102 
CULTIVATION OF COTTON. 
violate the laws wliich govern the planting and culture of 
cotton, will find himself the loser. 
Many of our " Northern friends " have made experi- 
ments among us during the present year, in raising cotton. 
So far as we have learned, nearly all of them are " in the 
grass," with little hope of recovery. They trusted too 
much to their own wisdom, and to the "intelligence and 
faithfulness " of their colored friends. Very few of them 
will be able to " make buckle and tongue meet," and many 
of them will come out in debt. 
We heard of one sensible Vermonter. He came all the 
way down from the Green Mountains, and selected a river 
plantation, stocked it well, and hired a good, practical 
overseer or superintendent — a man who was born and 
raised in the country, and has made cotton for nearly 
twenty years. He paid hira a large price — perhaps $2,000 
a year to attend to , his place — returned to Vei-mont and 
attended to his home business. He has a fine crop, and 
will make money. 
In this case the real planter — ^the one recognized by 
Nature and by the cotton — is the overseer or superintendent, 
who with ceaseless vigilance "makes every thing move 
about him like clockwork" from daylight to the going 
down of the sun. 
SECTION XI. 
THE LABOR QUESTION — CAN THE WHITE MAN LABOR IN THE COTTON 
FIELDS ? now DO THE FREEDMEN WORK ? HOW WILL THE TWO 
CLASSES WORK TOGETHER ? WHAT IS THE PROBABLE FUTURE OF THE 
FREEDMEN ? COMPARATIVE ESTIMATE OF FREE AND SLAVE LABOR. 
To the first of these questions we give an unhesitating 
aflSrmative answer, but it will require some explanation. The 
man unaccustomed to labor cannot stand the cotton field. 
