Parchment farm?

[Johanna N Franklin]

    Last night I heard the term "parchment farm" for the first time.  It
was quoted from an old blues song from the 1950s or so, referring to a
chain gang in Louisiana.  Does anyone know where this term came from?
Was there a Parchment, Louisiana near the prison?  Any help would be
greatly appreciated.

    Johanna Franklin

"If a mathematician wrote a fantasy novel, would the page numbers be
imaginary?"