346 



the 20tli instant, after a dronglit of several weeks — an event which will prove 

 most injurious to the cotton." 



Lavaca county, Texas — "Owing to heavy rains and ravages of worms, the 

 cotton crop is in a very fair way of being cut short." 



Macon county, Georgia. — "A gi-eat deal of the crop has been abandoned, or 

 is so hopelessly in the grass that it might as well be. I suppose that one-fifth 

 at least of the cotton crop is in this condition." 



Giles county, Tennessee. — "From a recent tour through the cotton States, I 

 am satisfied that we have the best prospect for a good crop of any of the seceded 

 States." 



Greene county, Georgia. — "Our cotton prospects are gloomy indeed. "Whole 

 fields have been abandoned to the grass." 



FREEDMEN'S LABOR. 



Our correspondence from the south is full of this important subject, as might 

 naturally be expected. S6 violent a change of the labor system must inevitably 

 produce extensive and discoiiraging derangements of agricultural industry. 

 The wonder has been, with those who appreciated the radical differences be- 

 tween the two systems of labor and the natural effects of the involuntary system 

 upon both laborer and proprietor, that so miach of successful and harmonious 

 adjustment should be eftected as has already been attained. The negroes, as a 

 body, were ignorant, and were expected to follow largely the bent of their own 

 inclinations. To be Jree was to have a perpetual holiday, see something of 

 towns and town life, and ape white people in taking their ease and doing as 

 they pleased generally. On the other hand, the whites, who knew well how to 

 manage them as slaves, were scarcely expected, in view of the excitements and 

 irritations of the past and present, to exhibit a much greater degree of wisdom 

 in dealing with their former sla"\'es as freedmen. Both parties, by former edu- 

 cation and resultant prejudices, were not well adapted to achieve success in the 

 new role of free labor. 



The situation was really perplexing, not to say distressing. The great de- 

 mand of the day was for cotton ; the negroes were the cotton producers ; and 

 the bread of laborers and employers depended upon the price of it, which, for 

 thelime, was sufficiently tempting. But these laborers lacked confidence in the 

 employers, who, in return, had ho confidence in the persistence and continuity 

 of labor for which a contract should be made, and therefore dared not risk a 

 failure that would involve a whole year's calculations. So the negroes last fall 

 were to make no engagements at Christmas for the new year, and the whites 

 were to turn adrift all hangers-on from the plantations, and sick and lame and 

 helpless inf;ints must expect no further aid. When Christmas came, whites 

 were surprised at the alacrity with which contracts were entered into, and blacks 

 were often astonished at the liberal terms offered by their old masters. So it 

 proved then ; and equally at fault will be the present prophecies of refusals of 

 freedmen to renew contracts for another year. They supply the hest attainable 

 labor, the only skilled labor, that can be obtained at present for cotton produc- 

 tion ; and it is for the mutual interest of both parties to unite labor, capital, and 

 wise superintendence in cotton culture. The reader will not fail to notice the 

 chaos of conflicting and contradictory views upon this question in the following 

 extracts from our correspondence, A fair analysis will satisfy intelligent people 

 that employers and employed are gaining a better understanding of their new 

 relations, and that time and experience are modifying the difficulties that have 

 heretofore existed antagonistic to harmony and cordial co-operation. The fol- 

 lowing are brief extracts from letters of con-espondents : 



