The true Democrat. [volume] (Bayou Sara [La.]) 1892-1928, 1915-07-24
Cd. N. Barrow in Progressive Farmer

| We recently spent several days on
visit to West Feliciana Parish, Louisi-
ana. Upon every hand nature was cry
i ing out and proclaiming that this was
her favored soil and climate. We have
visited many ections,-sections famed
| the world over for their wonderful pro-
ductiveness, but nowhere have we seen
such wealth of plant life and such
variety as confronted one upon every
hand in this section wherever man had
allowed nature to take her course. Not
only was this evident in the wild lands,
but wherever man had once predomi-
mated and had abandoned his efforts,
nature was doing her best to repair
his ravages.
Like East Baton Rouge Parish and
Wilkinson County, Miss, this is a land
of gently rolling hills composed for an
indeterminate depth OF fine clay loan
nat produces grasses and legumes and
hardwoods and every useful plant in
the utmost profusion. Left to nature
and clothed with the mantle of green
that she has provided, these lands pro-
duce larger variety of nutritious
grasses than any other section that we
know of. At the same time this mantle
of green holds the soil together and
practically eliminates washing, even
though the annual rainfall is most
abundant The abundant springs,never-
ending streams, the wealth of nutri-
tious grasses and abundant shade, to-
gether with unusually mild winters,
proclaim this above all a live stock
country Even what cattle there have
been in the country in the past bear
Iunmistakable evidence, despite the
scourge of cattle ticks to which they
have been a prey, of the suitability of
the section for their production, and
the wonder is that only man seems in
the past to have been blind to these
signs and has tried, with the remark
able persistency of which he is now
and then so capable, to give the lie to
all natures manifestos and make of it
cotton instead of a grass and live
stock country.
At one time this was the garden
spot of Louisiana, and upon every hand
lhomesteads that would do honor to any
of the worlds aristocrats are still
standing, their grandeur and beauty
only being emphasized by the apparent
neglect and want of care that has over
taken so many of them But when
these homes were built their owners
had not come so completely under the
dominion of king cotton. While cotton
was largely their cash crop, each home
was dominion within itself. To sup
port the large number of slaves at
tached to each of these estates, the
LANDS were made to produce all man.
Iner of things, and many Of them were
as self-supporting and as near able to
withstand complete isolation from the
outside world as has Germany claimed
herself to be- Some of the most cele-
brated race horses of ante-bellum days
were grown upon the grasses of these
hills, and the smekehouses were filled
with pork and the pastures abounded
with cattle.
But with the freeing of the slaves
the country went cotton-mad. Pastures
were torn up, woodlands cut down and
dozens of useful and profitable prac-
tees were swept away before the mad
rush to produce the fleecy staple. For
a few years nature tolerated this out
rage upon her intentions and prosperity
seemed to have taken up her perma.
nent abode in this section. But finally
nature could stand it no longer, and
arose and smote with an avenging
hand. Gradually, so gradually at first
that it was not appreciated until ruin
was upon them, the soils became less
productive. The bale of cotton that
had been their wont shrunk to a half
a quarter, and even less. The rains
that had heretofore proved such bless
ings became avenging nemeses, and
, instead of soaking into the earth's
bosom to be used in the production Of
nutritious grasses, became raging tor
! rents and tore gaping wounds in the
bare fields that made their cultivation
, all but impossible.
AS a final punishment came the
plague of locusts in the form of the
boil weevil. Owing to the large mum
+ Der of abandoned fields, this invader
. found ideal conditions for over-wintel
, living and this, coupled with the large
= Iamount of moisture, proved exception
, ally favorable for his development. Ant
so the despoiler, man, instead of learn
ing the reason of these plaques ant
e correcting them, gradually gave up thu
s struggle, moved off to new sections
Il