Calcasieu Pass. These trees are six years old, and in the year 
 1891 he sold his crop on the tree for $4.50 per barrel, and they aver¬ 
 aged one barrel per tree, giving a return of $450 per acre; and in one or 
 two years the crop will be double what it is now. 
 
 Five acres planted in orange trees will, in five or six years, support a 
 family luxuriously. No wonder orange land brings $500 per acre in 
 California, where it is all taken up. But in Southwest Louisiana, where 
 oranges flourish even better than in California, good orange land can 
 be bought for from $30 to $50 an acre/ This can not last long, however. 
 As soon as the best orange land is taken the j$rice is bound to come up 
 rapidly. Now is the time to secure a location while land is cheap. 
 
 One great advantage over California is proximity to markets. South¬ 
 west Louisiana is only a little over 600 miles from Kansas City 
 and St. Louis, via the Iron Mountain Route, while the Califor¬ 
 nia orange groves are three or four times that distance. Besides, 
 oranges ripen in Louisiana much sooner than in California or even in 
 Florida; so that there is practically no competition in the Northwestern 
 cities, except from foreign countries. This assures good prices for all 
 the oranges Louisiana can raise. Then why should any one contem¬ 
 plating orange culture go to California and pay $500 per acre for the 
 land? Southwest Louisiana is destined to be one of the greatest orange- 
 
 — 75 — 
 
LOUISIANA. 
 
 producing regions in the United States, and her orange lands will be 
 worth as much as or more than those of California* 
 
 The cost of cultivating oranges is about the same as that of apples, 
 and, on account of the uniform temperature, the crop is subject to fewer 
 contingences than any fruit crop of the West or North. 
 
 As the demand for Louisiana oranges is always greater than the 
 supply, every year finds new groves planted, particularly in the south¬ 
 western parishes, and with present facilities for transportation, the 
 luscious fruit can be placed on sale in all the principal cities of the 
 United States in perfect condition. The superior advantages of this 
 region are attracting a very intelligent class of farmers, and in a short 
 time they will supply the entire Mississippi valley with the finest 
 oranges in the world. 
 
 The orange has truly been called the “queen of fruits.’’ It is in 
 demand, and eagerly sought after in all quarters of the world. It is a 
 recognized fact that wherever this luscious fruit can be successfully 
 grown, there money can be made in large amounts, even if the fruit 
 must be transported thousands of miles to find a market. 
 
 Orange culture, more than any other cause, brought Southern Cali¬ 
 fornia into prominence, and caused the price of lands suitable for this 
 fruit to go up to $500 per acre. The orange was the chief cause of the 
 heavy immigration to Florida. But California must irrigate her lands 
 in order to success in this industry, and Florida must fertilize her soil, 
 and in many cases irrigate in order to succeed; while California must 
 transport her oranges thousands of miles in order to find a market, 
 and Florida comes into Competition along the Atlantic coast with the 
 oranges of Europe and Africa. 
 
 In Southwest Louisiana we have an orange-producing region superior 
 to either California or Florida in several respects, among which we 
 mention ease and cheapness of the culture. Here we need no irrigation. 
 An abundant and evenly distributed rainfall supplies all the moisture 
 needed by the trees and by the fruit. All that is needed in this line is 
 thorough drainage, which is easily and cheaply attained on the orange 
 land. Then the soil is naturally rich enough to produce a rapid growth 
 without fertilization of any kind, thus saving a heavy expense in 
 growing the orchard. It is an advantage to the trees, if rapid growth 
 is desired, to throw wood ashes or straw mulching around the roots of 
 
 — 76 — 
 
LOUISIANA. 
 
 the trees. This also helps to keep the weeds down. It is also a good 
 plan to sow cow peas in the orchard, which should be turned undej* in 
 the fall. 
 
 Another point is the excellent quality of the fruit raised. Oranges 
 raised in Southwest Louisiana are noted for their thin rind, extraordi¬ 
 nary juiciness and luscious flavor. Even seedling oranges rank high as 
 to size and quality wherever they come into competition with oranges 
 from other regions in the general markets. When the better varieties 
 of grafted or budded fruit are planted they produce the most excellent 
 fruit in the world. Trees, when properly attended, grow rapidly and 
 come into bearing in a short time. Seedlings will commence bearing 
 in from three to five years after planting in the orchard if they are 
 properly cultivated, and grafted or budded trees will bear in from one 
 to three years after planting. When in full bearing orange trees are 
 prolific bearers and rarely ever fail of producing a good crop. Frosts 
 heavy enough to kill most of the peaches, pears and plums do not pre¬ 
 vent a fair crop of oranges. Oranges are grown chiefly on lands border¬ 
 ing on the east and south of lakes and large streams, and are protected 
 by the dampness from damage by frosts. There are many thousands of 
 acres of first-class orange lands thus situated, and when these lands are 
 all utilized for orange culture and the trees are in full bearing, Louisiana 
 can largely supply the Northwest with the very best and most luscious 
 oranges in the world, and will only have to transport the fruit from 400 
 to 600 miles to find a market. When we consider that 100 orange trees 
 grow on one acre of ground and that the trees in full bearing will pro¬ 
 duce 2,000 to 4,000 per tree, which will sell for one dollar per hundred 
 on the tree or twenty to forty dollars per tree when in full bearing, it 
 will be seen that an orange orchard is enormously profitable. 
 
 Not much attention was given to this industry until the last few 
 years. The old settlers for nearly a hundred years raised oranges for 
 their own use and had large trees that sometimes produced as many 
 as 8,000 oranges per tree, but they did not think of raising oranges for 
 market. But a few years ago special interest began to be taken in 
 this industry, and now there are thousands of orange trees, many of 
 them coming into bearing, in this region. There are a few old orchards 
 with large trees bearing 3,000 to 5,000 to the tree, but most of the old 
 trees were destroyed by scale bugs about six or seven years ago. These 
 
LOUISIANA. 
 
 scales attacked the trees here as they did in Florida and California, 
 and the old settlers not knowing how to fight them, they killed most 
 of the trees. But now scale bugs do not prevent the growing of oranges 
 here any more than they do in California, for we know how to fight 
 them successfully, and the people are rapidly pushing the industry, 
 and the prospect is that the culture of the orange in Southwest Louis¬ 
 iana will rapidly assume enormous proportions, and take its place as a 
 money crop by the side of rice and sugar. 
 
 Most of the orange lands are on the Calcasieu river, lakes and tribu¬ 
 taries, or easily connected with them by water transportation via the 
 Gulf of Mexico, and this river is connected with the great Northwest 
 by the K. C. W. & G., and H., C. A. & N. Railroads, so that oranges 
 can be shipped from the orchard to St. Louis, Chicago, Kansas City and 
 other distributing points by a direct line. 
 
 There are thousands of acres of the finest orange lands yet unoc¬ 
 cupied, which can be purchased at a low rate, considering their great 
 .value. Good orange lands can be had now for from thirty to fifty 
 dollars per acre. Of course this cannot continue long, for as soon as 
 the industry is fully developed the price will go up like it did in Cali¬ 
 fornia to $300 to $500 for the best lands. Now is the time to embark in 
 this business in Southwest Louisiana. 
 
 LEMONS 
 
 Also do well in Southwest Louisiana, and what has been said in regard 
 to the cultivation and profits of oranges is equally applicable to lemons. 
 
 FIGS AND PERSIMMONS. 
 
 F IGS have been raised in Louisiana ever since the country was first 
 settled, but it is only recently that their commercial value has 
 been realized. The common Creole fig is giving place now to the 
 White Adriatic, Smyrna, San Pedro, Brown, Turkish and other fine 
 qualities of the fruit. A fig tree begins bearing as soon as it begins to 
 grow. In three } r ears it begins to pay, and in ten years, if it has been 
 properly cared for, it will produce twenty bushels of the fruit. At 
 present figs are worth $1.50 per bushel, and if properly put up, they 
 will probably yield $1.00 per bushel for years to come. An acre of 100 
 
 — 78 — 
 
LOUISIANA. 
 
 fig trees ten years after planting produces $2,000 worth of figs. The 
 trees are propagated from cuttings and have no insect enemies. 
 
 There is wealth here, as well as health and happiness), Awhile you 
 are living you are preparing for a rich inheritance. This, be it remem¬ 
 bered, is in the most favored fruit region of the known earth. The 
 fruit of California is produced by artificial methods—irrigation. Louis¬ 
 iana fruit is flavored and seasoned by natural moisture. Her oranges, 
 pears, peaches, berries, and entire list, is well known to be superior, 
 and command a higher value. Her fruit is earlier than California’s, and 
 one-third of the distance to market. Besides the native cash crops of 
 sugar cane, cotton and rice, these lands will raise any cereal grown on 
 Delavan prairie, and, properly prepared, just as much of it, at a vastly 
 better price. Ninety, eighty and down to thirty dollars net per acre 
 are being realized every year. With the West filled up, and immi¬ 
 gration turning en masse Southward, as it now is, it is but a matter 
 of short time when her lands will rank the highest in the Union. 
 
 Official statistics prove that it is not as hot in the Gulf region as it is 
 here in midsummer. The record for the past five years shows the 
 following mean temperature: January 52 degrees, February 57, March 
 61, April 68, May 74, June 80, July 81, August 80, September 77, 
 October 71, November 58, December 53. Average annual 68. When 
 the people talk of the extreme heat, you have but to comfort them with 
 the above official figures. What more equable climate could possibly 
 be desired? 
 
 It is a fact that the cost of living, taking the year through, is reduced 
 two-thirds. 
 
 Beside fruit culture and agriculture, fortunes are annually made in 
 vegetables. You can grow them all the year around, and ship them all 
 the year around. The fancy prices paid by the wealthy people of the 
 North for out-of-season fruits and vegetables, goes directly to the pocket 
 of the Southern grower. But little capital is required in getting a foot¬ 
 hold, and any Northern hustler can get rich in five years. Education is 
 a prime consideration, and, in short, every element of culture and good 
 citizenship obtains to high degree. 
 
 Concerning the time of the year to go South, the reader has but to 
 consult the above reference to the temperature, and he will readily see 
 that one season of the year is as good as another. 
 
 — 79 — 
 
miltltions OF ACRES 
 
 OF Fine 
 
 Timber Lands, 
 
 pii>e pruit Lai^dj ® ® 
 
 —-AND- 
 
 ® pertile par/r\ir?<§ lai}d5 
 
 FOR SALE CHEAP. 
 
 Address Company’s Agents. 
 
Atlani 
 S i 
 
 Linden 
 
 Avingei 
 
 Lassater 
 
 V_KeIIyy.\ 
 
 4ntVa^ efferS0 " 
 
 Hallvill» 
 
VALUABLE ASSISTANCE. 
 
 The following Traveling and Passenger Agents of the MISSOURI PACIFIC RAIL¬ 
 WAY and IRON MOUNTAIN ROUTE are constantly looking after the interests of the 
 Line, and will call upon parties contemplating a trip and cheerfully furnish them 
 lowest rates of Fare, Maps, Guides, Time Tables, etc. 
 
 Or they may be addressed as follows : 
 
 ATCHISON, KAN.—C. E. Styles .,...Passenger and Ticket Agent. 
 
 AUSTIN, TEX.—J. C. Lewis ..Traveling Passenger Agent. 
 
 BOSTON, MASS.—Louis W. Ewald .New England Pass. Agent, 300 Washington St. 
 
 CHATTANOOGA, TENN.—A. A. Gallagher .Southern Pass. Agent, 103 Read House. 
 
 CHICAGO, ILL.—Bissell Wilson .District Passenger Agent, 111 Adams St. 
 
 CINCINNATI, OHIO—N. R. Warwick .District Passenger Agent, 131 Vine St. 
 
 DENVER, COLO.—C. A. Tripp...'G en T- Western Freight and Pass’r Agt., 1662 Larimer St. 
 
 E. E. Hoffman .Traveling Passenger Agent, 1662 Larimer St. 
 
 HOT SPRINGS, ARK.—R. M. Smith .......Ticket Agent. 
 
 INDIANAPOLIS, IND.—Coke Alexander .District Pass. Agent, 7 Jackson Place. 
 
 JACKSON, MICH.—H. D. Armstrong.: ..*.Traveling Passenger Agent. 
 
 KANSAS CITY, MO.—J. H. Lyon .Western Passenger Agent, 800 Main St. 
 
 E. S. Jewett ..Passenger and Ticket Agent, 800 Main St. 
 
 Benton Quick, Passenger & Asst, Ticket Agent, 1048 Union Ave. 
 
 LEAVENWORTH, KAN.—J. N, Joerger .Passenger and Ticket Agent. 
 
 LINCOLN, NEB.—F. D. Cornell .City Passenger and Ticket Agent, 1201 O St. 
 
 R. P. R. Millar .Freight and Ticket Agent. 
 
 LITTLE ROCK, ARK.—August Sundholm .Passenger and Ticket Agent. 
 
 LOUISVILLE, KY.-R. T. G. Matthews .Southern Traveling Agent, 304 West Main St. 
 
 MEMPHIS, TENN.—H. D. Wilson .Passenger and Ticket Agent, 309 Main St. 
 
 J. E. Rehlander .Traveling Passenger Agent, 309 Main St. 
 
 NEW YORK CITY—W. E. Hoyt .General Eastern Passenger Agent, 391 Broadway. 
 
 J. P. McCann .Traveling Passenger Agent, 391 Broadway. 
 
 OMAHA, NEB.—J. O. Phillippi .Assistant General Freight and Passenger Agent. 
 
 Tho$. F. Godfrey .Pass, and Tkt. Agt., N. E. cor. 13th & Farnam Sts 
 
 W. C. Barnes ..'..Trav. Pass. Agent, N. E. cor. 13th and Farnam Sts. 
 
 PITTSBURGH, PENN.—S. H. Thompson .....Central Passenger Agent, 1119 Liberty St. 
 
 PUEBLO, COLO.—Wm. Hogg ...Com. Freight and Ticket Agent. 
 
 SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH—H. B. Kooser .Com. Ft. & Pass. Agt., 21 Morlan Block. 
 
 SAN FRANCISCO, CAL—T.F. Fitzgerald .Pac.Coast Pass. Agt., 132 California St. 
 
 ST. JOSEPH, MO.—F. P. Wade .Passenger and Ticket Agent. 
 
 ST. LOUIS, MO.—B. H. Payne ...Assistant General Passenger and Ticket Agent. 
 
 H. F. Berkley......C ity Ticket Agent, N. W.*Cor. Broadway & Olive St. 
 
 M. Griffin ...City Passenger Agent, N.W. Cor Broadway and Olive St. 
 
 H. Lihou ..Ticket Agent, Union Station. 
 
 W. H. Morton .Passenger Agent, Room 402, Union Station. 
 
 WICHITA, KAN.—E. E. Bleckley .Passenger and Ticket Agent, 114 N. Main St. 
 
 C. G. WARNER, 
 
 Vice-President, 
 
 W. B. DODDRIDGE, 
 
 General Manager, 
 
 H. C. TOWNSEND, 
 
 General Passenger and Ticket Agent, 
 
 St. Louis, Mo. 
 
.THE 
 
 CHEAT SOUTHWEST 
 
 SYSTEM, 
 
 CONNECTING THE COMMERCIAL CENTRES AND RICH FARMS OF 
 
 MISSOURI, 
 
 ■ 3fS t 
 
 THE BROAD CORN AND WHEAT FIELDS AND THRIVING TOWNS OF 
 
 KHNSHS, 
 
 THE FERTILE RIVER VALLEYS AND TRADE CENTRES OF 
 
 NEBRHSKH, 
 
 THE GRAND, PICTURESQUE AND ENCHANTING SCENERY, AND 
 THE FAMOUS MINING DISTRICTS OF 
 
 COLORADO, 
 
 THE AGRICULTURAL, FRUIT, MINERAL AND TIMBER LANDS, AND 
 FAMOUS HOT SPRINGS OF 
 
 HRKHNSHS, 
 
 THE BEAUTIFUL ROLLING PRAIRIES AND WOODLANDS OF THE 
 
 INDIHN TERRITORY, 
 
 THE SUGAR, COTTON AND TIMBER PLANTATIONS OF 
 
 LOUISIHNH, 
 
 THE COTTON AND GRAIN FIELDS, THE CATTLE RANGES AND 
 
 WINTER RESORTS OF 
 
 TEXHS, 
 
 HISTORICAL AND SCENIC 
 
 OLD HND NEW MEXICO, 
 
 AND FORMS WITH ITS CONNECTIONS THE POPULAR ROUTE TO 
 
 HRIZONH HND CHLIFORNI7T.