LETTERS FROM THE SOUTH.-NO. 9. 
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LETTERS FROM THE SOUTH.—No. 9. 
Attakapas, pronounced Tuck-a-paw, is a 
county comprising four parishes of Louisiana, bor¬ 
dering Bayou Teche and some of the smaller navi¬ 
gable streams and lakes of this part of the state. It 
is beyond all question the finest sugar region of this 
country; for while the soil is equal to any other, 
most of it now under cultivation is so elevated as 
to be entirely independent of the necessity for em¬ 
bankments on the river, and its security from frosts 
renders the cane a much more certain crop here than 
in any other section of the state. 
The usual course in reaching it, is by ascending 
the Mississippi, 110 miles to*»Bayou Plaquemine. 
This is entered on the right bank of the river by an 
outlet so much choked up by logs and drift as not 
to exceed 70 or 80 feet in width, though within, it 
is some 200 to 300 feet wide. It is only 10 miles 
long, and at its lower extremity debouches into the 
Atchafalaya, pronounced Chaf-a-lay-a. It is en¬ 
tirely dry at the ebb of the river, but at high water 
it rushes with fearful impetuosity through its brief 
but headlong course, nearly reaching tide-water in 
12 miles, which the Mississippi runs 200 miles to 
meet. 
The river into which it empties, Atchafalaya 
(Chaf-a-lay-a), has an outlet from the Mississippi 
more than 100 miles higher up, and another from 
the Red River long before it mingles its waters with 
the parent stream. In our course, we passed 
through numerous small lakes; Grand lake, 30 
miles long by 8 wide; and innumerable subdivisions 
of these ever-varying water courses, that hold di¬ 
vided empire with the land in this amphibious re¬ 
gion. 
Much of the country through which we passed, 
is too low for profitable cultivation, without the 
construction of embankments on all sides, and the 
use of the draining wheel; but wherever the eleva¬ 
tion permits, clearings have been commenced, and 
the cane is rearing its luxuriant head where the 
cypress, the live oak, and other forest-trees have 
hitherto held universal sway. 
Berwick’s Bay is a beautiful expansion of water 
of a few miles in length, and here is the first in¬ 
stance in the delta of the Mississippi, that I found 
the land permanently elevated above the surround¬ 
ing water. It is from 5 to 8 feet above the water 
on this bay, and Bayou Boeuf, which is probably 
the most beautiful of the lower bayous. It is some 
10 miles long, 400 feet wide, with straight or gen¬ 
tly varying banks, beautifully dotted, or sometimes 
closely lined with the live oak. Here, indeed, is 
the great live oak region of the South, and it is here 
and on-the Teche, the Vermillion, and near the 
Gulf coast, that immense quantities have been taken 
within a few years for our Navy and merchantmen. 
The late Judge Porter asserts, that there is here 
enough oak to sustain a fleet for the world; but the 
recent encroachments on this fine timber have con¬ 
clusively shown that no treasury is exhaustless, 
that is sufficiently rich to tempt American cupidity. 
From the lower extremity of our cruise, which 
led us within a few miles of the Gulf, we returned 
through Atchafalaya, 10 miles, thence into the 
Teche, which we ascended 20 miles to this place. 
This stream is still unlike any other before coming 
under my notice here. It is about 300 feet wide, 
and the banks gently ascend from the water’s ed°-e 
for some 30 or 40 rods, when they attain the high¬ 
est elevation, some 25 feet above the water. They 
again almost insensibly decline from this ridge, till 
| they reach the low banks of the Grand Lake and 
other adjoining waters from the left side, and the 
tide-water marshes of the Vermillion, Cote Blanche, 
and other bays on the right. The formation of 
these banks, differing so much from any other part 
of the delta, induces me to believe that the whole 
space between the ridges or highest ..point of these 
banks, once constituted an immense, and perhaps a 
main outlet of the Mississippi, from which, the 
waters overrunning their brims, gradually filled up 
the wide and fertile banks that are now. the object 
of cultivation. The gradual working of the main 
stream to the eastward, led the principal channel in 
another direction, while the former occasional out¬ 
breaks or overflows of the Red River have since filled 
up the channel and sloped down the banks with 
that peculiar red earth, from *which the river de¬ 
rives its name. 
There are numerous fine plantations on both 
sides of the bayou, and nowhere in the state' is it 
believed that more skill has directed, or greater 
success has attended the culture of the cane than 
here. This country, though comparatively new, 
produced in 1846, 37,144 hhds. of sugar of 1000 
lbs. each. 
The mode of planting is nearly the same here as 
elsewhere ; yet great diversity everywhere prevails 
in its cultivation. Planters are often varying their 
own systems. From the close-row planting of for¬ 
mer times, within 3 or 4 feet, some have gone to 
an opposite extreme of 10, 12, and even 15 feet. 
Between these extreme widths, corn is planted and 
gathered early, when the tall cane-stalks fall to¬ 
wards each other and form a spacious arch for the 
free admission of sun and air. But in general, the 
distance of 6 to 8 feet is observed, with 3 or 4 par¬ 
allel seed-stalks in each row. 
The prairies which extend over a large portion 
of Southwestern Louisiana, show themselves in 
scattered patches on the lower parts of the Teche, 
and though luxuriant sugar-lands, they are said to 
produce abundantly from plant-cane only. Many 
of the planters assure me, that through much of this 
region, those best study their interests who annu¬ 
ally renew the plant over their entire fields. This 
is a large deduction from the available product, as 
it requires for replanting about one-sixth of the crop 
besides the labor. 
The question of future seed is already exciting 
some attention ; for while some contend that there 
is no deterioration in the cane, others affirm it, and 
confidently look forward to the time when they 
must renew the plant by fresh importations from 
abroad, and if possible from recent seedlings. A few 
enterprising planters have introduced some new 
specimens from Jamaica and other islands, 
among which may be mentioned the-—-■ 
and the red-cane cultivated here to some extent. 
But hitherto the ribbon has maintained its decided 
superiority over all others. Besides the probable 
future destruction of the plant, the history of all ag¬ 
riculture teaches us to expect, that disease or insect- 
enemies may hereafter make serious inroads upon a 
crop, that unabatedly and without scarcely any 
