28 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES 
two or three weeks after planting and soon grows to 8 to 12 inches, 
when it is flooded until practically mature. 
The extensive cultivation of rice in this region is relatively modern, 
dating back to 1894 and 1895, when the first large pumps were intro- 
duced near Crowley. The early Acadians planted small areas of rice 
along the lowlands and in various dammed areas, but the drainage 
of all these tracts was difficult in wet weather, and the crops failed 
in dry years. 
From Crowley a railroad runs north, serving the rice country as far 
as Alexandria. 
Just west of Estherwood a wide ditch is crossed which carries 
aici water for the irrigation of the extensive rice fields 
Elevation 19% feet, 22 the neighborhood. Most of the prairie land is 
Population 40.* utilized for this crop, but narrow wooded strips 
New Orleans 173miles- romain along the streams. 
At Midland are branch railroads, one going north to Eunice and 
Mamou and the other south to Gueydan and Abbeville. The old 
village of Mermentau, with a quaint ancient grave- 
Midland. yard on its main street, is built on the east bank of 
Elevation 18 feet. § the Mermentau River. This stream, resulting from 
Population 80.* 
New Orleans 176 miles, the confluence of Bayou des Cannes and Bayou 
Nezpique, is bordered by swamps in which many 
cypress trees remain with their festoons of Spanish moss. It empties 
into Lake Arthur, 15 miles south, a famous resort for hunting ducks 
Siete and geese and for fishing. There is a local tradition 
eecke ek that the vessels of the pirate Lafitte (see p. 13) 
Population 394. made a practice of ascending this river to sell stolen © 
New Orleans 181 miles. slaves. 
Jennings, the parish seat of Jefferson Davis Parish, is a local 
headquarters for rice and other agricultural products. Therice crop in 
this parish was 4,717,628 bushels in 1929, according to 
Jennings. the census returns, which showed also 182,439 bushels 
viene soam of corn and 4,185 bales of cotton. A very special 
te ton allen. industry is the extensive cultivation of Bermuda or 
Easter lilies, which are shipped from this place all 
over the United States. The pretty town is built on a low, flat 
ridge between the valleys of the Mermentau River and Bayou Chene, 
in a region of wide prairies with many rice fields. 
Five miles northeast of Jennings is the productive Jennings oil 
field, which obtains petroleum from a sharp local doming of the 
strata. The derricks are not visible from trains owing to timber 
along Bayou Nezpique. They are shown in Plate 5, A. This field 
has been described by Barton and Goodrich. It was one of the 
earliest oil developments on the Gulf coast, having given its first 
_ Manifestation of oil eight months after the strike at.Spindletop in 
_ 1901. In 1906 the field had a production of more than 9,000,000 
