The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1869-01-20
THE SCI ISLANDS.
Y he Profits Of Sea Island Planters-Thc
Causes of Three Years Falu re-Fortu-
nate Cotton Plantcrs-Sen Islands will
Pay.
1FEoa1 A CORRESPONDENT. ]

results.
| have had full experience in operating
with 'frce labor, and the like experience, and
great success i'll cultivating sea island cotton
before the war. l made in one season, fl, IN
extra fiue cotton, s112 to the acre, clear of ex-
penscs. In another, made one hundred and
| fifty pounds round, of this cotton, to my whole
crop OF over eighty acres. This vas previous
| to the war, and hence the amounts are ex-
pressed in gold. Since the war. with free Ia
bor aud sweeps, have made Of the same cot
ton, in the adverse season of '67, s10O per acre.
It will be seen that roy estimates take into
account every contingency. 1t is fair to say,
however, that such seasons as those Of 67 and
'6S have been unknown on our coast in pc
riod of fifty years. They are beyond all calcu-
lation and precedent, being as destructive as
an earthquake, without exciting tho sympathy
and indulgence tor the unhappy victims which
an extraordinary CONFUSION of nature natu-
rally does.
We have suffered moro fron the seasons than
the caterpillar, the extraordinary flood retard-
ing the crops in their growth SO as to rcndor
the destruction of tho worm four-fo!d, besides
tho great and serious injury arising from tho
seasone alone, which would have cut off the
crops one-half or more, if not q single worm
had made its appearance. And the wet sea-
sons have doubtless contributed much in pro-
ducing the caterpillar. I know that planters
have high hopes excited by tho luxurious ap-
pearancc of late crop. This, in nearly all
cases, is delusive-u utterly so. Old planters
used to say, in looking at late crop Of prom
ise, sit is splendid crop; but it is late, and
late crops always look double" Hence the
idea entertained Of very fine crops in somo
sections Just before the apgearanes Of ths est
troubls, We may, with reason, hope to escape
from these extraordinary visitations.
Now, what are the facts ?
A friend and neighbor planted a half aero
extra cotton in the past season. The patch
was manured with stable manure and "com-
posi-" listed with the hoe, sbanked" with the
hoe, and attended in a thorough and hand
some man ner according to the best standard
of slave labor. Not blade of grass was to be
seen throughout. The land was strong yel-
low soil, near to an arm OF tho sea. The
patch escaped the caterpillar entirely, and, in
a fair season, should have made ut least one
hundred and fifty pounds per acre. Yet the
Weld was but at tho rate of twenty-four pounds
per acre. The same was the case, to mod-
lied degree, in q like patch OF my own IN 1867.
On, the contrary in the season OF 1866-with
US only fair one-I sent to market over sixty
pounds to the acre from small field planted
from the 10th to the 10th of May. This field
was ravaged by the caterpillar before had o
pod picked, and was gathered by day laborers
without any one in charge, business tf more
pressing importance demanding my whole
time. presume, under the circumstances, it
must have actually produced one hundred
pounds per acre, Notwithstanding caterpillars.
In the same season Of 1866 q planter in my
community, though his crop was swept by
caterpillars, made over one hundred and thir-
ty-three bales of three hundred pounds to
eighty hands. Another, under like circum.
stances, made thirty-eight bales to twenty-five
hands. Another, forty bales to one hundred
and twenty acres. Another, Thirty bales to
ninety acres, and so on through the COM
munity wherever the crop received anything
like reasonable attention. Why was it that
money was lost =? The answer is plain. There
we're extraord mary and e1orbitant expenses to
meet in tho restoration OF our ruined homes
and wasted fields. Stock had to be bought at
exorbitant rates. Labor to be seduced into
work By exorbitant wages. Everything to be
done anew, and everything costing four prices.
The ella Of seed, which at that time could
alone be obtained, was inferior as well as un-
productive. Our planters necessarily began
late and came to market late, with all this ex-
traordinary cost of production on their backs
and to be liquidatei at once. They met the
Florida planters as usual in market with as
good, if not better, cotton than theirs, and a
crop the very best that had ever been made
in Florida. The buyers knew this advantage.
and used it with vengeance, running cottol
down from 81 40 per pound to Forty cents at
the lowest figure.
Notwithstanding this, with the average
price obtained, if the wages and expenses
had rated no higher than those cf the past
season, remunerative results would have been
reached So that the only practicable season
enjoyed since the return OF our planters to the
coast, had they escaped the extraordinary cost
of production, no longer existing, would hare
been decided SUCCESS, notwithstanding cater
pillar, and with q fair arLcle of cotton would
have been successful with caterpillar aid cx-
penses. So too, if they had escaped catcrpil-
lar, they would have reached success, not
wthstanding the high cost Of production and
inferior quality Of cotton.
1 know what state and can prove by the fig
ures. My experience warrants me i'll reposinG
perfect confidence in the statements make.
The crop of 1866 was followed by the seasons
of '67 and '68, on both Of which years We were
flooded with rain and had no spring at all,
whilst the crops were ravaged by caterpillar.
To make cotton crops or any other under
circumstances go utterly Variant with all pre-
vious experience, was to nuke our daily tale
Of brick without straw.
tits easy to repeat the catchword that there
never was money in long cotton, and to use the
can! phrase that it is "played ont" 1T is