COTTON.

Otago Witness, Issue 642, 19 March 1864, Page 8

COTTON.

The following is an extract from a letter addressed to a friend in this country by the Ber. G% H. Roes, D.D., formerly of Birmingham, but now of Belvidere, Illinois :—

The Federal government are now farming out' to loyal Union men the abandoned plantations down the Mississippi, each sids, from Memphiß tc - New Orleans, to raise cotton for|England, France and our home consumption ; to profitably employ the negro, and raise revenue for defraying our war expenses, The experiment so far, "is a perfect success, though the farmers did not get to work till April, two months too late, and the lands were very poorly tilled, yet good returns were realised, and large amounts of money made. Men who went there poor, and poor negroes, have - realised thousands.

You can rent a farm of from 20 to 100, 1000, or 5000 acres from the government commissioners* on the following conditions :— l. That you employ one able-bodied negro for each eight acres of land, pay men seven Hollars per month, women five dollars, and boys and girls, under 10 years of age and ©verl2 half-price, children under 12 to go to school ; board and take care of all. For 100 acres you want five mules and twelve hands, as government restricts a hand to eight acres. You board and lodge all the negroes ; government provides them for you, controls them ; if lazy oi refractory, you must not whip, but turn them over to the government, and they will be set to work on the fortifications or sent back into Rebeldom, which they much more dread. The expenses for cultivating 100 acres cotton and its product is as follows, and I fix the outlay in large round numbers above the average : Wages, government tax, food for mule?; and negroes, and self; dressing cotton, and getting it to market, all sold* 5,800 dollars.

The product of the 100 acres fa one bale to an acre. Louisiana land often produces two bales to the acre, 4001b each: say one bale—loo bales x 4001b, equal 40,0001b5. Cotton pow sells in New York market for 90 cents a. pound ; say it will bring next fall only 60 ceats a pound. 40.0001b x 50c, equal 20,000d015,, deduct 5,800 and you have net 14,200d015., as the product of 100 acres and twelve negroes, all told, nearly 150,000d015. for 1,000 acres for one year ! Now, I don't say this will last not (more than two years, or about a-year. after the war closes. The slaveholders get richon cotton at 6 to 10 cents a pound, with their wasteful habits and the drawback of slaves to work their plantations. Then what will white men, with their thrifty habits, realise? I am .fully persuaded this idea is a sound speculation. The farmer, who undertakes 100 acres, will do well to have £400 or £500, in hand to begin with. Then he can purchase the mules, food lor man and beast, and needed implements^ Fcr the government we hand over unto you all that is left on the estate,— houses, gins, Sloughs, mules, &c. ,• and yet on many 63irable plantations all these have beeur burned up, or carried away, and there is nothing left but the lands and negroes. You can buy cheap for cash; capital will greatly aid ia profitably working the machine. You are to retain two dollars for each hand, to pay doctorsi. Schools and preachers are to be maintained; but I have put that down in the 5,800 dollars. One preacher and one teacher can meet the wants of about two plantations of 1000 acres each, and bewell employed and well paid. Ths great problem that has long puzzled our statesmen— what shall we do with the negro ? is answering itself. The negro will take care of himself- and family and white planters too, an<s supply our home" markets and your poor Lancashire toiling and now hungry unemployed multitude. They will get education, and become free, religious, and valuable. Would not Joseph Sturgje have rejoiced to live to see this day 1 Providence is leading the bondsmen' from out of Egypt. These valuable cotton lands are the Goshen in which our hone3t Abraham Lincoln is about to place them, and there they will grow and flourish and prosper after all their sorrows, and iio a good work towards finishing this war, and! largely contribute to lighten the war taxes on the rest of the nation. Our prospect has brightened each day, week, a~d month since the proclamation of freedom issued from Washington. The Federal armies are triumphant all along east and west. Meade in "Virginia, Grant in Chattanooga and Georgia, Banks in Texas, ami now the negro difficulty is cleared up. There will be a rush from the North down the Valley of the Mississippi, as to California when gold was first discovered there, and teu to the one wculdgo, who can't because they have not got the needed capital. No one who can raise L 250 or L 509 • should hold back because he is ignorant of the cultivation of cotton ; all that knowledge thesenegroes have and it is very simple. Some of the best cotton, cleanest and best put up, that came to our market this fall was raised by poor negroeswho took ten or twenty acres, and made quite a little fortune out of ij. Any man with a good sound haad, active enterprise, and some capital, ■ need not be afraid to come along ; he will do well. A man, and a family of active boys and girls, will make a large fortune in three or four years, cer- - tain. This is a land of hopes and rewards, industry, labor, and capital. Let me once more say a word of encouragement to poor working men. Why should, they toil on for years, at the most miserable pittance, while they can earn abundance in this country ? An active man can earn 80s to 60s a-week and his ■ board all through Illinois ; and thousands, yea, hundreds of thousands, ofsuoh are wanted ia the United States this year. Our rich farms will absolutely go out of cultivation for want of " farm hands to bring them under the plough. So, too, for the large towna and cities all sorts of tradesmen and mechanics are needed, at two to three dollars a day and board. So let every poor fellow who can even borrow his passage money, and get it for 10 per cent, interest, borrow, and come away early in the spring. He can send it back m three or four months, certain. Cotton planters shouldcome along immediately^ as the land should be ploughed, and seed put in, in the month of February- then a good crop i» sure, and it will yield the first picking in .August. . England wanta the fine Upland and Sea Island cotton very much, and the sooner she can get it the better. Let cotton farmers make their way to Cairo in this state, Memphis in Tennessee, Vicksburg in Mississippi, and New Orleans in Louisiana. There is no use to consult me .or anyone etee - beyond this letter. This information is final, hill, perfect. Only act upon it at once, and don't delay or # hesitate, or lose your chaace of fortune by waiting to hear from some one. You wait for fwrt 1 r two l 0T ■?• anBWBr » and then y°i fi n< * ■ • that the chance has slipped through your fingers.-