New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1864-02-19
A Visit 10 Old Description Of
the Country snd ats 0ccuPants-The
CuItivasiea and Production Of Sugar
The PIaarasigps Worried By Govern
meut.

ment.
From Oar Special Correspondent
NEw.OmEAHs Feb. TO- 1864.
In the absence of important military move
ments 70 chrcncle may not be uanteresting TO yoar
readers loaYe this beautiful ety in the hands Of
the General commanding and bofoya politicians, who
s,rainns every 20 restore the State to the
Union and journey with sycr the old plantations.
along the ic OF the New Orleans and Opolousas Rail
road and d0wnby the banks d,.he Bayous La Fouche,
Black and Penchan.
These plantations your resders probably know in
the old French Parishes Of jefferson. St Charles, La
Fourche and Terrebonne and many Of them have been
under cultivation for more than hundred years. On
these old estates baronial IN extent with mansions
prircoy in size and adornmens and far surpassnS any
to be found in the yaleysof Virginia or on the sea
Language spoken; you stiIl see tho dark eye of tho
Gallo race and not unrequently different az the pro
duets Of the respective sole may be- the same kind Of
agricultural implements which HAYES long been used
IL Lower Canada.
| New.England and the new manufacturing towns Of
tie West have not yet scattered their infinite variety OF
farming utensils In these broad sayannahs of louisiana
nd yet the steamengBe ia here almost every plant
| alton. But am anticipating.
Leaving New Orleans on morning as bright and
day in Midsummer at the North We took ferry
at the foot Of Canal street and In few moments were
In Algiers the opposite side Of the river the starting
point OF the and Opelousas Railroad. This
road Is completed to Opeousas, but the National
forces not having entire possession OF H. the trains run
only to Franklin at present the point OF our most al
The road Is but link in the grand chain which win
ultimately thread its way through this State and Texas
and open up OF the finest land to the soldier the
migrant, and the Northern farmers, seeking more
genial cline than the bleak praires Of Illinois where
a. read whole families have been frozen by the Sc
verify OF the Winter.
The stock Of the road Is mainly held by planters
whose touch 1t either side and, although no
dividends have been declared, IL considered valuable
| and when held BY loyal men, difficult to purchase.
Before the war. the local trade very heavy-im-
quantities VI sugar. molasses and cotton being
trans ported over 1t TO the great market in woresns
Even Row the track. the depot buildings. the water
tanks. and the machine shops, indicate former thrift
and prosperity. Although tho road IL one VI the
many rnited States Military Railroads" the cars both
freight and passenger frstclass and infinitely
! superior 20 those the military roads In Virginia
ANY time within the past two years IL has been about
sad Alexandria Railroad in Virginia as far as Cupsp
sss on . messed s.s .
ably and securely a. you can through the heart CT the
State ol New York.
Comfortably seated In the cars found more than
on.-haf the passengers. male and female jsbbering
French and not few Of the soldiers and officers who
have been here since the occupation of the city BY
Gen. Butler engaged In conversation
officers Of course with the fair Creoes they
fortunate be seated beside. All the passengers
seemed TO be upon The best terms with each other and
whether IN broken English or broken French endeav
ored 10 manifest good VIII desire 10 DO ConciiaOry,
and to avoid tie irritating questions VI the and tho
policy Of the Administrator
but leaving the young officers and soldiers chatting
and eating oranges with the coque,sh creoies let US
look out upon the patatioas We are swiftly gliding by
For the first twenty miles tho rad runs IN sight and
but Few miles back from the Mississippi and passes
directly through some magnificent saggr pantatoDs-
magnificent before tho war. but in many instances
tcnantess fenceiess and desoate The Mansions sur
rounded with orange groves and with superb shade |
trees Of the live OAK and the cypress. still tneBe
and the long rows OF negro dwellings, far superior
10 the hut and cabins 81 Virginia South Carouns
With their whitewashed sides stil giisten IN the sin
ane looking not unlike neal little village
Western prairie. clustered around the Court House
square. Indeed. all u these plantations ar,'e
meru,A that you wlrl by them the cara il is di
lage You would ut the North. But tho proud occu
pants of these pIncoly estates are gone. Whit they
fook like you pass by them in thc they rapidly
New Iagand farmers are making them New England
villages. The schoolhorse and the church for the rst
time since hese bayouS were diked and these del
tas recisuc from the Father vi Waters aud tie Gnlf
arc becoming permanent institutions. In u few years
where you bu platform along file Of tho road
for the accommodation VI the hogshcads of sugar ard
the bales Oi cottoithe crop OF tie planter through
whose lsie the road rms villages will rise as nu,r
aud thriving ~ along tho great Central Road OF
Illinois.
Indeed, when this wsr IL closed and these great
plqnlalons divided up aid sold the soldiers t5e
sailors aud the German emigrants who will flock t.
thee southern States Illinois, great "a che 49, and
destined 10 be much greater. must look out for her
lauIels Louisiana could and should have been the
weahiest state IN the Union, and VIXEN Northern ia
du nv and enterprise have drained all these swaps
and diked all these bayous State Ia tie Union can u
surpass her 10 the fertility OF her soil in the heathu
ness q her climate. Io
si.sippi aud eide pass immense cypress swamps IL
with tIeo rising TO the ght Of 100 feet without limb
aud then only putting forth something that slightly
senbles branch, for 30 covered is IL with Spanish .
moss and elcss and eaaess that II might be called
almost anything else. D.
ON the tight hand side Of the road and TO the nortt
In HAY f,1th do
richer SOIL with mansions modern in their style "
architecture. and with sugar houses covered with slate
instead Of tile. IL
from the swamps and although the most he althf
localities in the world Of much more fertile
than those nearer the Mississippi and which have been
nndcr guilty alton for more than century. A hogshead
Of sugar OF LOO pounds is considered an average crop
and not unfequenty ten hogsheads have been raised
per the acre. One barrel and half Of m0lasses TO al
ossead OF sugar mus, also DC placed to the credit Of
could not be purchased for one hundred dollars per acre
md with negroes at thousand dollars per Head and r
rsctsd at an expense Of from forty to one hundred X
thousand dollars IN but ordinary seasons yielded very IN
handsome prohts. 80 M
God clothing and wages concerned. Tie interest "
m L former value cannot be taken into account But pr
dollars per month for frsclsss hands u amount pc
rs much hc former interest and the cost OF
sugar unier the systeia will be quite as w
treat as under the old II they perform only the same
mount Of labor. BIT in South Carolina It has been
ound by actual experience that the negro when well
ed. clothed and promptly paid. will perform one third
more labor than unter tho system Of Slavery BY Civ
nc him. too. gns.er variety Of food you give him II,
meihpg beside hog and homisy TO perform what SCI
you'd be called good days work at the North til,
et me railroad At small station called FseeviIle on
s .sV Of srs. pans.tion Win h,so Mexican ponies