Daily Republican., 1879-07-05
LETTER vsoM MIssIsslrPI.
Some Observation BY q Desaw arean
On Cotton CUiture-The Exodus
and the Cause Of IL.

S0me Observatl ON BY Desawarean
On Cotton Cniuure-Tho Exodus
and the Cause Of 1t.
Special Correspondence Of the Republican.
June 26th, 10.
MEssRs EDIT0Rs:-In former letter
promised, among other things, to
tell you something of cotton cnlture.--
Cotton planting commences about the
Goth of March, and continues until the
1st of May. The ground Is thrown up
in rows, or, as it is called, "listsd;" 1"
the row is then opened with small
plow, and the seed sown in this furrow.
The row Is then narrowed, and the
planting is completed. When two or
three inches high, the cropis chopped
out" or thinned, SO that there will be
one plant every s or 10 inches.
1t is then moulded" or plowed, and
the spaces between the rows broken
out, and left free of weeds and grass.
1t is afterwards hoed again, and at this
hOeing "cut to a stand" leaving one
plant to every fifteen or eighteen inches.
After this hoeing, should the ground be
clean, the crop Is cultivated by contin-
ual blowing, until it is "laid by y that
IL, as long as mule and plow can get
through the rows, without breaking
down too much. The process is a to
dious and very laborious one, and one,
unaccustomed to the kind of work,
makes but poor headway. Nina tenths
of the work is done by the colored peo.
pie.
The modus operandi of cultivatiAg
these ''Elysian Fields" is about this,
the land is owned pretty generally by
white people and the colored people rent
it in quantities to suit their ability and
inclination to work it. ranging from five
to thirty acres per family. Directly
after the war, the colored people
bought great deal Of land making one
or two payments on it; but the white
people, finding that they would event,
ually pay out and secure the title be-
gan a system Of "sharp figuring" the
result Of which was, that the payments
already made were necessarily forfeited.
The rent price runs from two to seven,
sometimes eight dollars per acre. more
by ole halt than the plantation would
sell for, in cash, in nine instances out
of ten. But prior to the war this land
was worth one hundred dollars per
acre or more, and although they knew
in 1864 that the war was over, they
seem to have forgotten it, aud are liv
ing on in blissful ignorance, entertain
ing the absurd idea that these miser-
able degenerative acres are as valuable
as then.
The negro on obtaining his lease goes
to a general supply store, sand by max
ing mortgage, on his prospective crop
aud his stock; If he has any, is able to
procure some corn meal and bran, by
allowing the merchant to charge him
from two to five prices for it. The up
shot is that the poor negro works hard
all summer ard. being ignorant his
whole crop is taken in the fall to pay
his store bill, and more if he has 1t, or
ifnot, his account is allowed to run over
until the next year, perhaps. What
can the negro do He knows he has
been cheated but he has no remedy.
The merchants books show his account,
the returns for his cotton come to the
merchant and he has everything his
own way. And this is one of the most
substantial reasons why the colored
people are SO determined to leave this
They are unable to get any
Justice in any kind of business trans
action. Your paper as all others spoke
of the scampering last spring, politely
,all it an "Exodus," but, if can see
he future course of the colored people
n this country,-weli, of the five hun
lred who went last spring was simply
IN "Exodus," lpredict that you will
lave occasion to record general
between now and the first of
April next.
There is a firm determination to leave
his country and quite generally they
ire making preparations TO 60 by
working hard to get ont Of the clutches
# thr.greedy, unscrupulous merchant.
And when they are gone, who will rent
hese alluvial acres rom these poverty
tricken aristocrats. They wall learn
90 late, that the "bone and sinew'
# the country has gone, and with it {
heir only source ofrevenue. Year after c
ear, the thrifty growing cotton wood |
Vill encroach itself further and further G
Ipon the cleared portions Of their !
beautiful plantations, the bitches c
'hich drain their land will Gll up and I
ecome valueless, and soon, before, in +
act the aristocratic Southern gentle c
ian is aware OF it, his broad rich acres II
ill have returned to their normal
as when owned and trod
pom by that bitt-n, nobIer type of
od's image, the Indian. S