The Sun.
London, England, 1866-03-24 00:00:00

Cotton in the Southern States.

L..--"

An English merchant, who has travelled exten-
sively in the Southern States, communicates the fol-
lowing letter regarding cotton to the Liverpool
Post:—

" You will have the information already on your
side with regard to the quantity afloat, and the
amount already received, and these I do not in-
clude in my estimates ; but I judge the amount now
in the country to be not far from 300,000 bales--
viz., South Carolina, 25,000 bales; Georgia, 45,000
bales ; Florida, 15,000 bales ; Alabama, 40,000
bales ; and Louisiana and Texas, 175,000 bales.
(The amount from New Orleans may be somewhat
increased by the rise of the smaller rivers in the in-
terior). This cotton is very nearly all on the plan-
tations, but has been detained inland by the want
of means of transportation, notwithstanding the in-
ducement to push it forward which was offered by
the high prices ruling.

" In regard to the crop now being planted, I
have made most particular inquiries, and having
(as you are aware) a wide acquaintance among the
planters, I have good opportunities of acquiring in-
formation.

" The planters generally were so delighted to
find the negroes willing to work at all that on
the Ist of January last they sent out the most en-
couraging statements as to the prospects of a crop.
I have been long enough in the free West Indies to
have a good deal of scepticism about free labour,
and my recent experience has not removed that feel-
ing. The negroes are not working as they formerly
did, the discipline of the plantations is gone, and
the average amount of labour now secured is not
over two-thirds in quality as of old obtained from
the same number of hands, while the quantity is
certainly one-third to one-half less. I give as
illustrations the following plantations :—E. T. S--d,
Columbus, formerly 80 hands, now 27. R. H. T—s?
formerly 110, now 23. W.B 100, now 17,
and his upper place 40, now 25. G. B—n, for-
merly 45 hands, now 17. A. T. N., formerly 45,
now 19. Dr. T—n, formerly 60, now 20. C. 8.,
formerly 80, now 25. W. W., formerly 90, now
15, &c. &c. What has become of the hands ?
Many have gone back to their 'old homes in Ten-
nessee, Kentucky, Virginia, and North Carolina.
Many have been killed in the war. Many have
since died from disease and neglect, and many
decline to contract work. On the whole, consider-
ing the violent and calamitous change which has
come over the institutions and labour of the South,
I think all parties, white and black, are behaving
unexpectedly well ; but, as I before remarked, the
discipline of slavery is gone, and I found no planter
who expected to make as much to the hand as be
formerly did. During the months of June and July,
when the grass attacks the crop, a military efficiency
was required, and so in the cold days of fall
(autumn) and winter picking out. This efficiency
cannot be secured from the negro when free ; it
never has been, and never will be. Some calcula-
tion is made upon the immigration here of Northern
labour and Northern planters, but Ido not con-
sider it of sufficient importance to make it an
element of the calculation. Cotton planting is
a difficult business, requiring skill and experience--
I may almost say it is au instinct. lam glad to
see immigrants from the North, but they come
slowly, and they must remain until they learn the
trade before they can affect the crop.
" What then may we expect from the next crop?
I say now, and beg you to make a note of
1,750,000 bales to 2,250,000 bales—not over the,
last amount, and probably less than the first.
express with the deepest regret my belief in the
decline of cotton production, because in it I see .3,
decline of power and influence of the South ; but I'
is the logic of events ; and it remains to be seen
whether the South can change the direction of its
energies from the cotton-field to the mill, the mine,
and the meadow, so as to recover its lost prosperity
and prestige.
44 I was among the first to estimate the cotton
in the South at the close of the war at 2,000,000
bales, and I stake my prophetic character ou the
above vaticinations.—Yours truly, S.