SUGAR-PLANTATIONS IN LOUISIANA-SURFACE AND WHEEL-DRAINING. 
173 
monium, &c., are most readily extirpated by repeat¬ 
edly hoeing or raking over the surface of the 
ground, so as to expose their roots to the influence 
of a hot sun. The main point, in all kinds of 
weeds, is to prevent them from running to seed. 
All nooks and corners about buildings, as well as 
paths and gravel walks, may be kept perfectly free 
from weeds by strewing. upon the surface of the 
soil a layer of common salt, or a combination of 
fifteen parts of sulphur with one part of lime. 
SUGAR-PLANTATIONS IN LOUISIANA— 
SURFACE AND WHEEL-DRAINING. 
Owing to the peculiar formation of the land in 
this region, before adverted to, all the plantations 
front upon the water. Here it is, that the surface 
is almost invariably highest, descending with a 
scarcely perceptible inclination to marshes, swamps 
or lakes in the rear. Occasionally, ridges-of land 
of equal height with those bordering upon the 
water, and probably once the banks of the river 
or adjoining bayou, extend over the rear of the 
plantation. Additional elevation is required in 
front, to protect the land from the overflow of high 
water. This is provided for by embankments of 
earth or levees, from three or four, to eight feet 
in height, and sometimes even more. Immedi¬ 
ately in the rear of this, is the public road, which 
being artificially raised, and well ditched on one 
side at least, affords good travelling at all seasons, 
except when excessively wet. 
The dwelling houses usually border upon the road. 
That of the proprietor occupies nearly the centre of 
the front, and is generally a plain, and economical, 
yet tasteful building, of two stories, with balconies 
extending on four sides, protected by a projecting 
roof, which is supported by light pillars. Sometimes 
there are two or more of nearly similar construc¬ 
tion, for the accommodation of additional families, 
the use of overseers, &c. The tenements of the 
laborers are within a few rods of these, and arrang¬ 
ed with more or less taste and regularity, in double 
rows, on opposite sides of an area, fifty to eighty 
feet wide, and ten to forty feet apart. Tlie sugar- 
house, which includes the engine, boilers, kettles, 
vats,and store-rooms, is placed some distance in the 
rear, as are also the stables, sheds, blacksmiths’ and 
joiners’ shops. These are generally painted or 
covered with white-wash; and the elevated chim¬ 
neys for the boilers, the imposing architecture of 
the sugar-house, with the group of trees, shrubbery, 
and gardens, around the main dwelling, give, at a 
little distance, the pleasing effect of a tasteful ham¬ 
let or villa. 
The first thing required, throughout this entire 
deltal formation, after clearing off the native growth 
of wood*, is the excavation of numerous large 
ditches. In front, is the heavy breast-work of 
earth, four or five feet high, and five to ten wide at 
the fop ; then, the road, some two feet above the na¬ 
tural level, flanked by a deep ditch, adjoining which 
is the fence. Leading ditches, as they are termed, 
about four feet deep, extend at right angles with 
the front, and parallel with each other at a distance 
of 150 to 200 feet (according to the nature of the 
ground, and the ideas of the proprietor), through¬ 
out the whole length of the cultivated land, from 
2,500 to 6,000 feet. These are intersected by cross¬ 
ditches of the same size, at intervals of 1,000 or 
1,500 feet; and between these, smaller temporary 
ones are excavated and kept open-by the plow and 
hoe. By the side of the larger ditches, roads are 
thrown up, wherever required for convenient access- 
to every part of the grounds. 
The plantations are generally large, comprising 
300 to 1,000 acres of tillable land, with an equal 
or larger quantity of swamp in the rear ; which be¬ 
ing more or less covered “with wood, yields fuel for 
the engines and kettles, and timber for the general 
wants of the plantation. Of the 1,240 sugar plan¬ 
tations, now cultivated, or about to be opened in the 
State, 630 manufacture the sugar by steam-power, 
and 610 by mules or oxen. The former cost, with 
their entire fixtures, from $*5,000 to $50,000, ac¬ 
cording to their extent, and the refinement of the 
operations; the latter amount being required only 
where the vacuum pans and the refining process 
have been introduced on an extensive scale, for the 
manufacture of a superior quality of sugar. It will 
be seen that a very large capital is necessary for 
organizing a good plantation ; and including the 
land, clearing, embankments, ditches, roads, dwel¬ 
lings, sugar-house, machinery and fixtures, teams, 
implements, force, seed, supplies, &c., complete, it 
requires from $150 to $300 per acre for the tillable 
land. Plantations frequently change hands at from 
$100,000 to over $200,000 each; and where well 
managed, they pay an interest of from 5 to 10, and 
sometimes a greater per cent, per annum on the ca¬ 
pital employed. It is stated on some respectable 
authority, that while farming lands in other parts ol 
the union pay an average of 3 per cent, on the in¬ 
vested capital, 4 per cent, is realized in Louisiana. 
Like cotton, sugar is a production of compara¬ 
tively recent date in this country. The cane was 
first cultivated in what is now the second munici¬ 
pality of New Orleans, as early as 1726, but its 
manufacture into sugar was not begun till aftei 
1760. In 1796, the second sugar-house was erect¬ 
ed in this State, in what is now Carrolton, six miles 
above the city ; and so late as 1818, the entire crop 
of the State amounted to but 25,000 hogsheads. 
Steam-power was first introduced in 1822, and since 
that period, this interest has been rapidly extending, 
till it reached a total product in 1845, of 207,337 
hogsheads, of 1,000 lbs. each, and about 9,000,- 
000 gallons molasses. It is probably, at the present 
moment, the most profitable agricultural pursuit in 
the United States, and with every prospect of con¬ 
tinuing so for a long time to come. The consump¬ 
tion in the United States is now over 40 per cent 
greater than our total products, and from our in¬ 
creasing prosperity and wealth, it is augmenting 
much beyond the ratio of our population. When 
our own wants .are fully supplied, there is nothing 
to prevent our entering uppn a successf ul competi¬ 
tion with the foreign article in European parts, as we 
have heretofore done in cotton, grain, beef, pork, 
lard, and the products of the dairy. 
The introduction of the ribbon cane into this 
State from Georgia, in 1817, by giving a hardier 
variety than, the Creole and Otaheite, before used, 
has enabled the planters to extend its successful cul¬ 
tivation greatly beyond the region originally sup¬ 
posed to be suited to it. And it does not admit of a 
doubt, that when all the land in the Gulf States, 
