328 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE. 



PLANTING IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND IN MISSISSIPPI. 



EXPENSE AND RESULTS COMrARED No. 2. 



Mr. Editor : 1 have no wish to be drawn into a controversy on the vexatious 

 question of the Protective Policy, nor have I any desire to involve others in it ; 

 but I feel called upon to reiterate the statements made in my former communi- 

 cation in regard to the product of cotton and corn on the lowlands of Mississippi 

 and Louisiana. I do not wish to be understood as speaking or writing in refer- 

 ence to the product of this particular section, for it is well known that for the 

 last six or seven years the product of cotton here has been anything but satisfac- 

 tory. But I do know that there are plantations, and a good many of them, on 

 the lowlands, that have averaged 7iine bales to the hand for a series of teii years, 

 and I know some plantations that have done still better. I therefore confidently 

 assert that the average product per hand, on all well-regulated plantations not 

 subject to inundation, has exceeded eight bales for the last ten years ; and I am 

 quite as confident in asserting that the average product of corn per acre, on the 

 same plantations, has been over thirty bushels. 



In reference to what I said in my last on the subject of the injury to the plant- 

 ing interest from the Protective Policy, allow me again to say that, if the cotton 

 planters on the lowlands of Mississippi and Louisiana are oppressed by high du- 

 ties, they do not seem to be aware of it : and it is only among political cotton- 

 planters that we hear of this "oppression'''' in this region. I did not mean to ad- 

 mit that the cotton-planter's expense of clothing for his people was enhanced in 

 proportion to the duty ; I simply meant to say that if the whole duty was added 

 to the cost of the article, and paid by the consumer, the " oppression" was not 

 so great as to be onerous. 



I am aware that there are other articles which are consumed by the cotton 

 planter, besides clothing, that are slightly afl'ecied by the Tariflf; but I do con- 

 tend that as cotton-planters we have no just ground of complaint against the Pro- 

 tective System, even though many, 7iay, all the articles we consume are enhanced 

 in price by it. If the domestic fabrics are rendered dearer to the consumers here, 

 they are reduced in price to the consumers elsewhere ; and thus the consumption 

 of our staple is extended and enlarged, and the ultimate interests of the planter 

 promoted. But 1 cannot admit that the price to the consumer here is enhanced 

 to anything like the extent of the duty ; for to yield this would be to admit that 

 many foreign fabrics are sold far below the cost of production, and far below, in 

 some instances, the cost of the raw material. I contend that many of tiie articles 

 consumed by the planter have been reduced in price by the Protective System ; 

 and I boldly assert that, so far as ray acquaintance extends, the most intelligent 

 cotton-planters, who are far from the influence of political aspirations, do not 

 think their interests injuriously aifected by the system. True, my acquaintances 

 may be more dull of comprehension, or less quick in their perceptions of injury 

 and oppression, than they should be. They may be robbed, and yet, not " miss- 

 ing what is stolen," deem themselves "not robbed at all." 



If the cotton-planter gets his bagging and rope for less than one-third of what 

 he paid prior to the Tariff of 1S24 and '28 — and an article, too, that protects his 

 cotton belter, on account of its superior fabric, and sells for more, on account of 

 its greater weight ; if he gets his negro shirting, of belter quality, for less by half 

 than he formerly paid, and less than he can manufacture it, by his oivn labor 

 from the raw material groirn bij himself ; if he gets Kentucky linseys and jeans, 

 of a more durable quality, and for half the price he formerly paid (before the 

 Protective System was adopted) for English plains and kerseys ; and if he gets 

 his plows, hoes, axes, nails, files and spades, for half what ihey formerly cost 

 him, and his shoes for a third less, he may be " oppressed,'"' but I really have not 

 been able to see how or where ! ! And 1 am disposed to doubt whether he will 

 get these articles at a lowir price under ihe Tariff of '4G than he paid for t^eni 



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