6. (Cont.) |
Cattaraugus Republican, September 20, 1901 |
SOUTHWEST LOUISIANAITS CLIMATE, PEOPLE AND INDUSTRIES.Interesting Letter From a Former Resident of Cattaraugus County. As the numerous questions asked by many of my old comrades and friends indicate a general desire to know something of conditions in that part of the Southland in which I am now living, I gladly avail myself of the courtesy of THE REPUBLICAN and will make use of its columns to convey, as briefly as I can, some idea of Southwest Louisiana. By way of explanation will say that I went to Louisiana 11 years ago last April, because of the fact that I was slowly dying on account of the severity of the winters in latitude 45° north. It was supposed that I ran no small risk in leaving the frozen region of central Wisconsin, and it was frozen hard when I left on the first day of April, and going so far south in the springtime, but neither myself nor my son, then a boy of 14, suffered any inconvenience; on the contrary we both improved in health, and in my case the improvement was very great and I found myself able to perform much more work with much less of suffering than I had been able to do for years. Ia this connection I will add that many people going from the different northern states to Louisiana have been greatly benefited, especially in cases of catarrh, throat and lung diseases and rheumatism. The reason for the general healthfulness of our climate may doubtless be found in the fact that we have breezes from the gulf a great part of the year. It goes without saying that those breezes bear pure health giving air, and the equable temperature. Sixteen degrees above zero is with us very cold, ninety five above very hot. In only two or three instances has the thermometer registered one hundred in eleven years of my residence in the state. The universal La Grippe grips us occasionally, but it is not usually very severe, almost never fatal. Violent fevers do not prevail to any such extent as in this latitude. Now a few words as to our industries : We are per-eminently agriculturalists, and our manufacturing industries are yet in their infancy, but there is with us a fine opening for paper mills, cotton mills, and wood and iron working factories, and the limitless oil product gives the cheapest and best fuel in the world. Add to this fact that our climate is genial and well suited to the worker, that raw material is abundant, cheap and near at hand, and we feel that we doubtless have a great future before us in the line of manufactures. For a distance of 160 miles west of New Orleans the principal industry is growing sugar cane, the rich alluvial soil of that region being specially adapted to sugar raising. Beet, corn, cotton, vegetables, fruits and live stock are grown to some extent. From thence west to the Texas line, a distance of 85 or 90 miles, the great industry is rice growing, with cane, corn, cotton, vegetables and fruits occupying a subordinate place. I will say here that the preparation of soil, sowing, harvesting and threshing rice, is identical with wheat and oat culture, the difference beiug in the fact that rice is a water plant and when two to six inches in height is flooded witb water and the.ground kept slightly covered until the heads are nearly filled, when it is drawn off, and during the process of ripening, if the weather is favorable the ground becomes dry and hard in time for the harvest. In the past a vast amount of rice has been raised solely by utilizing the rainfall, but as may be supposed, frequent failure or partial failure was inevitable, and the rainfall is now supplemented by artificial irrigation, making rice raising among the surest and safest of agricultural industries. The average yield per acre is about 50 bushels of rough rice, or 1,000 pounds of clean rice. The average gross income per acre to the grower probably about $30. From this gross income must be deducted one-fifth for irrigation, and of course cost of seed, feed, teams, tools, labor, etc. Insect pests and all weeds that will not grow in water are eliminated from our list of afflictions by the practice of flooding our rice fields. In the matter of yield of rice and gross income received I have designed to keep well within safe limits. More than twice the amount has been received, and on the other hand, less than half, though of the last there is absolutely no danger with irrigation. As to the appearance of the country, a more beautiful level country does not exist on the earth. Our farm lands are alt prairie lands, but unlike the great prairies of some of the northwestern states, they are not seemingly boundless, presenting a monotony unbroken by forest or hill, but interspersed with streams bordered with valuable timber, thus arresting the field of vision and relieving the landscape of any suspicion of sameness. As to the people, they are a kindly, generous and hospitable race, and the impression produced upon the minds of many Northern people by the ranting of demagogue politicians that# Republican cannot safely express his opinions, is so utterly and unqualifiably false that one can only wonder that It ever obtained any credence whatever among intelligent people. I could gladly write for hours, but I remember that there is a limit to news~ |
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