Year: 1861

etalutt WHICH WILL nc halter, ATpUnl


the neck Of every contractor, needing only


the propf Of scoundrelism to make the


rope do its Office in stringing him up.


COTTON GROWING IN ILLINOIS.


we PRINT In another column mass O.


testimony gathered by the officers Of ths


Illinois Central Railroad, in relation to ths


fitness Of the soil and climate OF the South


ern part Of our State for tie culture O


cotton. It will surprise those who have


given this subject no special attention


first, because they have been accustomed


to regard cotton as crop to be cultivated


only BY slave labor; and second, because
few men ever take the trouble to remember
that illinois has greater range Of latitude
than any other State in the Union, reaching
down at its Southern extremity to point
on1ya little above the Northern boundary of
North Carolina. The careful reading Of
the many statements, now first presented
to the public, will leave no doubt that cot
ton may be grown in the fields, as an annual
and almost certain crop, in all that part Of
EGYPT" below the Ohio and Mississippi
road That, nc think, is demonstra-
ted; but the points to be consid-
cred are these: Can cotton be grown as
field crop by free white labor2
II so, can it be proitably grown in Hi
noiss The answer to the first query is
furnished by the fact asserted in De
BOWS Southern Rspieao, (good authority on
that point) that OF the nine hundred thou
sand persons employed in the culture Of
cotton Ia the Southern States, one hundred
thousand are white men; and De BOWS
testimony is confirmed by q report Of Israel
u. Anderson {Senate Document 112) on
the cotton crop Of 1852, in which it is
stated that not more than eighty-fve pcr
cent. Of the labor on the cotton plantations
ID contributed by slaves-ffteen per cent.
being performed by the whites. The tcsti-
mony Of the Germans Of Texas, who have
been peculiarly successful wherever they
hare touched cotton, and who abaor the
labor OF slaves; and the daily experience of
thousands Of small and niggerless planters,
who, in the midst Of slave population,
make their bread by uncertain and fitful
industry IN their badly tiled cotton patches,
seem to leave 10 doubt that there is moth
ing in the nature Of the plant nor in the
methods by which it is cultivated that cx-
cludes the labor of men, white OF black,
who own themselves, And the fact that
the cereals, fruits, grasses, roots, &c, are
grown in Egypt, year after year, by white
men, with no unusual OF marked resn1ts
upon the health ofthose so employed, ren-
der8 it certain that change in the form Of
their industry would not subject them to
new dangers from the attacks Of disease


The answer to the second query is not
80 clear: When cotton was raised BY the
nen whom the officers of the Company
have consulted, it was grown as q make
shitt, at time when money was scarce
when the means of communication were
teW, when Northern farm produce of all
sorts was low in price, and when, instead
OF spending his money for calico, the Iii
aois farmer had plenty to do in gathering
coin enough during the year to paw his
taxes. A domestic crop which would fur
nlsh the material for textile fabric was
necessity; and though cotton-7owinc i'm
Piled long and tedious process Of clean
ing by hand, hand carding, hand-weayinc.
etc, It was pursued as the alternative Of
nakedncss~ The presumption is, that if
the crop had been sure and remuueratiye.
II Woutd not have been thrown aside in
1ace OF the fact, that since The days to which
We have alluded the staple has been steadily
advancing in price, although the cost Of
woven cotton has steadily decreased. Rnt
when ne remember the peculiar character


Of the people Of Southern Illinois, and.
whatever the truth may now be, their
aversion IN those days to the steady and
unanractlve industry demanded for "mak-


ing a cotton CROP the value Of that pre-
sumption il destroyed. Again, gins and
presses were found but rarely in the coun-
try, and to procure them an outlay VIVA
demanded, which, in the then opinion. WAS
not warranted by the value of the product
Of cotton crop raised without the aid Of
slaves. But, that the calculation WAS eno-
neous, is clear if these "statements,, ara
to be believed. The testimony is that an
average crop Of about 400 pounds Of clean
cotton Of good quality was the annual
return; that the plant WIS rarely affected
BY the fosts, and that the soil seemed well
adapted to its growth. These facts once
established, the case is made out. BF the
census OF 1850, We know that this yield is
Tar above that Of the average plantations
IN the so-caled Cotton States; and though
II may be true that an occasional crop has
neen cut of by untimely frosts, it is also
!. .loe that the diseases to which the plant is
liable in the South, prove far less destuc-
uVe N higher ATTITUDES In which it will
mature.


The sum OF the matter il that tho
experiment Of Illinois cotton growing
ought to be tried On scale and
with the money and skill commen.
surate with the Importance Of the nroh,e,n
which SUCCESS would solve. We do mt
suppose that, as in tie South, cotton viii
be the exclusive product Of any considera-
BILE number Of our farmers; but if the Ra;1-
road Company can, by furnishing mcchan-
1cal facils'ics for cleaning and baline The
crop, at suitable places along It's 1ine
Stimulate each head Of family to
devote q portion Of bis land and his labor
to cotton planting, We have little doubt