St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1884-09-13
ST. LANDRY PARISH, La.
Home and Farm.

This is q high, dry prairie country !;
land, black sandy. This prairie is 1876
miles long by forty in width, and for
farming or stock raising it can not be
surpassed, if equaled, in the world. AS
for the former, you can raise nearly
everything here that grows. Corn
makes from thirty to sixty bushels per
acre cotton, two thirds to one and one
half bales per acre; rice, fifteen to
kwenty-fve barrels; Irish potatoes,
twenty to thirty barrels, and two crops
in one year; sweet potatoes in album
dance; set out slips from April to Au-
gust; sugar cane, two crops in one sea-
son fruit of all kinds, oranges,
peaches, plums, figs, apricots, grapes,
etc, abound.
as for the latter, in the first place,
tEteie is not one acre out of every 100
acres of this prairie under fence or in
cultivation, nor is there any stock law
here. In the second PLACE, there are
hundreds of head of cattle and ponies
now on the range, that never saw any
corn or hay, nor salt. They are never
Slaltered but once year; their owners
pen and brand them in June, then they
are turned out until the next year
Ponies can be bought here from $40 to
S25 per head cows, from $12 to $25
There is still room for thousands of
head Of stock, and farmers can home
ssead 16O acres, then he can take timber
.suiture on 100 more, making 800 acres ae
d cost OF about $50.
Y understand that there are 300 fami-
lies coming here from Iowa this winter.
Louisiana has hearty welcome for
&Rqnsst, honorable men, let them come
from any State in the Union.
We hare delightful winters, and in
summer there is always q good breeze
blowing off of the Gulf of Mexico, which
IS only eighty. miles south of here. am
living 1876 miles from New Orleans, by
.seaiI. 0peloasas IL the parish seat sit
I mated on the Alexandria branch OF Nor
,ga4i1s tLouisiana aud Texas railroad !;
skgle Little Rock also runs through the
southern part OF tho parish. live four
saan miles from one, and twelve miles
from the other, though there has been 2
road surveyed passing within two mileS
.eOf Eae.
Well, haze been reading the letters
in every number OF Home and Farm
with interest, but when came to y. G..
IL" Of Arkansas, in the number OF July
a, I had to read it over, scratch my head
aud read again. He says it is nothing
alore nor less than downright Iazlness /;
he says there is not man who plants
1ss0tton in the South, but what can raise
all his family eats, and then all tue cot
son he and his family can gather. So
prolific is the land OF the South that five
acres planted in food crops viii feed =
Ganaily of six to eight, He spoke of our
geektessness, and Of the little work done
~ US. only six months in the year. Al
80 trying to hire at 81 per day, but could
ret only one hand at that.
dn the first place, there is not as hard
and constant working act of men any
where, rs the white farmers of the
South. know whereof speak, for
SpsTe lived in Tennessee, Missis-
aIDpi, Louisiana and Texas, and
have traveled through Alabama and
Arkansas.
In the second place, it has been de-
6alanstrated by the writer's in Home and
Farm that it is impossible for the aver
age hill farmer of any State to raise all
needed by himself and stock, and then
raise tile amount Of cotton he spoke Of,
.aad il he tries it his cotton, or food crop
-que, will suffer. And right here We
ssake the mistake by letting what little
fsod crop we plant suffer to work out
eur cotton.
Third, the amount of labor perform
lad: have got one hand besides myself
commenced breaking land the last OF
January; put in twenty acres OF cot
sfoc, ten in corn, one in Irisll potatoes
and a sweet potato patch. | finished
laying-by the last of July; then COM
.aaeaced picking cotton in August. Ii
ssaothing happens to my crops, | will
make fifteen or eighteen bales OF cotton
ARd 300 bushels OF corn, but it will take
ssae until December to gather it, which
lie at least ten months. work at the
carpenters trade, at $1.25 to $3.50 pei
day, but am not in hill country. ~
s. H." says he tried to hire at 81 PEI
4, lnnl Ia a ar