The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1871-05-25
PLOUGHING BY STEAM.
HORACE GREELEY LEARNS :
THING OR TWO IN LOUISIANA.


HORACE GREELEY LEARNS 4
THING OR Two IN LOUISIANA.
What he Saw of the Practical Opera
tion of the Steam Plough na u Sugar
Plantatfon-An Energetic Planter
The Force required 10 run the Ploughs
-cultivating the Cane by Steam-Nr.
Greeley.s Conclusions.
Mr.. Greeley writes to the New York Tribune.
from New Orleans, under date OF May nth:
On cur way down through Mississippi, we
made the acquaintance OF MIR. 81. p. Lawrence,
lifelong and successful sugar planter. VINO,
on learning my anxiety to witness ploughing
BY steam, mot for show, but as business In
yited rs 10 visit the plantation OF his brother,
where that style Of breaking up the earth Is in
fashion. Accordingly. a tug-boat was charter
ed, and some forty or my gentlemea devoted
yesterday to sugar planting by steam.
Magnolia plantation lies some fifty miles
below this city, with front of two miles on
the west bank OF The river, with the Gulf o.
Mexico but five miles distant on either hand.
Most of the ten-mile strip which here consti-
tutes the county Qate parish) OF Plaquemine
is reedy marsh, the haunt OF alligators, mas
outoesSGc., which tempest in the Gulf may
submerse at any time; but fine forest Of live
oak on the rear of This plantation indicates
that the surface, usually dry, is wider at this
point than the average. The famous leVees
are slight affairs so near the Gulf, where the
rise and fall OF the mighty stream there a
mile and half wide) rarely exceeds three
teet, and at the utmost is seven. The river
surface is now but Two 10 three feet below
that of the levees, and has recently been
the levee is caught in the substantial
dilehes that everywhere traverse the, plan
tations. and runs swiftly away till lost
under the rank vegetation OF the
swamps or absorbed oy some bayou OF the
adjacent gulf This whole region has Of course
by the Father of Waters wherever the swift
ness Of its current is arrested. Thus by ten
thousand annual overflows, mainly IN Aprll OF
May. Louisiana has been> projected far into
the Gulf; and the process Of making new lanu
at the expense of salt water is still in progress.
Though the tide rises ls inches at New Or
leans, and Is felt at Donaldsonville, 20. miles
further up, the force Of the current keeps the
river here wholly fresh at this season, though
it is somewhat brackish at times when
less wafer is passing, out. That the sell is
rich. black and of unfathomable depth need
not be added. Ditching or deep ploughng is
constantly unearthing immense Expresses
which have been imbedded here for thousands
of years-some OF them still sound and ser
viceable.
Mr.. Efdngham Lawrence, the owner Of Mag
nolia plantation, is scion o. Well,knoWn
Long Island family, the son OF good farmer,
and himself invented plough when but ten
years old Cultivation is not only his pursuit
but his passion. He came hither while still
young. and has planted since his minority.
The machinery in his sugar-house. where he
refnss more sugar than he makes, has cost
$500, 900, and little of it has been superseded
by later and more perfect devices. OF his 5000,
he cultivates 100 acres, which Is nearly all
that stands well out OF water. Some OF the
most efficient OF his former slaves nave ie1t
him to plant rice on small places below him,
where they make $1,000 to $1,000 each per an.
mum, being superior workers. Most of his ex-
slaves chose to remain with him, and some Of
them are here earning $40 per month. His
arabic acres are divided into tracts or fields OF
five to ten acres each by deep ditches on the
north and south, crossed by firm high roads on
the east and west These acres have been six
ty or seventy wears cultivated, mainly in cane,
and have received little or no fertilization, IN
less an annual burning OF the waste stalks or
"Lrash" OF the cane to get rid Of 1t may be call.
ed such. Negroes and mules have, till recent
", furnished all but the brain power en-
ployed.
Mr.. Lawrence was accustomed to use teams
of eight mules to each plough, and was then
able to pulverize but eight to ten inches IN
depth. Had he not been an experienced and
capable ploughmau, constantlyin the held and
often between the plough handles, he could
not have got below six inches, even by the AID
of all the persuasives Known to plantation
management. OF course his soil, annually
drawn upon by such eXhausting crops as cane
and corn grew gradually less produc i've; and
he was among the earliest TO realize the neces-
sity of bringing steam to the aid OF agricul-
ture. He had means and credit; he thorough
II understood his business and Its needs; ne
visited Europe, and scrntlnized tne WORKINGS
80 orr Nil OIL
that Fowler's machinery, whereof two powerful
engines stand at each side Of the field and
draw The ploughs back and forth by winding
up and unwindiDg wire ropes around tnelr
respective drums, was the only device ADAPT
ed to this soft heavy, easily compacteo soil
He boAght successfully two sets OF these ma
chimes, the second much heavier and more
powerful than the first: and he Is now using
thirty-horse engines. supplied on his resolute
demand, though none so powerful had ever
been CONSTRUCTED. for ploughiDg ILL ne ordered
them. When the Fowlers have done their
best for him, he takes the machines into his
own shops and directs such modlHcatlons as
his own experience has suggested. He is con-
fident that we shall sooa require siXty-horse
engines. and by their aid dry prairie may be
ploughed Two feet deep at the rate OF a. least
fifty acres per day.
cool and rainy. SO chat everything is back |
ward, and The soil waa too wet to be ploughed |
to advantage, yet we found, on our unan-
nounced arrival, beth sets OF ploughlng ma
chinery in iull operation, with none but negro |
tleld-hands near them. though an overseer |
rode from field 10 field supervising their ef- |
forts. Boys of twelve to fourteen years, VINO |
could not hold breaking-up mule plough |
were running engines as learners, at wages OF
seventy-iye cents each per day. The ground |
was cane stubble, heavily ridged or l,illed to
counteract excess OF moisture. win the
"trash" OF last years crop lying between the
rows and constantly cloggng and choking the |
ploughs, often requiring the machinery 10 be |
stopped in order to clear them. The suoSon-
never disturbed till now-was giutindus clay |
loam, compacted by sixty. years treading Of
heavy mule teams; so wet that 1t came up un- |
broken, as If it were glue, and about az easy |
to pulverize as so much sole-leather. So OBJ |
stiuate is it that Mr.. Lawrence had reduced each
gang of ploughs to two, lest his engines should
be Stalled or his wire ropes broken. these
two each cut furrow sixteen inches wide and
fully Two feet in average depth; had the sur,
face been level. they would have averaged
tWenty.six inches. They were drawn across
the feA (576 feet) faster than most men would
like to walk. Three men We're required 10 |
keep them In place, and Gear them OF the
choking "trash,'' which would have burned |
out of their way, though /, had been plan
ter, would have preferred 10 have it buried as
oil inn