CULTURE AND CURING IN LOUISIANA. 81 



At that early date the tobacco grown was not noted for any peculiar excellence. Cultivated upon alluvial 

 soils, badly harvested, and cured in poorly -appointed houses, it presented a rough, bony appearance, though full of 

 gum and highly charged with nicotine. Coming in competition, as it did from 1785. with the far better quality- 

 raised on the Ohio river, it gradually lost favor, and its production sensibly declined up to 1824. 



THE FRENCH ACAD1ANS AND PERIQUE TOBACCO. 



About this period a new process of curing was introduced by Pierre Cheuet, a descendant of the Acadian .French. 

 These people, expelled in 1755 from Acadia, now Nova Scotia, adhering to their ancient customs, associating only 

 with one another, have but few industries, and they live contented on the simplest food and with the plainest 

 dress. They learned to cure tobacco in its own juices, as taught by Pierre Cheuet, and in his honor have named the 

 tobacco so cured Perique, though some claim the word to be a corruption of peruke, and that the peculiar method 

 of curing was known much earlier. t 



WHERE THIS PECULIAR TOBACCO IS GROWN. 



The cultivation of this tobacco is confined almost exclusively to the parish of Saint James, which lies about 50 

 miles above New Orleans, and is intersected by the Mississippi river, two-thirds of the parish being on the north 

 and northeastern side of the river a,nd the remainder on the south and southwestern side, the river here having a 

 course southeast and east, and continuing in this direction several miles below New Orleans. The portion of the 

 parish which lies east and iiortheast of the river is triangular in shape, with its northeastern apex resting on lake 

 Maurepas, between which and lake Pontchartraiu Pass Manchac forms a connecting link. The whole parish covers 

 an area of about 330 square miles, and is nearly evenly divided between improved, unimproved, and swamp lauds. 

 The face of the country is level, interrupted occasionally by sloughs, bayous, and swampy lakes. Near the 

 Mississippi river the land is more elevated, and slopes back gently for 2 or 3 miles to cypress swamps, which 

 extend almost continuously in a line more or less parallel with the river. In the very midst of these swamps there 

 are elevated spots, rising 4 or 5 feet above the general level. In consequence of this elevation they are well drained, 

 and the soil is exceedingly fertile, being both calcareous and siliceous, and in its primitive state it is covered with 

 dense canebrakes, above which tower the oak, the magnolia, the gum, and the hickory. The French and, the Spanish 

 pioneers of Louisiana were in the habit of driving their cattle to these places, during the season when other forage 

 was scarce, to feed upon the canes, and from this circumstance they came to be known as vacheries, or "cattle 

 lands". These spots are of frequent occurrence, and many of them have been cleared up and put into cultivation, 

 one of the most noted of which is Grande Pointe. They are highly prized for their agricultural capabilities, and on 

 them the best sugar-cane and the best tobacco are grown, their comparative freedom from the pestiferous and 

 ineradicable coco-grass making them exceedingly valuable. 



CLIMATE. 



The climate of Louisiana is very mild and agreeable during the winter months, but rather oppressive in the hot 

 months of July and August. The hot days are always relieved by heavy dews at night, thus securing vegetation, 

 in part at least, against the parching effects of extreme dryness. The mean average temperature at Baton Rouge 

 for twenty-eight years, from January, 1832, to December, 1860, was as follows : Spring, 68.90 degrees ; summer, 81.26; 

 autumn, 68.13; winter, 54.20; average, 68.12. According to the United States signal service the mean temperature 

 at New Orleans from November 1, 1870, to October 31, 1880, was as follows: Spring, 69 degrees; summer, 81.8; 

 autumn, 69.6; winter, 55.8. During this period the extreme range of the thermometer was 71 degrees, and the 

 average range 32. 



RAINFALL. 



The reports of the signal service give the mean annual precipitation at New Orleans from November 1, 1870, 

 to October 31, 1880, at 65.44 inches, and at Shreveport for the period extending from September 1, 1871, to October 

 31, 1880, at 49.97 inches. The mean of the prevailing winds at New Orleans for the period embraced by the 

 observations of the signal service was southeast, and at Shreveport south. 



SOILS NOW CULTIVATED IN TOBACCO. 



For growing tobacco two varieties of alluvium ar6 employed : the gray soils, which lie immediately on the 

 eastern or northeastern bank of the Mississippi, and the magnolia soils, which occupy the gentle eminences amid 

 the, swamps, known as vacheries. The soil preferred for tobacco is the last, which is a dark, sandy loam, highly 

 calcareous, easily worked, and producing a style of tobacco silky in texture, medium in size, and of a flavor superior 

 to that grown on other soils. Black lands, mixed with yellow sand, are next in point of superiority for producing 

 tobacco. The clayey lands, however, are said to make tobacco of greater strength, but lack the silky texture 

 awl delicate fiber. The black lands, if well drained, are excellent for tobacco, provided they have sand enough in 

 their composition to make them friable. When there is a lack of sand, these lauds compact so closely that they 



-i-i' diflifnlt of tillage, and the plant does not grow with the most healthful vigor. 



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