The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1880-09-18
Town Of Donaldsonville.
Southern Louisiana Progress.
Ouachita Telegraph.


The planters Of Southern Louisiana,
If we are to judge from the local pa
pers, are advancing rapidly on the
road Of progressive farming, aud in
the development Of their immense
natural resources. Such items as the
following, gathered il y single week,
make interesting reading aud cheer
the hearts Of every lover Of this great
~ outraged State.
We copy as follows from the st.
Mary Revie,U:
We saw q pea vine hay cutter at Cen
treville, last week, which will do the
work, by two mules and one hand, Of
eighteen ordinary hoe hands, among the
pea vines. VIM. H. Cook, ST., is the in
'ventor. This is a most important instru-
ment to orr planters, who grow hundreds
of acres Of pea vines. 1t is drawn by two
mules over the pea vine ridge cutting
them through, and by q V-shaped shear
parts them and throws them down into
the water furrow. Two heavy rollers
come behind and crush them fiat. The
pillow hands have then, no trouble, no
:fonling, but to turn the burrows on the
wines.
This would seem to he very valu-
able invention, suited to any kind Of
lands. The machine noticed below
by the Donaldsonville CHIEF appears
to be Of no less value, particularly il
xlluvial lands, aud the two seem to be
adapted to each other, the cutter fol.
lowing and preceding the ditcher:
George BOote, the interchangeable over
seer Of the Home plantation, says that
ho Of f1,.,
tditching machine, has recently been SO
improved that with but little further
alteration it promises to be Of double
service. This Fall, shovels and shears
will be added to it, and the land intended
for blowing will be turned in in one-third
of the time required by the old style Of
four and six-horse plows. After this
work is through, the shovels will lie re-
moved and buckets attached, when it
will be put to ditchiny until required
again for blowing. Such a machine is of
yalne to a planter. "Get away with all
your patent trash," are the words Of
George.
We fnd in the Point Conpee Ban
per the suhjoined mention of IL new
industry i'll that parish, which is no
less than the gathering, cleaning and
shipping Of gray moss, something 80
abundant in this State as to foster by
its very abundance the belief that it
is worthless as an article Of commerce
aud not worth the gathering, though
toms may be gathered in one working
day III any of our swamps:
Tho moss trade of New Texas Landing
is growing to be immense. We were
much interested with the machine moss
picker which Mr.. Oubre has attached to
his cotton gin. The black moss, as it
comes from the heap, is thrown into the
feeder and goes through the machine,
coming ont perfectly free from sticks and
dust, without the breaking of single
strand. The loss in weight is not very
great, and the moss, after going through
this "picker," is pressed and 6aled and
shipped to St. Louis, where it sells for 6
OF 81 cents. A general introduction of
these machine pickers will do much to-
ward building up the South, as moss,
which is 4 natural product of our climate.
would then become one Of our staple pro-
ducts. We understand that the Messrs.
Phillips, at Lakeland. with their clarac-
teristic enterprise, have put up one of
the machines. Mr.. Oubre's charges for
picking and pressing moss are I cent per
pound, which is moderate enough.