New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1866-08-01
,AGW Q9rleans lailp Grca eut.
wEpNEspAY MoRNINe. AUGUST l. lseg.
LETTER FROM n EssIss1PPr.



one half of this distance was through the large and
populous county Of 0opiah The remaining 20
odd - miles were Travelled over through Laurence
and Jefferson counties about equal distances in
each The opinion had formed Of the extremely |
poor prospect Of the crops ION my way out) in |
passing through portions Of Adams, Franklin, JEFF |
ferson, Copiah and Laurence counties was not
changed by returning different route, and little
to the north Of the first. I then thought, should
the rain continue month longer, all or nearly SO
would be lost. ] came to this conclusion not only
on account Of The bad condition Of the crops and
the seeming fruitless exeriions to destroy the
grass, but also on account Of farmers aud
laborers being discouraged Many were discussing |
the proprietJ Of lscharging their hands aud giving
up all for lost. But fortunately for the country the
skies began to brighten and the Clouds with the
gloom and forebodings they had created disap- |
peared. On or about the 10th of jane the rains
ceased" The hearts OF white men and women took |
fresh courage. They saw and appreciated the sit
uati0n, and they knew the only remedy; bank
ruptcy, starvation and ruin were before them--to
avoid which at that late day, required a great
amount of skill, energy aud perseverance, The
result was doubtful at the time. In most instances
however, they have proved ttat with light anG
hope and good insight, they were equal to any
task that was possible for human energy and de-
termination to accomplish: bat attoh was " we
way in the shape Of Q freedman bureau" By
far the greater portion Of our labor is performed
by negroes or colored people, as the law
makers and coustitu ioubreakers call them How
to stimulate this class to active exerJinn was z
hard problem to solve. All was uncertain and
doubtful. Each thought his own plan the best
ard vent accordingly. shall not attempt to ex
plain the ulOd1tS 0perdndt pur ued by different
persons, or their individual auccpss, expect at
some future day to make this the basis and theme
Of another article. This much / will say
There were men, young and Old uhaccustnned to
labor who made good hands. and there were ten
der women, who performed the duties Of milk
maid cook, and house servants generally, while
n" alt hands and the cook" went to the field 10 kill
grass. The result may welbe imagined. The dry
weather was God sendn to save wicked, per-
verse and inconsistent people from famine and
destruction. Just previous 10 tue war we had
two excessively hot and dry seasons, and until re-
Gently this has been sHgulRrly cold and wet.
As il was in the two former it will prove this
year 1t will take all the profits on cotton to buy
provisions. Drouth war, pinching want, much
suffering, etc, has not induced us to give mp
our g king cotton" We have faith, q
persistence and Unsuitable greed after cotton,
10 the exclusion Of the cereals, fruit,
and stock raising etc, which TO my mind s fear.
full to contemplate. Excuse this depression and
will return to my subject.
From the 18th to the 2lst of June saw several
crops. In this neighb0rhood, on the 18th, ! saw
several blooms, the first Of the season. on Mr.,
Stampey's plantation. The piece Of cotton on
which were the blooms was planted in March, the
cotton would not average knee high the stand
was not good-some low pla es having been
drowned ont and abandoned. On the 18th saw
and cotton regular, except in low land average
height, to the knee; well formed with a few
blooms. This was the best field of cotton had
then, seen. Ii was on the plantation of Duncan
Powell but that q wrong impression may not be
made, would state that they had another field o.
cotton, composed partly Of old land and party o.
new ground, that would not compare with the first
being much interior in size and appearance
On June 22d, travelled from here to the Bend
a large bend in the Mississippi river, below
Rodney, to the mouth Of Coles Greek, distance
nf fifteen rolas nv the river. Along this rOute
saw crops of corn and cotton in every Concetva
bic state ofscnltiyaton and advancement, conSld
ering the season, from good to bad and Indifferent
Some were glowing the mldd,es cot Of the cotton
which left it clean, except in the drill; other
again were moulding where it had long since bee
gcraped, and was very foul in the drill and middle
Again, l saw cotton struggling with weeds, gras
and burrB for the mastery but as saw platoon q
more Of sable field marShuls coming to the rescue
take it cotton would soon be made king. In tn
rear Of these, and forming the second line OF bal
tie, were body Of horse and close in the rear {
these were footmen, whose swords we're beate
into plowshares, or at least had changed tn
sword for the plowshare aud though there wer
some hating and shutting in the ranks, beley
the enemies of king cotton will finally be suodQet
and the skulkers get up in time to receive the
share of the spols.
On the alIuvial lands in the bend did not fir
crops much more promising than in the hill
There are seven places in this bend, IN whole
in part, In cultivation They are leveed in
round and did not Suffer from overflow, but fro
rain very much. l have been in thus bend fir
quently in years gone by, before the war, az
never knew these places to fail in cotton Gro
have seen cotton grow there that could not
reached to the top by man sitting upon the ba'
of a tall horse. have seen the limbs locked
iuterlaced in seven and eight feet rows, SO that t
hands could not pass through without hreaki
the limbs. Knowing the str myth and produotiT
ness of the soil at that point, | expected to 5
fine crops, ii nowhere else in the county. | d
not see but one crop that was good and thou
small for tle season and land, it was clean,
evidently in q healthy and growing conditit
Cos .p,nloo }tn h,Ib1o 0lfhdR we'll 10
new, fresh, and free in q great measure from
those grasses that are troublesome In ole
places. A neighbor informed me that they OF
had in cultivation on this place three acres
the hand The plare lies in and consists
narrow and shallow slough or low places, with
ternate and broad RIGGS lying parallel TO "a
other. The whole was planted, but the L
grounds drowned out by the rainwatrr, thus los
about one-fourth of the crop. On the plantat
adjoining Mr.. d. g., about eighty hands
worked under the guidance of himself and
overseers. One hundred and fifty acres OF
cotton had been destroyed by ran water Parl
his corn had been thrown out, and he had not
ished getting over his cotton the first time sl
the rains ceased. He exp cited 10 get over
next week, and doubtless So repeded, as
weather continued dry and favO abe. He did
expect to make over half GRIP of corn or colt
His cotton was very small and the stand imperf'
and it looked red and was evidently ba
stunted." Bat that which had received the
working was IN het'er condition, and had begul
change its color from red to green, and otherp
showed signs Of growing.
On the next place. whlGh - well set with co
and burnuda grass, so far as could see, the c
was in very bad condition. The xt place on
river, Spuhead, the crap was much heuer, and
the season might be set down as good, On
next place, Robb's, did not rec the crop
learned from the lessee Thy The way, 10 alt outw
appearances, one of The clevere,t gentlem
ever met Without Yank e, aud had been C.
mel of Massachusetts regime u )-he infarI
me that his cop was far from being good
that he had great trouble with his negroes. |
would loose great deal OF time on the sick
when nothing could be found To ail them but
position to keep from work. III the vcinjt
Rodney is a large, and previous to the war,
sidered good place, IL is cultivated Chat IS
half or less) by negroes. The crop looked Y
unpromsing indeed. Passing through Rodney
thence along the road Leading near Oakland
lege, saw the crops in the hill lands OF Jefe
and Claiborne. and where previous to the
grew the celebrated petit gulf cotton seed.
the hills around and adjacent tn Rodney are S
small farms cultivated by Germans and Irish.
lands are fresh the hills are steep, aud did
suffer SO much from the rains, and The crops
good. Further out the crops we've small,
lacked considerable Of being out of the grass.
there small portions of a goodly numb
these crops that were much better than the
ulainder and could be accounted for nv the