AGRICULTURAL TOUR SOUTH AND WEST.-NO. 6. 
177 
AGRICULTURAL TOUR SOUTH AND WEST.-No. 6. | 
The Ormond Plantation. —This is the name of, 
the Messrs. McCatchon’s place. It is the custom ! 
of the country, in Louisiana, to give every plan- j 
tation a name, as the country here is only divided 
off into parishes, which are equivalent to counties 
at the north ; while the smaller subdivisions are 
known as points, bends, bayous, and by the names 
of the plantations. Ormond Plantation is among the 
oldest sugar estates in Louisiana, having been plant¬ 
ed in cane upwards of forty years, by the father 
of this family, and two or three years before, by 
his brother-in-law, Mr. Butler, previous to which 
a little opening had been made by a Frenchman, 
who raised a little cotton, indigo, rke and corn. 
Part of the present mansion is the old house, near 
a hundred years old. Mr. Butler erected a horse 
mill, (a portion of the building is still in use,) 
which the late Mr. McCatchon used about twenty 
years, when he had the present engine and mill 
put up, and enlarged his sugar house to suit the 
necessities of the increasing crop. 
The place now contains 1,600 arpents, (about 
one seventh less than the English and American 
acre,) of land, 850 of which is in cultivation, and 
from which this family have made 120,000 hogs¬ 
heads of sugar, and an average of 50 gallons of 
molasses to each hogshead ; that is, 200,000 bar¬ 
rels, or six million of gallons, a sea of treacle suf¬ 
ficient to supply all New England with thanks¬ 
giving pumpkin pies, at least one year : and then 
have enough to furnish gingerbread for all the 
“ muster days” besides. The last crop upon the 
place was about 550 hogsheads. (In all my state¬ 
ments I shall consider the hogshead 1,000 lbs., 
that being the understood weight of a commercial 
hogshead of sugar.) When I was there at Christ¬ 
mas, they had not finished making, and the cane 
from old land was yielding two hogsheads to the 
acre, or rather arpents, as the terms are promiscu¬ 
ously applied, but always mean the latter. This 
good 3 T ield they attribute to subsoil plowing, which 
Mr. James McCatchon told me was worth thou¬ 
sands of dollars a year to them. Another thing, 
they never burn trash , (cane tops and leaves,) but 
plow all in and let it rot. 
To give some idea of the enormous amount of 
ditching upon a sugar plantation, I will state some 
items. There are upon this place near 100 miles 
of leading and cross ditches. The water of these 
is taken up by three leading canals, some three 
miles long, and large enough for a considerable 
boat, that lead the water back through the swamp 
to a bayou, and thence into Amite River and Lake 
Maurepas. Then, there is the levee and public 
road, a mile and a half long, with a ditch on each 
side, and about 25 miles of plantation roads and 
two hundred bridges, all to be kept in order. The 
leading ditches, running from the levee in straight 
lines back to the swamp, are about three feet deep, 
and 80 to 100 feet apart, and all have to be cleaned 
out once or twice a year. The cross ditches are 
not so deep nor so near together. If you should 
object to the amount of ground taken up by roads 
and ditches, you will be told that it is no loss to 
the cane crop, as it needs the circulation of the air 
that these spaces give. The roads are ditched on 
each side and handsomely graded, and when smooth 
and dry, form most delightful drives. The ground 
occupied by roads is not lost for a crop. Upon 
many of them, as soon after the “ rolling season” 
is over, as they can be smoothed off and ditches 
cleaned out, a crop of oats is sown, which are 
mowed for hay, and afterwards a crop of crab grass 
is harvested upon all the roads, ditch banks, and 
open spots, which makes very good hay, a large 
quantity of which is required, although there is 
really little or no winter to prevent cultivated 
grasses from growing ; yet, they are not growing, 
because, as it is said, the summer sun kills them. 
The only winter grass of any consequence in the 
fore part of the winter months is white clover ; 
and the only pasture land is the levee, road, and 
“batture” in front. In some places “batture” is very 
extensive; and when not covered with high water, 
is very valuable for pasturage. Upon some plan¬ 
tations a fair portion of .land is devoted to pasture 
ground, while upon others they can’t affort it; and 
so the whole stock must be fed with hay or fod¬ 
der, (corn blades,) and corn. This is why the 
consumption of corn will appear so enormous in 
some of the statements that I shall give by and by. 
There are upon this place 190 negroes, old and 
young, about half of which are counted as “ field 
hands.” The team is 60 mules and 40 yoke of 
oxen, though the latter are but little used except 
to haul wood out of the swamp ; and there, too, 
they get a good portion of their Jiving. Some six 
or eight family horses are also kept. There are 
in use, 40 carts, wagons, and drays. Some of the 
carts are enormous vehicles of the kind, though no 
more so than is common elsewhere. Some work 
them with three mules abreast, which is most com¬ 
mon ; but here they are worked with one in the 
shafts and two ahead. The wheels are often six 
feet high, and stronger and heavier made than New- 
England ox carts. 
The wagons are equally strong, with beds made 
to hold 100 bushels, and to tip out the loads. 
This brings an undue weight upon the hind wheels, 
which is very great when full loaded with 
cane, and very injurious to bridges and roads. The 
plan of setting the beds upon the railroad plan, so 
as to sit fair and equal upon fore and hind wheels, 
and shove back to tilt, would obviate this trouble. 
The number of plows of all kinds upon this 
place, is too great to keep count of. It is common 
to plow with four to six stout mules, and then fol¬ 
low with the subsoil plow. It is the intention 
of the Messrs. McCatchon to subsoil all the land 
planted in cane;-and they often run a smaller sub¬ 
soil plow upon each side of the u rattoons.” These 
are canes growing from the old roots the 2d and 3d, 
and sometimes the 4th year. This, they think, 
I facilitates drainage, which is one of the all-impor- 
i tant things to be attended to on a Louisiana sugar 
■ plantation. Deep plowing, they think, keeps the 
i coco grass in check, besides all its other advan¬ 
tages. They also make great use of the pea vine 
j to renovate and improve their soil. I first 3aw here 
' an instrument called a “ sword,” to cut pea vines 
when plowing them under. I will, hereafter, give 
. a drawing of this implement, and the manner of 
attaching it to the plow. 
