The Sun.
London, England, 1861-07-15 00:00:00

that the horses were ready and that I might have
a three hours' ride before breakfast. At Houmas
les i 02421 se suivent et se ressenablent, and an epitome
of the first will serve as a type for all, with the ex-
ception of such variations in the kitchen and cellar
produce as the ingenuity and exhaustless hospitality
of my host were never tired of framing.
If I regretted the absence of our English agricul-
turist when I beheld the 6,000 acres of cane and
1,600 of maize unfolded from the Belvedere the day
previous, I longed for his presence still more when
I saw those evidences of luxuriant fertility attained
without the aid of phosphates or guano. The rich
Mississippi bottoms need no manure, a rotation of
maize with cane affords them the necessary recu-
perative action. The cane of last year's plant
is left in stubble, and renews its growth this
spring under the title of retoons. When the
maize is in tassel, cow-peas are dropped between
the rows, and when the lordly stalk, of which I
measured many 12 and even 15 feet in height—
bearing three and sometimes four ears—is topped
to admit the ripening sun, tie pea vine twines
itself around the trunk, with a profusion of leaf
and tendril that supplies the planter with.the most
desirable fodder for his mules in " rolling time,"
which is their season of trial Besides this, the
corn blades are culled and cured. These are the best
meals of the Southern racehorse, and constitute
nutritious hay without dust. Tile cow-pea is said to
strengthen the system of the for the digestion
of a new crop of sugar-cane. A sufficient quantity
of the cane of last season is reserved from the milk
and laid in pits, where the ends of the stalks are
carefully closed with earth until spring. After the
ground has been ploughed into ridges these canes
are laid in the endless tumuli, and not long after
their interment a fresh sprout springs at each
joint of these intermediate flutes.

As we ride through the waggon roads, of kvhich
here are not less than 30 miles in this Confedera-

tion of four plantations, held together by the purse
and the life of our host, the unwavering exactitude
of the rows of cane, which rar, without deviation nt
right angles with the river down to the cane-brake,
two miles off, proves that the negro would be a for-
midable rival in a ploughing match. The cane has
been "laid by"—that is, it requires no more labour
—and will soon " lap," or close up, though the rows
are seven feet apart. It feathers like a palm top ;
a stalk which was cut measured six feet, although
from the ridges it was but waist high. On dissect-
ing it near the root we find five nascent joints not
a quarter of an inch apart. In a few weeks more
these will shoot up like a spyglass pulled out to its
focus.

Corn, chickens, and eggs are from time imme
morial the perquisities of the negro, who has the
monopoly of the two last-named articles in all well-
ordered Louisiana plantations. Indeed, the white
man cannot compete with them in raising poultry,
and our host was evidently delighted when one of
his negroes, who had brought a dozen Muscovy
ducks to the mansion, refused to sell them to him
except for cash. " But, Louis, won't you trust me ?
Am I not good for three dels, ?" " Good enough,
massa ; but dis nigger want de money to buy flour
and coffee for him young family. Folks at Donald-
sonville will trust massa—won't trust nigger."
The money was paid, and, as the negro left us, his
master observed, with a sly, humorous twinkle,
"That fellow sold 40 dole. worth of corn last year,
and all of them feed their chickens with my corn,
and sell their own."
There are three overseers at Houmas, one of whom
superintends the whole plantation, and likewise looks
alter another estate of 8,000 acres, some 12 miles
down the river,-which our host added to his posses-
sion two years since, at a cost of £150,000. In any
part of the world, and in any calling, Mr. S—
(I do not know if he would like to sec his name in
print) would be considered an able man. Mr. S.
attends to most of the practice requiring immediate
attention. We visited one of these hospitals, and
found half-a-dozen patients ill of fever, rheumatism,
and indigestion, and apparently well cared for by
a couple of stout nurses. The truckle bedsteads
were garnished with mosquito bars, and I was told
that the hospital is a favourite resort, which its in-
mates leave with reluctance. The pharmaceutical
department was largely supplied with a variety of
medicines, quinine and preparations of sulphites of
" Poor drugs," said Mr. S—, " are a poor

ron.

economy."

What is termed hacienda in Cuba, rancho in
Mexico, and " plantation " elsewhere, is styled
" habitation " by the Creoles of Louisiana, whose
ancestors began more than a century ago to reclaim
its jungles.
At last "venit summa dies et ineluctabile tempus."
I had seen as much as might be of the best phase of
the great institution—less than I could desire of a
most exemplary, kind-hearted, clear-headed, honest
'man. In the calm of a glorious summer evening,
arrayed in all the splendour of scenery that belongs
to dramas in Cloudland, where mountains of snow,
peopled by " gorgons and hydras and chimaeras
dire," riso from seas of fire that bear black barques
freighted with thunder before the breeze of battle,
we crossed the Father of Waters, waving an adieu
to the good friend who stood on the shore, and
turning ever back to the home we had left behind
us. It was dark when the boat reached Donaldson-
ville on the opposite "coast." I should not be
a Rouge,
sur-
prised to hear that the founder of this remarkable
transferrede
city, which once contained the archives of the State
now
economywas
a Nn otrht
oh
planßri-
ton.
of the place not unfavourable to that view, but the
motives which induced the Donaldson to found his
T hro
i s a simplicityto
Baton
Rome on the west of Bayon La Fourche from Mis-
issippi must be a secret to all time. Much must the
worthy Scot have been perplexed by his neighbours,
a long-reaching colony of Spanish Creoles, who toil
not and spin nothing but fishing-nets, and who live
better than Solomon, and are probably as well
dressed, minus the barbaric pearl and gold of the
Hebrew potentate. Take the odd little, retiring,
modest houses which grow in the hollows of Scar-
borough, add to them the least imposing mansions
in the natural town of Folkestone, cast them broad-
sown over the surface of the Essex marshes, plant a
few trees in front of them,then open a few " Cafe
billards" of the camp sort along the main street,
and you have done a very good Donaldsonville. A
policeman welcomes us on landing and does the
honours of the market, which has a beggarly ac-
count of empty benches, a Texan bull done into beef
and a coffee-shop. The policeman is a tall, lean,
west country man ; his story is simple, and he
has it to tell. He was one of Dan Rice's com-
pany—a travelling Astley. He came to Donaldson-
ville, saw, and was conquerel by one of the Spanish
beauties, married her, became tavern keeper,
failed, learned French, and vas now constable of the
parish. There was, however, a weight on his
mind. He had studied the matter profoundly, but
he was not near the bottom, How did the friends,
relatives, and tribe of his w.fe live ? No one could
say. They reared chickens, and they caught fish ;
when there was a pressure on the planters, they
turned out to work for 6s. 6d. a-day, but those
were rare occasions. The policeman had become
quite gray with excogitating the matter, and he
had " nary notion of how they did it." Donaldson-
ville has done one fine thing. It has furnished two
companies of soldiers—all Irishmen—to the wars,
and a third is in the course of formation. Not
much hedging, ditching, or hard work these times
for Paady The blacksmith, a huge tower of
muscle, claims exemption on the ground that " the
divil a bit of him comes from Oireland ; he nivir
hird av it, barrin' from the buks he rid," and is
doing his best to remain behind, but popular
opinion is against him. As the steamer would not
be up till towards dawn, or later, it was a relief to
saunter through Donaldsonville to see society,
which consisted of several gentlemen and various
Jews playing games unknown to Hoyle, in oaken
bar rooms flanked by billiard tables. My good