The south-western. [volume] (Shreveport, La.) 1852-1870, 1856-12-31
Tur EARnY Cnops OF Lou1s1ANA.-More than

4 THE EARLY CRoPs OF Lou1sIANA.-More than
a hundred and thirty years ago the staple crops
of Louisiana and The settled portions of Missis-
sippi, in Natchez and its vicinity, were, singu-
lar as it may now appear, indigo, tobacco. wax
hops and saffron. Cotton was grown, but by nc
means, nor sugar either, as the principal staple
Du Pratt, the earliest historian ofthose times
declares that the high lands Of Louisiana pro-
duced a natural indigo, which lie thus describes
..One of these stalks was but ten or twelve
inches high, its wood at least three lines in dla
meter, and of AS fine a green as its leaf-it was
as tender as the rib of a cabbage leaf--when
| its head was blown little, the two other stalks
shot in a few days, the one seventeen and the
other nineteen inches high; the stem was six
lines thick below, and of very lively green and
still very tender, the lower part only began to
turn brown little; the tops of both were equally
i'll furnished with leaves and without branches;
which makes it to be presumed, that being SO
thriving and of SO fine growth, it would have
shot very high, and surpass in vigor or height
the cultivated indigo. The stalks of the indigo
cultivated by the French at the Natchez, turn
ed brown before it shot eleven or twelve inches;
when in seed it was five feet high and upwards,
and surpassed in vigor what was cultivated in
the lower Louisiana, that's, in the quarter about
New Orleans; but the natural, which | had an
opportunity of seeing young and tender, prom
Used to become much taller and stouter than
ours, and to yield MORE
Or THE ToBAcco.-Du Pratt says that this
plant was also natural to the region and had al
ways been raised by the Indians long before the
white race ever saw the vale of the Mississippi.
He gives the process of raising and curing it.
Or THE CorroN.--He says Of this plant and
of the difficulty, SO long before the cotton gin
was invented, Of clearing it from its seeds:
The cotton which is cultivated in Louisiana,
is of the species of the white Siam, although
not so SOFT nor so long as the siIk-cotton; it is
extremely white and very fine, and a very good
use may be made it. This cotton is produced
not from a tree, as in the East Indies, but from
Il plant and thrives much better in light than in
fat lands, such as those of the lower Louisiana,
where it is not SO fine on the high grounds.
When the sun has dried the cotton well, it is
gathered IN proper manner and conveyed in
to the conservatory, after which comes on the
greatest task, which is to separate it from the
grain or seed to which it closely adheres; and it
is to this part of the work which disgusts the in
habitants in the cultivation of it.
L own | have not seen the wax tree cultva-
ted IN Louisiana; people content themselves to
AXE the berries of sshis tree, without being at
pains to raise it..
Hops grow naturally in Louisiana, yet such
IS have desire to make use of them for them
selves, or sell them to brewers, cultivate this
oIant 1t is planted in alleys, distant asunder
TX feet, IN holes two feet and one foot deep, in
which the root is put. When shot a good deal,
pole of the size Of ones arm, and between
we've and fifteen feet long, is fixed in hole;
are is had to direct the shoots toward it, which
all not to run up the pole. When the flower
ripe and yeowish, the stem is cut quite close =
0 pick the flowers, which are saved
Ii we consider the climate of Louisiana, and s
he quality Of the high lands of that province,
re might easily produce saffron there. The :
ulture of this plant would be so much the more r
advantageous to the planters, as the neighbour $
God of Mexico would procure quick and use +
Al vent for it, 5