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Show 76 EMJGRANT'S GUIDE: ll)ean of ncquiring accurate kn~wledge of a countr,r, that if judiciously purc;:ued. cannot dt>ceive. · It IS a safeguard ag~ mst <.Ieee pllon that ought nevtr to be ne~lected. And what rt>nders Its precepts ~he mNe vnluRble, tiwy :He written in a language that never needs au mterpre-ter, 4 ~ he who runs m<ly J.e a d . , BesiJ~s the vegetable st:1ples in Opelousas and Attacapas, those pbces have :muther sourr.e of revenue in which they are perhaps unrivi\ lled,-the renring of cattle. 'I here are many parts upon t~e Mt-·rmentau Calcasiu and Sabine, whPre thi~ pastoral commercf· w11l perhaps be ~erpe.tuat~d a:- lon~ as the pre:;ent. order of thi~g~ _continues in the world. It would be t11fficult to conct>1ve the poss1bJIJty of any country being more completely ad<lpted to tlw rearing of cattle than are the prairies along the wa~(·: r~ o~ the ?P~lou~as . . So much <lre ":len prone to atlopt what be~t sm.Js the1_r __pecuhar ~1tuat10n. wht'n l~ft free to foliow the bent of their owh-..d.es-i1'e~. that common custom m such ca:-;e~ is th~ best test of proprit-ty. From the first establishment of the post, the production of cattle became the chief pursuit of the (Wople of Opelousas and Attacapas; ~ut as the settlt>ments_ progressed . Clnd particularly since the estabh~hment . of the Amenc~n government, wherever I he ~oil was productive, agncultur<il has supersedt>d pa!-itoral labour. So much however of the lands to the westward oi the water courses communicating with the Teohe, are naturally sterile, flat, and incapable alike of present culture or future improvement, that the regiou seems pointed out by nature as the meadow lands to supply with beef, butter, anu cheese, the inhabitants of the productive banks of the Mi ~sissippi and its intermediate streams. The city of New Orleans and its vicinity are supplied with beef, talluw, and butter. from these savannas. Many of the richer plan .. ter~ on the Techt>, Vermilion, and other agricultural Jistricts, have stock ftrms. or as they are terrneJ in the country, H vacheries," estab· lislwd upon tbe Mermentau, and Calca::-i~. 'J'he cattle is guarded by men employed ti..)r that purpo<:e, who have, in most cases, as th~ir re ~ ward, a sti1JulateJ share of tbe inc1t-ase. These stock herd~ have also the use of all the milk and butter tlley choose t.o make for their own use. To families who rl'tnOW! into the country, and whose finances are not very an1ple, no situation could be more eligible than having the use of one of these vacheries. It is, however, a life of severe activity. 'fhl· live~ of the men who guard the flocks of this country, may be said to be spent on horst>back. It is al so a pursuit demandin(J' considerable ski11 in the peculiar management of its details. There is no applica t10n of the Lands of mere ..:ommon working men, where so much pro .. fit is dr"""n trom the same {abcur. Three or four active men, with abo~H J•,u!Jie a:os ~any tolerable good horses, will manage a stock produclllg annually lrolll tl1ree to five llundn~d calves. The firth is the com!lwn rew;.n~ of the l~ eepers. Tl1is would yield from twenty -five to thirty caln·s to a single hand. .F'our yt:ars old beeves, . the o rdin ~ ry ~~ge at wbicl1 lhf'y are sold, will yield from fiftten to twenty dollars per h~a.d. lt will app~ar oby ioi.as from · this statemeut, that, thou~h thC' emol.umt"nt w Ul accupm!att> sluwly at first, its ultimate result '· "f:fJ' cun~Jd erc.ble. !11 mo:;t instance~. where tl:ie essay has beeD ~nade w~th du~ exe~tion aud ordinary prudence, the reward was a~ ~ • • El\1JGRANT'S GUIDE. 7'7 pie. In that, as in too m ~ ny other cases, partict~larly in the southern states, many pt-!rsons seek the business as a situation of ease ;,nd idlN1ess; and ~ucceeJ Hccordingly. Must of those, howP.ver, wiJo are employed on these p<~storal farms, arP. titlH~r slaves, or of men partiruh.rly kn )wn to the owners of the cattle. They ilre gerwriilly a hardy, acti\-e, class of men; and c~rtainly, ~re a~non~:st lhe best horsemen in the world. The rapi~ Jty and _skll_l of_ tlle•r. rnuvements are ju::;tly Hubjt-·cts of an aJmiratwn whrch IS often hetghtened by the docility and sagacity of their hor. e:s . · . Tbe cattle, horse, and moJes of managing, both ~arne into Louig~ ana from tht-' Spanish proviur.es in North Aruerica. The race t>f the d(JI{)t:-tic em~, so greatly multipl.ied. in Opelousas and Attacapas, is h1gll, cleiJn Junbt-d, and elegant m Jls appt>arance. The horses are from the Anualusian, or N umiuian race: they are, like their ancestors, btnaiJ, .corr_Jprtctlr built, and incon~eivably durable. Many of them are ~ctJve m a tugh degree: and though inlerior in size, strength, fiPt>_tne~s. or beauty, , to the English race of horses now genentl in the '£!ruted S_tates, they are,. nevertheless, greatly superior in every essen .. t1al quahty necessary tor the severe ~ervice they are maJe to perform. The cow yieJ.ds muc? less milk, and of inferior quality, in all the southern parts ot the Umted States, than in those more northern. This e!fect, geuerally acknow~eJgeJ, ·has been ascribed .to the greater nchne s of the pastures ot the latter. How far this induction is cor . r~ct, we are unable to determine, but feel inclined to consider this ~1ke ~very o_ther operation of t~e laws of nature, ~ho makes nothing . m ~am. M1lk, tltougb appropnated by mar. to Ius usc, was forrneu to feed the young of the animal by which it is produced. Where abun~ant and succulent herbage every where abound, there is less occa;10n for tiJe milk: constquently, upon the plains of Louisiana and Texas,. the pendant uduer, anu high boned, bnk, and hollow appear~ ncc ol the rwr~her~ cow, is never seen. The cow of Louisiana anu fexa~ has a ~JvacJty. and alertness that would almost be~peak them srecJfically dJfferent_irom the dull, phlegmatic animal of the same genus m m~)re nothern ciJmates. T'he fl~sh of the. cattl~ killed upon tbe prairie is often excellent. T.he feedmg or saltmg of . their. ~tock is cnt1rely neglected by most of the owr~e~s : the benefits an~mg from greater attention have, however, exh1b1ted. themselves wherever an experiment has been made. !hough aboundmg to overflow in summer and autumn. the pastorage 15 generally .destroyed by frost in win~er, to -nearly the coast of tbe gulf of Mex1co. Nothing can demonstrate more strongly the low temperature of the climate of Opelousas, Attacapas, anJ aJI tbe country to the ~estward of those pL-1ces on the gulf of Mexico, than the annually destructiun of the grass by frost. There a~e t~o very distiuc~ ~pecies of the arunuo. or large reed cane, growmg m southern Lou1s1ana; thP, arundo gigantea and the arundo _aq_uatica . . The former_ is tl~c most har~y of all th~ &rasses, and resists the actwn. ~f frost .'n . re~10?s more ngorous than any part of the states or LoulSJana, .L\11SSlSSlpp1, or the territory of Alabama |