The Opelousas courier. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1852-1910, 1894-02-10
Fair .Opelousas.


Beautiful is the land, with its prairies and for
ests of fruit trees;
Under the feet a garden OF flowers, ana thu
Bending above, and resting its dome on the
walls Of the forest.
They who dwell there have named it the EdeI
of Louisiana. -Evangeline.
The meeting of the State Agricultural
Society at Opelousas last week was one
of vhe most delightful that the members
have yet experienced The plains and
prairies of Opelousas are famed fol
healthfulness. beauty and fertility. and
wherever the English language is spok-
en- the poems Of Longfellow are read
To those engaged in the sugar industry
the fertile lands about Opelousas, and
throughout the entire parish of st. Ian
dry, revealed the wonderful possibilities
OF our State for sugar cane production
and sugar manufacture.
AS was truly said at one of the meet
lngs, there is scarcely square acre of
land in the parish of St. Landry that is
not arabic and of high fertility The
rich alluvial lands of the river have
thus far had precedence in the common
estimation, owing to the fact that larger
crops oil cane are ordinarily produced
thereon. This last season, however, the
cane fields Of St. Landry have produced
larger crops than the river lands, thus
indicating what may be done IN st. Ian
dltlOns and what can be done very
probably every season if great care be
taken in regard to drainage and cult
vation, as is done with the river lands.
The practical immunity Of the lands
OF st. Landry from overflow renders
them extremely desirable, for while our
levee system along the river has been
vastly improved, and affords us COM
paratlve freedom from danger of inun
dation, still We know that the river lies
| adjacent to us with its surface far above
the level of the cultivated fields and
that accidents may befall Us despite our
best efforts, while in the parish of ST..
Landry, and especially in the bluff land
about Opelousas, an overflow Is un-
known.
During the meeting of the Agricultu-
raj Society some wonderful statements
were made as to the amount of sugar
cane produced on given areas Of land
during the last season, and as to the
cheapness in the cost of cultivation.
The matter of cheapness of the cost of
cultivation is probably due TO the fact
that the cane growers of st. Landry are
unwilling to expend the large amounts
of money required for drainage on our
river lands, and which, we believe,
would be we'll expended if done also in
st. Landry. Such expenditure would
probably give them every year the large
crops that they have obtained this sea-
son from the exceptionally favorable
meteorological conditions. Yields of
sugar cane of from % to 35 tons per acre
seem to have been common, and the
whole sugar cane industry has received
a fhorc fhof
derfully beneficial results for the parish
of St. Landry, unless unexpected Ie-
verses come to the cane growers there
from less favorable weather conditions
during the coming season.
The great Ferris central factory at
Barbreck in St. Landry has been the
chief buyer of the sugar cane produced
there, although Messrs. Oxnard & Spra-
que. of Adeline factory, and DR.. S. A.
Knapp, of the Huron factory, have also
been large cane buyers. The lands of
st. Landry seem to produce sugar cane
OF higher sugar content than the cane
that is produced on the alluvial lands OF
the river and Bayou Lafourche. Such
canes are, therefore much sought by
the central factories, and the results
grower and the sugar producer.
The parish of st. Landry has been
largely devoted to cotton culture in the
past, but during recent years the rice
crop has received much attention. The
low prices prevailing for rice, however,
are now interfering very seriously in
the development of that industry there,
and the equal suffering of the cotton
planters also is leading to the concen
tration of attention to the cane crop as
being now the most profitable. This is
only rendered possible by the advent of
the great central factories that we have
referred to, as nearly all of the old-fash-
ioned sugar houses in the parish that
were formerly able to make moderate
profit in the old-fashioned way have
since failed to be profitable and have
generally been discontinued.
At present, to the cane grower desir-
ing to buy lands whereon to produce
almost any farm crop, and particularly
well adapted to sugar cane culture, or
to the sugar manufacturer who desires
a location where the possibilities of
cane culture are extremely great and Of
cane Of high saccharine.content, the par
ish of st. Landry, and especially the
country about the city of Opelousas, Of
fers great attractions.