336 
LETTERS FROM THE SOUTH.-NO. 12. 
never be placed where it is intended to serve as a 
screen. The most striking situation in w r hich it 
can be placed, is when standing alone on a lawn. 
The June-Berry, or Shad-blow , is occasionally to 
be met with, in gardens and collections, where it is 
much esteemed, in early spring, for its profusion of 
flowers, and in autumn, for the fine dark-red as¬ 
sumed by its leaves. Adding to these properties, 
its limited growth, agreeable fruit, which is eagerly 
sought after by numerous species of frugivorous 
birds, and its peculiar adaptation to the climate of 
almost every part of the territory of the United 
States, it well deserves a place in every garden and 
lawn. 
The Osage Orange (Maclura), from its great re¬ 
semblance to the common orange, its beautiful 
shining foliage, which it retains longer than almost 
any deciduous tree, and from its fine, large, golden 
fruit, is universally admired wherever it will grow. 
It is perfectly hardy in every State in the Union, 
south of Massachusetts, is free from the attacks of 
insects, and is unsurpassed for hedges by no other 
tree. 
To the fore-mentioned trees, might be added the 
American holly, and several species of the pine and 
fir tribes; but as the cultivation of evergreens, in 
themselves, would form the subject of a long essay, 
as also would our native nuciferous and fruit-bear¬ 
ing trees, as well as our flowering shrubs, they have 
been necessarily omitted to give place to the re¬ 
marks on the injudicious selection and improper man¬ 
ner of treating the shade-trees of some of our cities 
and larger towns.— Trans, of N. Y. State Ag. Soc. 
LETTERS FROM THE SOUTH.—No. 12. 
No country of equal extent on the face of the 
globe seems to possess such a prodigal affluence, 
such an unstinted measure of agricultural wealth as 
the alluvial portions of Louisiana. With an area 
of aeltal formation of thousands of square miles, 
which no combinations of earth or organic mate¬ 
rials, for the highest production of vegetable fer¬ 
tility, ever surpassed; with wide-spread luxuriant 
prairies and rolling productive uplands, every acre 
of this State seems teeming with the elements of 
vegetation, the foundation of future wealth, and the 
sustenance of future millions. And every section 
of it is accessible within a convenient distance, by 
navigable waters, or admits of the easy construction 
of roads. Even the waters which pervade and bor¬ 
der the State, would furnish sufficient food for a 
population larger than now inhabits it. With a 
climate generally mild and healthful, and with such 
redundancy of resources for the support of life and 
the acquisition of wealth, it would seem almost 
superfluous to suggest the means or the motives for 
the attainment of either. Actual want or suffering 
under such circumstances cannot exist, but that ab¬ 
sence of individual prosperity is often to be found, 
that creates a morbid restlessness under present exi¬ 
gencies, and induces efforts for its alleviation in the 
removal to some fancied El Dorado in the yet un¬ 
explored wilderness. Such would do well to con¬ 
sider that there is scarcely an acre either of land or 
water, in Louisiana, that cannot be put to some pro¬ 
fitable use, and that, too, near a market whose com¬ 
merce, reaching to every part of the habitable globe, 
renders surfeits or over supply absolutely impossi¬ 
ble. Let us consider these products somewhat in 
detail. 
Sugar may be assumed as the leading staple of 
the State at the present moment. In 1845, there 
were produced here from nine hundred and fifty- 
five sugar-mills, 207,337,000 lbs. of sugar, and 
about 9,330,000 gallons of molasses, amounting 
together to near $15,000,000. It is estimated 
there will be during the present year, 1,240 mills, 
which, at the same ratio, will carry production up 
to about $19,000,000 in this article alone. Acci¬ 
dents, mismanagement, and unforeseen casualties 
from the elements and the season, will probably 
lessen the quantity ; yet it is certainly within rea¬ 
son to assert, that scientific and careful cultivation, 
the.use of better machinery, the general application 
of well established chemical principles in the manu¬ 
facture of the cane, would swell the amount far be¬ 
yond the assumed maximum. 
The extension of cane-cultivation is undoubtedly 
advancing more rapidly at the present moment than 
at any former period. Each succeeding year wit¬ 
nesses its extension over new territory. It is descend¬ 
ing on both banks of the river nearly to its mouth; 
it is climbing still higher on the main stream and 
its tributaries, and it is fast occupying every one of 
its innumerable bayous or outlets; while more 
thorough ditching, and especially the adoption of 
draining-wheels, is rapidly bringing into use larger 
portions'of tillable land in the rear, and making all 
far more productive. The last we conceive to be 
one of the most efficient means for reclaiming vast 
bodies of land for the future cultivation of the cane. 
Still further means for the augmentation of the crop 
are to be found in much deeper and more thorough 
plowing ; the use of the subsoil-plow; manuring with 
the bagasse and trash buried between the furrows; 
and a proper rotation with the cow-pea or other 
green or vegetable fertilizers. 
Cotton may be ranked next in the order of the 
staples of this state. But a few years since this 
was the leading product; but while it has beA re¬ 
claiming new territory and advancing in quantity, 
in much of the old, the greater profit afforded by the 
cane has enabled the latter to usurp many of the 
plantations hitherto exclusively devoted to the for¬ 
mer. In the cultivation of this leading export of 
America, much improvement has been witnessed 
within the few past years ; and although excessive 
rain or drought, the army-worm or caterpillar, 
blight, mildew, or rust, occasionally disappoints the 
hopes of the planter, yet a closer study of the habits 
and diseases of the plant, a careful selection of 
seed, the introduction of new and improved varie¬ 
ties, and a nicer and more careful cultivation, 
are all aiding to swell the aggregate-of the cot¬ 
ton-fields. 
Maize, or Indian corn, ranks next among the 
products of the State, though what is raised within 
it, enters to a small extent only in the exchanges of 
commerce. It is generally consumed on the plan¬ 
tations where it is produced, and its value is ab¬ 
sorbed to swell the exports of the two former sta¬ 
ples. If viewed, however, as it is, as an article of 
luxury to the planter and an indispensable article of 
food for the laborer, the working animals, swine, 
and poultry, it assumes a vast importance among 
the leading objects of attention, and much beyond 
