ft 



the taste. It continues ripening up to frost. As the climate of 

 Louisiana is almost everywhere favorable to the growth of this 

 valuable fruit tree, it ought to be extensively planted. It should be 

 ael «>ut where it is sheltered from the direct rays of the midday's 

 sun. On the upper Atchafalaya, where it approaches lted river, the 

 bunks rise in many places to a considerable height, where the red 

 sandy loam of the Teche becomes exposed; but when the banks are 

 b on one side of the river, they are correspondingly low and 

 swampy on ^ e other, and are under water even during the dry 

 B< a son of summer. 



Opelousas is perhaps the oldest town in the State. It was origin- 

 ally a military post, and has grown up from a few straggling houses 

 to its pre-ent dimensions, which are quite respectable, considering 

 that it has no railroad communication, and no navigable stream 

 nearer than six miles. The private residences are old, and time has 

 marked them with its smutty fingers. The courthouse, which ought 

 to be a building of some note, in a parish of the intelligence and 

 1th of St. Landry, is a dilapidated concern, fit only to be torn 

 down to construct a building of some taste and pretensions in its 

 place. 



Washington is a place newly built up, and exhibits much life and 

 energy. It is of considerable commercial importance, for this is the 

 connecting point between New Orleans and every part of the parish 

 of St. Landry and a portion of the surrounding parishes. 



PORT HUDSON AND CLINTON, EAST FELICIANA. 



My botanical collections in St. Landry were extensive, not in the 

 prairies, but in the pine woods, and that part of the parish where 

 the red sandy loam prevails. Finding the prairies during summer 

 an unfavorable field for botanizing, I did not extend my excursions 

 to Calcasieu and other prairie regions, which must be visited in 

 spring or early summer, in order to obtain specimens of their char- 

 acteristic vegetation. I, therefore, determined to close up my 

 botanical tour by stopping, on my way to Baton Rouge, at Port 

 Hudson and Clinton, in East Feliciana. 



Port Hudson, as a town, presents nothing that is attractive, except 

 its tine view up the river, and its historical renown as one of the 

 strongholds in the late war. The fortifications, which are nearly 



