526 AGRICULTURAL APPROPRIATION BILL, 1924. 



Mr. Buchanan. Is there any question or difficulty about the 

 drainage of these lands? 



Mr. I^Tartin. I know there is not in connection with the land on 

 which this paye Finne liay grows, because that raises itself. As 

 to the other land, there is natural gravity drainage back toward the 

 low lands; the drainage is toward the swamp and not toward the 

 bayou. 



Senator Raxsdell. Has it not the same drainage that the sugar 

 lands in that entire section have ? 



Mr. Martin. The same kind. 



Senator Ransdell. As I understand it, these londs have the same 

 kind of drainage that the lands have which are adapted to the growing 

 of sugar cane and other crops. 



Mr. Martin. Dr. W. R. Dodson, the dean and director of the 

 Agricultural Experimental Station in Louisiana, and who is one 

 of the committee in charge of this station, has wired me that he has 

 forwarded a statement setting forth the important work being done 

 by this farm. Let me say that Doctor Dodson is most highly thought 

 of in the State of Louisiana and has done a great deal in the way of 

 getting our people interested in cattle raising. His statements can 

 be absolutelv relied upon. 



I would now like to have you hear from Senator Broussard. 



STATEMENT OF HON. EDWIN S. BROUSSARD, A SENATOR 

 FROM THE STATE OF LOUISIANA. 



Senator Broussard. I do not know what particular facts you 

 would like to iuquu-e about, but I would be pleased to answer any 

 questions the committee desires to ask. 



Mr. Lee. Tell us about your farm. 



Senator Broussard. I am very familiar with this particular land; 

 in fact, at one time this plantation, before the State acquu'ed it, 

 was owned by my father-in-law. This land is just alongsicle of and 

 was taken from the convict farm, what we call the Hope State farm, 

 which is a convict farm. 



Senator Ransdell. How far is your home from this farm ? 



Senator Broussard. I live at New Iberia, which is about 6 miles 

 from there, but I was born and brought up just 4 miles from there, 

 in another direction. I might say tliis, that the Hope farm is the one 

 farm belonging to the State that has always paici; it pays money 

 every year, when other farms have lost money occasionally. There 

 is some black land in this farm; in fact, if you understand the alluvial 

 formation, the highest points are next to tlie streams and all the 

 lands drain away from the streams. The land close to the streams 

 is usually very sandy and then it changes until in tlie rear it gets to 

 be, in some places, black soil. 



Mr. Lee. The black soil is more productive, is it not? 



Senator Broussard. It is at certain seasons of the year, when you 

 get much belter results than you will from sandy soil. 



Mr. Anderson. The diilicult v the department presents, as 1 imder- 

 stand it, is that this Idack soil, particularly at certain times of the 

 year, is very wet, and that it is very difficult to get on it in order to 

 do the necessary work in prejiaring it for crops, and that it has a 

 tendency to Ix'conic very hard when it dries, and that the consetjuenco 



