great part of the year, and after the French were established it became an article of exportation to the sugar islands. The mode of culture was as follows: The canes growing naturally on the soil were cut down, and the trees stripped of their bark, to the height of two feet from the ground, in the beginning of March, when the sap is in motion. About fifteen days after the whole was set on fire and consumed, and the maize sown the following day in squares four feet asunder; the only trouble afterwards was to destroy the tender and brittle shoots which sprung up from the roots of the cane not destroyed by the fire.

In

Rice is cultivated below New Orleans, and in those parts which can be laid under water. common seasons, the produce per acre is estimated at fifteen barrels, each weighing 200 pounds. The nett value arising from 100 acres, cultivated by fifty workmen, is estimated at 700 barrels, which, at six dollars a barrel, gives 4200 dollars, or 84 for each hand. It is calculated, that there are 250,000 acres in Louisiana fit for the culture of this plant, which, yielding seven barrels an acre, at six dollars per barrel, would produce an annual revenue of 10,500,000 dollars. Rice is cultivated in places unfit for any other grain, and the crop is more certain. Wheat, rye, barley, and oats, are little cultivated, the produce being inferior to that of more northerly climates, and of less value than other productions, especially near the coast. In the fat soil the wheat runs to stalk and leaves, producing little seed, and is subject to blight. Near the borders of woods, from the want of free air, water oats, or wild

the soft marshes of and wheat com

rye

rice, (Zizania aquatica,) grows in the eastern parts. The harvest of mences about the middle of May. The sweet potatoe (Convolvulus batatas) is much cultivated. There are different kinds, red, white, and yellow, which have somewhat the taste of the best chestnuts of Italy or France, and constitute a wholesome and nourishing food of easy digestion. The Irish potatoe is less farinaceous than in the more northern states, and is, therefore, imported from Kentucky snd Tennessee. Pistaches (arachis) grow abundantly, and are much eaten. The grain slightly roasted gives an oil, by expression, which is employed for seasoning sallads.

Sugar-cane was first introduced about the year 1762,* and the culture was encouraged by the unfortunate emigrants from St Domingo: it is now cultivated from the southern extremity, along lakes Ponchartrain and Maurepas, on the borders of the Amite and Ibberville rivers to the Mississippi; along this river to Pointe Coupée and Fausse rivière; thence, west to the Opelousas, along the Teche and Atchafalaya, to their mouths, and along the coast to the point first mentioned, including 10,000 square miles, or 6,400,000 acres of alluvial soil, of which one-tenth, or 640,000 acres, are capable of cultivation, without including lands on the rivers Vermillion and Mermenteau, where the soil is also well adapted to the culture of the cane. Mr Darby, to whom we are indebted for this information, has esti

Dubreuil, commander of the militia, was the first colonist who constructed a sugar mill at New Orleans.

mated the extent of sugar lands at 1,000,000 of acres, or one-thirtieth part nearly of the whole surface; and deducting three-fourths for other species of culture, there would remain for that of the cane 250,000 acres. Since the date of this statement, in 1814, the sugar-cane has been planted on Red river, where it thrives as well as on the Mississippi, and, owing to the higher temperature of the waters of the former, its growth is more rapid in the months of May and June. Three miles below the town of Natchitoches, in latitude 31° 46', the lands of Mr Bossie produced, as he has himself stated, 2500 pounds of sugar of a good quality, and he is of opinion, that, by a more improved culture, the first cut may amount to 3000 pounds. Another planter, Mr Davenport, states, that, in 1814, he planted five acres, with plants the produce of threefourths of an acre brought from the coast, leaving four feet distance between the rows, and that, in the fall, three-fourths of an acre produced 1000 pounds weight of sugar; and out of twenty arpents or French acres, planted with the remaining plants, eight acres, whose produce he had then ascertained, yielded 9000 pounds, besides molasses. He thinks the produce may be estimated at 1000 pounds an acre. The greatest evil the planter has to contend with is the hard frosts, which destroy the plants, and render annual plantings necessary. But as one-fifth of the surface will be sufficient to plant the whole, the produce will still be more valuable than that of cotton. The culture is besides more easy, and the crop is more certain, for the cane is not subject to those diseases which sometimes

destroy the indigo, nor liable to be attacked by those insects which occasionally devour the cotton. It has been calculated, that if the lands adapted to the sugarcane were brought into cultivation, they would yield at the rate of 800 pounds an acre, 800 millions of pounds weight per annum, which, at the rate of eight cents a pound, would amount to 64,000,000 dollars. The quantity from 150 acres, cultivated by fifty effective workmen, is estimated at 150,000 pounds, which, at eight cents a pound, would give 12,000 dollars, or 240 for each hand. The cane is planted in January, February, or March, and ripens in October. The stem is eight or nine feet high, and about two inches in diameter. It is impossible to have more than one annual crop, owing to the sudden changes of temperature, and the great difference between that of summer and winter. The canes intended for next year's planting are pulled up about the 15th of October, and preserved in stacks till spring, when they are planted in furrows made by the plough, at the distance of three feet from each other, and cultivated like Indian

corn.

of

* Mr Robin estimates the quantity per acre at 2000 pounds of sugar, and two barrels of syrup. In 1801-2, the product of 75 sugar plantations, the number then in the colony, was estimated at 5,000,000 of pounds of brown sugar, and a proportional quantity syrup, of which the profits were thus calculated by Mr Duvallon: 100 acres cultivated by blacks of both sexes, will produce 120,000 pounds of brown sugar, and the same quantity of syrup; the former at eight dollars the quintal, the latter at fifteen the barrel, will yield a revenue of 11,400 dollars, or 285 per head, or 114 per acre.

Cotton. It is calculated, that 2,400,000 acres in the state of Louisiana are fit for the culture of cotton, which, at the rate of 240 pounds (clean) per acre, would amount to 576,000,000 pounds; and the revenue resulting therefrom, at fifteen cents per pound, would amount to 86,400,000 dollars. The quantity from 250 acres, cultivated by fifty workmen, is estimated at 60,000 pounds, which, at fifteen cents per pound, would give 9000 dollars, or 180 for each hand. The average quantity of cotton, in seed, produced from an acre, is stated by French writers at 1500 pounds, the net quantity 400 pounds; which, at twenty-five dollars the quintal, amounts to 100 dollars per acre; but the injury which may be occasioned by caterpillars, rain, &c. is estimated at one-third.* Cotton is planted in the latter end of March, blossoms about the middle of June, and is gathered or picked about the 1st of September. It was formerly cultivated with great success by the French colonists, and a species of the white Siam was preferred, which thrives well in a light

Mr Schultz estimates the general average produce of cotton from Palmyra and the country below, at 2000 pounds per acre, valued in the seed at from four to five dollars the cwt. and from fourteen to fifteen when cleaned. A prime slave can cultivate three acres, which, at a low calculation, will yield a net profit of 240 dollars, from which is to be deducted the expences of the slave, estimated at 200 dollars. Mr Robertson, member of congress from this state, says, in a letter to the author of the Western Gazetteer, (p. 148,) that the cotton lands of Louisiana yield from 500 to 2000 pounds weight of seed cotton per acre; and that a hand will cultivate ten

acres.