New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1873-09-22
SOUTHERN AGRICULTURE.
IT'S CONDITION IN LOUISIANA.

IT'S CONDITION IN LOUISIANA
COTTON AND SUGAR STILL THE GREAT sTApLEs-HAY
NEGLECTED CROP - INCREASING USE
IMPROVED AGRICULTURAL APPLIANCES THE
AREA OF CULTIVATION DIMINISHED FROM SIX
MILLION TO TWO MILLION ACREs-sUCCEssFUL
WINE MAKING.
tFRoM AN OCCASIONAL CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRTBUNEJ
NEw-0RLEANs, Aug. 8O-COttOn and Sugar
sn king and queen in Louisiana. Her planters In
defiance OF all the lessons they should have learned from
experience, still persist In devotng all their enofts 10
the almost exclusive culture OF these two staples neg
lecting smaller but equally necessary ones mus tne
remarkable fact that not single bale OF southern nay IL
offered in this market ia State where grass springs up
spontaneously-both the Bermuda ana the orap grass
and the cowpea vine make the most nutritious OF nay
strikes the stranger with surprise While the west
makes the production OF hay pay handsomely though
labor higher there and the product has to be shipped
lOOo miles At high rates with heavy charges Of drayage
&c, we'll the incidental expenses OF removal
the South does not raise it, but buys II IN very large
quantities from her enerprisng Western brethren
The horses mules and Of the Southern planter In
stead of3elpng TO earn their own living in furnishing
their own food are thus fed by the Western and North
ern farmer-a heavy tax on Southern profits. Some
few OF the Southern coassde planters gather the Ber
muda grass from the rOadsdes and the levee, which
grows there spontaneously, but their example is not
generally followed, and 10 the best OF my Information
raising hay either for market for cattle the
plantations is unusual If not exceptional Yet the Ber-
muda grass needs little Abundant crops of hay
might be produced by 1t by simply keeping down the
weeds and allowing 1t to grow up unchoked. Crab
grass also springs up after the corn crops are laid by
May June and is cut the beginning of October Yet
from these volunteer sources when utilized, the
Louisiana planter does not get than half OF quarter
the quantity feed his cattle but must buy
the rest The yield OF hay thus gathered is in the corn
about half per acre, but three or four times
the quantity might be made by little preparation OF
the land for it and little trouble with it,
HAY A NEGLECTED CROP.
Another KIND OF hay is the cOw-pea vne This is
planted chiefly as a fertilizer, being in fact most
admirable one, and many planters assert, superior
10 the artificial ones, which cost much money. The
vine can be converted into hay without detment to the
terzng properties OF the residue and some OF 1t 80
used by sagacious and thrifty planters This hay is said
to combine the good qualities OF both and fodder,
and It is claimed that cattle will keep fat that diet
alone and that they prefer TO all other food when the
choice given them Yet Of this valuable forage
sver finds its way to market its proceeds into the
pockets Of the planter Most Of IL is left to rot in the
Fields where grew. planter writing this subject
says "a four prODged horse rake will rake up twenty
TO thirty tons day at expense of is cents ton The
curing and baing would be rIng cost and the fer
ity left in the soil would far more than exceed in value
the cost OF seed and expenses up to its sale in the mar
ket at price equal if above that of Northern OF
Western hay" Yet fully of all this the planter
persists in ignoring it, and pOds on in the worn-out
Did paths pursued by his progenitors, who had no
such spur Of necessity as he has 10 make them
thrifty or mindful of small savings.
The fact, however, that Of the far-sghted
and sagacious planters calling public attention to
these matters through the press and that its conductors
taking the theme and urging the absolute neces-
Of adopting such suggestions, proves that better
day beginning dawn for Southern agriculture The
OF fertilizers and Of improved labor-savng agricul
mo- bpanr EnrVO "a far s
resources of the planter will permit The old must give
way 70 the In this matter OF agriculture well
in many Others throughout the Southern country-slow
adopt notions put them into practice
In the face Of facts such have presented they
long persist in paying tribute for product they
produce better and cheaper themselves and continue TO
buy where they ought sell in large quantities better
article than that sold them cite this as but
Of many instances prove how entirely the produc
ton Of the great staples seems to have absorbed the
mind and the abors Of the planter to the exclusion OF
smaller but equally important cultures. Many OF the
Red River planters for example, get their and hay
from New Orleans at enormous rates and compelled
70 haul them by mule teams from the landing twenty
miles rough roads. Many OF the sugar planters
make only enough hay TO them through the grind
ing The cotton planters said to do little If
any better.
THE AREA OF CULTIVATION DIMINISHED Two-THIRDs
The area Of cultivation Louisiana, small it
originally proportion to its cuvabe area, under the
blghtDg effect OF the and repeated recOnsructions
or rather distinctions of the State Government carpet
bag robbery and consequent impoverishment of the
planters fallen off twothirds, according to the tabu
lar statements recently made after careful personal OBJ
servation by Daniel bennett. State Agent Of the Louis
lana immigration and Homestead Company. He says
has 90 OF tlaDle SOIL Of which,
at this time, less than 100000 under cultivation.
Before the about 6OOOOOO entirely partially
cleared and cultivated. As most startling example the
Ease OF the agent the Citizens Bank Of NewOrleans
Is cited which tells its own story. THIS agent owns
afy-one plantations only six cultivated at ALL and
Of these occupied only in patches by sQuaters
At nominal But this Is extreme case and an
exceptional The valuation of the plantations tells
the sad story. In 1861 the valuation was put at
k2s4OOOOOO In 1870 1t had fallen to s6sOOOOOO 1t would
be impossible to fix accurate figure now, owing 70 the
present unsaabeness Of such properties.
bennett goes to show that while the negro pop
ulatiOn chiefly in the cities has increased by immigra
ton louisiana 134S7 the returns in lS6o
not twothirds as much food has been produced
that time. This proves the newcomers to have been
drOnes where they have not proved locuss The stats
tics show the consumption of whisky to have been
InOusly increased by these non-producers, whose evil
example has become contagious, for common consent
has that the Southern male and female, has be
come tho whisky drinker the continent out
stripping Indian in this respect and rapidly dmn
ishing numbers through the agency of this potent
poison In Louisiana this is patent, especially in the
towns and cities. On the plantations, although drink
ing much freely than ofd he does not to
such excess although there his both OF tobacco
aud whisky is inordnate.
NEGRO LABOR UNSTEADY.
One great drawback to farming is the untrustworthi-
the labor The negro Will desert the field,
the campmeeng once so dear to him. for days OF
idenes election time at the call OF his friends
rho bav