Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1833-01-08
EDITORS CORRESPONDENCE.

The South. WESTERN & WESTERN Country.
Extract Of letter to the Editor of the Alex.
antria Gazette, from a gentleman who has spent
some time in travelling through the South West.
ern States.
The return Of MIR. 10 Alexandra at.
fords me an opportunity to give yon sketch OF
the local advantages and disadvantages Of those
sections of country which, at this time, engross
chiefly the attention OF emisrants. As my sketch
contains the observations OF a perfectly disinte-
rested visiter TO the Great Valley. it may be re-
lied on as authentic, and, as such, may be int.
resting even to those who have no intention to
seek new homes. And firstly of the Sugar grow.
ing lands in Florida, Louisiana and Texas,
which are the most popular and the most profta-
bIe Lands Of the best quality for growing SUI
gar NAV be had IN Florida, or in Texas, for from
five to ten dollars per acre. They are general.
ly, however, (near the COAST so intersected and
cut up by bayous, sIashes, water courses and in
ferior lands, that large tracts are hard to lind -
Patches Of ten, twenty. aud from that to seventy
or eighty acres are plenty. The sugar crop re-
sembles, in the mode of planting aud tending,
and in appearance, our commnn Indian corn
onlv il is of paler green Ii is generally plant
ell or sowed in drills, aud one planting gives
three crops When il is fit to cut. which il five
or six months after planting. it is sold standing
To the owners Of sugar mills, the price VARYING
from eighty to one hundred and twenty dulIars
per acre, and is then cut down and conveyed
away to the mills. The sturnps then pu, up
second crop of stalks and fo,lder. which is sold
and cut in like manner; and then third. which
is generally inferior to the two FIRST the second
being generally the hes. of the three. II YOU
have farm of four hundred acres, with only IF
tv or sixty of sugar land. that portion which will
not bring sugar viii still be good enough for corn,
cotton, sweet potatoes, olive and orange trees.
and various other profitable articles: 50 tina, your
hands need never be idle. Game is plenty in
the woods and prairies, and the oysters on the
coast CONTRARY to what we have been toId) are
as large and ine any in the Chesapeake, and
water fowl "a abundant The country is sickly.
but by no mrans as much 50 as the cotton coun-
tries The woods are gloomy and dark, and
full Of ba,s, from the quantity Of moss thar hangs
from the branches. Alligatnrs and mosquitoes
are also numerous and Troublesome. Sugar. at
present. is the most profitable crop that is raised
in the United States, and is likelv to remain 81
for some time, for two RESPONSIBILITY, because
there ia very high protective duty on the impnr-
ta,ion of foreisn sugars; and. secondly. because
the consumption Is more than doubl a. great as
the production The former exceeds two hun
drrd thousand hUsshsads, and the latter tails
short nf one hundred thousand.
The best cotton country in the United States
is said to he that recently taken from the Ch0c-
taws, which will be in the market in three wears
or therrabouts. West Tennessee and the east
ern part IF the Arkansas Territory, and all the
fla, lands from thence south. produce it very
well. and cotton possesses one great advantage,
q
bacco and hemp-viz that It does not exhaust.
bat rather improves, the soil in which it grows:
that is, provided the stems and leaves latter the
crop is gathered in) are allowed TO rot on the
land; but not if they are piled and bnrnt-a prao-
,ice which some planters are stupid as To fol
low. Cotton lands, as good any now in cult
Walton. NAV be- had, according To situation and
prpx,mitv 10 market. at 81 25. and from that to
five dollars per acre. The planters calculate up-
on au average If from one thousand 10 one hous.
and two hundred pounds of seed cotton to the
acre, which will gin out one fourth of clear mar
krtabe cotton, Welding, at ten cents per To-. Z.
from SIS to $50 per acre, They allow one
prime hand tn each ten acres of land. four or
five in cotton and the balance in corn. with pom
pions. melons, aud peas or beans, growing be-
tween the corn drills. Ii requires twice as ma.
nv bands 10 gather m the cotton as Il does tn
plant aud cultivate It. The men are employed
IN the pioughing, planting and hoeng and the
children in wedding. But in the gathering or
picking season, which lasts with intervals) from
September to January. men. women and chll-
dren are all in strict requistion; and the dry
moonlight lights are as brsily spent az the DAYS
Women and children are estimated, according
to their strength aad activity. full hands, half
hands or quarter hands. and in gathering time
.I.l t.n ham
Their l25 lbs. day. and for all over he ia paid as
per agreement between him and his MASTER
Many Of the hands particularly the short, thick
set women, with long arms will pick from $50
to 200 lbs. Cotton Was formerly the most pro.
ftable crop cultivated in the United States
This circumstance his induced such numbers To
adopt its cultivation. that the production is at
present in danger Of exceeding the demand, The
annual increase Of production for several wears
past has been from 70 to so. 600 bales; aud the
trice from the time when it first became an arti-
Gle Of expectation has been reduced from two
s.iiiines (3S cents to ten cents per pound -
When tn. extensive and fertile territory recently