The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1914-08-08

arm Progress, ST. Louis Mo.
more shiftless whites, must be cut
| up and farmed more intensiVeIy ana
more intelligently.
When the sugar blow came thou
sands Of the big planters determined
they could not grow cane at profit
With their labor equipment, although
other planters are going ahead, i'm
proving their methods of cane cul-
ture and bettering their sugar fac
| tories for more economic production
Of the staple.
From other directions, too, is the
call for progressive farmers being
sent forth. From the reclamation
projects of the coast country, where
many thousands of acres of marsh
lands are being uncovered by sys-
TENS of canals and great pumping
plants, comes the invitation. No
man knows the depth of the soil nor
the richness of the fertility.
Thus has state found it's need
for more and better farmers. There
is no reflection to be entered against
the big planters, as most of them
are wonderful managers. They fell
heir to the baronial system of farm
ing and they have stuck to it until
changed conditions Of agriculture
necessitate a reversal.
A thousand, or two, three or five
thousand acres of cane or cotton ul-
der the management of one planter
with his expensive and inadequate
system of tenant Or wage workers,
Will spell a different end when the
same tracts are placed in the hands
of enough owners who do part of
their own work to handle the land
in intense manner.
1t is difficult to explain why a
state has such need for good farm
ers and at the same time put forth
the claim that Louisiana is state
Of some of the richest soil in the ma
ton, that it's climate is ideal for ag
riculture, that much of the prevalent
impression in the north regarding
the state is false.
These are the facts as the writer
reviews the situation after three
weeks spent visiting every section
of the state. Louisiana long has APP
preciated the fact that the true con-
ditions within her borders are widely
misunderstood, and a number of
northern agricultural editors were
asked to visit the commonwealth and
'sbe shown =
In the first place climatic eondi-
tons are misunderstood. q saw. indi-
cations of good health everywhere.
From the cut-oYer lands east of the
river, where great strides are being
made in truck and general farming
and in dairying, through the reclama-
ton districts, along the romantic ba-
yous, up into the cane, cotton and
rice districts, through the country of
big plantations and the. stock and
general country Of the western and
northern parts of the state, I saw
brlght-eyed, healthy men, women and
children.
I spent days on the bayous, canals,
rivers and lakes and saw two alli-
gators, heard Of one case of fever.
| had luncheon under some enormous
live-oaks along the Teche, and did
not see a fly. Mosquitoes bothered
me one night only and they were
blown off the marsh land by unex-
lpected winds from that direction.
The heat was not so oppressive as l
have frequently experienced in many
states further from the Gulf, and
there always was relief where shade
Or breeze was taken advantage Of,
despite the fact that government
reports Indicated June records for
heat were broken in Louisiana dur
ing my visit.
| hardly could turn around in any
district in the state without bump
ing into some farmer from the north,
and all are doing well and are satls-
fled. They have carried their knoWl-
| edge of northern agriculture into
the south and, coupled with Louis
lana conditions, are forging ahead
| rapidly. Louisiana is state of op-
portunity.
Why, then, is the natural ques-
ton, are the people of Louisiana so
anxious to have farmers from the
north come in and people their
abundant acres? A perfectly fair
question and easier asked than an
| sWered
It is the belief of the writer that
the situation largely is due to the
| baronial system of antebellum days.
The big planter cannot realize the
possibilities Of the 80, 100 or $50
acre farm, and he cannot much
Ion ger continue handling his thou
sands of acres of land under chang
ed agricultural conditions. He is
| beginning to realize the destruc-
| ton being done by the tenant sys-
tenn and the unstable future of
single cropping. The labor Of the
present south knows nothing but
single cropping and the individual
more often than not does not raise
his own living from the land. The
negro has no conception of diversii
fication.
Living has come too easy in Lou.
isiana and the example set by the
farmers from the north who have
gone in and partly overturned the
system of agriculture has set the ma
tives to thinking.
Sugar Sure to Go Up.
/ Commenting on the effect Of the
European war ON sugar in Lou siana
r.. G. Murphy, president of the New
Orleans sugar Exchange, said i
the war lasts long ii will increast