I.
Agriculture
Patterns
laid down by native americans
Preadaptations
and the piney woods bias
Plantations
vs. peasant
Sugar
plantations in the far south, up to the 31 parallel (top of boot foot)
Cotton
in the Red Miss, Ouachita and Tensas basins
Incredible concentration of land
into the hands of a few
War
for Southern Independence
Changing landuse patterns
post-bellum
Exploitation of the piney woods,
prosperity 1880-1920
Commercialization of the SW
prairies.
A.
Rice Cultivation
1. Reputed to have been accidentally come upon after a hurricane/flood
episode scattered rice into the backswamp were it planted itself and grew
well.
2. Flood plain cropping began after that for rice.
3. Generally used as a food crop, not an export.
4. Explains in part the Louisiana penchant for rice dishes.
B.
Tobacco-Perique grown in St. James Parish
C.
Maize-
1. feed crop
2. also for the poor.
D.
Sugarcane
1. Introduced very early on but was not profitable until the late 1790s
2. Spanish expertise on sugar cultivation came in 1770s.
250
day growing limit
E.
Cotton
1. not profitable at first because it was too labor intensive
hurricane
and raininess in the south limit its production in the far south.
Has
diminished as the scale of operations increased
Rolling
hills for example reduce the acreage-population decreases
Not
in the French area though…cultural attached to the land and the crop.
F.
Other crops
1. Figs
2. Citrus
II.
Trade
A.
Limited because of problems with complementarity
B.
Developed eventually with the Illinois country.
1. Mostly luxury items, because transportation was so expensive
2. Upstream navigation was difficult.
3. Tobacco sugar and cotton for staples, meat and metal ware.