The Lake Charles echo. [volume] (Lake Charles, Parish of Calcasieu, La.) 1876-1898, 1885-07-11

for navigation if it was too weak I
drink. Yet we succeeded in convinC
ing the Gallops, the Pattersons, th
Spenccrs, the Mobiles and others, tha
oranges were better than crab apples
that feed and fnel cost money, tina
summer costs less than winter, that
mild, even climate is healthier than
severe, changeable one.
Another objection made was th,
soil is poor. It's desert, they said
answered, grass grows well, and th'
soil growing grass will grow that whiel
will enrich ii, and yoa, also, for gras
is king, The value of products o
grass exceeds the value of any otheI
crop. And here let me say, land thai
is aIIuvial and has been pastured 15C
years cannot be poor; it may lack &
certain combination to produce al
crops. But we have sure remedies at
hand-close pastnring or COW peas,
the last Of which we do not sufficient,
ly value as yet. Every farmer should
get on his knees and kiss the COW pea.
In this we have the means of enrich
ing our lands to any desired extent,
without expense, (for the crop will
pay) and without loss of time, for we
can SOW peas on the grass before
breaking, turn them under and they
will make crop for food and for fer
tilizing by the time the land is rotted.
Your July and August breaking may
be set ont with sweet potato vines,
and you will get crop of sweet pota-
toes without cultivation, and increased
fertility foI your land. Red clover,
the great fertilizer of the North, re-
quiTes two years to make n stand sHfii-
eient to pillow under Cow peas make
better stand in three months.
Not long since | had dream, and
saw in vision the inside wall of an
immense building; the mantel and be-
low was black, and above was gray,
and written there in large letters,
''rhere is an old legend which says,
The dark soils shall rule until 1884,
after that the gray"
Stock and fruit are coming to the
front, and cereals must take back
seat in modern farming.
A word of caution here to new
comers. Memory is as treacherous as
hope; it clothes the past with glory
it paints babbling brooks and yerdant
meads in the old stump pasture and
makes an old tumble down cabin
very AIadiu's palace. We forget the
binding storms, the hurricanes, the
billiards, the long continued drizzIe
or the drouth; memory has CLOSED
them all and tho present hardship is too
often exaggerated, Forty years ago
in Boston Valley, Western New York,
every hill of c9S and potatoes was
fertilized, Migty po'or land sells at
New Jersey the a'ssessed -" HaIno of the
State is $s4 per Acre.
Land is wort h all i will pay 8 per
cent upon goVS .inent bonds, aver
age per cent. Land that pays a
rental Of 81 per acre is worth $40.
A garden or orchard would rent for
300 to 500 per acre, representing II
cash value of $1,000 to $4,000. Now
IN this country, where most fruit
.rees grow from cuttings, where an
orchard can be made and stocked at
Sl0 per acre, ana carried to bearing
1t $40 more, and fruits of greatest
yalue can be raised, why not make your
arm, by the acre, as valuable as your
ioor yard Z? The fruit yard sells the
:arm or makes it desirable to keep.
Fruit growers seldom fail, | may
'ay never fail, in fruit country.
That this is fruit country admits of
10 question. Peaches, figs, pears,
ounces, nectarines, apricots, olives
md pomegranates are sule, and with
he introduction of the ,Satsumee, a
lardy variety, this prairie can be
made a successful orange orchard,
But after ali, health of climate is
most essential to the prosperity of
ny country. You may change the
oil and society, improve stock, drain,
nild and cultivate, bat cannot change
he climate. We came here for stock
nd fruit, and the more we examine
hese questions the better we arc sat
sfied.
Ordinarily, permanent pasture is the
lost valuable land, ranking next to
God fruit land. Here we have the
azon carpet grass, which is fast
over the prairie. II roots
1 each joint until il covers the ground,
ben runs up tall for seed and hay. II !
very nutrilious grass, will stand
lose feeding, much water, indeed, il
rows under water during winter, and
Iands dronth equally well
Mf Rash claims to have pastured
eyea head of stock the year round ,
pom two acres Of gtzop. My pasture, !
/ ten acres, keeps ten head well, and i
improves all tile time in quality. 70 Z
e thoroughly convinced ~ and see !,
le hotel yard; look anywhere on the /
rairie where closely fed. And here lel .
le say, if opr prairie could be stocked /
itb fifty head, where ono is now, the Il
ii and grass would be the better i
u il. I
Among The tliumPhs of peace To-day, 3
the west and south of ~, D few 4
lies, We see men opening up the lar. /
est farm on eartht the Watkins pnf I
lase. To them The purchase Of 4
%. .0oo worth Of stock is the trade Of 3
day. Ton tleHsaud acres Of rice a 4
ere bagatellc. lp ply opinion, that
nd once reclaimed, the richest oA
lrih ,rin N cnl III h ennall fnrnar 4