The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1878-06-05

Editors of Our Home Journal

class Of lands. | have long been i'm
pressed with their value and susceptible
ty Of reclamation. \ number OF wears
ago from the Pearl river marshes, on land
now owned by DIR. Copes, Of your city,
and Col Arich, Of Bossier parish, ! sent
specimens Of marsh soil to the Commits
sioner Of Agriculture, who submitted
them to Professor jackson, OF Boston
lie made minute ana exhaustive anal
ysis, which appeared 10 the ensuing re
port from the Agricultural Bureau.
obtained an anal ysis likewise from Prot.
Forshey and the late Prof. RiddelI, OF
the University Of Louisiana. These emf
nent authorities found IN the specimens
examined all the elements Of fertility
indeed every constituent Of production
was present, not only to make the marshes
a desirable soil for cultivation, but an
| admira bic fertilizer for other soils. 1t
consists Of black loan, often six feet
| deep, on which the natural grass and
reeds grow in great luXuriance from five
/ to eight feet high, from year to year. In
| places they are covered with wild pea
vine, wild potato vines, deWbeuy and
! black berry bushes, and countless variety
Of flowers Occasionally there are shrubs
/ and bushes, but 10 timber Most Of
/ these marshes are firm enough for pas,
/ turage, particularly for cattle and hogs.
/ The latter keep fat on the grass and other
roots and bulbs, and on the innumerable
| shell tish-crabs, tiddlers and muscles -
| found there Cattle find in the high old
grass a warm shelter from the winter
wind, and a green bite about every tus-
sock and the young grass, protected by
/ the old, springs up even during the win
ter. Hence marsh cattle and hogs are
always in good condition, and are in
marketable order when upland stock is
poor. About the first of March the old
/ grass Of the preceding year becomes dry
and hard and may be readily burned,
/ leaving on the surface deposit Of carbon
| and ashes. On this the young grass in a
| few days spring up, and these vast plains
| become one great emerald of verdure
and 50 continue until the ensuing win
ter Cattle become very fat, and the
| butter and cheese made from this pas
turage cannot be excelled.
| A coarse, rough hay is made from
marsh grass, which oxen will eat when
hungry. 1t is better adapted, however,
| for bedding for stock, in barn yards, hog
| pens and stables, and will greatly IN
/ crease and add to the value Of home
made manures. Repeated and constant
cuttings, however, greatly improve the
marsh grass, and in the course Of year
or two an excellent and succulent hay
can be obtained from it. In Demerara
and other places in that quarter, there
are lands precisely like our marshes, in
| cultivation, which under a system of
canaling, ditchng, flood gates and EN-
banking, produce extraordinary crops of
sugar, rice and tobacco This system of
culture involves no more expense than
the clearing a tract Of heavy timbered
land, and you avoid the expense OF fenc-
ing, because your canals and bitches con
stitute your fences. Tie dirt from the
ditch, banked along it, constitutes your
fence, and soon becomes solid and firm.
Excellent walls and even houses NAV be
constructed of the turf cut in oblono
squares, and very good fuel may be like
wise thus obtained. An ordinary hand
will ditch two rods a day, but an Irish
expert will accomplish much more In
three weeks after the tide and rain water
are drawn away, these marshes may be
plowed. Dtching and draining should
be commenced in the fall, so as to plant
cotton and rice by the first Of March.
Two crops of rice may be made and as
the marshes are all within the influence
of the sea, it is presumed that, unless
under very unusual temperature, cot
ton would continue to bloom and matuEe
a month later than on the uplands
The tide usually Gibbs or flows once in
twenty four hours, usually from one to
three feet, according to the direction and
volume Of the wind. The marsh lands.
in their natural state, are seldom over
flowed, except during gale or long pro
tracted blows.
Most of the marshes are intersected by
hayous or natural canals, that greatly
facilitate drainage and serve for water
fences. These abound in fish aud crabs
A plantation once made in the marsh
is made forever. The soil is inexhausti-
bic, being composed mostly of phos-
pilates,
Used as fertilizer on pine lands the
marsh mud has been thoroughly te, tie
on sea-isand cotton, Irish potatoes, cab
bage cauilifiower, onions, etc. For its
specific action on cotton | refer to Henry
ASauIlSA, oIst A-StI-y VI 1OhN ACt' I1ohlNf Nup
has tested it thoroughly. And for Its
adaptibihty for vegetables reference IS
made to Captain John j. Saucer, Wave
land, New Orleans and Mobile r. r.,
whose fine garden will speak for itself
This intelligent gentleman cultivates or
binary pine land, tertilized exclusively
with marsh mud,
In regard to health, people usually
associate malarial diseases with marshes
| leave the why and wherefore of this to
medical men, who are alone competent
to elucidate such phenomena. But hav-
ing lived on and adjacent to the marhes
of the Mississippi seaboard for many
years my experience is that there is no
healthier locality anywhere Malarial
fevers and chils and fever are not known.
Since the Bonnet Carrie crevasse, a flood
of Mississippi river water, passing into
lake Ponchartrain, and along our coast,
has brought some chill and fever Pre-
vious to this, | rarely ever saw case,
and never had one on either of my plan
tations, both of which are enveloped by
salt marsh. And in 25 years ] have not
had to call in a physician. Our upland
pine woods are very healthy. but not so
much so as the marshes.
Very truly yours,
J. F. H. CLAIBORNE,
Dunbarton Plantation, near Natchez.
May 9, 1878.
ole.