234 



Nearly two-thirds of tlie farm laud is unimproved, and yet the average 

 assessed valuation is $39 per acre. 



The white populatiou, 587; colored, 7,244; slaveholders, 115. 



Number of horses, 554; mules, 2,082; working oxen, 1,229; cows, 1,516; 

 other cattle, 3,604 ; sheep, 1,436 ; swine, 6,615. 



Number of plantations, 104, averaging 544 acres improved and ],043 unim- 

 proved, with 69 slaves upon each. 



Investment in implements, (average,) 81,376 ; in live stock, $4,204, includ- 

 ing 20 mules, 5 horses, 6 pairs of working oxen. 



Products, 41,170 bales of cotton ; 398,500 bushels of corn; 1,420 bushels of 

 oats ; 1,800 bushels of beans and peas, potatoes, &c. This is 5-| bales for every col- 

 ored man, woman, and child, or, if children are in usual proportion, at least 10 bales 

 to each working hand, and still more possibly for each worker exclusive of house 

 servants. It is 20 bales to each mule; 395 bales to each plantation. For each 

 bale (compared with investments) SIO 64 is required in live stock, and $3 45 

 in farm implements. 



A fair indication of the best cotton districts is afforded by a presentation of 

 the counties in the several States making the greatest yield of cotton. Let the 

 reader trace upon the map the sections of Mississippi here presented : 



Counties. 



Yazoo 



Hinds 



Madison . . 

 Lowndfc.s - 

 Xoxubee. 

 Marshall. 

 Monroe . . , 

 Holmes... 

 Issaquena 

 De Soto.. 



Improved acres. 



Bales cotton. 



Bushels corn. 



956, 220 



1,028,343 



1,194,540 



1,157,271 



1,286,085 



1,068,350 



1,145,499 



845, 724 



398, 500 



834, 165 



These figures serve to illustrate the suggestions above relative to the superior 

 cotton lands of the State. The plantations of the State average 370 acres, of 

 which 111 are improved. They are 42,840 in number, about 12,000 cultiva- 

 ted by white labor, as the number of slaveholders is placed at 30,943. The 

 average price of land is 812 04 per acre, or $4,454 for each plantation ; 10^ 

 slaves (old and young;) 5J horses and mules; $206 in farm implements; $977 

 in live stock; 28 bales of cotton, (five or six to each field hand;) 677 bushels 

 of corn ; 13f bushels of wheat. The great number of small farmers in each 

 State greatly reduces the averages, and makes the large and well-managed 

 plantations appear to disadvantage, just as averages in wheat-growing States 

 show 12 bushels per acre, where good farmers would be ashamed to grow less 

 than 25 bushels ; so the average of cotton is scarcely more than one-half bale to 

 the acre, when good land, with good culture, and exemption from insects, will easily 

 secure a bale, and in extreme cases a bale and a half, and even two bales. These 

 are the facts which sensible men unacquainted with cotton can judiciously use 

 as safe elements in a calci;lation of the economy of cotton-planting. 



In the next number a similar analysis will be given of the cotton statistics of 

 Alabama and Louisiana, respectively, with a brief reference to the location 

 and character of the best cotton soils in those States^ 



