The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1866-04-22
Ene1sanaen's, E.aasor' and Cotton Cni-
caIstioas.

Erss...u.e,a's, Eaa,or and ootto.. Cal,
| ca1ations.
| The varying estimates which are
tputson the number of laberers in the
fSonth devoted to agricul lt1Ue. aiad On
the amount of cotton te>bes produced
fby these -laborers the coming season,
prove untleniably eitherfhe clements
iof Southern labor are profoundly
disorganized in condition and mcer-
tain as to results, or that data on tile
subject are wholly insufficient to form
basis OF correct general conclusions.
Some respectable authorities have
differed TO- the extent Of !, 500, 600
bales in estimating the number of
laborers. On the one. hand, 3,O0O. 600
bales are confidently assumed us the
cotton crop of the season; on the
other hand, it is asserted, with not
less confidence, that 500, ,0Oe is a
figure that VIII amply cover all the
cotton that can be made the present
year by the available labor in the
South. It is useless, as some are
disposed to do, to try to adjust these
discrepancies on the basis of splitting
the difference; for where the differ
ence is SO wide, and consequently
where ascertained facts are so few,
the correct figure is about rs likely to
be outside rs between the varying
estimates.
This large variance, which fuctu-
ates with the shifting phases of the
labor problem, and the irregular
statements of hypothetical data, is
foI r. -
In the cotton market for correspond
ing uncertainty and fuctuation,
which, If they foster the spirit of
speculation, and favor an unwhole-
some species of commercial gambling,
are in an equal ratio calculated to
discourage the solid enterprise which
always looks to something more than
precarious and conjecturable results.
fortunately, the agricultural situa-
tion III the cotton States is begin
n1ng, If We mistake not, to present
more definite and satisfactory aspect.
The time for sowing the cotton seed
is now at hand, and the quantity of
land previously prepared for the seed
by ploughlng and otherwise can now
be ascertained; as also the number of
hands regularly employed in cotton
cultivation. In is connection. we
are glad to have it in our power to
point to the result Of recent observa-
tions in the cotton regions of the
South by planter of experience and
intelligence, Gen. Albert Rust, for
merly Of Arkansas, now residing in
the Parish of Ouachita, La. Gen.
Rust, as we are informed, concludes
trom what he saw in an extended
tour recently made through the
Southern States, that the area of cot
ton cultivation the present year is
not less than one-half of what it WAS
before the war.
This conclusion is sustained by the
tenor of intelligence conveyed by the
country papers in this and other
States concerning the progress OF
agriculture in various localities. The
limitation of cotton cultivation to the
half OF what is was formerly is fixed
only by positive lack of labor for
extending it further We must infer
from this that not less than Oh. half
OF the former number of agricul. .ral
iaborers in the South has been extin-
guished in five years, or has been
withdrawn from agriculture. The ex-
tinction and the withdrawal have
been, perhaps, about equal. If so,
1000, 900 blacks must have perished
from the commencement of the war
to this time, and 1000, 900 must have
been diverted from agriculture:
whereupon, 1000, 900 would remain
from which to draw ble-bodied field
hands for making cotton. Suppose
these to be one-fourth of that num-
Der, 500, 900 effective laborers would
constitute the whole cotton tilline
force of the South. Under the new
system of labor, no one has ventured
to claim over four bales to the hand.
AS to the present disposition of
freedmen to live up to their contracts
by reasonable good faith and per-
sistency, information from the inte-
rlor of this State, and from some
cher States, is of a highly gratifying
nature. We publish elsewhere some
testimony Of this character, contained
III the letter of an intelligent CORES
pondent at Monroe, La, and in the
editorial remarks of two newspapers,
one at Monroe, La, speaking of the
| cropprospectsin i'll the Ouachita district.
and the other ut Natchitoches, re-
porting the situation in the same re
gard IN one Of the fine planting re-
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