Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume X.djvu/677

 LOUISIANA 6T1 Tins formation is overlaid by yellow loam, con- sisting generally of a single layer of clayey silt, which also overlies much of the drift. The fossils are partly marine and partly terres- trial. The alluvium occupies the portion of the state not covered by the other formations, embracing the sea marshes, the delta of the Mississippi, and a strip N. of the delta along the W. bank, generally from 30 to 50 m, wide, with a narrow belt on either bank of Red riv- er. The mineral productions of the state are of minor importance. At Petit Anse, in Ibe- ria parish, there is a mass of pure rock salt, more than 144 acres in area and of unknown depth, which is successfully mined; and in Calcasieu parish are extensive deposits of sul- phur and gypsum. The salt wells in Bienville, Natchitoches, and Winn parishes were worked during the civil war. The climate in winter, owing to north winds, is more severe than in corresponding latitudes on the Atlantic coast. The summers are long and hot, and mephitic exhalations from the marshes in autumn gen- erate malarial fevers. The mean temperature for the year ending Sept. 30, 1873, at New Or- leans (lat. 29 57'), was 67'55 ; at Shreveport (lat. 32 30'), 63-91. The mean temperature of the warmest month at the former place was 82-4 ; at the latter, x81'7 ; of the coldest month, 49-5 and 42 respectively. The total rainfall for the year at New Orleans was 72-81 inches; at Shreveport, 46*77 inches. Accord- ing to the census of 1870, the number of deaths in the state was 14,499, of which 5,498 were from general diseases, 1,949 from diseases of the nervous, 481 of the circulatory, 1,876 of the respiratory, and 2,128 of the digestive sys- tem, 667 from accidents and injuries, and the rest from miscellaneous causes. Of special dis- eases, consumption proved fatal in 1,991 cases, fevers in 1,128, pneumonia in 495, paralysis in 248, cancers in 186, cholera infantum in 179, encephalitis in 151, enteritis in 116, dropsy in 114, diarrhoea in 103, and apoplexy in 99. The soil of the river bottoms is exuberantly fertile, and the alluvial land is easily drained. Most of it is heavily timbered, and covered with an undergrowth of cane. The prairies are not generally productive, and in some places are barren, but afford good grazing. The hilly region, while generally producing good crops of cotton, consists principally of pine barrens, yielding an abundance of pitch pine, and containing also oak, elm, cypress, honey locust, and other timber. Other for- est trees are the sassafras, ash, walnut, hick- ory, poplar, mulberry, magnolia, cotton wood, buckeye, papaw, maple, willow, hackberry, pecan, dogwood, and persimmon. The wild cane grows to a height of 15 to 30 ft. Among fruits are the peach, quince, plum, fig, apple (in the north), orange, lemon, lime, &c. ; the orange does not flourish above lat. 30. The staples of agriculture are cotton, sugar, rice, and Indian corn. The rice and sugar are grown almost exclusively in the alluvial soil 510 VOL. x. 43 YEAR. Hhds. YEAR. Hhds. YEAR. Hhd*. I860.... 1861...... 228,753 459,410 1865. 1866. 18,070 41,000 1870... 1871.... 144,881 128,461 1862 1867. 87,647 1872.... 108,520 1868 76,801 1868. 84,256 1878. . . . 89,498 1864 10,887 186C* 87,090 along the Mississippi, more than half of the rice crop of 1870 having been produced in the parish of Plaquemines. The sugar cane does not flourish above lat. 31. Louisiana produces nearly all the sugar made in the Uni- ted States, and in 1870 was third among the states in the yield of rice and fourth in the production of cotton. Sugar culture was in- troduced in 1751, but there are no reports of production till 1823. In 1828, 88,000 hhds. were manufactured; from that year to 1838 the crops varied from 30,000 to 100,000 hhds., thence to 1848 from 87,000 to 240,000 hhds., and in the 10 years ending with 1858 from 74,000 to 449,000 hhds. The production since 1860 has been as follows : The yield is very uncertain ; it formerly, says Champomier, reached as high as 3,000 or 4,000 Ibs., and in some cases even 6,000 Ibs. to the acre; but more recently it has often ranged as low as 500 to 1,000 Ibs. The number of acres of improved farm land in 1870 was 2,045,640; number of farms, 28,481, of which 11,194 were under 20 acres, 8,854 from 20 to 50, 3,888 from 50 to 100, 3,753 from 100 to 500, 650 from 500 to 1,000, and 142 over 1,000 acres; cash value of farms, $68,215,421 ; of farming implements and machinery, $7,159,333; wages paid during the year, including value of board, $11,042,789 ; estimated value of all farm pro- ductions, including betterments and additions to stock, $52,006,622 ; value of orchard pro- ducts, $142,129 ; of produce of market gardens, $176,969 ; of forest products, $92,596 ; of home manufactures, $64,416; of animals slaughtered or sold for slaughter, $817,831 ; of live stock, $15,929,188. The productions were 9,906 bushels of wheat, 984 of rye, 7,596,628 of In- dian corn, 17,782 of oats, 1,226 of barley, 260 of buckwheat, 26,888 of peas and beans, 67,- 695 of Irish potatoes, 1,023,706 of sweet po- tatoes, 15,854,012 Ibs. of rice, 15,541 of tobac- co, 140,428 of wool, 322,405 of butter, 11,747 of cheese, 2,363 of wax, 37,646 of honey, 350,832 bales of cotton, 578 gallons of wine, 833,928 of milk sold, 4,585,150 of cane mo- lasses, 180 of sorghum molasses, 8,776 tons of hay, and 80,706 hogsheads of cane sugar. The live stock consisted of 59,738 horses, 61,- 338 mules and asses, 102,076 milch cows, 32,- 596 working oxen, 200,589 other cattle, 118,- 602 sheep, and 338,326 swine. There were besides 3,559 horses and 52,832 cattle not on farms. The number of manufacturing estab- lishments was 2,557, having 887 steam engines of 24,924 horse power, and 23 water wheels of
 * Corresponding nearly Avith the census year of 1870.