port of his own wife and children, and his aged father and mother, and he can not get away. This is his native country; he is a fixture to its soil. The whites, with far more means, could not get away, if they desired. And it is not to be supposed that a population without means can do any better than to work. During the year 1868 the blacks labored faithfully upon the plantations, and, considering the terrible reverses, from bad seasons and worms, did as well as they ever did before the war. The planter who treats his employes with kindness and pays them their wages, can get as many hands as he desires, and be served as faithfully as it is possible for the negro to labor. PROFITS OF COTTON-PLANTING IN ALABAMA. Estimate of the American Land Company-Six estimates of the profits of planting cotton-Estimate by a Northern man in Louisiana— Another by an old Alabama planter-Another by an old Mississippi planter-Another estimate for the Uplands of Alabama-Another for the higher latitude of Tennessee, etc. THE American Land Company, of New York, published in 1866 an extended list of plantations for sale, and attached to it the following considerations and statistics, which it would be well for our readers everywhere to consult, making due allowances for changes in prices since: "One hand can cultivate from eight to ten acres of cotton, and half as many more in corn. "One mule will be required on an average to every two laborers. Two plows of all kinds to three mules. 66 Upland produces about half a bale of cotton; best bottom-land a bale and upward to the acre. "A bale of ginned cotton averages 500 pounds. "Cotton, as picked from the field, contains three pounds cotton-seed to one pound ginned cotton. "One man will raise from eight to fifteen bales of cotton on bottomland, from four to seven bales on upland, and, with either, 100 to 300 bushels of corn. "The plowing for cotton should be commenced in January. The seed should be planted in March. By the 15th of July the planter can tell, almost for a certainty, his year's crop. The picking begins in August, and new cotton can be in the market by October. 66 Upland plantations, which were assessed for taxes at from $25 to $50 per acre before the war, with all the buildings and machinery complete, can now be purchased at from $5 to $8 per acre. "Bottom-land plantations, which were assessed for taxes at from $50 to $120 per acre before the war, with all the buildings and machinery complete, can now be purchased at from $10 to $30 per acre. "It requires about $4,000 to grow 100 acres of cotton, $1,000 of which can be got from the crop itself. Cotton plantations contain on an average from 900 to 2,500 acressome as small as 400, others as large as 5,000 acres. "The best cotton lands of the South are within six days from Boston. They are not as far from Ncw England, and are not by any means as difficult of access as the lands in Kansas were; and the danger, even to those who magnify it most, is not half what it was to the settler there. Yet the danger deterred no one from going there. We had a principle to settle, and we settled it right, and it remains forever. Who will help settle, by New England energy, enterprise and economy, the question of free labor upon the cotton fields of the South? It will give almost fabulous returns, pecuniarily, for the investment; it will help the poor freedmen; it will help the society at the South; it will help the country at large. "If you wish correct, wholesome and progressive ideas established on the ruins of the now prostrate slave-system of the South, do not sit idly theorizing, moralizing and doubting, but take hold and work, and that speedily. Show to the South your faith in free labor, by furnishing it employment. The laborer starves and dies, or becomes a public charge and an outcast, for want of the employment your capital can give. "The following estimate No. 1, was made by a Northern man who is now a cotton planter in Louisiana, and is based on the high prices of the last two years. These expenses are twenty per cent. above the present rates. "The estimate No. 2 is made by a planter of twenty years' experience in Alabama and Arkansas; a close calculation, with expenses at a minimum. "The estimates Nos. 3 and 4 were made by a cotton planter of sixteen years' experience in planting in Mississippi; a fair calculation, and will be verified by experiment. "The estimate No. 5 is made by a Georgia planter, for the uplands of Georgia, Alabama and North Carolina, &c.; a reliable estimate, and not too favorable. "The estimate No. 6 is made by a man acquainted with planting more particularly in Tennessee and Virginia," &c.: ESTIMATE NO. I. Estimated cost and profit of a cotton plantation of 1,000 acres open land, and for five years, respectively: Cost of Farming 1,000 Acres Cotton, First Year. $180 to $300 per year...................... Minimum. Maximum. Hire and support of 100 laborers, from $15 to $25 per month, Cost of 40 mules, at $100 to $150...... Total capital required to be advanced for first year............................. .$16,000 to 25,750 แ for support of hands; corn and pork raised; say one-quarter hire and support............ 4,500 to 7,500-9,500 to 15,500 From 500 to 1,000 bushels of corn per annum; from 2,500 to 5,000 bushels for five years; from 1,000,000 to 2,000,000 lbs. cotton for five years, say from 10 cents to 30 cents per lb. At 10 cents per lb........... Gross Proceeds with Cotton. At 30 cents per lb............ ..$100,000 to $200,000 300,000 to 600,000 45 mules, cost $125 each. 1 overseer, and board.............. 5,000 bushels corn........... Without considering increase of stock. ESTIMATE NO. II. Cost of farming a plantation of 1,200 acres Mississippi bottom-lands, 1,000 open land, for first year: 80 hands, average of $70 each... $5,600 700 bales cotton, 400 lbs. per 5,625 bale, 50 cents per lb.............$140,000 3,000 3,000 The land at the end of the year will advance 100 per cent.; all the supplies will be on the plantation for the next year, from the products of the first year. ESTIMATE NO. III. Estimate of the expense and profit in cultivating 650 acres of Mississippi or Yazoo Valley Land-say 500 acres in cotton and 150 acres in corn, for first year: Profits. By 500 bales of cotton, of 400 lbs. each, at 30 cents per lb............. By fodder and hay..... Deduct expenses... Leaving for net profit ..... $60,000 3,750 1,500 $62,250 25,000 .....$40,250 Such a plantation can be purchased for from $10,000 to $15,000; good buildings, etc. The land will double its value in the purchaser's hands, in addition to the profits of the crop. A plantation in the Mississippi Valley that would have 650 acres of open land, would probably contain 1,500 in the entire tract; and estimating this at $20 per acre, would make $30,000, which, deducted from $40,250, the net amount of profit would leave $10,250 as clear profit, besides having paid for 1,500 acres of lands, and the mules, cattle, hogs, wagons, farming implements, etc. ESTIMATE NO. IV. If a first-class upland or creek-bottom plantation is cultivated, then, in 1,500 acres of land, 1,000 acres would probably be open land; and cultivating 700 acres of this in cotton and 300 acres in corn, the expenses of cultivation would not exceed, say $27,000. The product would be at least: 350 bales of cotton, of 400 lbs. each, at 30 cents....... 6,000 bushels of corn, at 75 cents....... Fodder and hay......... Deduct expenses...... Leaving a clear profit of................. Deduct the cost of 1,500 acres of first-class upland.. Leaving for net profit......... ..$42,000 4,500. 2,500 $49,000 27,000 .$22,000 15,000 $7,000 This leaves a clear profit of $7,000, besides paying for 1,500 acres of first-class upland or creek-bottom land, and all the mules, cattle, hogs, and plantation tools and implements. In the valley plantations generally, only about one-third the lands are opened for cultivation, and in the upland and creek-bottom plantations, about two-thirds; the remainder of the lands, in both cases, being wood and pasture lands, which can be reduced to cultivation, from year to year, as required. In the Mississippi and Yazoo Valley, about ten acres, and in the up-land and creek-bottom lands about twelve and a half to fourteen acres |