

PI LOOT8IAHA t 





Governor Murphy J. Foster, in his last 

 'message to the legislature of this state, 

 used the following forcible language 

 relative to the agricultural interests of 

 Louisiana: 



Lou4siaua has nearly 45,000 square miles 

 of territory, containing some 28,000,000 

 acres. Of this amount about 13,000,000 is 

 of alUnial origin and the rest good up- 

 land. The ^ilhivial region is now only 

 cultivated along the banks of rivers, 

 and the rivers protected mostly by public 

 aud private levees. The uplands are 

 almost all susceptible of cultivation. 



The geological position of Louisiana 

 forbids the existence of mineral products, 

 save salt and sulphur, and the general 

 low topography furnishes no water power 

 for the wheels of manufactories. Louisi- 

 ana must therefore remain for a long time 

 as an agricultural state. Of her 28,000,- 

 000 acres, not quite 3,000,000 are in culti- 

 vation. Upon these acres there were 

 grown last year products valued at some 

 5^75,000,000, distributed as follows: 



Sugar $35,000,000 



Oottou 21,000,000 



Rice 3,000,000 



Fruits and vegetables 2,000,000 



Corn, oats and hay 10,000,000 



Oranges 1,000,000 



Live stock and other products. 3,000,000 

 From these figures very interesting and 

 instructive deductions might be drawn of 

 the per capita distribution of money re- 

 sulting from the value of agricultural 

 products alone. 



All of her uplands can be cultivated 

 under scientific methods, and be made 

 to yield profitable returns. This has been 

 demonstrateil by the settlements made on 

 the Illinois Central Railroad, in the piny 

 woods of east Louisiana, and on the 

 Southern Pacific, in the prairies of south- 

 western Louisiana. A thrifty, industrious 

 and intelligent yeomanry from the north- 

 west has converted these lands into pros- 

 perous village farms, profitable to the 

 owners, to the parishes in which they 

 are located, and to the state. 



After our present levee system has been 

 perfected, much of our alluvia! lands, by 

 proper drainage, can be reclaimed, adding 

 to our present arable area thousands of 

 acres of the most fertile land on the 

 jlobe. To improve the land now occupied, 

 by introducing the best systems, rotation 

 of crops, preparation, cultivation and 

 fertilization of the soil, is the present 

 duty of our state. Simultaneous with 

 this development must come at an early 

 day a large demand for unimproved lands 

 by the inhabitants of the colder regions 

 of the north. 



To the thoughtful students of Louisi- 

 ana's resources, as well as to the true 

 patriotic citizen striving for the future 

 welfare of his state, it is apparent that 

 every effort must be made by the state 

 to develo[) our rural interests along the 

 lines of the most advanced agricultural 

 teaching. 



Louisiana is situated between the par- 

 allels of 28 degrees 5(> minutes aud :>3 

 degrees north latitude, and the meridians 

 of 89 degrees and 94 degrees west longi- 

 tude. The Mississippi river splits it in 

 twain, with far the larger portion, aljout 

 37,000 square miles, upon it.s western 

 banks. Exclusive of lakes and bays, it has 

 '15,440 square miles of territory, of wiiicli 

 about 20,000 are of alluvial origin and the 

 rest are uplands of varying character. 

 In north Louisiana the hills attain to the 

 height of 500 feet, and from this height 

 may be found every altitude, until 'we 

 reach the sky-skirting prairies of the 

 southwest, where the general topograiiliv 

 is only 30 to 50 feet above the sea level. 



CLIMATE. 

 Its proximity, to the gulf of Mexico se- 

 cures a prevalence of southern winds. 

 cool and moisture laden, which mitigate 

 the extremes of weather, experienced bv 

 states to the north. Though our summers 

 are prolonged, the heat is never oppress- 

 ■ ive, the thermometer rarely reaching;- 95 

 degrees. In carefully kept records of" the 

 three experiment stations for the past 

 eight years, 98 degrees has been the hii;h- 

 est recorded temperature at New Or- 

 leans, 99 degrees at Baton Rouge aud 100 

 degrees at Calhoun, in the extreme north- 

 ern portion of the state. These maximums 

 have been rarely reached, not oftener 

 than one or two days in a summer. The 

 winters are usually mild, with an aver- 

 age temperature of about 53 degrees in 

 the southern, and about 45 degrees in the 

 northern part of the state. Occasionallv 

 the tail end of a northwest blizzard, 

 which has spent its greatest violence in 

 more northern regions, reaches this state 

 and remains for a few days to destroy 

 tender vegetation and chill its inhabit- 

 ants. These visits are not frequent, rarely 

 occurring more than once or twice in a 

 season. They are, however, so destructive 

 as to force the culture of tropical fruit 

 (oranges, etc.) to the immediate sectiou 

 bordering on the gulf. In 1880. during the 

 prevalence of one of these blizzards, the 

 temperature at New Orleans fell to 17 

 degrees Fahrenheit, the lowest ever 

 known. Since that time 20 degrees has 

 been the minimum attained. But for these 

 occasional blizzards tropical fruits could 

 be grown over most of the state and or- 

 dinary summer vegetables raised the year 

 round. 



RAINFALL. 

 The average yearly rainfall at New Or- 

 leans is about 70 inches, decreasing in 

 quantity as one goes northward, with 45 

 inches as an average in the extreme 

 northern portion. The heaviest showers 

 fall in summer during the growing sea- 

 son. Winter comes next in its quantity 

 of rainfall, while our springs and au- 

 tumns are our dry seasons, with only oc- 

 casional showers. Such seasons are con- 

 ducive to the welfare of our stai)le crops, 

 cotton, sugar cane and rice: dry sprinirs, 

 permitting a successful planting and cul- 

 tivation of these crops aud dry autumns. 



