ITS ADVANTAQESI ITS CONDITIONS! ITS PROSPECTS! 



prairies throiigli which it has cut its 

 chauuel. 



All along the !>ankn of the Teche can 

 be seen tliis red soil, and iUs junction witii 

 t!ie black praiiie is every wiieie noticeable. 

 Since tliese soi>s occiniy only portions ol 

 !be pari.',hec5 in wliicli iht'y occur, a de- 

 tailed desi ription of them wili be given 

 undei' other head:-. It may be said Here, 

 , however. th*ii: ihe.:e soil', occui>y a part 

 ; of Bossier, Caddo, Ked River, Natchi- 

 toches, Grant, Uapides, A'viyeKes, St. 

 'L'ainmiiny, Jljerin. St. Martin. Vermillion 

 and St. Mary parishes. Large portions of 

 some and veiy (sniall portions of others. 



THE MARSHES OF THE COAST AND 

 LAKES. 



These have been described fully in our 

 description of the parishes St. James, 

 St. John the Baptist, St. Charles. Jefferson, 

 Orleans, St. Bernard, Flaiiuemines, La- 

 fourche and Terrebonne. To these add 

 St. Mary, Iberia, N'ermilaon and Cam- 

 eron, described further, and we have the 

 nwrsh parishes (if the state. 



These lands can, in many instances, 

 be reclaimed at moderate cost and be 

 changed into excellent, fertile soils, capa- 

 ble of producing heavy crops of sugar 

 cane, rice, oranges, etc. 



The Louisiana Reclamation Company 

 reclaimed 13,000 acres in 18S3 and 18S4, 

 and was restrained from further work 

 by the breaking of the levees during 

 the great flood of 18S4. Since that time 

 Mr. J. B. Watkius has reclaimed a large 

 area in southwest Louisiana, and is now 

 ha.ving it successfully cultivated in rice 

 and other crops. In special report No. 7, 

 Tide Marshes of the United States, Mr. 

 Watkius makes a report of his methods, 

 from which the following is taken: 



"Our plan of reclamatiou is to build 

 dikes along the gulf, rivers, lakes and 

 bayous of suIHcient height and strength 

 to prevent overflow of each in the event 

 of floods from rain and storm tides, and 

 in this we will be materially assisted by 

 the natural levees found in manv places 

 along these waters. We cut, parallel to 

 each other, and half a mile apart, canals 

 18 feet wide and G feet dee)). At right an- 

 gles with these, at intervals of two and a 

 half miles, we cut larger canals, thus 

 forming the land into oblong blocks half 

 a mile by two and a half miles, each 

 contaming 800 acres. Across these blocks, 

 at proper intervals, we cut lateral ditches 

 30 inches deep by S inches wide at the 

 bottom, flared to 30 inches wide at the 

 top. 



"The canals are --ut, the levees formed, 

 and the dikes are, to a considerable ex- 

 tent, built by the use of powerful floating 

 steam dredges. The smaller ditches are 

 cut by ditch?rs p • )pel!ed by steam power 

 passing through but once, at the '-ate of 

 one and a half nnles per hour. At propter 

 localities, we erect automatie Hood gates 

 by means of which we control the stage 

 of water in the canals, and the necessary 

 volume of water is regulated to some ex- 

 tent by the ebb and flow of the tide. This 

 is supplemented by the use of i)owerful 

 wind pumps, and when the natural ele- 

 ments will uot accomplish the work we 

 readily move upon the canals to the spot 

 our ditching, plowing and cultivating 

 engines and attach them to pumps. Thus 

 arranged, with control of the water, these 

 blocks of land are in condition for the 

 most successful rice culture. Rice may 

 be planted any lime from February to 

 June, very much the same as wheat and 



upon ground similarly prepared. When 

 it has reached a growth two inches high 

 water is let in upon it and the ground 

 gradually Hooded; care being taken not to 

 cover any of the plants with the water. 

 The land is kept flooded sutticiently to kill 

 all the grass and weeds, until the rice is 

 about IS inches high. It then has suflicient 

 start to choke down any foreign growth, 

 and the water may be drawn off and the 

 ground allowed to become dry and firm 

 for harvest time, which may extend over 

 several months, according to the times 

 the seed was sown. Rice is harvested and 

 threshed in the same manner and with 

 about the same kind of machinery as used 

 for wheat. 



"Our operations were begun in Decem- 

 ber. 1882, and we have since then built 

 and have in use machinery as follows: 

 Three steam dredges, with a capacity of 

 a mile of H by IS feet canal per month 

 each, two ditchers, four traction engines, 

 which propel the ditchers, plows, culti- 

 vators, sowers, reapers, etc.; thirtv-two 

 plows in gangs, having a capacity of 7i> 

 acres per day; two steamboats, and nine 

 auxiliary boats, barges, quarter boats, 

 etc." 



BLUFF LANDS. 



On the eastern side of the river is a 

 belt of blutf lands running from the 

 Mississippi line through West and Bast 

 Feliciana, East Baton Rouge, Livingston, 

 and perhaps small portions of Ascension 

 and St. Helena. In length this belt is 

 about ttfty miles. Its width in the north- 

 ern portion is not over 15 to 18 miles. 

 but further south it widens to nearly 

 double this distance. Just below the city 

 of Baton Rouge these bluffs turn to tlie 

 southeast and east, and parallel bayou 

 Manchac, nearly to lake Maurepas. Tliese 

 blulfs on the .Mississippi line risc^ to a 

 height of 100 feet or more, are hilly au(i 

 broken. Further south thev flatteii out, 

 being only about 75 feet at'Port Hudsoiu 

 and 45 feet at Baton Rouge. Further 

 eastward they continue to fall, untU 

 they reach the level of the pine flats ana 

 alluvial bottoms. 



.ilthough the soils o£ this section 

 hi\e been in cultivation for a long time 

 (it is one of tlie oldest nortions of the 

 state), and treated in a most irrational 

 and unscientiflc manner, yet they can be 

 made, with proper attention, to produce 

 even now the largest .yields. Nowhere 

 in the state can be found more prosper- 

 ous and intelligent farmers, and nowht^,-- 

 on earth can a general diversified farm- 

 ing be more advantageouslv conducted. 

 These are probably the flue'st hill lands 

 in the world. Far above overflow, here 

 the farmer enjoys the enviable privilege 

 of cultivating alluvial lauds elevated 

 above the floods, and susceptible of the 

 best of drainage. 



On the western side of the Mississippi 

 river only scattered remains of these 

 bluflls are found. They run through 

 West Carroll. Richland, Franklin and 

 then in scattered patches on to the gulf 

 Though no lofty hills are left in this sec- 

 tion, yet the materials which once 

 formed them have been used to adulter- 

 ate, commingle with and overspread all 

 of the latest formations of the western 

 portion of the alluvial plain of Louisiana 



All of the prairies of southwest Louis- 

 iana owe their origin to the deposition of 

 materjals from the disintegrated bluffs 

 spread out over the coast marshes or 

 pine flat.s. The area in this state oc- 

 cupied by bluff materials is therefore- 



