The Opelousas courier., 1884-05-17
what a Michigan Farmer
Thinks of This Country.

Thinks Of This Country.
--
Ihaye before me a copy of the "Mll-
ford, tMich1 Review of the 25th OF
March. 1t contains a letter written
by Samuel J.. Holly to Ed, E. An
drews, Esq, ofMilford, Mich, dated at
Rose Lawn Plantation, Bayou Chi
cot, St. Landry Parish, La, March
20, 1884" The following paragraphs,
copied from the letter will be read
with interest
"My only apology for not writing
you at IN early date has been contin-
ual pressing business getting ready
cropping some 160 acres of this planta-
ton, with three ploWs going and a
gang OF five to eight men cutting, pill
ing and burning brush and briars,
splitting rails and making fence, my
time has been wholly occupied. On
the 18th inst. it rained here very hard,
making land too wet to pillow, and 1t
has given me Il little comparative
leisure, and | embrace the opportu4
nifty to write this. Now the morning
is bright and rosy, and hooking birds
are making the woods jocund with
their song. The longer [ stay here
the better I like it, as it is certainly a
most beautiful section of the Great
Republic. Most men here work for a
living, and the quality of the living
depends wholly upon the amount of
labor performed and the direction Civ
en- to it. The same labor in the cul-
tivation OF the soil here and the same
care given to raising cattle, horses,
sheep and hogs lis is performed by the
farmers of Oakland county, is sure to
result in competence if not in wealth.
Good speaks to man here, us to the
fertility Of the soil, through the giant
oaks, the mammoth magnolias, the
arge beeches, the tall hiekories, the
big grape vines and the rank
growth of wild Vegetation. thus as
suring those who put their hands to
the piow that there is a good time
coming and at no very distant pc
Rod this will be q land flowing with
milk and honey, and teeming with corn
and wine. Nowhere ] have ever been
does Mother Earth reward labor bet
ter than in this parish, and the crops
produced as I advised you in u for
mer letter, are sugar, cane, cotton, rice
corn, peas, oats, potatoes and all gar
den vegetables.
blowing here is not as deep as in
Michigan, and the teams not as good
though with care in breeding as good
horses can be raised here as ut the
North. Oats are only produced limit
edly, and horses are fed mostly on
corn and fodder with plenty of good
p~asturage. Potatoes do well, both the
sweet potato and the Irish of the lat
ter, two crops can be produced in a
year. My potatoes, about II acres,
are we'll up and growing nicely.
Land isnow very cheap, aud as good
as any in Michigan a be boughtfor 80,
SIS, $40, SIS and $40 per acre, depend
ing upon the situation and improvement
Soil is mostly Il rich loan, varying in
thickness on asubsoil of clay. | have
been setting u some Spanish chest
nut and English walnut trees since |
last addressed you and next year | in
tend to have 5000 nut trees of various
kinds, growing. This country is the
home of the pecan, and | have about
95 trees, 40 of which are in bearing,
and have 1150 nuts which were put in
the ground last November and will be
up in April.
There have been hundreds of
head of cattle feeding in the switch
cane range of this plantation this
spring and the past winter that have
never been fed an ear of corn, and in
the fall will be fat on the natural pas
turage of the country about here.
Last summer the thermometer regis
tered at the hottest time 90 degrees
above in the shade, and this degree of
heat is often prevailing in the summer
at Milford. The summers here are
longer than there, with but very little
of what a Northern man would call
winter. The thermometer is now 2
o'clock P. NJ, 70 degrees above zero in
the shade hanging on my front stoop.
An industrious, determined young
farmer, who understands the cultiya-
ton of the soil, aud has the git up
and git in him to start with $1,000 to
: $500 can be worth more hal the
same kind of a man in Michigan worth
so, 900, starting there at the same
time, at the end of five years. Horace
Greely's advice was Go West, young
man, and get land If he were alive
to-day and acquainted with this parish
he would say Go to st. Landry par
ish, La, and get land
"Yours very truly
tGAM T HoJIy1