The best cotton lands in the States lie between 31° and 36° north latitude. Below 31° the climate is too moist, causing the plant to run too much to stalk, and the fibre to rot. Above 36° the season is too short and too cold. The most fertile tracts for the cultivation of cotton are the great river bottoms. In the Mississippi Valley, twice or even three or four times as much may be raised to the acre as in Northern Alabama or Middle Tennessee. But in the Valley there is danger from floods and the army worm, by which sometimes entire crops are swept away. On the uplands there is danger from drought.
The life of the planter is one of care and uncertainty. It requires almost as extensive organization to run a large plantation as a factory. You never know, until the crop is picked, whether you are going to get fifty or five hundred pounds to the acre. Anxiety begins at planting-time. The weather may be too wet; it may be too dry; and the question eagerly asked is, “Will you have a stand?” If the “stand” is favorable,—that is, if the plants come up well, and get a good start,—you still watch the weather, lest they may not have drink enough, or the levees, lest they may have too much. Look out also for the destructive insects: kindle fires in your fields to poison with smoke the moths that lay the eggs; and scatter corn to call the birds, that they may feed upon the newly-hatched worms. Perhaps, when the cotton is just ready to come out, a storm of rain and wind beats it down into the mud. Then, when the crop is harvested, it is liable to be burned; and you must think of your insurance.
Notwithstanding these disadvantages, there is great fascination in the culture,—the possibility of clearing in one season from a good plantation fifty or a hundred thousand dollars, causing you to take cheerfully all risks. The plausible figures dazzle you; and to the Northern man the novelty of the life in prospect for a year or two is itself an inducement. You think little of the danger to health from the miasmas of the swamps; or to property, from the midnight torch of an enemy; or to life, from the ill-timed recreation of some bushwhacking neighbor. And you are quite insensible to what the Southern planter deems the greatest of all risks that beset your crop,—that some day your freedmen will desert, and leave it to destruction.
I found many Northern planters in the upland districts of Alabama and Tennessee, where lands are cheaper, plantations smaller, and the risks less, than in the Mississippi Valley. But the latter region proved the greater attraction to adventurous capital. Men from the Middle States and the great West were everywhere, buying and leasing plantations, hiring freedmen, and setting thousands of ploughs in motion.
From experienced cotton-growers I obtained various estimates of the cost and probable profits of a crop the present year. They usually differed little as to items of expense, but sometimes very widely as to profits, according to each man’s conjectures regarding freedmen’s willingness to work, and the price of cotton next fall, which one would place as low as fifteen cents, and another as high as fifty. The annexed statement, furnished by the Southern Land Agency at Vicksburg, is probably as good as any:—
“Sir:—The following is an estimate of the expense and cash capital required to cultivate 500 acres of cotton land within the scope of our agency, for the year 1866.
| 25 | mules @ $150 | $3,750 | |
| 25 | single sets plough harness @ $4 | 100 | |
| 3 | lumber wagons @ $75 | 225 | |
| 25 | single ploughs @ $13 | 325 | |
| 10 | double ploughs @ $18 | 180 | |
| 700 | bushels cotton-seed @ $1 | 700 | |
| Total outlay for stock, seed, and implements | $5,280 | ||
| 1200 | bushels corn @ $0.75 | $900 | |
| 120 | barrels of corn meal @ $6 (about 1⅓ lb. per ration) | 720 | |
| 84 | barrels pork @ $35 (about ⅔ lb. per ration) | 2,940 | |
| 250 | gallons molasses @ $0.75 (about ¾ gallon per ration each) | 187 | |
| 5 | barrels salt @ $3, for stock and hands | 15 | |
| Wages of 60 hands for 10 months @ $15 per month | 9,000 | ||
| Incidentals | 1,000 | ||
| Total for supplies, wages, and incidentals | $14,762 | ||
| Rent of 500 acres land @ $10 | 5,000 | ||
| Total outlay during the season | $25,042 | ||
| Value of the articles on hand at the end of the year:— | |||
| Amount paid for stock and implements, less ¼ for usual wear | 3,435 | ||
| Amount paid for cotton-seed, which is replaced from the crop | 700 | $4,135 | |
| Leaving total expenditure during the year | $20,907 | ||
| For the actual amount of cash required up to the time a portion of the crop may be disposed of—say Sept. 30th—deduct ⅔ of the rent, which is not due until the crop is gathered | 3,333 | ||
| Last quarter’s expenditures for supplies, wages, &c. | 4,940 | $8,273 | |
| $16,769 | |||
“From which calculation we see that the actual cash capital required is $16,769, or about $33 per acre, and the actual expense about $42 per acre. But as men’s financial abilities differ materially, we think it quite possible to cultivate land with smaller capital. Many are hiring men, agreeing to pay but a small portion of their wages monthly, and the balance at the end of the year; while others save the use of capital by procuring supplies on a short credit, or by allowing a portion of the crop for rent.
“The average crop on alluvial land is full one bale per acre; on second bottom or table lands, about ⅔ bale, and on uplands ½ bale.
“Clothing and extra supplies furnished to hands are usually charged against their wages.