The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1869-04-19
CHI A r L ES TON.
MONDAY MORNING, APRIL 10, 1869.
The Cotton Crop Of the State.

| The Cotton Crop OF the state.
The cotton planters of the State, encour-
aged by the prices at which they have sold
the crop of 1868, have invested largely in
fertilizers, with the evident intention of
making heavy crop. AS we are informed,
the quantity Of guanos and phosphates
shipped over the South Carolina Railroad
is far in excess of the shipments of any
preceding season, it being determined, it
seems, to stake all our fortunes on cotton
and allow bread and meat to take care of
themselves. We have already in common
with the whole Southern press, urged the
planters to make corn and wheat their first
and principal aim, as the surest way Of
being Independent, and Of reaping the ben
eft of small crop of cotton; but, if we
may judge by what is going on around us,
what has been said has produced no effect,
and every State in the South will this year
gamble recklessly in cotton. We take it for
granted then that all the cotton will be
raised that can be raised, and it becomes
interesting to speculate as to what, under
the most favorable circumstances, will be
the probable amount of the crop of 1869.
IL the year 1860 the slave population Of
South Carolina was 402, 4O6, of which num-
Der 205, 900 were between the ages of Is
and 60. From the total number must be
deducted the negroes employed on the rice
plantations, and ss house servants and
mechanics, so that it is liberal estimate
to say that not more than 10000 slaves
were employed in producing cotton. This
number, at an average of about two bales to
tne nsud, wouId give ooo, 41z psIes, the crop
Of 1860. In 1S67-68 the entire crop of the
State fell off to about 200, 900 bales, and the
crop of 186s-69 will not exceed 10000
bales, or about one bale to the hand upon
the bas Is of the working slave population
CT 1860.
There is no doubt that the number of
negroes in the State is much less than the
number reported in 1860. During the last
four years the mortality among the negroes
has been far greater than it was in the days
Of slavery. The negroes are careless in
their habits. They will not work unless
their necessities force them to do 80, and,
having but little idea Of the provident use
of money, take no pains to keep themselves
sufficiently or comfortably clad. Nor do
they take the proper means for their OWE
safety in cases of sickness. They have no
money with which to pays doctor. Herb
teas and good luck are their chief relianoes,
whether the ailment be an aching tooth
or pulmonary consumption. As natural
consequence, the mortality is much greater
than amongst the whites, it being seen that
in this city where they are least exposed
and where they can always obtain medical
treatment, there are more than twice as
many deaths of negroes as of white per-
sons. In the country districts, for obvious
reasons, the proportionate mortality must
be even greater.
But it is not the deaths alone which re-
duce the number Of negroes available for
work in the cotton fields. A large number
of negroes have moved to the towns and
cities, hoping to live there more easily, and
the migration is still going on. Then there
is the dislike of the negro women to going
into the fields. They think, and the men
think, that women should remain at home
and not hoe or pick for living. This is
an important element in tie calculation,
but after all not more serious than the de-
moralization caused by the political condi-
tion of the State and by the conduct of the
officers of the government.
The negroes had become pretty we'll con-
vinced that without work they could not
live and eat and sleep. They were ready
to work tolerably we'll and were doing so;
but they have been filled of late with the
hope that some Office, big or small, will
fall to their lot, and that at the worst they
can join the State militia. No reasoning
can drive these ideas altogether out of their
heads. We think 1t, then, safe to say that,
taking into account. The excessive NOR
tality of the negroes in the country dis
triots; 2. The migration from the country
to the towns and cities; 8. The dislike of
the women, often amounting to positive
refusal, to work in the fields; and 4. The
disinclination of the negro men and women
to do any more work than they are forced
to do, the number Of negroes available for
producing cotton this year will not exceed
100000, or about one half Of the estimated
number in 1860
And the reduced numbers so obtained
will not give anything near to the average
of 1860. In the low country, where the
negro population is largest, the capital of
the planters ia limited, and the extent of