In the preparation and compilation of data for the publication of such a book as will give with accuracy and clearness the varied and immense resources of a State which is only yet in the infancy of its development it is necessary to cull from every available source possible. In this book we have taken from our previous hand-books, we have given copious extracts from Hon. Jos. E. Ransdell's "On to Dixie" speech in the House of Representatives in the Sixty-first Congress, almost his entire speech, "The Lure of the Southland," recently delivered in the United States Senate; we have copied from the National Magazine the article of Garnault Agassiz on "The Untold Treasures of Louisiana," and are under obligations to Professors W.R. Dodson, W.H. Dalrymple, E.S. Richardson, E. Pegram Flower and many others for courtesies extended, and to the United States Agricultural and Census Bureaus for valuable data.