The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1903-01-31
The "POOr Pine Lands" of the
South.

South.
In the early days of California, when
its mineral wealth had turned the eye
of the whole world in that direction,
an enterprising American planted a
small patch of ground near San Fran
cisco in fruit and grain. He was the
subject of much ridicule among the
pioneers, and one Of the men. most
prominentin mining circles smiled. de-
risively ut the man who was trying to
get money out of the earth with n
spade instead of pickax. IL would
not give a hundred dollars for all the
crops that the Pacific coast will ever
grow" are the memorable words he
said, and in this he only echoed pub
lie sentiment. The sandy, semi-arid
soil OF California was regarded as I'M
fit for cultivation. The country, it
was predicted, would never be any
thing but mining camp. Agricul-
ture was out of question. The soil
was poor and the rainfall deficient.
But the prophet, like most others,
has proved totally wrong. The min
ing interests of California have shrunk
to allpropOrtions; agriculture now
contributes most of its wealth, and
the State is one of the richest in the
Union in its farms, producing in the
census year crops valued at $131, :
$50. 6O6 of the most varied character.
In his address before the immigra-
ton convention recently held here,
Prof. E. b. Ferris, assistant director
of the Branch Experiment Station at
Mcneil, Miss, pointed out how the
same mistake had been made in re-
gard to the pine lands of the South
west. McNeillis fifty-seven miles from
New Orleans on the New Orleans and
Northeastern and in the heart of the
pine belt. That belt has been viewed
with disfavor by the farmers. Itwas
good for numbering, they said, but
scarcely suitable for agricultural pur-
poses, and most of the farmers have
passed by and moved on to the rich
river bottoms. 1t would be great
misfortune for the South were this so,
for its pine lands take up a large por-
ton of it's area, nearly half of Missis-
sippi and Louisiana. But Prof. Ferris
shows very clearly that it is not so,
and that the pine lands, like the sandy
lands of California, can be made most
productive if it be gone about in the
right way. This is good news, as the
pine lands are occupied mainly by
whites. while the river bottoms and
alluvial lands are given over to the
negroes. Whatever immigration,
therefore, comes to this section is like
ly to settle in the pine hills; and it is
well to know that We have SO much
land there open to settlement.
In Louisiana We have seen, especial
ly in the cases of Tangipahoa and
Calcasieu, that the old theory about
the unsuitability of the pine woods
country for farming is not we'll sus-
tanned. Prof. Ferris, because of his
experience at the Mcneil Experiment
Station, il able to contribute great
deal more interesting information on
the subject. He admits that the land
lacks some of the elements of plant
life, but these can readily be supplied.
and the soil is susceptible of the high
est development with the proper ma
nipulatiOn. He cites some sample
cases of the wonders worked in the
pine lands by the use of the proper
fertilizers. An application of sixty
five cents worth of acid phosphate in