Clarksville weekly chronicle. [volume] (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1865-1867, 1866-06-15
THE COTTON CROP.

A correspondent of the Mobile News re-
plies TO New York correspondent Of Lon
doa house, who estimates that this years
crop of cotton will probably reach six,
and cannot fall short Of five millions of bales
This absurd statement, the Alabama writer
very clearly exposes, by facts and figures
which he seems 10 have collected with much
care, aud Of which we can give but brief
synopsis. He sets out with the fact, that
the largest crop ever raised, in the South,
amounted to 4,50o,0o0 bales, and assuming
800 pounds of seed cotton, to be the average
per acre, of the whole cotton growing sec.
ton, he arrives, logically, at the conclusion
That to produce 4, 500, 900 bales, there must
he in cultivation, 9,s43,75O acres, which
must be worked by ,o93, $50 hands, and that
the season must be favorable to the growth
and the ingathering Of the crop. Having
reached these conclusions approximate
accuracy of which, few will question--the
writer assumes that, this year, there will be
one-third less ground in cotton, fewer labor
ers by one-third, and that those laborers will
do one. third less work than when slaves
Now, by deducting one-third from the totals
1t will be seen that, even with the most pro-
pitious season, the crop cannot exceed 2, O0O,-
900 bales.
This is all well enough, SO far as it goes to
expose the absurdity of the estimates made
by those interested in keeping down the
price of cotton, or in keeping up the price Of
Government bonds, but It needs amendments
to make 1t .pplicable to the present aspect Of
this years crop. When we take into con.
sderation the number Of negroes who have
died by violence and disease the number
that have gone North; the thousands who are
idlers in the cities, towns, and villages, the
three-fourths of the women who have re-
tired from the field to cultivate waterfalls,
and the thousands Of (once servicable) boys
and girls who are taking lessons in Yankee
'isms' from Yankee school marms, we are
constrained to believe that the estimate Zone
thrd) is far too small 10 cover the loss of la
Dor.
But waving this point as one not easily
established, let US bear in mind, that n IA
vorable season is one of the conditions which
enters into this estimate Of 1000, 900 Of bales,
as the maximum yield Of this season. That
condition, SO Gar from being fulfilled, has
most signally failed. The wet and cold,
acting upon the feeble terminating powers
of imperfect seed, caused a bad stand, and
the want of seed, good or bad, prevented re-
planting in many cases, and, in some, re-
suited in the substitution of corn for cotton.
In addition to this drawback, the sweeping
floods, which have desolated large tracts of
the richest lands all through the South, have
materially lessencd the number of acres set
apart for cotton, and from which the most
abundant yield was expected. As yet no
satisfactory report has been made of the in
injury sustained from these combined causes;
but taking into consideration all the circum-
stances adverse to the production of cotton,
20 far, this season, and the chances for
steady labor during lis growth and gather
ing, the prospects are very bad for yield
exceeding l,25O,OOO bales. And putting the
home consumption at 100000, this will leave
$4,000 bales for export. What effect this
may have upon an inflated paper currency,
We leave to the decision Of the fnanciers o
the country.