8 



the orchard would thrive with a vigor unsurpassed by any other 

 climate; a State that possesses such invaluable natural advantage*, 

 should be foremost in science and literature, and in institutions, 

 created and designed for the diffusion of useful knowledge. It 

 should strive to become the modern Greece of America for learning 

 and refinement; and the Italy of the western continent for its in- 

 exhaustible fertility, and the neatness, beauty and high culture of 

 its farms and plantations. 



I trust I may be pardoned for this ardor in the cause of civiliza- 

 tion, but I feel a deep interest in the State of Louisiana. I know 

 her people to be a peculiar people; they, like the Virginians, still 

 retain some State pride, they never call themselves by the indefinite 

 and vague name of Americans, but they are Louisianians in manners, 

 sentiments and feelings. They combine the disinterestedness and 

 humane sympathies of the French and Spaniard with the chivalric 

 bearing and the practical sense of the Englishman. I know what 

 civilization ought to expect of them; and I equally know that they 

 can and will accomplish the high destiny reserved for them, which 

 will fill a noble page in the world's history. 



SOIL OF LOUISIANA, DIVIDED INTO CLASSES. 



The alluvial lands of Louisiana, protected by an effectual levee 

 system, would present the most magnificent agricultural domain 

 that can be found anywhere within the limits of the same extent of 

 country. 



The object which I had in view in traveling through the State 

 enabled me only to visit about eight or nine parishes. But I was 

 struck with astonishment at the inexhaustless fertility of the soil 

 extending over such a vast area, as I was passing in my excursions 

 through the alluvial and marsh prairie regions of the Red river, the 

 Mississippi, Bayou Barataiia, the Atcha'alaya#and the Teche, com- 

 prising millions of acres of the most fertile and most productive 

 lands. The alluvial lands below Red river are estimated at 7,860,000 

 acres, which, if cultivated, would be capable of supporting a popu- 

 lation of ten millions of people, in addition to the fertile lands in 

 the interior, not subject to ovei flows and requiring no protection. 



The soil of Louisiana, scientifically considered, may be divided 

 into the following classes: 



