“From fifty to a hundred.”
“Never over one hundred?”
“No; when they’ve increased to a hundred they always divide them; stock another plantation. There are sometimes three or four plantations adjoining one another, with an overseer for each, belonging to the same man. But that isn’t general. In general, they have to strike off for new land.”
“How many acres will a hand tend here?”
“About fifteen—ten of cotton, and five of corn; some pretend to make them tend twenty.”
“And what is the usual crop?”
“A bale and a half to the acre on fresh land and in the bottom. From four to eight bales to a hand they generally get: sometimes ten and better, when they are lucky.”
“A bale and a half on fresh land? How much on old?”
“Well, you can’t tell. Depends on how much it’s worn and what the season is so much. Old land, after a while, isn’t worth bothering with.”
“Do most of these large planters who live so freely, anticipate their crops as the sugar planters are said to—spend the money, I mean, before the crop is sold?”