The Sun.
London, England, 1866-01-18 00:00:00

'AYE.
Cash.

Cotton Supply Association.

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OFFICIAL REPORT OF THE CROPS IN THE
SOUTHERN STATES.
At the meeting of the Executive Committee, on Tues-
day, a telegram was read from the President of the Royal
Commission, Naples, announcing that the cotton exhibi-
tion, which was postponed in consequence of the preva-
lence of cholera, will be opened in that city on the 14th
of March, and it is earnestly recommended that the Eng-
lish makers of gins, agricultural implements, and other
machinery, should become exhibitors. A letter received
from Terranova states that the cotton growers in Sicily
much need proper implements for preparing the ground,
and that they are to a great extent unacquainted with
the modern appliances of husbandry, which have proved
so successful in other countries. The exhibition of im-
proved implements at Naples might be of great advan-
tage to the Italian cultivators of cotton. The writer
believes that the cotton grown on the southern coast from
Pachino east, Comiso, Derillo, Terranova, Niscuni south,
and up to Licato, and more or less all along, as far as
Trapani west, if properly attended to, would be the best
in Italy, as there is much analogy in the tempera-
ture of these shores of Sicily with those of Alabama
and Florida. The plain at the back of Terranova as-
similates strongly to some of the Texan plains between
Galveston and Houston, whilst the river Gola„ running
through its centre, would, with proper machinery, afford
ample means of irrigation. The soil is fitted to yield fine
crops of cotton, such as is known at New Orleans as
"Upland," and there is no doubt that Sea Island cotton
could be successfully produced if good seed were procured.
It is asserted that if prices should fall as low as 6d. per lb.
cotton could still be cultivated, and yield a handsome profit.
Hopes are entertained that the intelligent efforts of the
members of the " Societe Industriale Terranovese," includ-
ing the British vice consul, will greatly contribute to extend
the growth of cotton in this part of Italy. The quantity
of cotton exported from Terranova, as shown by the Cus-
toms' register, was, in 1863-4, 793,500 kilogrammes; but in
1865, up to September 12, it was 1,085,444 kilogrammes,
showing a remarkable increase. A letter from Gallipoli re-
ports that a large extent of land has been prepared for cotton,
and that the results of experiments with New Orleans seed
has produced an eager desire to obtain it for next sowing
season. A despatch forwarded by the Foreign-office was re-
ceived from her Majesty's Consul at Bosna Serai, describing
the result of experiments made to introduce the cultivation
of cotton in the Herzegovina. At first everything seemed
to promise an abundant crop, but the latter part of the sea-
son turned out unusually wet and cold, and these causes,
added to the inexperience of the cultivators, occasioned
a total failure. In an ordinary season it is confidently
believed the cultivation of cotton would be successful. A
letter was read describing a project to grow cotton in some
of the most fertile and suitable islands in the West Indies,
and soliciting the co-operation of merchants and consumers
of cotton. Further information will be supplied to any
parties disposed to join the undertaking. An application
for Sea Island seed, by a cotton grower in Nevis, West
Indies,was granted.—A letter was received from the hono-
rary agents of the Association, Bombay, forwarding a
sample of cotton grown from Egyptian seed, received from
the political agent in Kattiwar, which was valued at 19d.
per lb. A grant of ploughs, made by the Association, to
be gratuitously distributed, was gratefully acknowledged.
—Papers were received from the Revenue Department,
Bombay, forwarded by direction of his Excellency the
Governor in Council, describing the successful attempt
which has been made in Candeish to introduce the superior
cotton grown in the adjoining province of Berar. Nothing,
it is said, can be more favourable than the present appear-
ance of the new Candeish Berar crop; it has had a suitable
season, and is growing with every prospect of yielding a
large out-turn. His Excellency in Council authorises a
repetition of the experiment, by other collectors who may
be able to adopt the plan which has been .so successful,
of introducing seed of an indigenous variety, superior to
that in ordinary use. It was resolved to request the Colo-
nial Secretary to institute inquiries as to the effect alleged
to be produced by the policy pursued by the Lagos Go-
vernment towards the interior tribes of that part of West
Africa, and which is described as preventing, by the re-
strictions imposed, the gathering and shipping to England
of supplies of cotton. A letter was read from the Spanish
Consul in Liverpool, advising the despatch, by order of
the Spanish Government, of ten bales of cotton weighing
2,5881 b, the produce of Fernando Po, which have been.
sent as a present to the Cotton Supply Association from
his Excellency the Ministerfor Public Works. This cotton
is now on view at the rooms of the association, and its in-
spection by spinners and manufacturers is invited. - It was
resolved, on the proposal of Mr. T. Bailey, M.P., seconded
by Mr. E. Ashworth, vice-president, that this handsome
present should be duly acknowledged, and a report upon
the cotton be prepared and transmitted to the Spanish
Government.
The following communication, forwarded by the Foreign
Office, was received from her Majesty's Minister at
Washington, being a memorandum relative to the present
and prospective condition of the cotton crops in the
Southern States. The despatch, signed Frederick W. A.
Bruce, and dated Washington, December 18, 1865, states
that there is no doubt that this is as accurate a report as
can be made at present :—.,
" In May last the Government of the Unitod States put
forth a statement, to the effect that, as far as their agents
and officer's had been able to ascertain, there were about
2,500,000 bales of cotton then stored in the Southern States
From all that I can learn, and I have taken pains to know
the views of the principal planters and cotton factors in
South Carolina, Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi, there
was not at that date in the whole of the South more than
1,200,000 bales, and of this between 100,000 and 200,000
bales are so damaged as to be quite unfit for the manufac-
ture of any fabric. The crop gathered this autumn is never
estimated at over 500,000 bales, and the best authorities
agree in supposing it to be more nearly 350,000 bales.
With regard to the crop of 1866 it is more difficult to form
a true estimate. But so completely has the system of
labour been disorganised by the emancipation of the slaves,
that the most sanguine speculator does not give more than
1,250,000 bales, and I consider that 1,000,000 is an out-
side computation. I visited several plantations in
Louisiana, where the system of free negro labour has
had a comparatively long and fair trial, as a great por-
tion of that State has been in the hands of the Fede-
ral authorities for the last three years. Those people
who have had most experience of free black labour
assure me that there is the greatest difficulty in getting a
fair day's work out of the negroes they employ. A negro,
has no idea of the sanctity of a contract, and will, as fa a
in him lies, evade the performance of his part of it. The
means in the hands of the planter to enforce its due execu-
tion on the part of the labourer are very slender. Sum-
mary dismissal for idleness or negligence is out of the ques-
tion, as there is no other labour in the market, or not in
sufficient quantity to be available to be put in competition
with the negro. Added to this it is probable that at least
one-fourth of the old negro labour is already lost to the
agriculture of the South. The' mortality among the black
population has been very large, and to this loss must be
added the great number of the more intelligent hands who
were impressed, or who enlisted into the Federal armies,
and those who, escaping enlistment, have swarmed into
the large towns, where they find employment much more
suited to their taste than that of field labour. There has

likewise been more or less emigration to the North.
I very much fear that we must look forward to a still

further decrease year by year, and uliiimately to the
almost total extinction of the race. Witf regard to the
cultivation of cotton by white labour, I believe that ex-

cept in tho more southern parts of Louisiana it will be
found possible and profitable, and will no doubt be eventu-

ally managed. But the introduction of white labour muse
be a very slow and gradual process, under the most favour.

able circumstances, and although the Central Government
may do much to retard, it is powerless to accelerate the
influx of white immigration. As long as the Southern

States are treated as conquered provinces, denied repre-
sentatives at Washington, and kept under martial law,
they will not prosent much attraction to the labouring
population of the Northern States or of Europe, and the
same interferenco with the action of the civil governments
of those States which will repel white immigration will
keep alive the present antagonism between the planters
and the freedmen, and prevent free black labour from being
used to the best advantage. Under the most favourable
circumstances it is aot expected that more than half the

old amount of labour will be performed by the negroes,
and it will take some time before the influence of white

immigration upon the cultivation of cotton is felt. It is,
therefore, the opinion of those most capable of forming
a true estimate, that not more than, on an average, one
half of the old crop of cotton (crop in 1859, 3,851,481
bales ; in 1860, about 4,000,000) will ba produced for
several years to come—say 2,000,000 bales per annum.
But, under existing circumstances, taking into con-
sideration the present prostration of the South, the
almost total destruction of stock, agricultural implements,
&c., and the great want of money to purchase these agri-
cultural necessities, 1,000,000 bales for the crop of 1866 is,
lam convinced, a most favourable estimate. It appears,
too, that there is increasing activity in the cotton manu-
factories of the North, and that they are likely to require

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more cotton than before the war. There is now an export
duty of two or three cents a pound on the raw material,
and it is not unlikely that this will bo seriously increased if
the European demand is likely to elevate the price to the
disadvantage of the Yankee spinner. Whatever the amount
of cotton in future produced in America—and I believe it
will eventually be as large each year as before the war—it
is not likely that it will ever again benearly so cheap as in
the old days; indeed, the only temptation to white immi-
grants to undergo the enervating effects of agricultural
labour in the South is the very high money reward pro-
mised by the extravagant price of cotton. To recapitulate—

Bales.
Stock of cotton in South on May 1, 1865 1,200,000
Crop of 1865 350,000
Crop of 1866 1,000,000
Probable average for many years to come 2,000,000

(Signed) ‘‘ W. HICILENS, Captain, R.E.
" Washington, Dec.lB, 1865."
This concluded the business, and the committee ad-