The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1907-05-25
Weather and Crop Notes.

The Louisiana Planters Ascension
correspondent discusses local weather
and crop conditions in the following
interesting manner:
aIt's all very well to talk Of keeping
q stiff upper lip in the face of misfor-
tune, and to jolly ones self along with
the time-honored illusion that every
cloud has a silver lining, but when
things continue to go wrong day after
day and week after week, and misfor-
tunes come not singly but in punches.
where is the man who can refrain from
looking just the least bit sour, or who
can argue himself into believing that
whatever is is right? Certainly that
man isn't a sugar planter, or if he is
he doesn't happen to dwell in this
section of the sugar belt, for planters
hereaWay quit trying to appear cheer
full some time ago and have long since
developed into out and out pessimists
and Knockers And who can blame
them, knowing Of the shabby manner
in which they have been treated by
the moulder of their destinies and ar
bitter of their fortunes-the weather
man? First that vagarious individ-
ual, after permitting the crucial month
Of February to pass without the sign
Of a freeze, thereby enabling vegeta-
tation of all kinds to attain an unpre-
cedented degree OF growth, sends
along cold snap in the month of
April which puts the corn crop 'on the
blink and temporarily paralyzes the
f1ourishing cane and cotton crops.
Then, instead of redeeming himself by
dishing out higher temperatures and
occasional warm showers, which would
have afforded the planters an oppor-
tunity to undo some of the damage
caused by the untimely freeze, he de-
spatches a cool dfouth lasting several
weeks, and follows this up with tor
RENTAL and incessant rains, the COM
bination being all that was needed to
put the cotton crop down and out, while
even the hardy cane crop was dealt a
blow from which it will not soon re-
cover. As a result, the erstWhile bril-
liant prospects of the early part of the
year have gone where the wood bine
twineth, and there is weeping and
wailing and crashing of teeth among
our sugar planters, cotton farmers
and agriculturists generally.
tAfter several days of dry weather,
a heavy shower fell on Thursday be-
tween l1:30 and u O'Clock, and was
followed by steady drizzle which
continued throughout the afternoon
and far into the night. Field work.
which in many instances had been re-
sumed only last Monday morning, was
again interrupted, and to say that
planters and managers are in despair
over the situation would be putting it
mildly. Cane needs immediate culti-
walton and needs it badly, and unless
there is an early cessation of the
weekly rains and return OF clear
skies and favorable temperatures,
there is no telling to what extent the
crop may be injured through lack of
attention.
IA prominent sugar planter OF the
Lauderdale neighborhood expressed
the opinion the other day that the
crops in his locality have deteriorated
at least twenty-five per cent within the
past two months. The same gentleman
stated that his corn crop has practi
cally been wiped out of existence by
mice, which invaded the fields in large
numbers, and, despite all his efforts to
eradicate them by means of poison,
deyoured acre after acre of growing
corn and completely ruined the crop.
The rodents attacked the plant as
soon as it appeared above ground
and gobbled up everything in sight,
proving an exceptionally destructive
and elusive pest.
ssThe cotton farmers of the New
River section of the parish are en-
gagged in putting down seed for the
third time this season, the first and
second paintings having been rendered
of no avail by reason Of the abnormal
cold spell of early April and the sub
sequent heavy rains. !"
Sciatica Cured After Twenty Years