The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1910-11-28
AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT IN
 LOUISIANA

The highest type Of agrlcullurai ue- SzloGment is now progressing much irorc rapidly in Louisiana than in any other part of the world. Money re- duired for this development has been permanently freed from municipal. parish ana state taxes. By amend ;rent 10 the State constitution, adopt cd Nov. s. 1910, provision has been made for the creation of special drain age districts which are empowered to
 ssuc drainage bonds and carry out great drainage projects under safe and economical financial methods, the land after reclamation being assessed tO meet the payments due on the bond issues. In this way the drainage sf Louisiana marsh lands will be ef- footed in about the same manner Tn which the government has irrigated she arid wastes of the west, with this difference. The State of Louisiana provides the method whereby the wa ter may be drained off the land, the land made productive, and the cost uf the work defrayed by the products of the land so drained in easy pay lnents during a period of years. In Ihis way the State gets the benefit of a heavy increase in agricultural commerce, an increased population. ana all the advantages that go with such improvements, while the owner of marsh land gets the benefit to De derived from the transformation of
 
 fertile fields. The State pays out nothing. while the land owner gets the Improvements at minimum cost and under a convenient arrangement because under this system a single navigable drainage main will be made to serve many thousand acres.
 Until two years ago. when the State removed all taxes from real estate mortgage loans and from bond issues secured sby real estate. only those Louisiana lands susceptible of natural or gravity drainage were cultivated. Half a mile or more back from the hundreds of navigable bayous and rivers that form a veritable net work of waterways in South Louisiana. the lands are lower by a few inches than the rain water does not drain from them readily. Within 50 miles of New Orleans there are 1,00o, 900 acres of such lands which have been built up from the bottom of the Sea by the silt or ailuvial deposits from the Mis- sissippi River during times of over flow.
 The drainage of this 1,000, 600 acres began two years ago, many millions of northern and foreign capital hav- ing become interested primarily be- cause such capital is not taxed in Louisiana but directly because there is a difference of between $50 and $100 an acre in the value of undrained Louisiana marsh and the drained land.
 Some 10000 or 50.000 acres of this land was made available to the farm CT. year before last, and ever since then the amount has been increased at the rate of 10000 or 15,000 acres a month. The farmers are getting 100 bushels of corn per acre from this virgin alluvial soil. 60 tons of sugar cane worth $3 a ton on the farm is :ln ordinary crop. Last spring, some .nf crnf n acre from strawberry culture. In 1910 the first crop of peppermint was grown on Louisiana reclaimed land and pro- ,YIced 30 ounces of peppermint extract Der acre. for which the cultivator re- ceived S1.50 per ounce. Some tracts are being turned into orange, grape fruit and pecan groves. Others are being made to grow vegetables and high priced foods for the northern markets. Since the earliest frosts frosts come in early February the growing season is lengthy and three or four crops year are being obtain cd from the same land.
 Within five years all of the 1,000, 900 acres of marsh land lying around New Orleans will have been drained, and New Orleans will then lie in the midst of an area which the government has declared to be the richest on the North American continent. The plan of development carries with it the creation of complete system of nav- isable waterways from each and every farm to the harbor at New Orleans. The port facilities at New Orleans are owned and controlled by the pub- lie. and special facilities will soon be provided to meet the needs of the farmers in the New Orleans district who desire to barge their produce through their own navigable drainage canals from their farms to the New Orleans market or to refrigerator ti aims at water side which will convey their per.shable produce to the north- ern markets.
 Tn the matter of fertility, the Louisi- ana marshes are more productive than tile valley of the Nile.
 In the matter of transportation, all that is good in Hollands system of canals is being given the South Louisiana farmer.
 In the matter of legislation, the State of Louisiana is doing every thing for her reclaimed lands that is safe, sound and meets the require- Inents of good policy.
 drained land. Sea breezes blow over South Louisiana the year around. Health conditions are ideal
 The South Louisiana Land Shows Association is purely an educational organization. It owns no land, and has none for sale. Its object is to inform the country regarding Louisi- ana Agriculture, and to aid in educat- ing the people of Louisiana in the matter of their own surroundings. South Louisiana will have the most extensive and by far the most remark able Axhibit at the Chicago Land Show Eov 19-Dec. f. 1910.