130 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OP AGRICULTURE. 



grown up witb briers and broom-sedge." Our y.>tiplin (North. Carolina) 

 corresponderst says t '* Couating tenants as farmers and land worked by 

 them ab farms, the farms would average, perhaps, not more than one- 

 third of size in iGGO. Taking plantations by the owners, they would 

 average about three-fourths of size in 1860; perhaps more." 



Cur correspondent in Concordia, L >nisiana, tiring of answering so 

 many questions, propounds the following : 



Why is it that, 'with thousands of acres uncultivated in almost every iicighhorhood, 

 more especially in Missiasippi and other high-land States, -we atiJl raise as much c tton 

 as we did before the wai-? I am unable to account for it, and have ^lever nuoetioned 

 one yet wlio could answer it. 



The answer is not difficult. 1. The main reason, is a change of location. 

 A considerable extent of new laud is cultivated in Texas. Numerous 

 small patches are cultivated on small farm:^, in nearly ail the States, 

 where little was formerly grown. 2. The yield per acre is somewhat 

 greater. As the size of farms decreases the yield oi cotton increases, 

 as is shown conclusively in auQther chapter. 3. Another cause of in- 

 crease of yield is the general use of fertilizers on the Atlantic coast, and 

 greater economy in the manurial us«i of cotton-seed in other sections. 



Ten yeirs ago, in communications to this Department, the most posi- 

 tive prophecies of failure were predicted, and elaborate statistical 

 "proof" was adduced that the cotton-crop of the United States could 

 never be brought up to 3,000,000 bales j but in 1869 that limit was 

 passed, and the very next year exceeded it by a million and a quarter 

 bales. 



LAJIOB. 



Prices. — The extraordinary price of cotton in 1806 caused a feverish 

 excitement in cotton -planting, and induced the offer of higher wages than 

 were warranted by the condition of land and labor. The crop ot 1865 had 

 averaged at the ports of shipment 43 cents per pound. When that of 

 1866 yielded 30, a fall that had been expected by intelligent observers, 

 there war still a lively competition for labor to be expended on the crop 

 of 1867, and higher prices were obtained than were warranted by the 

 efdciency of labor and prospect of stability of i)rice. When the price 

 of that crop fell below 20 cents failure and panic resulted, and the rates 

 for labor fell heavily, as seen in the accompanying table. Since that 

 date the efficiency of labor has gradually increased, production has 

 greatly enlarged, and thougli cotton has declined in value, wages have 

 advanced in most of the States from that period of lowest depression. 

 The results of our investigation are given in connection with the figures 

 reported in 18C8 for that and the previous year. The figures for 1860 were 

 reported at the same time, and, therefore, their complete accuracy may 

 be open to question, though they were given upon consultation with the 

 most reliable of the old planters. 



This table gives the prico per annum with rations, which consist of 3 

 to 3J pounds of bacon per week for each hand, (in some instances 4 

 pounds,) and a peck of coru-meal, and nsuaiiy occa.sional supplies of 

 molasses, sweet-potatoes, and other extras, and the use of a " cabin," 

 very rarely with a small allotment of land for a garden. In 1860, bo- 

 sides rations, an allowance of clothing was generally incladed in the 

 contract. The column for "men" means ''full hands,'' the women are 

 becoming scarce in the fields, and the "youth" are comparatively few 

 and unreliable. The " full hand " is necessarily the standard of value, 

 and the figures in this column arc therefore more instructive, and are 



