100 
CULTIVATION OF COTTON. 
" What will you take ? " 
" Thirty-six." 
" Can't give it." 
" What will you give ? " 
" Thirty-four." 
" Can't take it." 
" I'll split the difference and give you thirty-five." 
" Take it. Write out your draft quick ; I'm in a hurry." 
" Just wait, my friend, till I see the twenty bales, and 
have 'em weighed." 
A laugh and a joke close the conference ; but before 
night the transaction is closed. The cotton changes hands, 
and the broker ships it as soon as possible to New York or 
New Orleans, and " realizes " — perhaps a profit, perhaps a 
loss. 
SECTION X. 
THE SUCCESSFUL PLANTER — EXPERIMENTS MADE BT NORTHERNERS IN 
1866 A SENSIBLE VERMONTER. 
The successful planter is a man who must possess a 
certain kind and degree of intelligence and executive 
ability. He may be a learned man, or a very illiterate 
one. The learning is not objectionable — indeed, on many 
accounts, very desirable ; but much learning will not make 
cotton unless the possessor applies it properly to practice. 
Some of our best planters are well-educated men. Some 
of our best-educated men are poor planters, and some of 
the most successful planters in the country are the most 
illiterate. Hence, we infer a man must have cotton-plant- 
ing sense. He must have sound common sense, good 
perceptive faculties, strong animal energy, indomitable 
perseverance, good governing faculties, and an all-con- 
