CULTIVATION OF CORN AND COTTON. 33 



acre 10 bushels of corn, or 150 lbs. of (ginned) cotton. As our laborers are almost 

 necessarily en<i:aq;c(l for the year, and the work-animals and agricultural imple- 

 ments areownod by the fanner, there may be some didicully in estimating the cost 

 of anv special work. Bui it is generally agreed, and I think lairiy, that a hand 

 including his linding and lost time costs about 50 cis. per day, and a hand and 

 horse $IUO. In other words, that these suras are about fair daily wages. The 

 expense, then, of cultivating one acre of corn at these rates of wages will be as 

 follows : 



To Breakin? up $1 00 



" Cros.-ing both ways to plant 25 



" Plantinar 12 J 



" Replanting and thinning 12^ 



" Running round corn, 2 furrows 25 



" Plowing narrow way, 1 do 12 J 



" Plowing out thoroughly, 4 to 5 do 50 



" do. do. do. 2 do 25 



" do. do. do. 2 do. or hoe:ing to lay by 25 



" Gathering fodder and stacking or housing 50 



" do. corn, shacking and housing 25 



" Rent of land 1 50 



Total $5 121 



This is about the cheapest method I know of cultivating our light upland, and 

 the one I have used with reasonable success for many years. Most planters use 

 more furrows and hoe more also, without, I believe, any compensating increase of 

 production. The land I am speaking of seldom rents for more than SI per acre. 

 But that is the price of detached fields, and does not include the use of all, gen- 

 erally of none of the necessary buildings of a farm. Besides, to keep this land in 

 good heart, it should be rested at least once in three years : so that I have not over 

 estimated the rent here. 



The expenses of cultivating an acre of cotton may be estimated as follows : 



To Breaking up $1 00 



" Bedding and preparing for planting 1 00 



" Planting 50 



" Replanting and thinning 50 



" Plowing and scraping at least four times 2 00 



" Hoeing do. do 2 00 



" Gathering 2 50 



" G inning, Packing and loss on rope and baggings 1 50 



" Rent of land 1 50 



Total $12 50 



The fodder gathered from an acre of corn producing 10 bushels, will be about 

 120 lbs., and may be worth on the place $1. The corn to pay wages must 

 then bring about 41 cts. at the crib. These are about the prices realized for 

 these articles on the average of the last five years : and should cotton or any 

 other staple for sale abroad continue to be extensively cultivated, they will no doubt 

 be kept up to these points. But any change that would induce a /arge increase 

 of the corn crop under present circumstances, or until our population becomes 

 far denser and our cities much larger and more numerous, would reduce the price 

 to a merely nominal one. 



To pay the rate of wages stated, the price of the 150 lbs. of cotton grown on 

 an acre at the estimated cost of S12 50 must be 8 1-3 cts. per lb. net, at the gin. 

 house. But for five years past the net price at the gin house has scarcely aver- 

 aged 6 cts., and establishing an annual loss of 25 cts. in its culture inSouth Caro- 

 lina and I believe in Georgia. 



There is another way in which this matter may be viewed ; allowing for Sun- 

 days, holidays, rainy days, and sickness, the number of days that a hand will actual- 

 ly work is about 280 per annum ; and his wages, therefore, at 50 cts. per day, will 

 be $140 per annum, out of which of course all expenses incurred for his support, 

 for managing work-animals, implements, &;c., are to be defrayed : which sum it 

 is thought should be realized to make our Agriculture reasonably profitable. Now 

 the amount of corn necessary and usually grown and consumed on a cotton plant- 

 ation, is about 80 bushels per hand, which, with the fodder, I have estimated as 

 worth $41. The average production of cotton per hand with us cannot exceed 



(81) 3 



