The Ouachita Telegraph

The annoyance, expense and general dissatisfaction, experienced in carrying on large plantations under the present system of free negro labor, would cause almost the entire abandonment of the plantation plan of planting, if any other feasible mode could be ascertained whereby the land-owner could secure a reasonable rate of interest upon the capital he has invested in lands, tenements, stock, &c. There are no large planters in this section, who are such from choice. The wear and tear upon the mind, the aggravating character of the laborers, the failures and embarrassments incident to such a life, are almost incalculable, and are destructive of the best aims and results of social life.

But to discover the means of reform, and to demonstrate their practicability, are matters not easily done to the satisfaction of the large landed proprietor.

We have long believed that the land-owners were not without a specific remedy, in a combination of elements easily brought together; and the plan we have had in our mind—not unfolded in deference to croakers—has received, in one of the southern parishes, the sanction of practical success, upon a fair trial. Mr. Grovemberg, a Creole, living and owning a sugar plantation in St. Marys, contracted with five families from the parish of Lafourche, to cultivate his place. These families were almost destitute, but were industrious and willing to be tenants. About three thousand dollars were expended in building houses and fences for these families, and corn, provisions, &c., provided, the tenants furnishing ponies for plowing. They purchased a few pigs, chickens and turkeys for their wives to tend, and the men and boys went to the field. The wives have earned largely from their poultry, one selling $120 worth of eggs alone, in twelve months. The men have earned $1000 to the family, in corn, sugar and molasses, and the little colony is prosperous and contented.

In the parish of Ouachita there are not less than fifty plantations, of splendid river land, where the plan briefly detailed might be profitably inaugurated. The plantations could be laid off in lots of 40, 50 or 100 acres each, with a river front to each lot, and upon the front, suitable tenements, at a small expense, erected. The places are nearly all ready for the plough and a crop at this time.

West of this, on the high hills overlooking the magnificent alluvial lands between the Ouachita and the Mississippi rivers, is a population of frugal and industrious farmers. They are making a living, as the phrase goes, but every furrow they turn is accompanied by a sigh for better lands and better profits. But how are they to purchase land at $30 per acre, and when it can be bought only in bodies of several hundred acres?

They want richer lands, but cannot buy. So, the land-owner wants better plowing, better hoeing and larger yields, and no trouble.

Is there any obstacle, worth the mention, to the accommodation, by exchange, of these two wants? By the arrangement we have indicated, both parties would be accommodated, the products of the country increased, the tone of society improved, a population of working bees added to the hive and the face of the country made bright and cheerful with pleasant little homes filled with smiling intellectual faces. Who of our planters will set this ball in motion?