The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1914-10-03
:. LOOKING OVER LOUISIANA.
The Pelican State as Seen Through
Northern Eyes-General ConcIu-
sions from a Trip OF investiga-

By EDITOR FRED L. PETTY. III arm and
Home. Chicago, I'll.
No section of North America today
surpasses the fine old state Of LOU
isiana in the opportunities offered to
| the practical, hard-W orking, inteIIi-
gent farm immigrant. Such people as
have gone from the northern states
into a foreign country by hundreds
Of thousands in recent years to find
cheap productive land, should turn
their gaze southwark recently
travelled 5000 miles in the state by
train, automobile and boat, and saw
the agriculture of Louisiana as
have seen it in no other state. I
believe my readers of Farm and
Home will be. interested in what l
saw, especially those who are seek
ing good land at a reasonable cost.
l visited Louisiana during the hottest
period experienced there for many
years. Any man who has cultivated
corn under a cloudless July sky in
Iowa or Illinois, or pitched wheat to
threshing machine on an August
day in Nebraska, need not fear a
Louisiana summer. Health and living
conditions are generally good. Water
for domestic use is a variable factor,
but | had good water to drink every
where.
The school system of the state is
rapidly coming to the front, and peo-
pie point to their public school build
ings with pride. There is a vast in
terest in roads. In several parishes,
as they call their counties, splendid
highways are already built or under
way. There are $500 miles Of navt-
gable waterways In Louisiana, in it's
great system of rivers, lakes and ba-
yous. and water transportation Is
right at the door of millions of acres
Of farm land.
I was amazed to learn of the di-
versity of products and the several
types of farming in different sections.
Roughly speaking, the southeastern
part of the state is the sugar ter
ritory, and the great valley Of the
Red river and the section bordering
the Mississippi the old cotton belt.
The rolling prairies Of the southwest
produce mostly rice, fruit and truck.
The pine forests Of the north, ada
cent to the Red river valley, support
many cattle that run on the open
range as they do in the western
states. Immense lumber interests
make Louisiana second in lumber
production. As, pine and other tim
Der is cut great new agricultural
region comes into being On the cut
over lands. This makes another fea-
ture of Louisiana farming. The great
drainage projects in the wet lands
make still another division, distinct
i've and perhaps most interesting of
ALL
Tangipahoa parish, In the northeast
of the state, supports a tremendous
truck farming industry. It has ship
ped 1000 carloads Of strawberries in
single year to the north. Cheap
new land is being brought into cul-
| tivation by clearing Many of the
companies owning this stump land
are clearing it, and putting it under
cultivation before offering it for sale.
The soil is light sandy Ioam, free
working, easily handled and most
of it naturally well drained.
The great reclamation projects, al
ready referred to, lie in the southern
part of the state. The places | saw
are from 10 to SO miles from New Or