Sugar planter. [volume] (West Baton Rouge [i.e. Port Allen, West Baton Rouge Parish, La.]) 1856-1925, 1859-02-12

u In the Sunday Delta of the 9Th inst.
we find a report Of an address delivered before
the New Orleans Academyot Sciences, by
we extract the following information in re-
gard to ~levees:
NATURAL HtsroRY BROUGHT INTO THE FIELD
| TO Preserve THE LEvEEs.-Ihe caving of
! the banks of the river endangers the legee
only at certain points, while the whole of
the levee is always in danger, when the
river is high, from the burroWing of cfawt
| FISH. the Astacbus Dartonii. These are not
aquatic OF atuphibious animals, as has been
supposed. they cannot live but a short lime
under water They build their houses near
the base Ut the leyec, and next the river, Tor
the convenience OF catching fish. stirlmp>, &c.
When the water comes up against it, they
| burrow through the Ievee, and 90 on the
other side, to prevent being drowned. The
most %ettec!nal method o drive them away IS
| to throw on the base CT the leVce the crushed
stalks OF the sugar CANE, called bagasse Sosne
years ago | got Professor Riddell to assist me
to examine through his lannon's microscope,
the effects OF cane }ulce upon the lnttislora.
It killed them Observation-Disclosures and
more effectualiy than any substance III his
laDuIhLoi Abuii1 tttllcit> tti: 1 ipiESSOi ,
son. had been in the habit OF bringing tie in
fusiora to life, which had been killed by chic
reform. lie tried his hand upon those which
had been immersed but au instant in cane
Juice, bat cuuId not succeed III resiscitating
them. They We're seen to die under the
microscope the instant that the tan-luIce
came in contact with them. About the same
time | made a number Of experiments with
the sugar can t. and was forced TO the conclu-
sion that It was highly nutritious and whole
some to man and the higher animals, and rank
poison to the lower olders OF creation, such
as insects. worms, reptiles, and the artlculate,
including the crustacea, to which the craw-}
fish belong. The craWiish have done more
damage to. agriculture in Louisiana, by bur-
rowing through the Ievees and causlng them
to leak and break, than all other causes be-
sides. The planters now are beginning to
use the sugar cane against them, and have
driven them entirely away from many miles
of ~levee, by putting bagasss, or crushed sugar
cane on it's base, where the crawflsh bald
their houses. Experience proves that they
soon abandon their tenements. The entire
line of levee could be thus etfectualIy pro-
tected, aud would be if the influence of the
sugar cane upon these mlschlevous decapoda
was generally known.
MY eN pefIfIletts with tna sugar cane; and
various monographs on the subject, were pubs
lished several yea rs ago ifizthe Medical Jour
mails, where they sleep, and have not yet been
brought into the field Of practical utility, ex-
cep in a few limited instances, awaiting a
stronger hand than mine to bring them into
that field t.
The crawiish are the principal agents in
causing the Ievees to break. The breaking
of the l~evees, by causing bars below thu
break, tends to elevate the bed Of the river,
and to make agriculture less secure than I'll
there had been no levees at all. This ~eIeva-
ton Of the bed of the river causes it's waters
after passing the terminls OF the walls or lev
ees enclosing it, to rush over the uuIeveed
banks on the right and left, forming bars be-
low, on the same principle that bars are form
ed below a crevasse-thus artiicalIy erecting
a more serious impeachment to the commerce
Of the Mississippi valley than in former times
before the ]evee system went into operation.
The injury doue to commerce and agricul-
tule by the breaking OF the ~leVees, which
have been previously riddled by the burrow-
ing Of the crawhsh, although great, is small
in comparison to the injury done to health.