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is called the Attacapas. Within this there is a great prairie, bearing the same name. Considerable tracts are subject to inundation, but many parts possess the highest degree of fertility. North and east of this lies the great Opelousas prairie, extending to the Sabine, and forming the south-west corner of the state. It has several large prairies, such as the Opelousas prairie; on the north of that the Grand prairie; the prairie Mamon; prairie Calcasu, and the Sabine prairie. The first of these contains upwards of 1,120,000 acres. Rich soil, and good timber are found along the southern and eastern parts of this district; but the rest is wild and the most of it barren, occupied only by great herds of cattle and buffalo.

There is no extent of land on the globe, possessing greater diversity of soil than the state of Louisiana. The southern part is mostly included in the delta* of the Mississippi: it is flat, and where the surface can be preserved from inundation, extremely fertile; the southwestern part is generally level prairie, and very productive; the north-western portion, a thick forest, and low alluvial soil, upon the rivers; but at a distance from the streams, the land is high, broken, and sterile. This alluvial soil of Louisiana, independent of its intrinsic fertility, finds in the annual floods a perpetual renewal of its strength, from the fertilizing slime and mud deposited by the overflowing current of the rivers, particularly of the Mississippi. The lands on the banks of this mighty stream, that have been under cultivation sixty or seventy years, without manure, are equally productive as when first planted. The country. west of the delta of the Mississippi, offers an infinity of interesting views to the traveller and the emigrant. Only a few years have elapsed since this region was opened to the inspection of civilized man. The immense length of Red and Arkansaw rivers, the fertility and variety of the lands from which their streams are derived, and the extraordinary features and productions of the great natural meadows of Louisiana, have at length arrested the attention of mankind; and will, no doubt, in a few revolving years, exhibit, upon a vast surface, cultivated society, where, from countless ages, the wild beasts of the forests

⚫ As this term frequently occurs in this and other works treating of Louisiana, it may not be improper to give its explanation :--The estuary of the Nile, in Egypt, was called by the ancients, delta, from its resemblance to the Greek letter of that name. This was tolerably appropriate when applied to the Nile; but could not apply to other rivers, whose mouths formed lands of very different outlines. It is now used to denote the alluvial tracts of land formed by the waters of any river, whose streams carry down and deposit great bodies of sediment on their banks, and near their mouths.

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were pursued by the prowling savage. It is highly gratify. ing to behold the emulation of industry and peace, to see new towns, farms, and manufactories, rising where silence and desolation reigned twenty years since, and where only six years have elapsed since that silence was broken by the din of arms, and where cruel massacre stained the earth with the blood of the most innocent and helpless of the human race.

The great staple productions of this state are cotton, sugar, rice, and Indian corn. Tobacco and indigo could be as extensively cultivated as cotton; but neither of the former offers such alluring prospects to the planter as the latter. To new settlers, and to persons of moderate property, cotton presents a more easy source of revenue; even in places where the soil and climate will admit the culture of sugar. The best districts for cotton in the state of Louisiana, are the banks of Red river, Ouachitta, bayou Bœuf, the river Teche, and the Mississippi. Cotton land yields from 500 to 2,000 lbs. of seed cotton an acre; and one man will cultivate ten acres. The profits of a good slave may be reckoned at 240 dollars per annum. But though cotton succeeds best on the deep alluvial of the rivers, it is extremely profitable on the prairie land, distant from any considerable streams of water. On second rate land, which occurs on the small water-courses in the pine tracts, there are considerable bodies of land very favourable to cotton. This latter species of soil occurs extensively between the Red and Sabine, and between the Red and Ouachitta rivers; much of it is yet the property of the United States; though in December, 1818, and in February, 1819, there were very extensive sales of public land in Louisiana, each of which continued for three weeks.

Late experiments have proved that the sugar cane can be successfully cultivated in any part of the state, except in the swampy or unripe alluvial soils. Sugar lands yield from one to two hogsheads of 1,000 lbs. weight each, and fifty gallons of rum an acre; the value is about 100 dollars a hogshead. In one season twenty-eight men have been known to make 200 hogsheads of sugar; aud an old man, assisted by his two sons, carried thirty hogsheads to market, the produce of their own hands, in one season. The planters, in order to guard against the effect of an early frost, regularly finish, about the 15th of October, pulling up the canes intended for next year's planting. This is done by putting them into stacks, with all their leaves on, in such a manner as to expose the smallest

possible quantity of the stalk to the weather. Early in the spring, those canes are laid along in plough furrows, the large end of one cane nearly touching the small end next to it, and the furrows distant from each other about three feet. The plant is cultivated in the same manner as Indian corn, and with equal ease. The cutting and grinding are commenced whenever the seed canes are put up, and continue frequently till the latter end of December; and long after the canes have been killed by the frost.

A mill that can grind 300 gallons an hour, and deliver upwards of two tons of sugar daily, costs in workmanship and materials 1,000 dollars; besides the expense of a rough cover for it, forty feet square. The cost of three pestles, of sufficient size to keep pace with the mill, is 350 dollars, and that of the mason work in bedding them and making the furnaces, is 250 dollars; which with the price of 30,000 bricks, a proportionate quantity of mortar, a rough building to cover the boilers, and six draft beasts to impel the machine, constitute the whole expenses of an establishment sufficient for the manufacture of 200

hogsheads of sugar. On the banks of the Mississippi, below the efflux of Placquemine, 117 miles above New Orleans, on the river Lafourche, in all its extent; on the Teche, below the entrance of the bayou Fusilier; and on the Vermilion river, below N. lat. 30° 12'; wherever the soil is elevated above the annual inundation, sugar can be produced. On all these places, except the Vermilion, sugar farms and houses are at this time established to great advantage.

Rice can be cultivated in any part of the state of Louisiana, where the soil will permit its growth; as water is easily diverted from the rivers and bayous into the fields; the use of which on rice is more to suppress the growth of noxious weeds and grass, which would otherwise stifle the grain, than for promoting the growth of the rice itself; for none of the grasses can stand the water, but rice does, as long as it is not totally immersed. Therefore it is, that after weeding, the planter lets on water to about half the height of the grain. The summers are of sufficient length below the 33° of N. lat. to enable this grain to ripen. Rice is now the third in quantity and value of the staples of the state; though its culture is more particularly confined to the banks of the. Mississippi, where watering the ground can be more easily performed than in any other part of the country. This staple could be multiplied to any extent, that the demands of domestic

consumption or foreign commerce should make necessary. There is an immense range of country between the Sabine and Pearl rivers, more congenial to the culture of rice than any other vegetable.

Indian corn is, perhaps, of more real importance to the planter, on and near the banks of the Mississippi, than any other production. This invaluable plant may be called, with strict propriety, the nurse of the human species in the newly established settlements of America. It is every where found, on all soils and climates, from Canada to the gulf of Mexico; and is, wherever produced, the principal article of food for man and his most valuable domestic animals. There is no crop which differs so much in quantity in different seasons, and in different soils, as Indian corn: from five to 110 bushels have been produced from an acre in one year. The state of Louisiana is not the most favourable part of the United States for the culture of this plant; but excellent crops are produced. The ground most congenial to its growth does not differ much from that suitable to cotton. The time of planting Indian corn below 33° N. lat. to the gulf of Mexico, may be chosen from the beginning of April to the 10th of June, It is not unusual to see ripe corn in one field, and in the adjoining enclosure the young plant just making its appearance above the ground.

Wheat and rye might be raised in this state, but from the facility with which flour and whisky can be imported down the Mississippi, it is not very probable that the culture of either wheat or rye will ever be much attended to, where more lucrative articles can be produced.

The fruits most generally cultivated are, the peach, and orange, the perpetual verdure of the latter, intermixed with fig trees, surrounding the houses, and planted in groves and orchards near them, highly beautify the prospect; while the grateful fragrance of constant blossoms, and the successive progress to plentiful ripened fruit, charm the eye, and regale the senses of the admiring observer. The apple is often seen, but does not thrive well: the climate is perhaps too warm in summer. Plums, grapes, and pomegranates grow luxuriantly, and produce abundantly, but are much neglected. The gardens in general are not equal to what they might be, from the fertility of the soil, and the mildness of the seasons. There is no country, however, that would admit of finer gardens, or a greater variety of plants, either for use or ornament; but the attention paid to the culture of the rich staples, engrosses too much time and industry, to leave

leisure for the more elegant, but less lucrative branches of agriculture.

Table of profits resulting from the employment of fifty workmen on a farm in Louisiana.

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The whole extent of the state of Louisiana, after deducting one-fifth for the swamps, rivers, lakes, pine barrens, and other irreclaimable tracts, extends over upwards of 24,000,000 acres. The one-tenth of that quantity may be assumed for cotton. Indigo, which demands a richer soil, but similar climate, is allowed another tenth. Tobacco can be raised in all parts of the state, but the soil best suited for it is nearly the same as that required for sugar

cane.

The seasons in Louisiana are extremely variable; the difference between two succeeding winters at New Orleans, is frequently as much as could be expected in a change of four or five degrees of latitude. The orange tree and sugar cane are often destroyed by frost, even upon the shores of the gulf of Mexico; though in ordinary seasons, the ponds and other stagnant waters, as low as 30° N. lat., are seldom frozen. There is much more difference in climate between Natchez and New Orleans, than could be expected from the relative position of each. Snow is frequent at the former place, and often falls in considerable quantity; and from the frosts in spring, the peaches are sometimes greatly injured; it is even common for the cotton to be killed late in April.

Those unseasonable storms, that occur in every part of the United States, are frequent and destructive along the gulf of Mexico. At the town of Opelousas, which stands in 30° 32′ N. lat., 220 miles north-west of New Orleans, in the month January, 1807, a considerable quantity of snow fell, and remained on the ground upwards of a week. At the same place, in the month of Jan. 1812, snow fell pearly a foot deep; and in April, 1814, the young peaches,

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