SOLON ROBINSON, 1848 169 



also unlucky in not meeting either of the Messrs. Kenner, 

 very enterprising and large planters, between Ormond 

 and Carrolton, the latter of which is connected with this 

 city by a railroad six miles long. 



The first acquaintance I made in New Orleans, was Mr. 

 Stephen Franklin,^ now conducting the agricultural ware- 

 house, established in that city by R. L. Allen, and where 

 every kind of implement used in the cultivation of the soil 

 can be obtained. Mr. F. is an eastern man, but has been 

 so long a resident here, that he is like one "to the manor 

 born." He was formerly a cotton merchant, and is exten- 

 sively acquainted in the city and country. I commend my 

 friends to him, as a very pleasant and useful acquaint- 

 ance. 



Mr. R. L. Allen, in his "Letters from the South," has 

 given statistical tables, to show the amount of agricultural 

 produce annually shipped to and through New Orleans.^ 

 But one might just as well undertake to show the magni- 

 tude of the ocean, and the fearful raging of the storm at 

 sea, by filling a junk bottle with salt water, and shaking 

 it before the eyes of his pupil, as to try to give an idea of 

 the business upon the levee here, by a string of words and 

 figures. It must be seen, to be believed ; and even then, it 

 will require an active mind to comprehend acres of cotton 

 bales standing upon the levee, while miles of drays are 

 constantly taking it off to the cotton presses, where the 

 power of steam and screws are constantly being applied 

 to compress the bales into a lesser bulk, at an almost in- 

 conceivable rate per day, while all around are piled up in 

 miniature mountains, which other miles of drays are tak- 

 ing on shipboard, and yet seem unable to reduce in size 

 or quantity, either here or upon the levee; for boats are 

 constantly arriving, so piled up with cotton, that the 

 lower tier of bales on deck are in the water; and as the 



^ Stephen Franklin, agent for the New Orleans Agricultural 

 Warehouse, located at the corner of Magazine and Poydras streets. 

 His residence was at 139 Rampart Street. Cohen's Ne^v Orleans 

 Directory, 1849. 



* See ATnerican Agriculturist, 6:124-25 (April, 1847). 



