Year: 1866

''irrepressble" negro. The freedmen here
are doing well-all things considered.
They, of course, will not do as much work
as before the "year of Jubelo," but then
they will make six or seven bales of cotton
to the band, besides the corn and other
crops-worth at present prices twelve hun
dred dollars


A Railroad spirit is beginning to mani
fest itself 10 this State once more. Before
the war, three or four extensive lines had
been chartered, surveyed and much of the
grading completed. Some of these have
passed into the hands of Northern capital
lists, and the work will be Immediately re-
sumed. This will bring money and labor
to the State


The following extract from the CORES
pondeuce of Northern paper, written by
an Arkausaian, gives more in detail view
of the resources of this growing State:


"Our best lands are of alluvial formation,
or as they are popularity termed, made or
bottom lands There is DO State 10 the Un-
ion, perhaps which has more bottom land
-laud that will never wear out or wash a.
way, than Arkansas The Nile, 10 its palm
lest days, never yielded more abundantly
than the lands on the Arkansas and Red
Rivers, and there are few more fertile lands
than those on the White aud St. Francis,
and numerous smaller streams, to say moth
ing of those sufficient lands bordering upon
the great Father of Waters, with an aver
age breadth of forty miles, and famiiarly
known as the Mississippi bottom. Many
places in all these bottoms of course over.
flow, but great deal of it is either above
or adequately protected by proper levees
The bottom lands on all the rivers above
mentioned are of the greatest fertility and
adapted to the growth of cotton, but the
lands on the Arkansas are, par excellence,
the cotton lands of the world. Those on
the Mississippi and Red Rivers yield as
much to the acre, but the crop on the Ar
kansas is said to be more certain aud freer
from disease, with less danger from over.
flow.


The average yield is one bale to the acre,
though sometimes two, and more rarely 10
an extraordinary season, three bales have
been gathered; 400 pounds of ginned cot
ton is generally considered in most parts of
the south as bale of cotton; but the plan
tiers on the Arkansas by bale Of cotton
mean one weighing 500 pounds At the
present price, 3S cents, this is equal to near
ly two hundred dollars per acre. How it
is under the new system of labor l cannot
say but before the war a good hand was
expected to cultivate ten acres in cotton
and FIVE in corn. This was equal to ten
bales of cotton, and corn enough to feed
himself and horse, 10 the hand. What other
farming will yield greater profit? Nor
are the lands Oh the Arkansas good for cot
ton alone They are equally good for corn.
l have heard of eighty bushels, and in one
instance as much as one hundred and ten
bushels was said to have been gathered from
a single acre. The average production
though is not more than fifty bushels, for
the planters seldom care to make more corn
than will do them, and take no pains in
its cultivation. Millet and Hungarian grass
grow luxuriantly; aud the few who have
tried it say that timothy and other grass
will do as finely. The world cannot produce
finer peaches and pears, and when our rail-
roads to Memphis and Cairo are completed,
we can supply those cities and St. Louis
with the earliest fruits and vegetables. Un-
like most bottom lands, the lands on the
Arkansas are not stiff or wet lands, but for
the most part a fine sandy loan, for which
reason many farms never get muddy or
miry, and some of our best roads are found
in the river bottom Gen. Sherman said
in his speech last winter at Little Rock,
that he did not know of a single good road
10 the State, but be had never travelled down
the river seven or eight miles from Little
Rock, or he certainly would have thought
we had some good dirt reads. Another ad.
vantage is that we sometimes have good
deal of show in the winter, which pulveri.
ses the soil, and makes it easier to cultivate
the rich lands.


IL fact, while we are far enough south to
raise the finest cotton in the world, We are
far enough north to raise fine corn, grain,
ETC., so that, be the most profitable staple
for the time being what it may, no part of
the country promises richer returns to the
planter than the valley of the Arkansas.
At present, though, aud probably for many
years, cotton will be the most profitable
staple, but when our railroads are compile
ted and under our new system Of labor, the
large plantations have given place to small
farms, as they will, and villages and towns
have sprung up, there is no knowing the Ca
pacities of the soil and the various profitable
purposes to which it will be applied.


have said our aluvsl lands are our
best lands; but there are ten or twelve coun-
ties in which cotton is raised to advantage
on uplands. These uplauds generally yield
from fourth to half bale per acre, and are
more productive than the same class Of
lands iu Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee,
from which the bulk of the cotton in those
States is made. They we're settled before
the war, mostly by planters working from ten
to twenty hands, or less number, and
were preferred by them for their superiori-