196 INDIANA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS 



bled the crop. Mr. L. and Col. M. both use lime, and pen 

 their cattle upon the bagasse pile to rot it. This does it 

 in two years effectually. Mr. Havvin plants cane seven 

 feet apart, but thinks six feet would be better upon old 

 land so set with coco as this place is, as it sooner shades 

 the ground, which is the most effectual thing to overcome 

 this great pest of the planters. There are 850 arpents in 

 cultivation upon this place. The regular crop is 250 

 arpents of cane plant; 250 of cotton ; 350 of corn ; and the 

 working force about 80 full hands, and 40 mules and 

 horses. 



Donaldsonville is about 80 miles above New Orleans, 

 and is situated upon the point between the river and 

 Bayou La Fourche, which is a fork, as the name implies, 

 or outlet, running out at a right angle, nearly, and is 

 some 250 feet wide at high water, and 25 feet deep ; but 

 60 feet wide and 2 feet deep at low water. The distance 

 to the mouth of the bayou is about 100 miles, while by the 

 river it is double that, and the two mouths are about 50 

 miles apart. 



Burning Bagasse. — Below Donaldsonville, Mr. Ford^ 

 has a new bagasse chimney, 40 feet high, at a cost of only 

 $80, which he alleges is built upon a new principle; and 

 its cheapness is certainly well worthy the attention of all 

 who are still disposed to practice this method of destroy- 

 ing a valuable article for manure. 



Mr. Ford's boiler flue is conducted into the same chim- 

 ney, and it is his opinion that with two 60-foot boilers, 

 the burning of the bagasse would make nearly steam 

 enough to grind and boil the crop. 



Value of Land on Bayou La Fourche. — Mr. Sherrod 

 Sparks,^ 14 miles below Donaldsonville, sold his place, last 



^ Probably one of the firm of John Belson and Ford, who began 

 the cultivation of sugar about 1846, on Bayou Lafourche, twenty- 

 three miles below Donaldsonville. Champomier, Statement of the 

 Sugar Crop Made in Louisiana, 1845-1846. 



' Probably of the firm of Sparks and Brandeguy, owners of a 

 plantation in Assumption Parish on Bayou Lafourche, fifteen miles 

 below Donaldsonville. In 1845-1846 they produced 425 hogsheads 

 of sugar, an unusually large output for that time. Ibid. 



