138 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



The price obtained is that nt home markets, making the aggregate value 

 less than the commercial value of cotton at shipping ports. Our corre- 

 spondents have promptly responded to this part of the circular, and 

 their returns (in disf-rictswith similar conditions) have been remarkably 

 uniform, but of course less so as to cost than as to price. The State 

 averages arc as follows, in cents and fractions per pound, of upland 

 cotton : 



Coat. Price. 



Nortli Carolina $0 09.3 $0 09.8 



South Carolina 9.4 9.7 



Georgia 9.3 9.8 



Florida 8.7 9.2 



Alabama 9.9 lO.l 



Missi.ssippi 9.8 10.2 



Louisiana, - 9.7 10.2 



Texas 8 9.1 



Arkansas - 9 9.9 



Tennessee 9 9.8 



This gives to Texas the largest proportion of profit, or 11 mills per 

 pound; Arkansas, 9; Tennessee, 8; the others 2 to 5; the average 

 slightly exceeding half a cent, being $2.00 per average bale; making the 

 net profit to the cultivators $11,500,000 in round numbers, in an aggre- 

 gate of about 205,000,000. This is within a fraction of G per cent, of the 

 gross receipts, and, if assumed to be substantially correct, is too small a 

 margin for a good season. It illustrates the necessity of increased 

 returns. How shall they be obtained? By increasing the yield and 

 diminishing the cost of supplies. Both ends are reached by a single 

 operation : the adoption of a restorative rotation, which involves animal 

 production and green manuring, a cheapening of fertilizers and supplies 

 for man and beast, a partial protection of the soil from washing and 

 waste, a large yield at a small cost, and increase of fertility instead of 

 exhaustion. 



Alabama reported during the past season the lowest averages of con- 

 dition, resulting in the lowest yield per acre. It now returns the 

 smallest margin of profit, only two mills i)er pound. In South Carolina, 

 where low condition also prevailed, the net profit made is but three 

 mills. 



Some correspondents make the cost per pound to those who pay high 

 rates of interest upon indebtedness for high-priced supplies twice as 

 much as to those who produce their own supplies. In every State the 

 cultivator who buys least saves most, according to universal testimony. 

 Those who make cotton a surplus product are getting rich; in a sense, 

 the crop becomes all profit. 



So great is the waste attendant upon large operations on a credit basis, 

 and involved in the prevalent irresponsible management under the share 

 system, that the counties with large plantations and heavy aggregate 

 production generally give the smallest net profit. In Mississippi the 

 cost per pound in several such counties averages more than the price 

 received. A few large counties in Arkansas make the cost 2 cents 

 greater than the price. The principal districts in North Carolina aver- 

 age 10 cents for cost and the same for price. The districts of heaviest 

 production in Texas only make an average of 2 to 3 mills net profit, 

 while the average of the State exceeds 1 cent. In Louisiana, the dis- 

 tricts of heavy production make a better showing, yet here there are 

 some of the largest that return cost higher than price. 



Here is convincing proof of two things : the superior economy of small 



