LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. HON. FRANCIS A. WALKER, Superintendent of Tenth Census, Washington, D. C. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, Berkeley, Alameda Co., Cal., April 18, 1881. DEAR SIR: I transmit herewith a tabular presentation of results of the census enumeration in the state of Louisiana, so far as these concern the production of cotton; also, a report on the physico-geographical and agricultural features of the state of Louisiana, prepared in accordance with your instructions, and with the plans subsequently outlined by me and approved by you, for a more instructive and readable presentation of the enumeration-results relating to the culture and production of cotton, than can be given by the tabular and graphic methods alone. Unlike the publications made on the latter basis, it is intended, not alone for the statistician and student of political economy, but for the information of the general public, and more especially for that of intending settlers and immigrants. It has always been a matter of surprise to me that out of so many state surveys, so few have given this important subject the benefit of systematic investigation and presentation for popular use. In my own work in several states, I have throughout considered this as the most immediately important object to be compassed, as hearing most directly upon the life pursuit of the vast majority of the population; and it has seemed to me that the greater part of the want of appreciation and the reverses with which state surveys have proverbially had to contend, are directly traceable to an omission to conform, in this respect, to the natural and, I think, just expectations of the agricultural population. It is difficult to see on what ground the study and publication of the most recondite details of geology, lithology, and paleontology, should have precedence of the fundamentally important work that concerns directly the productive industries; yet this has been the course very commonly pursued, usually at the cost of premature, and at least temporary, stoppage of the entire work, with enormous losses of valuable material and of personal knowledge acquired by the members of the corps. It thus happens that, in the case of some states whose geological structure is very accurately known, no concise physico-geographical and agricultural description as yet exists; although by a close abstraction and collation of data scattered through the published reports, such a one may be laboriously obtained. As this process will generally be undertaken only by few and specially interested persons, the result is that the general public remains uninformed as to the facts most broadly obvious to the inhabitants themselves and most essential to those contemplating immigration, yet inaccessible except through personal travel, private correspondence, or the ex parte representations of interested parties. Even where state bureaus of immigration exist, the information to be obtained is usually of a fragmentary and unsatisfactory character, and incapable of conveying to the seeker for a new home the kind of knowledge he desires in order to make his choice intelligently. It has been my endeavor, in the compilation of the present report, to supply this deficiency, so far as the state of Louisiana is concerned, and more especially with reference to the industry under my immediate charge, viz, the production of cotton. V The sources of information available for the present paper, apart from data existing in encyclopedias, have, in the main, been the following: For the topography of the Mississippi bottom and delta, the Report on the Mississippi River, by Humphreys and Abbot. For the classification and analyses of the soils of the Mississippi bottom, the Manuscript Notes and Reports of Dr. Eugene A. Smith, now of the University of Alabama, state geologist and special agent in charge of the subject of cotton culture in the states of Alabama and Florida. The manuscripts referred to form part of the unpublished records of the geological survey of Mississippi, courteously placed at our disposal by the board of trustees of the University of Mississippi, at Oxford. The field-work was done by Dr. Smith, under my direction as state geologist of Mississippi, in the year 1871. The chief sources of information regarding the rest of the state are, in the order of time: Manuscript notes and published papers, the results of an expedition undertaken by the writer in November and December, 1877, under the auspices and at the expense of the Smithsonian Institution, for the investigation of the geology of southern Louisiana, and especially of the rock-salt deposit of Petite Anse island. The route was from Vicksburg down the Mississippi river to its mouths, landing at various points on the way; then via New Orleans and New Iberia to Petite Anse island, Weeks' island or Grande Côte, and Côte Blanche, on the Gulf coast. Manuscript notes and published reports and papers relating to a geological and agricultural reconnaissance of Louisiana, undertaken by the writer, under the auspices of the New Orleans Academy of Sciences and of the Louisiana state bureau of immigration, in May and June, 1869. The route lay from New Orleans, via New Iberia, to Opelousas and Chicotville; thence, west to the Calcasieu river and down that stream, through the Calcasieu prairie, to lake Charles; thence, north to the Anacoco region and to Sabinetown, Texas; thence, via Manny, to Mansfield, De Soto parish; thence, crossing Red river, to Coushatta chute, and north to the salines of Bienville parish, and, via Winfield and Funne Louis, to Harrisonburg, and to Waterproof, in Tensas parish. This expedition determined the general geological structure of Louisiana and its main agricultural and topographical features. (a) Eleven out of the twenty-five soil analyses, hereinafter given, were made at the time, of specimens then collected; and most of the remainder are of samples of the same collection. Almost simultaneously with the expedition just referred to, a Geological and Topographical Survey of the state was begun, under the auspices of the University of Louisiana, at Baton Rouge, and was continued for three years by Professors Samuel H. Lockett and H. V. Hopkins of that institution. The excellent work done by these gentlemen, during that time, has remained almost unnoticed, in consequence of the limited number of copies (200 each) printed of their annual reports. The latter so far amplify and complement the data obtained by me personally, as to leave no considerable portion of the state entirely undescribed; and I have thus been enabled to draw a measurably complete picture of the whole. As it is scarcely possible to give credit separately to the observations of each, and of myself, I can only state broadly, that by far the greater part of all the data not referring to portions of the state visited by me (as above noted), is derived from these reports; and that particularly the admirable and summary descriptions given of a number of parishes by Professor Lockett have, in some cases, been almost literally transcribed by me from his reports. This is especially true of the alluvial parishes from Pointe Coupée to Terrebonne, and from Vermillion to Cameron; also as regards those lying along, and north of, the North Louisiana and Texas railroad. A few valuable data have also been obtained from the Botanical reports of Mr. A. Featherman, accompanying the reports above referred to. Some data and soil specimens were also obtained by Special Agent Dr. R. H. Loughridge, on the route from Shreveport to Bastrop, on his return from the Indian territory in 1880. Finally, some general information has been derived from the returned schedules of questions on cotton culture, sent out by the Census Office. From some cause, these responses have not been as numerous as could be desired, and, as a consequence, the cultural and commercial details from some portions of the state are very imperfect. It >>} at See the following publications: On the Geology of Lower Louisiana, and the Rock Salt Depásit of Petite Anse, American Journal of Final Memoir on Smithsonian Contr. to Science, No. a Science, Januaryana, De Bow's Review, September, 1860; American Journal of Science, November, 1869. Report on the Geological of Louisiana, Age of the Mississippi Delta (examination of the shells brought up from the artesian well bored at New Orleans in 1856); Rèport of UTSI Engineer Department, 1870. On the Geology of the Delta, and the Mud Lumps of the Passes of the Mississippi, American Journal of Science, vol. 1, 1871. On the Geological History of the Gulf of Mexico, ibid., December, 1871. On some points in the Geology of the Southwest, ibid., November, 1872. Supplementary and Final Report of a Geological Reconnaissance of Louisiana, New Orleans, 1873. is perhaps to be regretted that sugar-cane and rice were not provided for in our inquiries, inasmuch as nearly the whole of southern Louisiana was thus thrown outside of the scope of our questions, and has furnished only meager reports or none at all in some parishes. The following is the general arrangement of the subject-matter, adopted in this report: 1. The tabulated results of the enumeration, so far as they concern the production of cotton, form the opening portion of this report. For convenience of discussion, I have thought it best to place on one table only the data relating to areas, population, and the production of cotton, making a separate one serve for the comparison of the several crops. Among the latter, I have selected those which, being of prime necessity, influence in either a direct or inverse ratio the production of cotton. Corn (maize) and sweet potatoes are, almost throughout the cottongrowing states, considered next in importance to cotton, as being the staple food-crops, upon whose success and production, as compared to cotton, the question of profit and loss chiefly turns. 2. A brief general outline of the physical geography of the state. 3. Description of the several agricultural regions, with analyses of soils and discussion thereof. 4. Separate descriptions of the several parishes, grouped under the heads of the agricultural regions to which they predominantly belong. In determining the group to which parishes embracing several distinct agricultural features should be assigned, I have endeavored to follow popular usage, and the character of the chief areas of production, rather than mere predominance of area; but in some cases the grouping might perhaps as well have been made otherwise. Each parish-description is preceded by statistical data relating to area, population, distribution of woodland and other agricultural divisions, production of cotton and other chief crops. The figures regarding areas are the results of map measurements made with care in the case of regional fractions; and in view of the discrepancies existing between the various maps of the state, and the more or less uncertain location of the limits of the several agricultural areas, these figures have, as a rule, been placed at the number divisible by five, nearest to the one actually resulting from the measurement; thus avoiding an apparent pretense of accuracy greater than the state of our knowledge at present warrants. County areas, population, and production are, of course, given in accordance with the results of the Tenth Census. In the case of parishes (counties) from which schedules have been received, abstracts of the latter, embracing answers to schedule questions 1 to 39 inclusive (i. e., those relating to the natural features and cotton production of the several soils), and those relating to the direction, mode, and cost of shipment, are appended. 5. A summary of the rest of the subject-matter of the schedules, relating to agricultural practice, is placed under headings embracing either one or several correlated questions; special answers are sometimes given, with the name of the parish from which the answer comes. One point of great importance may, however, even now be noted and in a measure commented on. This is: the wide discrepancy between the capabilities of the soils of the several regions as reported by the inhabitants, and their actual production as resulting from a comparison of the acreage with the number of bales reported. The average weight of the latter, as given by the New Orleans Cotton Exchange, was, in 1879, about 475 pounds; and on this basis the fraction of bales and weight of lint produced per acre, as given in the tables, has been deduced; also, by multiplication by the number 3, the average product expressed in "seed-cotton". It will be seen from a comparison of the figures so obtained with those given in reports from the several parishes, that the actual product per acre varies usually between 35 and 50 per cent. of the product claimed, and only in few cases rises to 70 per cent., the latter in the case of the fresh soils of the river parishes. This state of things may well give rise to serious reflections as to the causes of such wide discrepancies. Something may be credited to a natural and unconscious bias on the part of the reporters, to give the best possible account of their region, and, therefore, exceptional and maximum results, instead of averages, as showing what can be done under favorable circumstances. It is hardly to be regretted that this should be so, since the actual averages are easily obtained from the returns, and we are thus enabled to compare possibilities with actuai performance. Three chief causes present themselves as contributing to the result expressed in the latter, viz: unfavorable seasons; accidents from insects, diseases, overflows, &c.; and imperfect tillage and culture. 101 |