University of Virginia Library

APPENDIX.

Note A.—Title-page—Mississippi.

Desirous of embodying in the appendix to this work, whatever
of an interesting nature relates to the South-west, the author has
compiled, principally from the American Almanac for 1835, the
following Statistical Tables of Mississippi, presenting that
growing state in a variety of interesting views:—

MISSISSIPPI.

       

Latitude of Natchez,	31° 34′ North.
Longitude in degrees	91 24′ 42″ West.
	h. m. s.
Longitude in time,	6 5 38.8

Distance from Washington, 1146 miles.

 

Relative size of Mississippi, 9.

Extent in square miles, 45,760.

NUMBER OF INHABITANTS TO A SQUARE MILE.

   

In 1810.	In 1820.	In 1830.
.9	1.6	3

RELATIVE POPULATION.

     

	In 1810.		In 1820.		In 1830.
Free	Slave	Total	Free	Slave	Total	Free	Slave	Total
20	9	19	24	10	21	24	10	22

RATE OF INCREASE OF FREE AND SLAVE POPULATION.

     

	From 1800 to 1810.			From 1810 to 1820.			From 1820 to 1830.
Free	Slave	Total	Free	Slave	Total	Free	Slave	Total
334	389.7	356				66.4	100	81

POPULATION IN 1810.

   

Free	Slaves	No. of free to 1 slave	Total
23,264	17,088	1.35	40,352

In 1820.

 

2,634

32,814

1.29

75,488

In 1830.

 

70,962

65,659

1.08

136,621

IMPORTS AND EXPORTS IN THE YEAR ENDING

 

Value of Imports

Value of Exports

Tonnage, 925 Tons.

GOVERNMENT.

         

	Salary.
Hiram G. Runnels, governor; (term of office expires Nov. 1835.)	$2,500
David Dickson, secretary of state,	1,200
James Phillips, state treasurer,	1,200
John H. Mallory, auditor of public accounts,	1,200

Gen. Briscoe, president of the senate:—Adamam L. Birgaman,
speaker of the house of representatives. The legislature
meets, once in two years, on the 4th Monday in November.

JUDICIARY.

High Court of errors and appeals.

         

	Salary.
William L. Sharkey, presiding judge,	$2,000
Cotesworth P. Smith, judge,	2,000
David W. Wright, do.	2,000
Matthew D. Patton, attorney general,	1,000

This court, which has no jurisdiction, except what properly
belongs to a court of errors and appeals, holds two sessions annually,
at Jackson, commencing on the first Monday in January and
July.

Superior court of chancery.

 

Edward Turner, chancellor,

Salary $2,000

This court, which has jurisdiction over all matters, pleas,
and complaints whatsoever, belonging to or cognizable in a court
of equity, holds two sessions annually, beginning on the first
Monday in January and July.

Circuit court.

           

1st	district,	Alexander Montgomery,	judge,
2d	do.	James Scott,	do.
3d	do.	A. M. Keegar,	do.
4th	do.		do.
5th	do.	J. J. H. Morris,	do.
6th	do.	James F. Trotter,	do.

The state is divided into six districts or circuits, and one judge

and a district attorney are chosen by the electors of each district;
and a circuit court is held in each county twice every year. It
has original jurisdiction in civil cases in which the sum in controversy
exceeds $50.

BANKS.

Exhibition of their state on the 7th of January, 1834, as laid
before Congress, June 24, 1834.

         

NAME	Capital stock paid in.	Bills in circulation.	Specie.
Planters' bank, Natchez, Estimated situation of b'ks from which no returns were received.	$2,666,80545	1,510,42615	113,22047
Agricultural bank of Miss. Natchez.	1,000,00000	590,00000	43,00000
State bank of Mississippi, Natchez.
Total	$3,666,80545	2,100,42615	156,22047

Statement of the banks, as given by a correspondent, under date
of August 10, 1834.

                     

NAME.	Place.	Capital.	Branches of Planters' bank.
			Vicksburg, $500,000
			Port Gibson, 500,000
			Woodville, 500,000
Planters' bank,	Natchez,	$4,000,000	Manchester, 300,000
			Monticello, 200,000
			Columbus, 200,000
			Jackson, 100,000
			Total of brn's, $2,300,000
Agricultural bank.	Natchez,	$4,000,000
	Total	7,000,000

The capitals of the branches constitute a part of the ($4,000,000)
capital of the Planters' bank.

A rail-road is being surveyed this summer from Natchez to

Jackson, for which a charter will be granted at the next meeting
of the legislature.

SUMMARY.

The governor of Mississippi is elected by the people. Term
begins November, 1833—expires November, 1835. Duration of
the term two years. Salary $2,500.

Senators, 11. Term of years, three. Representatives 36.
Term of years, one. Total, senators and representatives, 47.
Pay per day, $3.

Electors of president and vice-president are chosen by general
ticket.

Seat of government, Jackson.

Time of holding elections, in May.

Time of meeting of the legislature, fourth Monday in November,
biennially.

Mississippi admitted into the union in 1817.

Note B. Page 27.

For the following meteorological table, the author is indebted to
the politeness of Henry Tooley Esq. a scientific gentleman who
has been a resident of Natchez the third of a century, and who
has during the greater part of his life kept a daily register of the
weather. The exposure of his thermometer was unexceptionable,
and always the same. The tables in the author's possession from
various other sources, date back to the year 1799, affording an uninterrupted
series of meteorological observations in this climate,
down to the present period. An abstract from these tables would
be too elaborate for a work of this nature, and would not, indeed,
convey any farther important information upon this climate, than
is contained in the accompanying abstract from the tables of Dr.
Tooley, for the past ten years. The general temperature, though
varying much from day to day, is so regular, one year with another,
that a meteorological table for any one period of ten years will
answer, with slight variations, for almost any other term of the
same duration.

The thermometer was examined at 5 A. M. and at 4 P. M. for
the extremes.

ANNUAL RESULTS OF METEROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS MADE AT NATCHEZ
IN N. Lat. 31 ° 34′ Long. 91 ° 24′ 42″ W.

                           

			5 A. M.	4 P. M.	5 A. M.	4 P. M.			Number of days.
Year.	Mean. temp.		Warmest.		Coldest.		Clear.	Cloudy.	Rainy.	Snow.	Sleet.
1825	60	81⅙	71 1/12	81⅓	49½	63 5/12	178	88	99
1826	63¼	75	74⅓	80¾	48¼	64 9/12	134	120	110	1
1827	63½	74	74⅚	73⅓	51⅓	66¼	151	126	88
1828	64	76	64⅓	77⅙	53½	65¾	133	121	112
1829	54	65	72⅔	76⅓	48 1/12	61⅔	116	124	134	1
1830	62⅓	74	72¼	80¾	48½	66 7/12	161	121	77	2	1
1831	57	69½	71¼	77½	44½	60⅓	187	141	34	3
1832	61⅚	74½	68⅙	84⅓	47	64 7/12	185	146	23	2
1833	60½	72	71 1/12	78½	48½	65	177	138	50
1834	60½	73¼	73 9/12	82⅓	47	65	166	151	46	2
to June
1835	21⅓	26¼	28½	30⅙	15	22⅔	62	69	18	2

1835.

                 

	Mean.
Months.	temp.		Warm,		Cold,		Cl'r.	Cl'y.	Rain	snow	Sleet
Jan.	46⅔	57	69	64	32	48	12	16	3
Feb.	36⅓	50	59	61	10	28	13	11	3	1
Mar.	46	65⅔	68	74	32	50	14	11	5	1
April,	57⅔	65	71	75	46	64	9	18	3
May,	69⅔	77⅓	76	88	60	82	14	13	4
June,
	21⅓	26¼	28½	30⅙	15	22⅓	62	69	18	2

Mean temp. obtained by adding mean of months together, and then
dividing by the number of months.

1834.

                         

Jan.	29⅔	50	67	74	14	27	5	12	11	1
Feb.	52⅔	65	72	73	32	52	13	14	1
Mar.	47	67	69	78	39	62	9	17	5
April,	61	76	67	83	49	74	17	11	2
May,	66	89½	76	93	54	63	14	12	5
June,	76⅔	87	80	93	71	87	15	15
July,	77	89⅔	82	83	74	91	21	10
Aug.	77⅔	90½	83	98	73	89	18	12	1
Sept.	69⅓	70	77	77	57	77	13	10	7
Oct.	66½	75½	76	87	41	56	19	9	3
Nov.	55⅓	63⅔	69	77	31	51	10	15	5
Dec.	47½	55⅔	67	72	35	52	12	14	5
	60½	73¼	73¼	82⅓	47	65	166	151	45	2	1

1833.

                         

Jan.	53½	37½	68	74	31	51	9	17	5
Feb.	46¾	60	59	72	38	56	11	9	8
Mar.	51	66	64	71	25	37	13	5	13
April,	63	76	73	65	55	66	13	16	1
May,	70	82	76	84	66	73	15	13	3
June,	75	87	80	92	65	84	18	11	1
July,	63⅔	89⅔	81	93	69	89	22	9
Aug.	74	89½	80	93	69	88	19	12
Sept.	74	86⅓	79	94	62	81	15	12	3
Oct.	58	69⅔	68	70	37	56	18	8	5
Nov.	49	63	69	71	30	45	15	11	4
Dec.	48⅓	58	61	62	36	53	9	15	7
	60½	72	71 1/12	78 5/12	48 7/12	64 11/12	177	138	50

The author has been favoured with the following medical report
drawn up by a physician of Natchez, who has had long experience
in the diseases of this climate.

MEDICAL REPORT.

Return of deaths within the city of Natchez, from 1st June 1822,
to first June 1835—including thirteen years:

The population of Natchez is ordinarily between three and
four thousand—lessened, probably, in the summer season, from
500 to 1000. With this number of residents, the mortality cannot
be regarded as very large. On the contrary, few places of
equal magnitude, either north or south, can boast a greater degree
of general health than this city. Since the year 1825, it will be
perceived, it has been growing gradually healthier—with the exception
of the last two or three years,—when, owing in a great
measure to the severity of the winter season, a great proportion
of the sickness and mortality has occurred in the winter and
spring months. Indeed take a period of seven years—from 1825
to 1833, and we challenge any southern or western city, with the
same amount of population, to show a less number of deaths—
especially in the summer season, than the city of Natchez. The
bill of mortality has been considerably augmented of late, by that
appalling and sweeping epidemic, which increased in strength,
and doubled its roll of victims in proportion as it travelled south—
together with small pox and intemperance—for both of which
nature has provided specific remedies—but which certain classes
continue still to avoid, and will hence continue to suffer and die
in spite of Jenner and the temperance societies, as long as incredulity
shall exist, and distilleries pour forth their floods of poison
in the land. Most of those with the last mentioned diseases,
it would seem, have been inmates of the public hospital.

On an average, about ⅕ to ¼ of the deaths annually occur
from bilious remittent, congestive and typhus fever. The yellow
fever, be it known, has not appeared here as an epidemic for the
last five or six years, and may be regarded as quite extinct in the
city. Owing to the careless and imperfect manner in which the
returns have generally been made—and this we are sorry to say,
is too often the case—a large portion of the deaths are from unknown
diseases—as to which in regard to the age of the subjects, and
the colour, which in this country is somwhat important, we are

left generally in the dark. By giving the subject some considerable
attention, however, we have been enabled to preserve a degree
of accuracy in the proportion, and the general result, we
believe, is nearly, if not specifically correct.

The whole number of deaths by fever, during 13 years, is 511;
cholera 107, consumption 100, intemperance 58, small pox 45,
infantile 49, dysentery 30, delirium tremens 23, drowned 10, murder
10, old age 10, suicide 4, unknown 205.

The remainder, which we purposely omit, are by ordinary
diseases, which are not peculiar to any clime or season. We
have examined a meterological table, kept with a considerable degree
of accuracy for the last 10 years: but it presents nothing
peculiar—and its details are too minute and comprehensive for
our present object. We notice, however, a greater proportion of
“cloudy and rainy” days than could be expected in this “sunny
clime,” while the average degree of heat is by no means greater
than in latitudes somewhat farther north. The greatest range of
heat is 98, and the greatest cold 10°.—This we are inclined
to believe, is not strictly correct, as we have twice, within a
few years, seen the thermometer as low as 10° in the neighbourhood
of New Orleans.

DEATHS IN EACH MONTH.

                               

Months and years,	1822	1823	1824	1825	1826	1827	1828	1829	1830	1831	1832	1833	1834	1835
January,		7	4	5	7	5	4	7	5	4	5	4	14	17
February,		4	10	7	6	2	7	4	6	5	6	5	16	16
March,		8	5	1	3	4	3	7	6	8	3	11	30	18
April,		12	6	3	4	4	5	7	2	6	5	8	22	25
May,		11	6	5	9	3	6	6	3	11	9	16	19	32
June,	9	15	8	6	7	3	9	5	4	6	3	27	44
July,	33	15	19	4	11	4	5	3	7	5	4	9	27
August,	29	102	14	17	9	5	2	6	16	4	3	11	14
September,	28	155	13	33	10	6	12	19	9	4	9	15	17
October,	22	56	8	48	5	26	9	21	10	5	13	30	20
November,	12	8	5	15	4	16	9	16	7	4	10	10	26
December,	6	7	4	4	12	8	3	2	5	12	8	13	20
Total,	139	400	102	148	87	86	74	103	80	74	75	159	269	108—1904
Males,	119	315	80	128	62	76	56	80	55	57	55	124	193	79—1479
Females,	20	85	22	20	25	10	18	23	25	17	20	35	76	29—425

Note C—Page 90.

For the following valuable paper upon the cultivation of cotton,
the author is indebted to the kindness of Dr. J. W. Monett,
of Mississippi, already well known to the medical world by his
treatises published at the north upon the prevailing epidemics of
this climate.

THE COTTON CROP.

“Having finished or relinquished the miscellaneous business of
winter, such as clearing, building, ditching, and splitting rails,
the hands are actively employed in making preparation for another
crop. The first thing to be attended to, is the repairing of
all the fences, with the light force, such as boys and women;
while the strong hands are employed in chopping, and log-rolling
in the new grounds. These operations are commenced generally
about the middle of February, and continued two or three weeks,
unless the farm is mostly new; in which case the clearing of the
new ground continues four or five weeks until it is time to plant
corn, generally from the first to the twentieth of March. During
all this time several ploughs, in a well opened place, are kept
constantly running (unless prevented by rain), in “listing up”
corn and cotton ground. The distance between the ridges for
cotton varies according to the strength of the soil, and the consequent
size to which the plant grows. In the rich bottoms the
distance between the middle or tops of the ridges must be from
five to seven feet; while in the thin upland soil, a space of three
or four feet is amply sufficient. In the latter soil, the cotton
plant attains the height of three or four feet, and branches laterally
about half that distance. But in the rich alluvial lands, the stalk
not unfrequently shoots up to six and eight feet, and branches so
as to interlock with the other rows six or eight feet apart.

Early in April, and sometimes even in the last days of March,
the cotton-planting commences. To open the ridges, a narrow
plough is run by one horse along the middle of the ridge, so as to
open a narrow shallow furrow, in the mellow ground first
ploughed. Immediately behind the opening plough, follows the
sower, with his sack of cotton-seed suspended from his neck,
walking at the same pace with the plough-man before. At every
step or two he throws the seed so as to strew it four or five feet

ahead in the furrow, at each dash of the hand. The quantity
sown is often unnecessarily large, being frequently twenty times
more numerous than the stalks permitted to remain growing.
This profusion of seed is sown for the purpose of obtaining a
“good stand,” after allowing for defective seeds as well as some
which may not be covered, and others that may be covered too
deep, and also for many plants that may sicken and die after they
have vegetated and come above the ground. This latter circumstance
frequently occurs: a stand may be amply sufficient when
first up, but from drought, excessive rain, or chilling winds, one
half in the rows, and sometimes whole acres together, die with
the “rust,” “sore skin,” or “yellow fever.”

After the sower another hand follows closely with a light horse
harrow, drawn over the furrow, for the purpose of covering the
seed. This throws in the loose earth over the seed, and covers
them so lightly that often one-third of them are still visible, yet
this covering is sufficient, for no seeds require less covering than
cotton-seed. They will sprout and take root, when left on the
surface of the ground, if a slight shower follows.

On a large plantation where there are, say, fifty effective
hands, there will probably be three or four sets of hands engaged
at the same time in planting; each set, however, not in any way
interfering with the other; but all pushing on with a constant
brisk motion. As a medium task, each set, of three hands, will
very easily plant ten acres, but oftener fifteen in old well broken
land. During the planting season, or between the first of April
and the middle of May, there are always from one to three wet or
rainy spells, continuing from one to four days each, so that the
planting is necessarily interrupted. This, however, is an advantage
which none complain of, as it facilitates and expedites
the vegetation of the seed already planted; while it causes the
several portions of the crop to vary eight or ten days in age, and
thereby renders the working more convenient. Twenty planting
days are sufficient to put in the whole cotton crop, or at least as
much as can be properly tended and secured. On the rich bottom
lands, when the growth of the cotton is very luxuriant, it is desirable
to finish planting always before the first of May; but in
the hills, especially where the soil is thin, and the cotton plant
attains but a small comparative size, it is preferable to plant between

the fifteenth of April and the twentieth of May. Cotton
thus planted in thin soil, will mature and open as soon as that
which has been planted three weeks sooner in bottom lands.

When the earth is moist and warm, cotton-seed will sprout,
and be up in about five or six days; but if the soil be dry it takes
much longer—or until there is rain sufficient to saturate the loose
earth: for the seed, being covered with a thick coat of coarse
wool, is not so readily, as some other seeds, acted upon by slight
moisture. As the plant first comes out of the ground, it has
somewhat the appearance of a young bean, or of the okra plant,
being composed at first of two lobate leaflets, which continue,
gradually enlarging, until about the end of the first week, when
a leaf or two begins to put out between the lobules. The young
cotton-plant is extremely tender, and sensible to the most moderate
degrees of cold: the slightest frost cuts it off—while it
withers and dies from the effects of a few hours of chilling winds.

From the profusion of seed planted, the cotton plant of course
comes up very thick and crowded in the row; in which condition
it is allowed to remain a week or ten days, and often of necessity
much longer, when it is thinned out, or as it is called, “scraped.”
During scraping time there is one constant rush, and every hand
that can use a hoe is brought into the field. The process of
scraping commences by running a light furrow close on each side
of the row of young cotton, with the share of the plough next it,
so as to throw the dirt from the cotton and trim off the scattering
plants: the space left unbroken between these two furrows is
about eight or ten inches wide, ready for the hoes. If there are
many hoe-hands there are several ploughs “barring off” as it is
called. The hoe hands follow close upon the ploughs, each hand
upon a separate row, and with hoes sharp, and set particularly for
“scraping.” Experienced cotton hands run over the rows with
great rapidity, and evince great dexterity in striking out all to a
single stalk, which is left at the distance, from its next neighbour,
of at least the width of the hoe; and in bottom land, at double that
distance. Thus, in thin land, the stalks are desired to be ten or
twelve inches apart, and in the rich lands about eighteen or twenty
inches, in the row. The cotton plant thus thinned out, continues
to grow slowly until the hot weather of June sets in, when it begins
to grow rapidly, putting out a blossom at each new joint

formed on the branches. This successive florescence continues
until frost puts a stop to the growth of the plant, which is generally
in October. The pericarp or boll of cotton, from the first
bloom, is generally matured in eight or ten weeks, when it begins
to crack at the four seams in the bolls, until the four valves
spread wide open, remaining attached only at the base or extremity
next the stem. When the valves are thus open, the cotton
with the seed, to which it adheres in a kind of cluster, hangs
down from one to four inches. From June until October, the
cotton exhibits a successive and continued florescence, while the
plant is loading itself with green bolls, from the size of a young
peach, having just dropped its blossom, to that of a small hen's
egg. About the last of August the matured bolls begin to burst
or open their valves and suspend their cotton; and from that
time the plant exhibits at the same time, blossoms, and bolls of
every size, and every stage of maturity. Toward fall, when the
heat of the sun is constant and intense, the bolls will mature and
open in six weeks from the blossom.

After the first “scraping out,” the cultivation is carried on
much in the same manner as in the cultivation of corn, until
about the first of August, when it ceases, and the crop is laid by.
The same kind of cultivation that would make good corn would
make good cotton. In this however there is a difference of
opinion: some will hill, or heap the earth up in high ridges with
both corn and cotton, while others will keep the soil loose and
level about both; the latter is decidedly the proper mode for
either.

When the blossom is first unfolded, which generally occurs in
the night, in form it resembles the white hollyhock, but is
smaller, and is of a faint yellowish white colour, which it retains
until about noon; the heat of the sun then being intense, the
corolla partially closes, not unlike the four-o'clock-flower, and at
the same time its hue is changed to a delicate rose, or lilac. On
the following day the flowers become more deeply tinged; toward
the close of the second evening they are of a deep crimson,
or violet hue. During the succeeding night, and morning,
that is, about forty-eight hours after they first open, they always
drop off, while of a deep violet colour, leaving the young capsule
or boll. The blossoms generally open, as well as fall off, during

the night, and early in the morning. Thus a cotton field in July,
August, September, and October, exhibits the singular appearance
of a continued crop of opening, closing, and falling blossoms,
with an almost equal mixture of white, lilac, and purple
flowers; while each morning the ground is seen covered with the
latter, and the branches replenished with the white.

As the ploughing generally ceases and the crop is “laid by”
about the last of July, when the plant is large and brittle, there
is but little done in the field during the first three weeks in August,
except that a few light hands are kept employed in cutting,
or pulling up the “tie-vines” which are sometimes very troublesome:
the tie-vine is nothing more or less than the morning-glory,
so carefully cultivated in gardens at the north, for the purpose
of shading arbours and summer houses.

Toward the last of August, or as soon as there is sufficient
open cotton for a hand to pick fifteen or twenty pounds during the
day, the light force, consisting of women and children, is put to
picking for a week or ten days; when there being sufficient cotton
opened, to make a full day's work, all hands are engaged without
exception. Then begins another push, which continues until
the whole crop is gathered and housed. During “picking time”
which continues where full crops are made until the first of December,
and in river lands, until the first of January, the hands
are regularly roused, by a large bell or horn, about the first dawn
of day, or earlier so that they are ready to enter the field as soon
as there is sufficient light to distinguish the bolls. As the dews
are extremely heavy and cool, each hand is provided with a blanket
coat or wrapper, which is kept close around him until the dew is
partially evaporated by the sun. Without this protection they
would be completely wet from head to feet, in a very short time;
and as they would be in the field at least two hours before the
sun's rays would be felt, they would be perfectly chilled, if no
worse consequence attended. The hands remain in the field until
it is too dark to distinguish the cotton, having brought their
meals with them. For the purpose of collecting the cotton, each
hand is furnished with a large basket, and two coarse cotton bags
about the size of a pillow case, with a strong strap to suspend them
from the neck or shoulders. The basket is left at the end of a row,
and both bags taken along: when one bag is as full as it can well

be crammed, it is laid down in the row, and the hand begins to fi
the second in the same way. As soon as the second is full, he returns
to the basket, taking the other bag as he passes it, and empties
both into the basket, treading it down well, to make it contain his
whole day's work. The same process is repeated until night;
when the basket is taken upon his head and carried to the scaffold-yard,
to be weighed. There the overseer meets all hands at the
scales, with the lamp, slate, and whip. On the left hand margin
of the slate is pasted a strip of paper, with the name of each written
in fair large hand. As soon as their baskets are set upon the
ground, the weighing commences. Each basket is carefully
weighed, and the nett weight of cotton set down upon the slate,
opposite the name of the picker. The negroes stand round, to remove
and replace the baskets as they are weighed; and occasionally
the countenance of an idler may be seen to fall. Then is the time
for the overseer to watch close or he may be greatly imposed upon
by the cunning and lazy, who are apt, in the crowd, to prevent
their baskets from being weighed, by substituting a heavier one
which has been passed, or they may fill up their baskets from
one already weighed. Sometimes a negro, known to be lazy, will
have heavy weight and will probably extort from the overseer
expressions of praise and encouragement, unless he examines the
basket, when perchance he may find one of his sacks full of moist
earth snugly covered up at the bottom; such tricks as these will
be continually practised upon an overseer, who is careless or
“soft;” a quality or character, which none can more readily and
properly appreciate than the negro. It is not an uncommon occurrence
for an overseer, who is even vigilant, amid the crowd of negroes
and baskets, with only one lamp, held close to the scales
and slate, to weigh some of the heavier baskets several times, their
exact weight being changed by taking out, or putting in a few
pounds; while the lighter ones pass entirely unnoticed. No
inconvenience arises to any one from such incidents, except that
the crop is not gathered in as good time as it might otherwise
have been, and a portion consequently is wasted.

After the weighing is over, and the baskets are emptied, or
turned bottom upward, upon the scaffolds, the overseer takes the
slate, and examines the weights attached to each name. Those
who are found to have brought in less than their usual quantity,

unless for good reasons, are called in the order of their names:
the individual advances, and if his reasons are insufficient, he is
ordered to lie down upon his face, with his back exposed; when
he receives ten, twenty, or fifty stripes with the whip, according
to his deserts. In this way the overseer goes over the list, punishing
only those who have idled away their time.

No one knows that he is to be punished until his name is called,
when he has an opportunity of giving his reasons for his imperfect
day's work. As to the quantity which a hand can pick in a
day, there is a great difference; some will pick only from 75 to
100 lbs., others from 150 to 200 lbs., while some extraordinary
pickers can pick as high as 4 or 500 lbs. in one day. But to pick
these last weights requires such brisk and incessant motion, that
it could not be done two days in succession without danger of life
or health; and is only attempted for a wager, or such like reason.
The average weight picked by all the hands on a place, will seldom
exceed 150 or 160 lbs., in good picking. Children from ten
to fifteen years of age generally pick nearly as much as grown
hands. The scaffolds for drying cotton are mostly temporary, being
made anew every summer, of common boards or plank. Upon
these the cotton is suffered to lie spread out to the sun, at least one
day to dry; while some old or decrepid hand stays at the scaffold,
to turn and spread it, as well as to pick out leaves and trash.

It may not be improper to make a remark or two relative to
whipping. This is generally performed with as much care and
humanity as the nature of the case will admit. A person standing
at the distance of two hundred yards, being unacquainted with
the mode, and hearing the loud sharp crack of the whip upon the
naked skin, would almost tremble for the life of the poor sufferer.
But what would be his surprise, after hearing fifty or one hundred
stripes thus laid on, to go up and examine the poor fellow, and
find the skin not broken, and not a drop of blood drawn from him!
Yet this is the way in which the whip is generally used here upon
slaves: very few planters would permit them to be whipped on
the bare back with a raw-hide, or cow-skin, as it is called.
Though, as in every thing else, there is a great difference in the
degree of severity exercised by different masters: yet we must
take the general rule, as applicable to the great class of planters.
The common overseer's whip consists of a stout flexible stalk,
large at the handle, tapering rapidly to the distance of about

eighteen inches, and thence continued with cord or leather; the
whole is covered with a leather plat, which continues tapering
into, and forms the lash—the whole together being about three
feet and a half long. To the end of the lash is attached a soft,
dry, buckskin cracker, about three eighths of an inch wide and ten
or twelve inches long, which is the only part allowed to strike, in
whipping on the bare skin. So soft is the cracker, that a person
who has not the sleight of using the whip, could scarcely hurt a
child with it. When it is used by an experienced hand it makes a
very loud report, and stings, or “burns” the skin smartly, but does
not bruise it. One hundred lashes well laid on with it, would not
injure the skin as much as ten moderate stripes with a cow-skin.

But to return from this digression:—Every day, when the weather
will admit, beholds a repetition of the ceremony of picking,
weighing, and drying, as before detailed. Those who have gins,
as all planters should have, generally keep the stand running during
the picking season, so as to gin out the cotton as fast as it is
picked. If there are forty or fifty good pickers, it requires one
stand to be kept running constantly to keep up with them. In
such cases, during wet weather, when the hands cannot pick
cotton, the ablest of them are kept baling the cotton which has
been ginned since the last rain, or within the last eight or ten
days. When there are not more than twenty, or twenty-five, the
gin will be able to keep up, by ginning the last three days in the
week, in addition to all rainy weather; and the able-bodied hands
will be able to do all the pressing and baling during the wet days.

Gin, in the common acceptation, signifies the house and all the
machinery required to separate the lint from the seed, and to press
it into large bales, weighing generally from 400 to 500 pounds.
The house is a large enclosed roof, resting upon blocks or posts,
which support it at about eight or nine feet from the ground.
The common area covered is about forty by sixty feet, the rafters
resting upon plates, and the plates upon flooring beams, or joists,
upon which the floor is laid. About the distance of one-third the
length of the house, two gearing beams are laid across, for supporting
the machinery. These rest upon the top of the blocks,
or on posts framed into them. On the ground floor is the horse-path
for drawing the main wheel and counter wheel; the last of
which carries a broad band, which passes over and turns the cylinder
and brush of the gin-stand alone. The large plantations

are adopting steam engines, and erect for the purpose very large
and expensive buildings, in which are placed two, three, or four
stands. A gin-stand is a frame, in which runs a wooden cylinder
with an iron shaft running through it; this cylinder is encircled
at every inch by a very thin circular saw, with sharp hooked teeth,
upon which the seed cotton is thrown, running through parallel
grates. The teeth of the saws catch and carry through the lint
from the seed. Just behind the cylinder is a fly-wheel brush—
that is, a fan, with a brush on its extreme circumference; this
brush, running considerably faster than the cylinder, takes off the
cotton from the teeth, and blows it back. The space or room
above is divided into two apartments; one for the stand and seed
cotton, and the other for ginned cotton; the latter of which will
contain cotton for twenty or thirty bales. A good gin-stand, with
sixty or sixty-five saws, running constantly from daybreak in the
morning until eight or nine o'clock at night, will gin out as
much as will make three or four bales.

At the other end of the house, and immediately under the room
containing ginned cotton, is the press. It consists of two large
wooden screws, twelve or sixteen inches in diameter, with reversed
threads cut on each end to within eighteen inches or two
feet of the middle, through which there is a mortice for the lever.
These screws stand perpendicularly, and about ten feet apart, and
work into a large heavy beam above, and into another firmly secured
below. The upper moves up or down (when the screws
are turned), between four strong upright posts, framed together,
two on each side, so as to come down strait and steady when
pressing.

The lower sides of the press are composed of very strong batten
doors; when the beam is brought sufficiently low, a spring is
struck, and they fly open; when they are removed, leaving the
naked bale standing on its edge under the press. A piece
of bagging, cut to the proper size and shape, was put in the bottom
of the press-box, before filling in the cotton, and another
on top, immediately under the follower. These two pieces are
brought together in such manner as to cover the cotton neatly,
and there sewed with twine. The rope passed under and over it,
through the grooves left in the bed-sill and in the follower, by

means of a windlass, is drawn extremely tight and tied with double
loop knots. When all is finished, the screws are turned backward,
the beam rises, and the bale is rolled out. Notwithstanding
there are seven bands of strong rope around it, the bale will
swell and stretch the rope, until its breadth is at least two or three
inches more than when in the press. To press and bale expeditiously
requires at least four or five hands and one horse. When
the box has been sufficiently filled, generally eight or nine feet
deep, the men bring down the beam by turning the screws with
hand levers as long as they can turn them; then a large lever is
placed in the screw, with a strong horse attached to one end, and
a few turns of the screws by the horse bring the beam down to
the proper point, within thirty or thirty-four inches of the sill.

The requisite number of hands will put up and bale with a
common press about ten or twelve bales a day, by pushing. After
the bales are properly put up, the next thing is to mark and number
them on one end. For this purpose a plate of copper, with
the initials, or such mark as is fancied, cut in it, is applied to the
end of the bale and the letters and figures painted through it with
black marking ink.

The next trouble is to haul them to market, or the nearest landing
for boats; sometimes this is a very troublesome and difficult
task, especially in wet weather, when the roads, from the immense
quantity of heavy bauling, in getting the crops to market, are
much cut up, and often almost impassable. The planter who is
careful to take all proper advantages of season and weather, will
have his cotton hauled early in the fall, as fast as it is ginned, when
the roads are almost certainly good.

The quantity of cotton produced to the acre, varies with the
quality of the soil and the season. The best kind of river and
alluvial lands, when in a complete state of cultivation, and with
a good season, will produce on an average from 1500 to 2000 lbs.
of cotton in the seed per acre; while new land of the same quality
will not yield more than 1200 or 1400 lbs. per acre. The highlands,
where the soil is fertile, will yield under the most favourable
circumstances about 1400 lbs., while those lands which have
been many years in cultivation, where the soil is thin, will not
yield more than from 800 to 1000 lbs. per acre; and some not

more than 600 lbs. As a general rule 1300 or 1400 lbs. of seed
cotton, will, when ginned out, make a bale of 400 lbs. or more.
This is according to the correct weight of the daily picking in the
cotton book; although after being weighed, it must lose some
weight by drying.

The quantity of cotton raised and secured by good management
most commonly averages about five or six bales to the hand:
and the quantity, among the mass of planters, more frequently
falls below, than rises above this estimate. Some, with a few
choice hands, may sometimes average nine or ten bales to the
hand by picking until January.

When the crop is all secured, which, as we observed before,
varies from the first of December until some time in January, according
to the season, hands, and extent of the crop, the hands are
employed during the winter in clearing, chopping logs in the
field, splitting rails, or ditching, if necessary. About the middle
of February they resume preparations for “another crop.”

Note D.—Page 258.

A recent writer, in speculating upon the possible result of an
insurrectionary movement in the south, says, in the course of his
remarks,—

“Here, where the whites so far outnumber the blacks, as to
render such a struggle hopeless on their part, there is little or nothing
to apprehend; but in the south, where the case is reversed,
the consequences will probably be what they were in St. Domingo—the
extermination or expatriation of the whites, the loss of
tens of hundreds of thousands of lives, and hundreds or perhaps
of millions of property.”

In reply, and in confutation of this opinion, Gen. Houston of
Natchez, addressed a very sensible and well-written paper to the
editor of the New-York Courier and Enquirer, in which he says—

“There are but two states in the Union where the slaves are
equal in numbers to the whites, and in these they have a bare
majority; in other states they have but a third and in others a
fourth or fifth. Now is there any man who supposes that an
equal number of negroes, unacquainted with arms, undisciplined,

without combination, without officers, without a rifle or a musket,
or a single cartridge, can in any way be formidable to an equal
number of whites, well armed and equipped, well supplied with
all the necessaries of war, well organized, and well officered?
The notion is absurd. I will go farther; take a body of negroes,
furnish them with arms, equipments, and every thing necessary
for war; let them have twelve months to combine, to train, and
to acquire a knowledge of the use of arms, and my life on it, they
would be nothing more at the end of the time than an ignorant
disorderly rabble, who could not form a line of battle, a thousand
of them would not stand the charge of a single volunteer corps,
they would disperse at the first volley of musketry, and a body of
white men would feel debased to compete with such foes.

“There is no southern state that apprehends any injury from
its slaves—that seeks protection from any power on earth—not
one of them values the Union one particle as the means of guarding
them on that score.

“There are no people on earth better supplied with arms,
more accustomed to their daily use, and I may say more ready to
use them, than the people of the south. Go into any house in
Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina, Kentucky, Virginia,
Tennessee, or any other southern state, and you will generally
see a good rifle and fowling-piece; and every neighbourhood has
its men who can throw a deer running at full speed at the distance
of one hundred yards. Do such men seek protection or
apprehend danger from an inferior number of unarmed, ignorant
and enslaved negroes? Most assuredly not.

“Experience has shown that the militia of the United States
are frequently able to combat successfully with the regular troops
of Europe. And many a well-fought field has shown that the
militia of the southern states are equal to any in the Union, I will
not be invidious and say superior. If such is the case, what lessons
do the wars and experience of Europe teach us? There it is
a received maxim that ten thousand disciplined troops are superior
to an army of forty thousand undisciplined peasantry, even when
they are equally supplied with arms. And to this maxim history
shows but few exceptions, as in Switzerland and the Tyrolese
mountains, where the peasantry are much favoured by the mountains

and defiles, are inured to hardships, trained in the chase
and in the use of arms.

“Have not the peasantry of Europe more acquaintance with
arms, more means of acquiring them and other necessaries for
war, more military information, more means of combination, and
more intelligence, than the negroes of the south? Most assuredly
they have, and yet they are generally held in subjection by a
comparatively small body of men. I merely glance at this, but
could, if time and space permitted, give many striking illustrations.

“If the south are so safe, it may be asked why are they so
sensitive on this subject? I will answer:—they are sensitive from
motives of interest and humanity.

“He who makes my negroes dissatisfied with their situation,
makes them less useful to me, and puts me under the necessity
of dealing more rigorously with them.

“Throughout the whole south it is considered disgraceful not
to clothe and feed negroes well, or to treat them cruelly, and
there are very few who have the hardihood to brave public sentiment.
And on many plantations, when they are orderly and
obedient, they have many indulgences and privileges, such as to
raise and sell poultry, &c.: to cultivate a small piece of ground
and sell the products; and time is allowed them for such purposes.
But if negroes become disorderly, discontented, and disohedient,
the necessity requires that they should either be set at large at
once, or their privileges curtailed, and discipline made more rigorous
till they are brought into complete subjection; there is no
middle course. Again—if negroes become dissatisfied, disobedient
and rebellious, there is a possibility that they may do
damage in a single neighbourhood, and destroy the lives of a few
women and children—the consequence of which would be that
then whites would be under the necessity of putting great numbers
of the misguided wretches to death. Such was the case at
Southampton. This we would avoid, both from motives of interest
and humanity, not that we apprehend any more serious
injury, and you may rest assured that if the negroes were to
rebel and do any considerable injury, the havoc and destruction
made amongst them would be dreadful; and it would be difficult to
prevent its extending to those who were innocent.

“Those, therefore, who are instrumental in making the negro
dissatisfied with his condition, make it much worse, for they constrain
his owner to be more rigorous in his treatment, and they
tempt him to rebellion, which must lead to death and extermination.”