Chapter V: H. S (10)

[4] There is a vivid account in Mr Featherstonhaugh to Lord
Palmerston, Havre, March 3, 1848, in _The Letters of Queen Victoria_
(pop. ed., ii. 156).

LOUISBURG, a town and port of entry of Cape Breton county, Nova Scotia, Canada, on the Sydney & Louisburg railway, 39 m. from Sydney. Pop. (1901) 1588. Under the French _régime_, Louisburg was second only to Quebec. A fortress was erected at enormous expense, and the city was the centre of the cod-fisheries. The fortress was, however, captured in 1745 by the American colonists, under Sir William Pepperrell (1696-1759), assisted by the British fleet, and again in 1758 by a British land and sea force under General Jeffrey Amherst (1717-1797) and Admiral Boscawen. The jealousy of the British settlement of Halifax led to its almost utter destruction, and only a few case-mates now remain. Under English rule a fishing village grew up on the other side of the harbour, and has now become the winter shipping port of the Dominion Coal Company. The harbour is deep, spacious and open all the year round, though occasionally blocked by drift ice in the spring.

LOUISE [AUGUSTE WILHELMINE AMALIE LUISE] (1776-1810), queen of Prussia, was born on the 10th of March 1776 in Hanover, where her father, Prince Charles of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, was field-marshal of the household brigade. Her mother was a princess of Hesse-Darmstadt. In 1793 Louise met at Frankfort the crown prince of Prussia, afterwards King Frederick William III., who was so fascinated by her beauty, and by the nobleness of her character, that he asked her to become his wife. They were married on the 24th of December of the same year. As queen of Prussia she commanded universal respect and affection, and nothing in Prussian history is more pathetic than the dignity and unflinching courage with which she bore the sufferings inflicted on her and her family during the war between Prussia and France. After the battle of Jena she went with her husband to Königsberg, and when the battles of Eylau and Friedland had placed Prussia absolutely at the mercy of France, she made a personal appeal to Napoleon at his headquarters in Tilsit, but without success. Early in 1808 she accompanied the king from Memel to Königsberg, whence, towards the end of the year, she visited St Petersburg, returning to Berlin on the 23rd of December 1809. During the war Napoleon attempted to destroy the queen's reputation, but the only effect of his charges in Prussia was to make her more deeply beloved. On the 19th of July 1810 she died in her husband's arms, while visiting her father in Strelitz. She was buried in the garden of the palace at Charlottenburg, where a mausoleum, containing a fine recumbent statue by Rauch, was built over her grave. In 1840 her husband was buried by her side. The Louise Foundation (Luisenstift) for the education of girls was established in her honour, and in 1814 Frederick William III. instituted the Order of Louise (Luisenorden). In 1880 a statue of Queen Louise was erected in the Thiergarten at Berlin.

See F. Adami, _Luise, Königin von Preussen_ (7th ed., 1875); E. Engel,
_Königin Luise_ (1876); A. Kluckhohn, _Luise, Königin von Preussen_
(1876); Mommsen and Treitschke, _Königin Luise_ (1876); in English,
Hudson, _Life and Times of Louisa, Queen of Prussia_ (1874); G. Horn,
_Das Buch von der Königin Luise_ (Berlin, 1883); A. Lonke, _Königin
Luise von Preussen_ (Leipzig, 1903); H. von Petersdorff, "Königin
Luise," _Frauenleben_, Bd. i. (Bielefeld, 1903, 2nd ed., 1904).

LOUISE OF SAVOY (1476-1531), duchess of Angoulême, mother of Francis I. of France, was daughter of a cadet of the house of Savoy, Philip, count of Bresse, afterwards duke of Savoy. Through her mother, Marguerite de Bourbon, she was niece of Pierre de Bourbon, sire de Beaujeu, afterwards duke of Bourbon. At the age of twelve she was married to Charles of Valois, count of Angoulême, great-grandson of King Charles V. The count died in 1496, leaving her the mother of two children, Marguerite (b. 1492) and Francis (b. 1494). The accession of Louis XII., who was childless, made Francis of Angoulême the heir-presumptive to the throne of France. Louise brought her children to the court, and received Amboise as her residence. She lived henceforth in fear lest Louis should have a son; and in consequence there was a secret rivalry between her and the queen, Anne of Brittany. Finally, her son became king on the 1st of January 1515 by the death of Louis XII. From him Louise received the county of Angoulême, which was erected into a duchy, the duchy of Anjou, and the counties of Maine and Beaufort. She was then given the title of "Madame." From 1515 to her death, she took the chief share in the government. The part she played has been variously judged, and is not yet completely elucidated. It is certain that Louise had a clear head, practical good sense and tenacity. In the critical situation after the battle of Pavia (1525) she proved herself equal to the emergency, maintained order in the kingdom, and manoeuvred very skilfully to detach Henry VIII. of England from the imperial alliance. But she appears to have been passionate, exceedingly rapacious and ever careful of her own interest. In her malignant disputes with the constable de Bourbon on the question of his wife's succession, she goaded him to extreme measures, and her rapacity showed itself also in her dealings with the _surintendant des finances_, J. de Beaune, baron de Samblançay (d. 1527), who diverted the money intended for the French soldiers in Italy into the coffers of the queen, and suffered death in consequence. She died in 1531, and Francis reunited to the crown her domains, which comprised the Bourbonnais, Beaujolais, Auvergne, la Marche, Angoumois, Maine and Anjou.

There is extant a _Journal_ of Louise of Savoy, the authenticity of
which seems certain. It consists of brief notes--generally very exact
and sometimes ironical--which go as far as the year 1522. The only
trustworthy text is that published by Guichenon in his _Histoire
généalogique de la maison de Savoie_ (ed. of 1778-1780, vol. iv.).

See _Poésies de François I^er et de Louise de Savoie ..._, ed. by
Champollion-Figeac (1847); De Maulde, _Louise de Savoie et François
I^er_ (1895); G. Jacqueton, _La Politique extérieure de Louise de
Savoie ..._ (1892); H. Hauser, "Étude critique sur le Journal de
Louise de Savoie," in the _Revue historique_, vol. 86 (1904).

LOUISIADE ARCHIPELAGO, a chain of islands in the Pacific Ocean, extending south-eastward from the easternmost promontory of New Guinea, and included in the Australian territory of Papua (British New Guinea). The islands number over eighty, and are interspersed with reefs. They are rich in tropical forest products, and gold has been discovered on the chief island, Tagula or South-east (area 380 sq. m.) and on Misima or St Aignan. The natives are of Papuan type, and practise cannibalism. The islands were probably observed by Torres in 1606, but were named by L. A. de Bougainville in 1768 after Louis XV.

LOUISIANA, one of the Southern States of the United States of America, lying on the N. coast of the Gulf of Mexico. Beginning on the N., its boundary follows eastward the parallel of 33° N., separating Louisiana from Arkansas; then descends the Mississippi river, separating it from the state of Mississippi, southward to 31°; passes eastward on this parallel to the Pearl river, still with the state of Mississippi on the E.; and descends this river to the Gulf. On the W. the Sabine river, from the Gulf to 32° N., and, thence to the parallel of 33°, a line a little W. of (and parallel to) the meridian of 94° W., separate Louisiana from Texas. Including islands in the Gulf, the stretch of latitude is approximately 4° and of longitude 5°. The total area is 48,506 sq. m., of which 3097 sq. m. are water surface (including 1060 sq. m. of landlocked coastal bays called "lakes"). The coast line is about 1500 m.

_Physical Features._--Geologically Louisiana is a very recent
creation, and belongs to the "Coastal Plain Province." Most of the
rocks or soils composing its surface were formed as submarine
deposits; the easternmost and southernmost parts are true river
deposits. These facts are the key to the state's chorography. The
average elevation of the state above the sea is only about 75 ft., and
practically the only parts more than 400 ft. high are hills in Sabine,
Claiborne and Vernon parishes. The physiographic features are few and
very simple. The essential elements are five[1]: diluvial plains,
coast marshes, prairies, "bluffs" and "pine-hills" (to use the local
nomenclature). These were successive stages in the geologic process
which has created, and is still actively modifying, the state. They
are all seen, spread from N. to S., west of the Mississippi, and also,
save only the prairies, in the so-called "Florida parishes" E. of the
Mississippi.

These different elements in the region W. of the Mississippi are
arranged from N. to S. in the order of decreasing geologic age and
maturity. Beginning with elevations of about 400 ft. near the Arkansas
line, there is a gentle slope toward the S.E. The northern part can
best be regarded as a low plateau (once marine sediments) sloping
southward, traversed by the large diluvial valleys of the Mississippi,
Red and Ouachita rivers, and recut by smaller tributaries into smaller
plateaus and rather uniform flat-topped hills. The "bluffs" (remnants
of an eroded plain formed of alluvion deposits over an old, mature and
drowned topography) run through the second tier of parishes W. of the
Mississippi above the Red river. Below this river prairie areas become
increasingly common, constituting the entire S.W. corner of the state.
They are usually only 20 to 30 ft. above the sea in this district,
never above 70, and are generally treeless except for marginal timber
along the sluggish, meandering streams. One of their peculiar
features--the sandy circular "mounds," 2 to 10 ft. high and 20 to 30
or even 50 ft. in diameter, sometimes surmounted by trees in the midst
of a treeless plain and sometimes arranged in circles and on radii,
and decreasing in size with distance from the centre of the field--has
been variously explained. The mounds were probably formed by some
gentle eruptive action like that exhibited in the "mud hills" along
the Mississippi below New Orleans; but no explanation is generally
accepted. The prairies shade off into the coast marshes. This fringe
of wooded swamp and sea marsh is generally 20 to 30, but in places
even 50 and 60 m. in width. Where the marsh is open and grassy,
flooded only at high tides or in rainy seasons, and the ground firm
enough to bear cattle, it is used as range. Considerable tracts have
also been diked and reclaimed for cotton, sugar and especially for
rice culture. The tidal action of the gulf is so slight and the
marshes are so low that perfect drainage cannot be obtained through
tide gates, which must therefore be supplemented by pumping machinery
when rains are heavy or landward winds long prevail. Slight ridges
along the streams and bayous which traverse it, and occasional patches
of slightly elevated prairie, relieve in a measure the monotonous
expanse. It is in and along the borders of this coast swamp region
that most of the rice and much of the sugar cane of the state are
grown. Long bar-like "islands" (conspicuous high land rising above the
marsh and prairie)--Orange, Petite Anse, Grand Cote, Cote Blanche and
Belle Isle--offer very interesting topographical and geological
problems. "Trembling prairies"--land that trembles under the tread of
men or cattle--are common near the coast. Most of the swamp fringe is
reclaimable. The marshes encroach most upon the parishes of St
Charles, Orleans and Plaquemines. In St Charles the cultivable strip
of land along the river is only about 3 m. wide. In Orleans the city
of New Orleans occupies nearly all the high ground and encroaches on
the swamps. In Plaquemines there is practically no cultivable land
below Forts Jackson and St Philip, and above there is only a narrow
strip.

The alluvial lands include the river flood plains. The principal
rivers are the Mississippi, which flows nearly 600 m. through and
along the border of the state, the Red river, the Ouachita (or
Washita), Sabine and Pearl; all except the last are navigable at all
stages of the water. There are many "bayous," several of which are of
great importance, both for navigation and for drainage. They may be
characterized as secondary outlets of the rivers or flood
distributaries. Among them are Bayou Teche, Bayou Plaquemine,
Atchafalaya Bayou,[2] Bayou Lafourche and Bayou Boeuf. Almost all
secondary water-courses, particularly if they have sluggish currents,
are known as bayous. Some might well be called lakes, and others
rivers. The alluvial portion of the state, especially below the mouth
of the Red river, is an intricate network of these bayous, which,
before their closure by a levee system, served partially, in time of
flood, to carry off the escaping surplus of river waters. They are
comparatively inactive at all seasons; indeed, the action of the tides
and back-waters and the tangle of vegetation in the sombre swamps and
forests through which they run, often render their currents almost
imperceptible at ordinary water. Navigable waters are said to
penetrate all but four of the parishes of the state, their total
length approximating 3800 m.

Each of the larger streams, as well as a large proportion of the
smaller ones, is accompanied by a belt of bottom land, of greater or
less width, lying low as regards the stream, and liable to overflow at
times of high water. These flood plains form collectively what is
known as the alluvial region, which extends in a broad belt down the
Mississippi, from the mouth of the Ohio to the Gulf of Mexico, and up
the Ouachita and its branches and the Red river to and beyond the
limits of the state. Its breadth along the Mississippi within
Louisiana ranges from 10 to 50 or 60 m., and that along the Red river
and the Ouachita has an average breadth of 10 m. Through its great
flood-plain the Mississippi river winds upon the summit of a ridge
formed by its own deposits. In each direction the country falls away
in a succession of minor undulations, the summits of the ridges being
occupied by the streams and bayous. Nearly all of this vast
flood-plain lies below the level of high water in the Mississippi,
and, but for the protection afforded by the levees, every considerable
rise of its waters would inundate vast areas of fertile and cultivated
land. The low regions of Louisiana, including the alluvial lands and
the coast swamps, comprise about 20,000 sq. m., or nearly one-half the
area of the state. The remainder consists of the uplands of prairie
and forest.

The alluvial region of the state in 1909 was mainly protected against
overflow from the Mississippi river by 754 m. of levee on the
Mississippi river within the state, and 84 m. on the Mississippi
river, Cypress and Amos Bayou in Arkansas, forming part of the general
system which extends through other states, 1000 m. up to the highlands
about the junction of the Ohio river. The state and the national
government co-operate in the construction and maintenance of this
system, but the Federal government did not give material aid (the only
exception being the grant of swamp lands in 1850) until the
exceptionally disastrous flood in 1882. For about a century and a half
before that time, levee building had been undertaken in a more or less
spasmodic and tentative way, first by riparian proprietors, then by
local combinations of public and private interests, and finally by the
state, acting through levee districts, advised by a Board of
Engineers. The Federal government, after its participation in the
work, acted through a Board of Engineers, known as the "Mississippi
River Commission." The system of 754 m. of Mississippi river levees,
within the state, was built almost entirely after 1866, and represents
an expenditure of about $43,000,000 for primary construction alone; of
this sum, the national government contributed probably a third (the
state expended about $24,000,000 on levees before the Civil War). Some
of the levees, especially those in swampy regions where outlet bayous
are closed, are of extraordinary solidity and dimensions, being 20 to
40 ft. high, or even more, across streams or bayous--formerly
outlets--with bases of 8 or 10 ft. to one of height. The task of
maintenance consists almost entirely in closing the gaps which occur
when the banks on which the levees are built cave into the river.
Levee systems on some of the interior or tributary rivers, aggregating
some 602 m., are exclusively built and maintained by the state.
Louisiana also contributes largely to the 84 m. of levee in Arkansas,
necessary to its security from overflow. The improvement of bayous,
channels, the construction of canals and the drainage of swamp lands
also contribute to the protection of the state.

The lakes are mainly in three classes. First come the coast lagoons,
many of which are merely landlocked salt-water bays, the waters of
which rise and fall with the tides. Of this class are Pontchartrain,
Borgne, Maurepas and Sabine. These are simply parts of the sea which
have escaped the filling-in process carried on by the great river and
the lesser streams. A second class, called "ox-bow" lakes, large in
numbers but small in area, includes ordinary cut-off meanders along
the Mississippi and Red rivers. A third class, those upon the Red
river and its branches, are caused mainly by the partial stoppage of
the water above Shreveport by the "raft," a mass of drift such as
frequently gathers in western rivers, which for a distance of 45 m.
almost completely closed the channel until it was broken up by
government engineers. These lakes are much larger at flood season than
at other times, and have been much reduced in size by the cutting of a
channel through the raft. Lakes of this class are sometimes formed by
the choking of the mouth of feeble tributaries by silt deposited by
the Red river where the currents meet.

_Mineral Resources._--Mineral resources are few, but important. In the
Tertiary region are found small quantities of iron ore and an
indifferent brown coal. The important mineral products are salt,
sulphur, petroleum and natural gas. The deposit of rock salt on Petite
Anse Island, in the coast swamp region, has been extensively worked
since its discovery during the Civil War. The deposit is in places
1000 ft. thick, and yields salt of extraordinary purity (sometimes 99%
pure). There are large deposits also on Orange Island (in places at
least 1800 ft. thick), on Week's Island, on Belle Isle and probably
beneath the intervening marshes. In 1907 Louisiana ranked sixth among
the salt-producing states of the country (after New York, Michigan,
Ohio, Kansas and California), its output being valued at $226,892,
only a few hundred dollars more than that of Texas. Near Lake Charles,
at Sulphur, are very extraordinary sulphur deposits. The beds lie
several (for the most part four to six) hundred feet underground and
are of disputed origin. Many regard them as products of an extinct
volcano; according to others they are of vegetable origin (they are
found in conjunction with gypsum). They were discovered before 1870 by
searchers after petroleum, but their exploitation remained in the
experimental stage until about 1900. The sulphur is dissolved by
superheated water forced down pipes, and the water with sulphur in
solution is forced upward by hot air pressure through other pipes; the
sulphur comes, 99% pure, to the surface of the ground, where it is
cooled in immense bins, and then broken up and loaded directly upon
cars for shipment. These mines divide with the Sicilian mines the
control of the sulphur market of the world. The value of the sulphur
taken from the mines of Louisiana in 1907 was a little more than
$5,000,000. Evidences of petroleum were discovered long ago, in the
very field where in recent years the Beaumont and Vinton wells were
bored. In 1909 Jennings was the chief field in Louisiana, lesser
fields being at Welsh, Anse la Butte, Caddo and Vinton. The Jennings
field, one of the greatest in the United States, produced up to and
including 1907 more than 26,000,000 barrels of high-grade oil,
twelve-thirteenths of which came from an area of only 50 acres, one
well producing a tenth of the entire output. In 1907 the state
produced 5,000,221 barrels of petroleum, valued at $4,063,033. Natural
gas is found in Caddo parish, about 20 m. N. of Shreveport. The depth
of the wells is from 840 to 2150 ft.; two wells completed in 1907 had
a daily capacity estimated at 35,000,000 to 50,000,000 ft. Shreveport,
Oil City, Blanchard, Mooringsport, Bossier City and Texarkana are
supplied with natural gas by pipe lines from this field. Kaolin is
found in the state; in 1907 the total value of all clay products was
$928,579.

_Climate._--The climate is semi-tropical and exceptionally equable
over large areas. In the S. and S.E. the equable temperature is
largely the effect of the network of bays, bayous and lakes, and
throughout the state the climate is materially influenced by the
prevailing southerly winds from the Gulf of Mexico. Some daily
variation in the temperature of adjoining localities is caused by a
dark soil in the one and a light soil in the other, but the
differences of mean annual temperature are almost wholly due to
differences of latitude and elevation. The mean annual temperature for
a period of nineteen years (Jan. 1888 to Dec. 1906) ranged from 70° F.
at Port Eads, in the extreme S.E., to 65° F. at Lake Providence, in
the N.E. The mean temperature of July, the hottest month, is
comparatively uniform over the state, varying only from 81° to 83°;
the mean for January, the coldest month, varies from 46° in the
extreme north to 56° in the extreme south. Even in the coldest
localities eight or nine months are wholly free from frost, and in the
coast parishes frost occurs only a few days in each year. Rainfall is
usually heavy in the S.E., but it decreases toward the N.W. As much as
85.6 in. have fallen within a year at New Orleans, but in this
locality the average for a year is about 57.6 in.; at Shreveport the
average is 46 in., and for the entire state it is 55 in. Much more
rain falls in summer than in any other season, but in some parts the
heaviest rainfall is in the spring and in others in the winter. A
light fall of snow is not uncommon in the northern parishes, but in
the southern part of the state snow falls not oftener than once in
three to five years. Hailstorms are infrequent everywhere, but
especially so in the south. Only a fourth to a half of the days of
the different months are wholly or partly clear even in the north, and
in the same district the monthly means of relative humidity vary from
65 to 70.

_Fauna._--The entire state is included within the Austro-riparian life
zone; the higher portions fall within the Carolinian area and the
lower portions, including the Gulf and the Mississippi embayment
almost to the N.E. corner of the state, constitute a special
semi-tropical region. The native fauna of the state resembles in its
general features that of the other Gulf states. The feral fauna was
once rather varied. Black bears, wolves and deer are not yet extinct,
and more rarely a "wild cat" (lynx) or "panther" (puma) is seen in the
swamps. Of smaller mammals, raccoons, squirrels and opossums are very
common. Every bayou contains alligators; and reptiles of various
species, such as turtles, lizards, horned toads, rattlesnakes and
moccasins are abundant. Shrimps, frogs (of great commercial
importance), terrapin, clams and oysters are common. Only in very
recent years have oysters, though plentiful, become of competitive
importance in the national market; they are greatly favoured by state
protective legislation. In 1904 a state oyster commission was created
to supplant the independent control by the parishes. An important
boundary dispute with Mississippi arose over beds lying near the state
line. The state leases the beds at a low annual rental in tracts
(limited for each person, firm or corporation to 1000 acres), and
draws from them a considerable revenue. The avifauna is varied and
abundant, comprising eagles, vultures (protected by law), hawks, owls,
pelicans, cranes, turkeys, geese, "partridges" (called quail or "Bob
White" elsewhere), ducks, &c., besides numerous smaller species, many
of which are brilliant of plumage but harsh of voice.

_Flora._--Heavy rainfall, high temperature and fertile soil combine to
cover the greater part of the state, and particularly the alluvial
regions and the coast swamps, with a most luxuriant subtropical
vegetation, both arborescent and herbaceous. Louisiana is justly
celebrated for the beauty and fragrance of its flowers. The range of
temperature is not sufficient to give the variety of annual wild
flowers of more northern climates; nevertheless flowers cover the
bottom lands and uplands in great profusion. The upland flora is the
more diversified. Flowering annuals are mainly aquatic. Water lilies,
water hyacinths, which are an obstruction in many streams, and irises
in rich variety give colour to the coast wastes and sombre bayous.
Notable among the flora are roses, japonicas, hibiscus shrubs of
various species, poinsettias, tea olives, crepe myrtle, jasmines,
magnolias, camellias, oleanders, chrysanthemums, geraniums and
plumbagos. The value and variety of the timber are very great. Much of
the river swamp region is covered with cypress trees festooned with
Spanish moss. The most common species in the alluvial regions and, to
a less degree, in the drier portions of the swamps and in the stream
bottoms of the prairies are various oaks, black, sweet and tupelo gum,
holly, cotton-wood, poplar, magnolia sweet bay, the tulip tree,
catalpa, black walnut, pecans, hickories, ash, beech and short-leaf
pine. On drier and higher soils are the persimmon, sassafras, red
maple, elm, black haw, hawthorn, various oaks (in all 10 species
occur), hickories and splendid forests of long-leaf and loblolly
yellow pine.

_Forestry._--These forests are the greatest and finest of their kind
remaining in the United States. In 1898 it was estimated by Henry
Gannett (followed by the Federal census of 1900) that the timbered
area covered 28,300 sq. m. Professor C. S. Sargent estimated in 1884
that the stand of short-leaf and long-leaf pines aggregated
respectively 21,625 and 26,558 million feet. The timber product of
1900 ($17,294,444) was almost ten times that of 1880 ($1,764,640); and
in 1905 the product value ($35,192,374) was more than twice that of
1900. Nevertheless, in 1900 the cypress forests remained practically
untouched, only slight impression had been made upon the pine areas,
and the hard-wood forests, except that they had been culled of their
choicest oak, remained in their primal state (U.S. census). Between
1900 and 1905 furniture factories and planing mills became somewhat
important. Pond pine occurs only near the Pearl river. Curly pine is
fairly abundant. The eastern pine belt is composed of the long-leaf
pine, interspersed with some loblolly. It covers an area of about 3900
sq. m. The south-western pine belt contains the heaviest growth of
long-leaf pine timber in the world, covering an area of about 4200 sq.
m., and occasionally interspersed with short-leaf pine. The short-leaf
growth is especially heavy in the north-western portion of the state,
while the long-leaf is found mainly in large masses N. and S. of the
Red river around Alexandria as a centre. The cypress forests of the
alluvial and overflowed lands in the S. of the state are among the
largest and the most heavily timbered known. The hard-woods are found
in the river bottoms throughout the state.

_Agriculture and Soils._--Agriculture is the chief industry of the State. In 1900 26.2% of the land was in farms, and of this area about two-fifths was improved. The size of the average farm decreased in the two preceding decades from 171.3 to 95.4 acres. The percentage of farms operated by owners (i.e. owners, part owners, owners and tenants, and managers) fell from 64.8 to 42.1% from 1880 to 1900, and the percentage operated by cash tenants increased from 13.8 in 1880 to 24.9 in 1900, and by share tenants from 21.5 in 1880 to 33.0 in 1900; the percentage of farms operated by white farmers was 49.8 in 1900. The value of farm property, $198,536,906 in 1900, increased 79.8% in the preceding decade. The value of live stock in the latter year was $28,869,506. The total value of all farm products in 1899 was $72,667,302, of which $59,276,092 was the value of the distinctive crops--cotton, sugar and rice. The state bureau of agriculture in 1903 estimated that of the total area 14.9 millions of acres were timber land, 5.7 millions pasture and marsh, and 5.0 millions cultivated farm land.

In the N. there are many sandy districts in the uplands, also sandy clays; in the "second bottoms" of the streams fertile sandy loams; abundant tertiary marls in the north-central region; some gypsum in the cretaceous "islands"; and some fossiliferous marls with decomposed limestones. The prairies of south-western Louisiana have much yellow marl underlying them. Alluvial soil and bluff, the location of which has been indicated, are of primary agricultural importance. Reclaimed marsh-land and fresh alluvium (the so-called "front-lands" on rivers and bayous) are choice soil for Indian corn, sugar-cane, perique tobacco, semi-tropical fruits and cotton. The bluff lands are simply old alluvium now well drained and above all floods. The prairies of the S.W. are devoted almost exclusively to rice. On the hills yellow-leaf tobacco can be grown. Cereals and forage plants can be successfully grown everywhere, and varied and profitable agriculture is possible even on the "pine-barrens" or uplands of the N.; but more intelligent and more intensive farming is necessary than that practised by the average "piney-woods" farmer. The alluvial section of lower Louisiana is mostly devoted to sugar, and farther northward to Indian corn and cotton.

Cotton is the principal crop. In 1907 Louisiana ranked eighth in
acreage of cotton (1,622,000 acres) among the states of the United
States, and in 1907-1908 the cotton crop (675,428 bales) was eighth
among the crops of the states. The average yield per acre varies from
about .45 to .75 bale according to the season. In good seasons and
exceptional localities the yield may approach a bale per acre, as in
Assumption parish, and in the Mississippi valley at the junction of
Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas. For many years there has been a
reaction against the all-cotton farming system. In general, the small
cotton farmer was at the mercy of the commission merchant, to whom he
mortgaged his crops in advance; but this evil has lessened, and in
some districts the system of advancing is either non-existent or very
slightly developed.

In 1907-1908 all the sugar produced from cane grown in the United
States came from Louisiana (335,000 long tons) and Texas (12,000
tons); in the same year cane sugar from Hawaii amounted to 420,000
tons, from Porto Rico to 217,000 tons and from the Philippines to
135,000 tons; and the total yield of beet sugar from the United States
was 413,954 tons. Of all the cane grown, an amount between one-sixth
and one-quarter--and that the best--must be reserved for seed every
other year, and this is a great handicap to the state in competing
with other cane regions and with the sugar beet. Of the total sugar
consumption of the country in 1899-1904 Louisiana produced somewhat
more than a fifteenth. Since about 1880 there have been central
factories, and their increase has been a very prominent factor in the
development of the industry, as it has been in Cuba. Though very much
of the region S. of the Red river is fairly well suited to
sugar-growing, it is still true that sugar cannot, over much of this
area, be grown to so great advantage as other crops. Its hold upon the
delta region is, however, almost unchallenged, especially since the
rice farmers have found in the prairie lands that excel the delta for
their purposes. Sugar is grown also in St Landry and the eastern part
of Attakapas--a name formerly loosely applied to what are now St Mary,
Iberia, Vermilion, St Martin and Lafayette parishes. Though introduced
with success from Santo Domingo about the middle of the 18th century,
the sugar industry practically dates from 1796, when Étienne Boré
first succeeded in crystallizing and clarifying the syrup. Steam
motive power was first introduced on the plantations in 1822. The
average product of the ten seasons 1894-1904 was 299,745 tons. A state
sugar experiment station is maintained at Audubon Park in New Orleans,
its work embracing the development of seedlings, the improvement of
cane varieties, the study of fungus diseases of the cane, the
improvement of mill methods and the reconciliation of such methods
(for example, the use of sulphur as a bleaching and clarifying agent)
with the requirements of "pure food" laws. Good work has also been
done by the Audubon sugar school of the state university, founded "for
the highest scientific training in the growing of sugar cane and in
the technology of sugar manufacture."

Tobacco might be grown profitably over a large part of the state, but
in reality very little is grown. The strong, black perique of the
delta--cultivated very generally in the lower alluvial region before
the Civil War, but now almost exclusively in St James parish--is a
famous leaf, grown since early colonial times. Bright or yellow plug
and smoking leaf are grown on the pine uplands and pine "flats," and a
small amount of cigar tobacco on the flats, prairies and "bluffs." The
total value of the tobacco crop of 35,000 lb. in 1907 was only
$10,000, an amount exceeded by each of the other 24 tobacco-growing
states, and the crop was about one-twentieth of 1% of the product of
the whole United States.

Rice farming, which had its beginning immediately after the Civil War
and first became prominent in the 'seventies, has developed enormously
since 1880. From 1879 to 1899 the product increased twenty-five fold.
Formerly the grain was raised by preference in the river bottoms,
which still yield, almost invariably, the earliest rice of the season
and perhaps the finest. The "buckshot clays" of the backlands, which
are so stiff that they can scarcely be ploughed until flooded and
softened, and are remarkably retentive of moisture, are ideal rice
soil; but none of the alluvial lands has an underlying hardpan, and
they cannot as a rule be drained sufficiently to make the use of heavy
harvesting machinery possible. In 1880 the prairies of the S.W. were
opened to settlement by the railway. These prairies are traversed by
ridges, which facilitate irrigation, and are underlaid by an
impervious subsoil, which facilitates both effective storage and
drainage. Thus the use of machinery became possible, and this
revolutionized the entire industry. The year 1884 may be taken as the
initial date of the new period, and the grain is now harvested exactly
as is wheat in the west-central states. Previously the grain had
ordinarily been cut with sickles and harvested by hand. The farms were
also small, usually from 5 to 10 acres. They are now very much larger.
All the prairies district--the centre of which is Crowley--is becoming
one great rice field. Some rice also is grown on the lowlands of the
Mississippi valley, notably in Plaquemines, Jefferson and Lafourche
parishes. In the decade 1881-1890 Louisiana produced about half of the
total yield of the country, and from 1891 to 1900 about five-sevenths.
In 1904 and 1906 the Louisiana crop, about one-half of the total yield
of the country, was larger than that of any other state; but in 1905
and in 1907 (6,192,955 lb. and 7,378,000 lb. respectively) the
Louisiana crop was second in size to that of Texas. Carolina and
Honduras rices were practically the only varieties until after 1896.
Since that time select Japanese species, chosen for superior milling
qualities, have been widely introduced, as the market prejudice in
favour of head rice made the large percentage of broken rice a heavy
handicap to the farmers. Hundreds of varieties have been tested by the
state and federal agricultural experiment stations. A strong tendency
to run to red rice (hardier, but not so marketable) has been a second
great difficulty to overcome.

Irrigation is almost entirely confined to rice farms. In the prairie
region there is abundant water at depths of 100 to 400 ft. beneath the
surface, but this was little used for irrigation for the first few
years of the development of this field, when water was pumped from the
streams and canals. In 1902 nearly one-eighth of the acreage irrigated
was by systems supplied from wells. The irrigated rice area increased
92.9% from 1899 to 1902, and the construction cost of irrigation works
($4,747,359 in 1902; $12.25 per irrigated acre) 87.7% in the same
years. This increase was almost wholly in the prairie parishes. Of the
total irrigated area for rice of 387,580 acres in 1902, 310,670 acres
were in the parishes of Calcasieu, Acadia and Vermilion. In the
Mississippi valley water is taken from the river by flumes in the
levees or by siphons. The danger of floods and the difficulty of
drainage make the extension of the practice unprofitable, and the
opening of the prairies has made it unnecessary.

Many of the fruits of warm-temperate and semi-tropical lands, whether
native or exotic, including oranges, olives, figs, grape-fruit,
kumquats and pomegranates are cultivated. Oranges are grown especially
on the coast. There are many fine groves on the Mississippi below New
Orleans. The fig is a common door-yard tree as in other Gulf and South
Atlantic states, and is never killed down by frost. Louisiana produced
in 1899 only a fifth as great a value in sub-tropic fruits as Arizona
and Texas combined. Orchard fruits are fairly varied, but, compared
with other states, unimportant; and the production of small fruits is
comparatively small, the largest crop being strawberries. Oranges and
pears are seriously damaged by insect and fungus pests. The total
value of fruit products in 1899 was $412,933. Among nuts the native
pecan is exceptionally abundant, the product (637,470 lb. in 1899)
being much greater than that of any other state save Texas.

The total value of cereal products in 1899 was $14,491,796, including
Indian corn valued at $10,327,723 and rice valued at $4,044,489; in
1907 it was more than $27,300,000, including Indian corn valued at
$19,600,000, rice valued at $7,378,000 and oats valued at $223,000.
Indian corn is grown only for home use. Dairying interests are not
largely developed, and in Texas and the adjoining states the "Texas
fever" and "charbon" have done great damage to cattle. Forage crops
are little grown, though soil conditions are favourable. Cowpeas are a
common fertilizer. Garden trucking is very slightly developed, but has
been successful where it has been tried. The state maintains a crop
pest commission, the duties of which include the inspection of all
nursery stock sold in the state.

_Manufactures._--The state's manufacturing interests have during the last few decades grown greatly in importance. From 1890 to 1900 the capital invested, the cost of materials used and the value of output (in 1900, $121,181,683) increased respectively 225.4, 147.3 and 109.6%. The value of the factory products in 1900 was $111,397,919; in 1905 it was $186,379,592. Slightly above one-half of the product of 1900 was from New Orleans, and in 1905 about 45.4%. A constitutional amendment of 1902 exempted from parochial and municipal taxes between 1900 and 1910 practically all factories and mines in the state, employing at least five hands. Manufacturing industries are for the most part closely related to the products of the soil, about two-thirds of the value of all manufactures in 1900 and in 1905 being represented by sugar and molasses refining, lumber and timber products, cotton-seed oil and cake, and rice cleaned and polished.

Rice is milled at New Orleans, Crowley, Abbeville, Gayden, Jennings
and Lake Charles. Ramie fibre and jute are available for coarse cloth;
cotton weaving is almost non-existent. The lumber industry is centred
chiefly in Calcasieu parish. Lake Charles, Westlake, Bogalusa, Bon
Ami, Carson, Fisher, Fullerton, Leesville, Oakdale and Pickering were
the leading sawmill towns of the state in 1908. Of the rarer woods
particular mention may be made of curly pine, yielding a wood of
beautiful figure and polish; magnolia, hard, close-grained, of fine
polish and of great lasting qualities; and cypress, light, strong,
easily worked and never-rotting. The timber cut of 1900 was officially
stated as 1,214,387 M. ft. B.M., of which two-thirds were of yellow
pine and most of the remainder of cypress. In some localities,
especially in the "Florida parishes," small quantities of rosin and
turpentine are taken from the long-leaf pine, but this industry was
unimportant in Louisiana before 1908. Sawdust, slabs, stumps and large
quantities of logs are wasted. Other manufactures with a product value
in 1905 of between $4,000,000 and $1,000,000 were: bags (not paper);
foundry and machine-shop products; planing-mill products; railway
cars, construction and repairs; malt liquors; men's clothing;
cooperage; food preparations; roasted and ground coffee and spice;
fertilizers; cigars and cigarettes; cotton goods; and manufactured
ice.

_Communications._--The length of railway in the state was 1740 m. in
1890 and 4943.55 m. at the end of 1908. By the state constitution of
1898 and by amendments of 1902 and 1904 tax exemptions for ten years
were granted to newly-built railroads completed before 1909. The
principal roads are the Missouri Pacific (St Louis, Iron Mountain &
Southern, New Orleans & North-western and St Louis, Watkins & Gulf),
the Southern Pacific (Morgan's Louisiana & Texas Railroad & Steamship
Co. and the Louisiana Western), the Texas & Pacific, the Kansas City
Southern, the Vicksburg, Shreveport & Pacific, the Louisiana Railway &
Navigation Co., the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley, the Illinois Central,
and the Louisiana & Arkansas. The Illinois Central, the first railway
giving Louisiana connexion with the north, and of immense importance
in the trade of New Orleans, has only about 100 m. of double track in
the state. The problem of inland waterways has always been a most
important one in northern, eastern and southern Louisiana, where there
are systems of improved bayous, lakes and canals which, with the
levees, make this region something like Holland, on a greater scale.
Many bayous are convertible by improvement into excellent drainage and
irrigation canals. The canal system is especially well developed in
the parishes of the Mississippi delta, where, at the close of 1907,
there were about 50 m. of these waterways of decided commercial
importance. They serve the trade of Lake Pontchartrain and the Florida
parishes, the lumber, coal, fish, oyster and truck trade of New
Orleans, and to some extent are the highway of a miscellaneous
coasting trade. The most important canal is probably the new
Atchafalaya Bay canal (14 ft. deep), opened in 1907, connecting the
Atchafalaya river and Morgan City with the Gulf of Mexico. In 1907
active preliminary work was begun on the Louisiana section of a great
interstate inland waterway projected by the national government
between the Mississippi and Rio Grande rivers, almost parallel to the
Gulf Coast and running through the rice and truck-farm districts from
the Teche to the Mermenton river (92 m.). The competition of the water
lines is felt by all the railways, and the importance of water
transportation is rapidly increasing. A state railroad commission,
organized in 1899, has power to regulate railway, steamer,
sleeping-car, express, telephone and telegraph rates within the state.
Foreign commerce is almost wholly centred at New Orleans.

_Population._--The population of the state increased in the ten decades from 1810 to 1910 successively by 100.4, 40.6, 63.4, 46.9, 36.7, 2.7, 29.3, 19.0, 23.5 and 19.9%. In 1910 it was 1,656,388 (36.5 per sq. m.).[3] In 1900 47.1% was of negro blood, as compared with 51.5 in 1890. In 1910 there were nine cities with more than 5000 inhabitants each: New Orleans (339, 075); Shreveport (28,015); Baton Rouge (14,897), the capital; Lake Charles (11,449); Alexandria (11,213); Monroe (10,209); New Iberia (7449); Morgan (5477); Crowley (5099). The urban element is larger than in any other southern state, owing to the large population of New Orleans. The Acadians (see § _History_ below) to-day are settled mainly in St Mary, Acadia and Vermilion parishes; lesser numbers are in Avoyelles and St Landry; and some are scattered in various other parishes. The parishes of St Mary, Iberia, Vermilion, St Martin and Lafayette are known as the Attakapas country from an Indian name. A colony of Germans sent over by John Law to the Arkansas removed to the Mississippi above New Orleans, and gave to its bank the name of the "German Coast," by which it is still known. In recent years there has been an immigration of Italians into Louisiana, which seems likely to prove of great social and economic importance. The industrial activity of the state has required more labour than has been available. The negroes have moved more and more from the country to the towns, where they easily secure work at good wages. Owing to the inadequate supply of labour two important immigration leagues of business men were formed in 1904 and 1905, and in 1907 the state government began officially to attempt to secure desirable foreign immigration, sending agents abroad to foster it. Roman Catholics greatly predominate among religious denominations, having in 1906 477,774 members out of a total of 778,901 for all denominations; in the same year there were 185,554 Baptists, 79,464 Methodists, 9070 Protestant Episcopalians and 8350 Presbyterians.

_Administration._--Since the admission of the state to the Union in 1812 there have been eight state constitutions (not counting that of 1861) admirably illustrating--and not less the Territorial government preceding them--the development of American democracy and the problems connected with the negroes. Under the Territorial government the legislative officers were not at first elective. The "parishes" date from 1807; they were based on an earlier Spanish division for religious purposes--whence the names of saints in parish nomenclature. The constitution of 1812 allowed the General Assembly to name the governor from the two candidates receiving the highest number of votes; gave the governor large powers of appointment, even of local functionaries; and required a property qualification for various offices, and even for voters. The constitution of 1845 made the popular suffrage final in the choice of the governor, abolished property qualifications, and began to pare executive powers for the benefit of the General Assembly or the people. From it dates also the constitutional recognition of the public schools. In 1852 even the judges of the supreme court were placed among the officers chosen by popular vote. The constitutions of 1864 and 1868 were of importance primarily as bearing on negro status and national politics. That of 1879 showed a profound distrust of legislative action, bred of reconstruction experiences. Nearly all special legislation was forbidden. The last constitution (1898, with 26 amendments 1898-1906), unlike all others after that of 1812, was not submitted to the people for ratification.

Under this constitution sessions of the General Assembly are biennial
(meeting the second Monday in May in even-numbered years) and are
limited to sixty days. The number of senators is fixed by the
constitution at 39; the number of representatives is to be not more
than 116 or less than 98. Any elector is eligible for election as a
representative if he has been a citizen of the state for five years
and a resident of the district or parish from which he is elected for
two years immediately preceding the election; a change of residence
from the district or parish from which he was elected vacates the seat
of a representative or senator. A senator must be at least 25 years of
age. Members of the legislature are elected for four years. Revenue or
appropriation bills originate in the House of Representatives, but may
be amended by the Senate. Contingent appropriations are forbidden, and
the constitution contains a long list of subjects on which special
laws may not be passed. The chief executive officers have four-year
terms, neither the governor nor the treasurer being eligible for
immediate re-election. The governor must be at least 30 years old and
must have been a citizen of the United States and a resident of the
state for 10 years next preceding his election. Within five days after
the passage of any bill by the General Assembly he may veto this
measure, which then becomes a law only if passed by a two-thirds vote
of all members elected to each house of the General Assembly. The
lieutenant governor (and then the secretary of state) succeeds to the
office of governor if the governor is removed, dies or leaves the
state. The five judges of the supreme court of the state are elected
by the people for a term of twelve years. The supreme court is almost
without exception a court of appeal with jurisdiction in cases
involving at least $2000, in cases of divorce, in suits regarding
adoption, legitimacy and custody of children and as regards the
legality and constitutionality of taxes, fines, &c. The supreme court
appoints courts of appeal to judge cases involving less than $2000.
The constitution prohibits lotteries and the sale of lottery tickets.

The suffrage clauses are of particular interest, as they accomplish
the practical disfranchisement of the negroes. The constitution
requires that a voter must (in addition to other qualifications)
either be able to show conclusively ability to read and write, or be
the owner of property within the state assessed at not less than $300,
on which, if personalty, all taxes are paid. But it excepts from these
requirements--thus letting down the bars for illiterate whites
excluded with negroes by the foregoing clauses--persons who were
entitled to vote in some state on or before the 1st of January 1867
(i.e. before the adoption of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments
of the United States Constitution); also the sons or grandsons of such
voters, not under 21 years of age, on the 12th of May 1898; and males
of foreign birth who have resided in the state for five years next
preceding the date of application for registration and who were
naturalized prior to 1898. The constitution provides that no person
less than 60 years of age shall be permitted to vote unless he has
paid an annual poll-tax of one dollar for the two years next preceding
the year in which he offers to vote. Convicts not pardoned with an
explicit restoration of suffrage privileges are disfranchised--a rare
clause in the United States. Suffrage was by this constitution first
extended to women tax-payers in questions "submitted to the
tax-payers, as such." The creation of a railroad commission was
ordered and the preparation of a code of criminal law.

The Louisiana Board of Levee Commissioners was organized in 1865. The
state board of health was the first one effectively organized (1855)
in the United States. It encountered many difficulties, and until the
definite proof of the stegomyia hypothesis of yellow-fever inoculation
made by the United States army surgeons in Cuba in 1900, the greatest
problem seemed insoluble. Since that time conditions of health in New
Orleans have been revolutionized (in 1907 state control of maritime
quarantine on the Mississippi was supplanted by that of the national
government), and smaller cities and towns have been stimulated to take
action by her example. Sanitary institutes are held by the state board
at various towns each year for the instruction of the public. Boards
of appraisers and equalization oversee the administration of the tax
system; the cost of collection, owing to the fee system for payment of
collectors, was higher than in any other state of the Union until
1907, when the fees were greatly reduced. The state assessment in 1901
totalled $301,215,222 and in 1907 was $508,000,000. Schools and levees
absorb about half of all revenues, leaving half for the payment of
interest on the state debt (bonded debt on 1st of April 1908,
$11,108,300) and for expenses of government. A general primary
election law for the selection, by the voters, of candidates for state
office came into effect in 1906.