The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1902-07-01

sissippi expects great benefit from
the St. Louis exposition, and Texas
the lions share
Louisiana with its sugar cane, is a
problem by itself, and too. much de-
pendent at present upon politics and
tariff to thrive it's best. George w.
Gable has told how the Yankees OF
Louisiana developed their sugar in
dustry in the face of every discour-
aging obstacle. They Quilted into
the game" rather early, too, when
you remember that the early civiliza-
tions of Greece and Rome had no
sugar, but used honey instead, and
that sugar was commonly employed
as food, except by the rich, until
well after the Louisiana experiments:
More is said to-day about the
growth of cotton manufacture in the
south than about the vest develop
ment of agriculture. though the lat
ter is really much more important.
But you cannot blame the southern-
ers for feeling jubilant about the
facts. OF course New England has a
long start, but in the future it is the
yearly increase that will tell the
story. Last year 1,so6,7s4 new spins
dies were set at work throughout the
country. Of these soo,344, or close to
two-thirds of the whole, were in
South Carolina, North Carolina and
Georgia, in the order named. These
three states installed five times as
many spindles as all New England,
and Alabama installed more than
Massachusetts besides. Cheap labor
and nearness to the cotton planta-
lions lead the southern Yankees to
the expectation that their section will
be the Manchester of the future. And
Manchester, not London, is the center
OF the greatest and densest popula-
ton in the world, some 100000 OF
people living within short distance
OF it. The entire population of the
southeast is only twice as much.
Louisiana is the center of the rice
industry in this country. A variety
of Kiushu rice from Japan that does
not easily break in milling, has been
introduced. This is proving success
full on Louisiana plantations and is ex
pected to increase the yield amaz-
ingly. Already Louisiana raises over
hundred million pounds a year
say pound and a third for every.
body in the country.
There are Yankees among south-
ern women, too. Of their number the
most conspicuous just now is Miss
Henrietta Aiken Kelly, formerly Of
Charleston, who has been for six
years studying silk culture in Italy
and is to introduce the industry in
South Carolina. I
Miss Kelly has offered to the de-
partment of agriculture the building
of the Charleston female seminary
for experiments in the production Of
raw silk, and the commissioners has
asked congress for $4,000 for the ex-
periments. Miss Kelly holds from the
governor of the state an appointments
as state commissioner. Duke de Lit
TIA, upon whose estates she studied
the sillworms and their habits, some
years ago set out in South Carolina
a quantity of mulberry bushes of the
proper variety. They thrive famous
ly; recently the duke sent number
of cuttings to be grated upon older
mulberry trees, furnishing the worms
the food may need. The experiment.
can be called one only from the lapse
of time, for silk was successfully
raised in Charleston over 200 years
ago, and it's production was indeed
continued almost up to the time Of
the revolution.
OF course, as long as there were
slaves to do most of the work the av-
erage southerner had not the best
of opportunities to get busy; since
the war he seems to have made the
most of them, considering the tre-
mendous disadvantages under which.
he has labored. HENRY A. LEE. :.