The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1867-08-07
THE CROPS.

On twenty thousand acres OF land plant
ed in cotton this year there will not be
raised two thousand bales of cotton.
The first year after the surrender our
planters exerted all their energies to
obtain advances and hire hands so as to
carry on their plantations under the
new regime in the same manner as they
were cultivated before the abolition of
slavery. The end of the years. labor
found them without crops and with
heavy debts to their merchants hang
ing over their shoulders; the caterpil-
lar and the overflow together having
suf6ced to extinguish all their hopes of
a return from their outlay of capital
and industry. A second year has wit
messed the same experiment, with the
same results, the overflow and the cat
erpillar having repeated a visit which
we have every reason to expect will
hereafter have it's annual recurrence
While the cotton crop has been tho
roughly eaten up, on the other hand
the corn never promised more album
dant yield, and the few cane fields in
the Parish are as fiourishing as we ever
saw them at this season of the year.
We think that the experience of the
last two years should be sufficient to
teach our friends that there are radical
defects in the planting system of this
section which, if not remedied, will end
in the bankruptcy ofevery planter who
persists in his refusal to change his
plans with the change Of the circum-
stances by which he is surrounded. 1t
must be evident to all that the cotton
crop is too uncertain to be remunera-
tive, and that it should be abandoned
for something which promises more
satisfactory results. In the old times
Of our prosperity the occasional failure
of a crop made but slight difference,
when every planter was able to bear
the loss. Now the failure of a crop en-
tails such debt upon a plantation as
must assuredly cause it's sale under ex-
ecution at no distant day. Sugar thrives
we'll in Rapides and has made many a
fortune in the past, but who can now
find the means adequate to the con-
struction Of sugar houses with the ne
cessary machinery7
We have all along advocated the
raising of corn, potatoes, vegetables,
and such like, and we are more con-
WINGED now than ever that our opinion
is the correct one. Had the planters
refrained this year from asking for ad-
vances to pitch cotton crop, and had
restricted themselves to corn, they
would not only have secured the main
staple Of life but they could have sent
a large quantity to market and have
derived a handsome revenue from the
sale thereof. They would not now be
in SO much distress, and be burdened
with the feeding Of SO many freedmen
whom they have hired with the expec-
tation of taking off large cotton crop.
In another respect a change must be
made in our planting system. We can
see no reason in our large land-holders
trying to cultivate all their open land,
and subjecting themselves to the care
and annoyance Of as many laborers as
they worked in more prosperous times.
Let each planter restrict himself to a
small area of ground, and to the cult
walton of articles which will be needed
for food, and let out the remainder in
small parcels to thrifty farmers who
will ensure its cultivation. There will
then gradually be introduced among us
a system of farming which cannot fail
to be remunerative, and must enhance
materially the price of our lands, which
constitute the only valuable property
left us after the desolations Of ruinous
war. Unless some such change shall
be speedily made, the agricultural
prospects Of the present proprietors in
Rapides are as dark as can well be i'm.
agined. The lands will be sold out by
remorseless creditors, the present pro-
prietors become bankrupt, and agricul-
ture will be revived under new owners
who may profit by the mistakes Of
their predecessors.
The loss Of the goowing crop this
year must cause an immense amount of
distress, not only among the laborers
and the poor, but even among those
who were once in easy circumstances.
There is now no money in the country,
times were never harder, and we do not
see much prospectof a speedy ameliora-
ton. All should, therefore, practise
the most rigid economy in their man
ner Of living, and endeavor to avert the
suffering from which there is now ap-
parently but little prospect Of escape.
B Gen. Sheridan has removed Gov.
Throckmorton from the executive Office
of the State of Texas and substituted