Baton Rouge tri-weekly gazette & comet. [volume] (Baton Rouge, La.) 1865-18??, 1865-08-19
susceptibility of Our Soil for Diver
siiied Culture

moral and physical relations o
man. Manners, customs, conven
tional usages-all serve to wed III
almost indissolubly to principles
and systems, which however enron
eous they may appear, when ana
LIKED, become to us o second nature
from familiarity. Children, taught
by precept and example gradually
acquire the characteristics Of theil
preceptors and exemplars and Learn
| to walk in the beaten track Of anti
quated and exploded notions, un.
less their minds are early imbued
with ideas of progress, in order to
enable them to overcome prsjudices
and make room for the introduction
of liberal and expansive views.
An apt illustration of the stand
still policy to which we have adj
vented, is to be seen in the manner
and style of cultiyating the soil, to
which some people so tenaciously
cling from generation to generation
Talk to them of the great impor.
lance of diversifying crops, or of
entering more largely into the cul-
ture Of the garden, the orchard, the
potato patch, or the vine, and ire
sistibly the impulses of chronic
prejudice or distorted vision Of the
profit and loss features of the pro-
position, prompt them to decry il as
either impracticable or unprofit-
able.
Here, in the parish of East Baton
Rouge, with a soil peculiarly adap-
ted to variegated culture, with a
salubrious climate and admirable
facilities for water transportation
to New Orleans, by means Of the
Mississippi on the one side and the
Amite river on the other, we have
been surprised at the want of atten-
tion so long manifested in relation
to this subject.
Fruit, such as peaches, pears,
melons, etc, which can be pro-
duced in great perfection and abun-
dance in this parish receives com
paratively little attention. Scien-
tific horticulture, such as we find 50
successfully practiced in other por-
tons Of the country, and yielding
such immense profits, has never,
excepting in few rare instances,
been introduced here. There can
be no doubt, that with the national
advantages at hand, fruit crops can
be made do pay quite as well in
this latitude, as any other species Of
crops. They meet with ready sale
and at handsome, not to say exor.
bitant prices, at our very doors
The same remark may be applied
to the products of the garden, which
are always in demand, as among
the necessaries of life, and net to
the producer and vender large gains
in proportion to the small amount
Of labor and capital required to be
invested. We have here a home
market for the sale of every article
Of consumption which can be pro-
duced in the orchard or garden, and
in case Of q surplus, there are ready
means Of conveyance to New Or.
leans, by which that surplus could
easily be shipped to another mar
ket, and command quick sales and
remunerative prices. Arrangements
could be made to forward to New
Orleans daily by the numerous
steamers touching at our landing,
all such products, and the stewards
of these boats themselves, would be
likely to purchase large quantities
of them for the use Of the boats and
for speculation abroad. Nearer the
eastern limits Of the parish, those
articles could be forwarded down
the Amite as far as New Orleans
starting, say from the brickyard at