178 COTTON CULTURE. 



Texas, the land of farms, not of plantations, on which a 

 million and a half of bales have been produced in a given 

 year, of which a very large proportion was grown by white 

 labor previous to the changes inaugurated in 1861. 



Not more than half of the surface of this region is 

 likely ever to be brought under the plow. As a general 

 rule, the productive capacity of the better half of these 

 lands may be put at three hundred pounds per acre of gin- 

 ned cotton, although with intelligent and scientific culture, 

 the average might easily be from four to five hundred 

 pounds. 



Let us now see what advantages the small farmer, who 

 goes there for the purpose of engaging in the production 

 of cotton, will have over the Western farmer. He can, in 

 general, get a hundred acres of this land for a sum rang- 

 ing somewhere between five hundred and two thousand 

 dollars, according to the state of cultivation and quality 

 of the buildings. Allowing five hundred more for stock 

 and tools, he can commence cotton growing. On the sup- 

 position that his field force amounts to four hands, at least 

 during the busy season, he will be justified in planting 

 about thirty acres in cotton. These thirty acres should 

 produce him twenty bales of cotton of four hundred 

 pounds each. These, at twenty-five cents a pound, will 

 bring him two thousand dollars, of which, say five hun- 

 dred may go for labor, leaving him fifteen hundred dollars 

 as profit. Beside the cotton crop, he can, with the usual 

 Northern industry, produce food enough to keep all the 

 stock necessary on such a place and bread for his family. As 

 a rule, throughout this region, stock, unless hard-worked, 

 do not need over three months' feeding ; in many sections 

 not two. Here we shall soon see Northern economy, the 

 seed no longer wasted or misapplied, but the rich oil which 

 composes twelve and a half per cent, of its weight ex- 

 pressed and turned to a useful purpose ; the land no longer 

 exhausted by a ruinous system of culture, but the manure 



