329 



THE BEST COTTON SECTIONS. -No. 



GEORGIA. 

 The following counties in this Stati lead in cotton production : 



Counties. 



Acres im- 

 proved. 



Bales of 

 cotton. 



Bushels of 

 corn. 



Houston - . 

 Stewart ... 



Burke 



Dougherty- 

 Meriwether 



Troup 



Monroe . . . 

 Talbot 



184,132 

 14.'), 982 

 250,814 

 91,427 

 162,619 

 146, 245 

 194, 067 

 132, 933 



28, 852 

 25, 902 

 23,419 

 19, 580 

 18, 159 

 17, 978 

 17,165 

 15, 366 



648, 870 

 509, 399 

 703, 842 

 356,812 

 552. 670 

 520, 091 

 547, 430 

 501,505 



Georgia stands fourth upon the list of cotton-producing States, next below- 

 Louisiana, which yielded in 1S50 scarcely more than a third of the product of 

 Georgia, which at that time "ranked" Mississippi and all other States except 

 Alabama. These ten counties, small as the exhibit appears, compared with 

 those of States further west, supplied nearly one-fourth of the total for the 

 State, which includes one hundred and thirty-two counties. They lie in the 

 western part of the State. 



Of the twenty-six millions of acres of laud in farms, but eight millions are 

 improved, and the average price is $5 89. The farms are large, averaging 430 

 acres. In ten years preceding, nearly four millions of acres were taken into 

 farms, almost half of it improved, and the number of farms advanced in still 

 greater ratio, leaving the average acreage somewhat smaller than in 1850. The 

 number of flirms was, in 1850, 51,759; in 1860, 62,003. Number of slavehold- 

 ers, 41,084 ; of slaves, 462,198 ; the average to each slaveholder 11 slaves. An 

 examination of the returns of other farm products will show that cotton was 

 less exclusively than in other States the object of farm industry. 



TEXAS. 



Texas comes next in order, with 431,463 bales. In 1850 the yield was 

 58,072 bales only. The plantations are of magnificent proportions, making an 

 average of 591 acres, yet little more than half as large as in 1850. Less than 

 ten per cent, is improved of the twenty-five millions of acres in farms ; and the 

 enormous quantity of one hundred and twenty-six millions of acres is yet un- 

 appropriated. The average price of farm lands is $3 47 per acre. Eight 

 counties (of one hundred and fifty-one in the State) yield considerably more 

 than one-fourth of the cotton, as follows : 



Counties. 



San Augustine 

 Washington .. 



Harrison 



Walker 



Rusk 



Wharton 



Polk 



Matagorda 



Acres im- 

 proved. 



Bales of 

 cotton. 



22, 972 



76, 328 

 1 17, 847 

 37, 587 

 100, 037 

 23, 239 

 35, 098 

 21,290 



31,342 

 23, 221 

 21,440 



11,980 

 11,791 

 11.495 



9,307 



8,454 



Bushels of 

 corn. 



144, 246 

 541,139 

 660, 043 

 315,328 

 653, 563 

 194, 100 

 294, 385 

 144, 425 



