500 



LOUISIANA. 



advances of interest, and which it was unwill- 

 ing to continue. Among the causes of embar- 

 rassment other than those already stated, 

 there is the insufficiency of the laws regarding 

 the assessment of property and collection of 

 taxes. The same defects exist in the laws for 

 these objects in Louisiana as in so many other 

 States of the Union. 



The reports of the condition of the chari- 

 table institutions and of the public schools 

 show them to be quite successful. 



The most important crops of the State are 

 cotton, sugar, and rice; of these cotton and 

 sugar are nearly equal in value. The details 

 of the amount of cotton grown in the State are 

 lost in the immense receipts at New Orleans 

 from all parts of the Southwest. Sugar is 

 peculiarly a product of the State. The crop 

 for 1877-'78 was 125,100 hogsheads, against 

 163,837 for 1876-'77, or about 24 per cent. less. 

 This diminution is ascribed to a violent equi- 

 noctial storm which visited a large portion 

 of the State on September 16th, 17th, and 18th. 

 The cane was nearly all laid flat on the ground. 

 This was followed on the 29th and 30th of No- 

 vember by a severe frost, when not half the 

 crop had been made, while that which was al- 

 ready cut was so much frozen that planters 

 were compelled to suspend grinding, and the 

 portion left standing was killed to the ground. 

 The disastrous effect of this frost was, more- 

 over, increased by a warm rain on December 

 3d. The damage was even estimated as high 

 as 33 per cent. The actual product of sugar 

 in the State since 1835-'36, forty-three years, 

 from the "Price Current's" sugar-book and 

 other records, has been as follows, including 

 the years previous to 1861 in the amount of 

 that year : 



While there was a decrease in the yield of 

 sugar, an increase took place in the product 

 of molasses. Owing to the frost, the whole 

 available crop on many plantations was made 

 into sirup. Thus the increase in molasses was 

 fully 18 per cent., or no less than 58,542 barrels. 

 The total yield was 323,247 barrels, which, at 

 42 gallons per barrel, gives 13,576,374 gallons, 



against 264,695 barrels or 11,117,190 gallons 

 in 1876-'77. This gives 109-96 gallons per 

 hogshead, which is the largest on record. The 

 ratio of molasses to sugar has materially va- 

 ried. It was formerly generally computed at 

 70 gallons, but in 1867, owing to extraordinary 

 richness of the cane, and consequently greater 

 production of sugar with proportionately less 

 of molasses, it was only 65 gallons to the hogs- 

 head. In 1874-'75, from opposite causes, the 

 yield of molasses was 101 gallons to the hogs- 

 head. 



The remarkable extension of the rice cul- 

 ture in Louisiana from 20,978 barrels and 

 sacks in 1865-'66 to 161,694 in 1876-'77 has 

 attracted attention ; and although there was a 

 large falling oif in 1877-'78, it could be readily 

 accounted for by the equinoctial storm of Sep- 

 tember, which was supposed at the time to 

 have cut down the crop 50 per cent. Instead of 

 this, however, the actual reduction was not 

 quite 13 per cent. The crop amounted to 140,- 

 785 barrels of clean rice. It is asserted that 

 the area of rice-fields will be extended not only 

 by the enlargement of the fields of the old rice- 

 planters and the opening of new ones along the 

 river, but also by the operations of the Louisi- 

 ana Land Reclamation Company, which it is 

 expected will transform extensive and almost 

 impassable swamps into prolific rice-fields yield- 

 ing exuberant crops. The importance of this 

 matter was fully explained in a contribution 

 made by Mr. Edward Hickey to the recent Ex- 

 position of the Fruit-Growers' Association, in 

 which he maintained that the lower basin of 

 the delta of the Atchafalaya, in the parishes of 

 St. Mary and Terrebonne, possesses an intrin- 

 sic value as the natural rice lands of the State, 

 and all the elements essential to the successful 

 and economical production of the staple. In 

 this view he was supported by the general cli- 

 mate, the fertile soil, and the ample supply of 

 water for irrigation. He pointed out, more- 

 over, that the value of these lands was annual- 

 ly increased by the rich deposits from the Red 

 River floods, and that their reclamation would 

 be rendered more practicable by recent im- 

 provements in hydraulic dredges and machin- 

 ery. In illustration of the importance of this 

 subject he furnished a pro forma statement of 

 the cost of a rice plantation in the district re- 

 ferred to, with full details of the expenses of 

 field work, steam plowing and dredging, etc., 

 showing that from a plant of $33,133 in land, 

 improvements, and machinery the net proceeds 

 from rough rice, all expenses of cultivation, 

 freight to New Orleans, and commissions de- 

 ducted, would be $57,840, showing a net profit 

 of $24,706 ; or, if cleaned on the planters' ac- 

 count, and estimating the price at 4^c. per 

 pound, a net profit of $35,342. These estimates 

 having been submitted to a committee of ex- 

 perienced rice-planters, they awarded the con- 

 tribution a first diploma. 



The orange crop of Louisiana is yearly as- 

 suming more and more importance, bidding 



