The Meridional. (Abbeville, La.) 1856-1906, 1888-09-29
Abberille Meridioual.
New Discoveries of Louisiana

New Discoveries of Louisiana.
The heart of The Item warns
towards the man who understands
and appreciates the natural advan-
rtages of Louisiana and is able to
put his experience in fitting lam
guage. The State has been settled by
Christian people for one hundred
and fifty years. Its coil, climate,
waterways and products have been
taken out Of the catalogue Of the
unknown for more than a century.
Seed time and harvest, winter and
summer do not fail; it rains on
the Just and the unjust. Man and
the animals bring forth after their
respective kinds, and the fertile
lands reward the husbandman's
ekiIl in almost every known thing
that is necessary, useful or con.
venient to human existence.
comfort and happiness. As all
these things occur in other
countries, it will be perceived that
our dear old State is in no way
phenomenal, but only natural and
proper.
When. therefore, a tyro at de-
scription becomes cast by fate "tc
write up the resources of the State"
and garnishes q minimum Of facts
with a maximum Of wonderment,
he creates the impression in the
minds of strangers that he is strug.
Cling with an abnormal and ex.
ceptional condition. The effect is
more apt to be injurious than bene-
fcial. If a country editor employs
exclamation points to p%unctuste his
discovery tina. a farmer has raised
a good crop Of anything, strangers
will say, lis it so unusual, then?
Are the soil and climate of such a
~precarious nature that 1T becomes q
matter OF public interest and moment
to note enthusiastically the --ap-
,pearance Of every variety Of product
that comes to perfection?" The item
would reply, no, it is not at all
necessary. All the forces of nature
combine here in perfect harmony to
g, enable the skillful and %persevering
:: agricultural to get out of our soil
/: all that can reasonably be expected
: from any other. We do not, there
, fogc, invite immigrants to come as
sac q wonderland, for there is moth.
ing in the experiences Of the people
here for many generations that can
not be attributed to natural causes.
Every success achieved in the field,
: the garden, the orchard, or the mine.
might have been foretold with &C.
, curacy by any one with half know!'
edge.
It may be that some ofour people
have only lately discovered that
they could realize q satisfactory pro.
fit from gardening. fruit growing,
stock raising and planting other
. crops thar" cotton, sugar and rice.
But it would be misleading to con
.vey the idea that all the forces di
nature here are not favorable 10
such diversified production, Or tina,
the people here were ignorant Of
sthem. There has been no discovery
of anv kind unless the improved
attention to small things may be
..said to have proceeded from such q
source. And in that event it should
doe credited to the fact that Lou
>isianians are gradually coming &c
know more of themselves, Of their
own energies and capabilities thar
they were in the habit'of taking into
account before they made importan'
industrial changes.
II is not that the reports of the
resources of this State to which ex
c%cption,i is here taken are exaggera
ted OR untruthful. On the contrary
manv of them fall short of the rea
facts. But they are issued in thu
manner of discoveries, as though tn
wealth which has existed for age
were a thing of yesterday, and tn
world just beginning to find it out
Whereas, what Louisiana is, it ha
'heen always, and everything is strict
ly subject to the natural laws tina
lnreyaii eYaryYhere.-CitY Item.