LOUISIANA. 



325 



The cotton plant grows 6 feet high, with stalks as large as a man's arm. It bears large, yel 

 lowish blossoms ; and a cotton-field in flower, has a very brilliant appearance. The cotton is 

 formed upon the cup of the flower, and is the down which envelopes the seed. The planting 

 is performed in drill-rows, 6 feet apart ; the growth is thinned to a proper quantity, and is kept 

 perfectly clear of weeds. The cotton is picked from time to time, as the pods open. It is 

 passed through a gin, which detaches it from the seeds, and is then packed in bales. The cot- 

 ton crop of Louisiana, is about 210,000 bales. Maize is cultivated to a considerable extent, 

 and the sweet potato grows in the sandy soil to the utmost perfection. Rice yields abundantly, 

 but the cultivation of indigo is nearly abandoned. Oranges of the finest quality are produced 

 here, but the trees are often killed by the frost. Agriculture as a science is in its infancy, and 

 the labor is performed by slaves. 



G. Commerce. All the commerce of the State centres at New Orleans. It is chiefly trans- 

 acted by vessels belonging to northern and foreign ports. The shipping of the State amounts 

 to 92,000 tons, of which about 56,000 are in steamers. The annual value of imports, is about 

 12,000,000 dollars ; the exports of domestic produce, 26,000,000 dollars ; total exports, 

 30,000,000 dollars ; these consist of all the agricultural and manufactured products of the val- 

 ley of the Mississippi, but the chief articles are sugar, cotton, tobacco, pork, and flour. 



7. Government. The legislature is called the General Assembly, and consists of a Senate 

 and House of Representatives. The senators are chosen for 4 years, and half the number are 

 renewed every second year. The representatives are chosen for 2 years. The governor is 

 chosen by a joint vote of the two Houses, and must be taken from the two highest previously bal- 

 loted for by the people. Plis term of office is 4 years, and he is ineligible for the succeeding 

 term. The clergy are excluded from office. The right of suffrage depends upon the payment 

 of taxes. Louisiana sends 3 representatives to Congress. 



8. Religion. The Catholics are the prevailing sect, and their ecclesiastical divisions, ex- 

 tending over the State, comprise above 20 parishes, most of which have priests. But the 

 Baptists, Presbyterians, Methodists, and Episcopalians, are numerous. 



9. Education. There are three colleges in the State ; Louisiana College^ at Jackson , 

 Jefferson College, in St. James ; and Franklin College, at Opelousas. There is also a med- 

 ical college in New Orleans ; and 40,000 dollars are annually appropriated by the legislature for 

 the education of the poor. 



10. Population. 





Whites. 



Slaves. 



Free Colored. 



Total Pop, 



1810 

 1820 . 

 1830 

 1840 



34,311 

 73,383 

 89,441 



34,660 

 69,064 

 109,.588 



7,585 

 10,960 

 16,710 



70,556 

 153,407 

 215,739 



11. History. The Mississippi was discovered in 1673, by two French missionaries, named 

 Marquette and Joliette, who proceeded from Quebec by the way of the lakes to the Missis- 

 sippi, and down the stream to the mouth of the Arkansas. A few years afterwards, the coun- 

 try was further explored by La Salle, and named Louisiana, from Louis the Fourteenth. A 

 settlement was attempted by him in 1684, at the bay of St. Bernard, on the Gulf of Mexico, 

 about J 00 leagues west of the Balize or mouth of the INIississippi. The first permanent settle- 

 ment was at the bay of Biloxi, in 1698, within the present limits of the State of Mississippi. 

 The next year, a fort was built on the Mississippi, about 50 miles above its mouth. In 1722, 

 New Orleans was founded by Bienville, the commandant of the colony. Two years at'terward, 

 500 negro slaves were imported from Guinea. About this time, the patent of the colony passed 

 nto the hands of the Mississippi Company, in France, and was made instrumental in promoting 

 the celebrated stock-jobbing bubble of John Law. At the treaty of peace, in 1763, Louisiana 

 was ceded to Spain, and it was taken possession of by that power in 1769. In 1800, it was 

 ceded to France. In 1803, it was purchased by the United States, from the French republic, 

 for 15,000,000 dollars. The territory thus acquired, included all the possessions of the United 

 States west of the Mississippi, of which the present State of Louisiana forms but a small por 

 tion. The remainder constitutes the States of Arkansas and Missouri, the Territory of Iowa, 

 and the vast regions west of these divisions. In 1812, Louisiana, as defined by its present 

 limits, was admitted into the Union as a State The constitution was formed the rams year 



