Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1875-06-16
THE COTTON CRop PROSPECT

In the current issue of the NeIV York
Commercial and Financial Chronicle we
find an elaborate and apparently un.
biased exhibit of the cotton crop pros
pect for l875-a subject of peculiar
interest to the South and, in fact, the
whole country just at the present time
1t is to be noticed that Tennesseeis the
only State that shows a decreased acre.
age, concerning which the following
explanation is given:
We have had much doubt with regard &c
this State. Acredge-Old and experienced
observers write US that there is no falling
off in the Memphis district, and the reports
from the alluvisl section would seem to
confirm this opinion, though in the hill
lands there is a falling of; but our regular
correspondent at Memphis has investigated
the subject very thoroughly, and believes
that there is a decreased planting. We
have therefore reached the conclusion,
after the most extended examination We
can give the subject, that for the entire
State the planting may be Rut down at an
average decrease Of 3 per cent. Condition
The condition is very much more fayOra-
bic than last year, and some write that it is
all that could be desired. The termination
Of the seed was delayed by cold weather in
April, but with the warm weather of May
the plants came up very abundantly, and
the stands are now good with well-wOrked
fields, and the crop generally more forward
than last year. Weather-The same fea-
Il ,E,e0r-.1,1a in fTanwnee1n 1a nlel-
where; that is, that low temperature con-
tinued later than in the average springs, so
that the termination of the seed was de-
layed, and in some sections the plants after
they came up became sickly, making to a
limited extent replanting necessary.
Later, the warm weather has done immense
good.
The Commercial and Financial
Chronicle starts, therefore, with the
fact, which it considers as satisfactory
" established, that no State shows a
falling off in acreage except Tennessee
and we may remark, en- PEASANT, that
our farming class viii be largely the
gamers thereby, in the enormous wheat
crop now being harvested, in the still
more enormous corn crop of which
they have such favorable promise, IN
the increased area devoted to grasses,
IN the more thorough system Of cult
walton which has been almost univer-
sally adopted, and in the certainty that
the cotton States proper viii afford an
exhaustless market for our surplus
products.
But as to the percentage Of increased
acreage IN cotton, any figures must be
uncertain. Whatever ways of determ-
lining this point may be adopted, the
main reliance must be upon individual
estimate in each county or section.
This source appears to have been con-
suited with all possible care and dill
gence by our contemporary in reaching
the conclusions which we give below in
a summarized, but clear and sufficiently
comprehensive, shape:
First. As to the use of fertilizers, both
homemade and commercial, there has been
a very considerable increase over last year.
1t is satisfactory to note decided improve
ment in general farm management and
condition of labor, and in the relations be-
tween the labOrer and the planter, over a
very considerable portion Of the South.
Then, again, notwithstanding the increased
purchases If commercial manures, and
generally increased planting, the advances
to the farmers, although more than last
year, have not been as in previous years
excessive at ruinous rates of interest, but
more moderate, a general spirit Of economy
pervading all classes. As a result, this
crop will cost less than any raised since
the war, and if abundant will do the South
more real good. Largely increased food
crops have been planted almost everywhere,
and are turning out finely.
Second. The actual acreage in cotton,
made up to June l, is stated as follows: