USA > Alabama > The formative period in Alabama, 1815-1828 > Part 6
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There were several reasons for devoting the land in nearly equal parts to cotton and corn. A gang of hands could plant more cotton than they could possibly pick, so that a part of their time had to be devoted to some other crop, and corn had a peculiar place in the economy of the plantation. The week- ly allowance of bread-stuff to the slave was a peck of meal. and this, together with his allowance of pork-the supply of which article was also dependent on the corn crop-made up the regular fare of the working force. The slaves usually had garden plots of their own, and could sometimes add fish or game to their diet by hunting or fishing in spare time. The watermelon and the 'possum were favorites then as now, but corn and pork was the regular fare during the twelve months of the year. 16
Clothing was issued twice yearly, in the spring and in the fall. Suits of "osnaburg," or coarse cotton clothing, were provided for the summer, and "plains," or coarse woolen stuff for the winter. Hats, shoes, and blankets completed the list of articles which had to be furnished by the master. Medical attention was provided for the sick and nurseries for the chil- dren of mothers who went to the field. Altogether, the main- tenance of a slave for a year, including his food allowance. his clothing, blankets, and medical attention, cost between twenty and twenty-five dollars.17
Judicious farming required that the master produce all his own corn and pork, but, especially when the price of cotton was high, he was likely to increase his crop of the staple and buy corn in the market.1s This kind of speculative planting
14 Alabama Republican, Aug. 25, 1820.
15 Wyman, Geographical Sketch of Alabama in Alabama Historical Society, Transactions, III. 126; American Farmer. III. 299; Jackson Pa- pers, A. P. Havne to Andrew Jackson, Aug. 6, 1820.
16 Phillips, Negro Slarery, Chan. XV.
17 American Farmer, IV, 308-9. See also Phillips, Negro Slavery, Chap. XV.
18 Walker Papers. C. Tait to J. W. Walker, Nov. 19. 1819.
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THE FORMATIVE PERIOD IN ALABAMA
was not only bad from an economie point of view, but tended to over-work the slaves during the picking season. For the small farmer, excessive cotton planting meant that his family was put on short rations.1" But such practices as this seem to have been common during the early, speculative period of the industry in the State. Though periods of low prices op- erated to check this over-planting of cotton, it is certainly true that during the early 'twenties, a large quantity of corn and pork was imported from other states by the planters, and many complaints were made about it by the agricultural crit- ics.
There seems to have been little difference between the methods employed in the culture of cotton and of corn, but naturally that of cotton received more attention. The agricultural year began about the middle of February, when the first plowing could be done. All the old cotton and corn stalks were gathered and burned, and the ground was bedded up by running one furrow and then lapping several others upon it. This process was called "listing."
During March the cotton was planted by running a drill down the center of the beds and sowing the cotton rather thickly in the drill. The seeds were covered by attaching a board with a concave surface to a plow and drawing it along the crest of the bed. When the young cotton was well above the ground, the stand was thinned with the hoe, leaving but two stalks in a place. Later, another thinning reduced the stand to a single stalk in a place. The distance between the beds and between the stalks in the bed varied according to the fertility of the soil or the caprice of the planter. Three .. and a half feet between beds and eight inches between stalks was given as a fair average for the Tennessee Valley.20
Frequent cultivation was necessary in order to keep down the grass and weeds, and this was done partly by the plow- and partly by the hoe. That crops were usually kept in very good condition is indicated by the favorable comments of trav- elers into the cotton region. The bolls began to open the lat- ter part of August, but they fruited gradually, and had to be picked often in order to prevent damage to the fibre. This
19 Hodgson, Letters from North America, I, 206-207.
20 American Farmer, VIII, 222-223, quoting a letter from John Pope. of Florence. Alabama, dated Sept. 29. 1826; Southern Agriculturist, II .. 255; Hammond. Cotton Industry, 76-77; Fessenden, Complete Farmer. 263-265.
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was the busiest time of the year and all available help, was called in. The picking went on steadily through the fall months and well into the winter. Sometimes a part of the crop was still in the field and had to be destroyed when the time for spring plowing arrived.21
Ginning was also a slow process compared with modern methods. Every planter of any importance had his own gin- house where his staple was prepared for the market. If properly prepared, the cotton had to be carefully picked over by hand for the removal of trash and yellow flakes before it went to the gin; and after coming from the machine, it al- ways had in it particles of seed and other foreign matter which had to be removed by another picking over, or moting. The ginned cotton was taken to the press where it was squeez- ed into bales of about 350 pounds. The gin and the press were both run by horse power, and several hands were kept busy at the work.22
During the decade, however, two important advances were made in the processes of preparing cotton. In 1822 Carver's improved gin was introduced in Mississippi and its advantages were noised abroad in the agricultural papers. It was claim- ed that the new machine did not tear the fibre while removing it from the seed, and that the quality of the staple was there- by much improved. James Jackson and General Coffee intro- duced the new gin into the Tennessee Valley, and the cotton which they turned out with it was said to be of unusual qual- ity.23 In 1824 the first supply of these machines was receiv- ed at Mobile.2+
At about the same time there was contrived and introduced in Mississippi an apparatus for moting the cotton as it came from the gin. In Whitney's gin the cotton fibre was removed from the seed by means of revolving saw-teeth, and re- volving brushes removed the fibre from the saws. The arms of the revolving brushes were now supplied with fans which blew the issuing cotton through a horizontal wooden
21 Royall, Letters from Alabama, 62.
22 An excellent description of the method of preparing cotton for mar- ket was furnished the Vashrille Agriculturist by Alexander McDonald. of Eufaula, Alabama. in 1845. It is reprinted in Sen. Doc., 1 Sess., 29 Cong., Vol. VI. No. : '07. Though this is later than the period under dis- cussion, it gives a clear idea of the problems and methods of ginning and packing cotton on a plantation.
23 Alabama Republican, Feb. 15. 1822, Mar. 22, 1822.
24 Mobile Register, March 26, 1824.
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flue with a latticed bottom. As the lint passed through the flue, the particles of foreign matter dropped through the grating into a trough below. Thus a large part of the labor of moting was dispensed with.25
The ginning and packing of cotton was a matter of great importance, for the market value of the staple depended largely upon its freedom from flaws and foreign matter. Many complaints were made as to the carelessness with which the Alabama planters handled their product. It was stated that, while the staple of the Alabama cotton was as good as that of any upland variety, it brought a lower price than that of either Georgia or Louisiana because of the indifferent way in which it was ginned and handled.26 The truth of this
statement is, however, hard to judge. Louisiana and Mississ- ippi cotton consistently brought a higher price than that of Alabama. That of south Alabama and Georgia stood on a. fairly equal footing, while that of Tennessee and north Ala- bama usually brought the lowest price. The adaptability of climate and soil to the cotton crop in these several localities was undoubtedly the prime factor in these distinctions, but it is quite likely that there was also a difference in agricul- tural methods. As far as Alabama is concerned, the people who moved into the southern part of the state came chiefly from sections in Georgia and South Carolina where the planting of cotton was already familiar and well-established. Those who moved into the Tennessee Valley came in greater numbers from Tennessee, Virginia, and North Carolina, where cotton had never been of importance.
Alabama writers, and especially those in the Tennessee Valley, often complained that the various methods in use in- . dicated that no scientific basis of field-management had been arrived at. The greatest bone of contention was as to the distance that should be allowed between the beds and the stalks in the beds. There was also much variety as to the use of fertilizer. Stable manure was, of course, used, and cot- ton seed was employed by many. The latter was sometimes mixed with leaf mold or other material and allowed to stand in great piles until spring, when the mixture was strewn in drills. Yet there can be but little doubt that the worth of cot-
en Coharcba Press. Jan. 21, 1822; American Farmer, IV. 380-382.
26 Alabama Republicey. Sept. 7, 1821, Nov. 23, 1821, Sept. 27, 1822 ;. Cahairba Press, Dec. 13, 1821, Jan. 28, 1822.
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ton seed as fertilizer was generally overlooked and the valuable material thrown away.27
The greatest advance that was made during the decade in the raising of cotton was the introduction of the "Mexican" variety of seed. This produced larger pods which opened wider than the old variety and allowed the fibre to hang from the bolls, making the picking an easier process than it had previously been. Industrious hands were now able to pick two hundred pounds a day, whereas one hundred had formerly been a good average.25
The planting of a localized staple such as cotton was a more speculative industry than was the raising of the more wide- spread crops. Since the South furnished the world with most of its cotton, a bountiful crop in that section, not being offset to any great extent by differing conditions in other places, would depress the price to the full extent of the local over- production. Likewise, a short crop in the South meant a shortage of cotton for the world, and a high price which would spend its whole buoyant force upon the industry of a few states. And the planters were the most helpless of peo- ple in the matter of adjusting themselves to the varying econ- omic conditions. Once a man had established himself as a slave holder in the lower South. he found it hard to vary his agricultural system."" He could not diminish his crop much below the normal, for his slaves were efficient only when worked according to the usual routine; nor were there any fa- cilities for marketing other crops.
It was the high price of cotton during the years following the close of the second war with England which gave Ala- bama her first great influx of population. During 1818 land sales in Alabama reached their zenith. So keen was the competition at the Government auctions for good cotton acre- age, that especially desirable tracts were sold off at prices which caused comment throughout the country. But cotton fell from thirty-four to twenty-four cents the next year; to seventeen cents in 1820; to fourteen in 1821; and in 1823 it
27 Saxe-Weimar, I, 33; Southern Advocate, July 21, 1826; Southern Agriculturist, II, 254-262; Royall. Letters from Alabama (quoting let- ter from Col. Pope), 162.
25 American Farmer, II. 116 (July 7. 1829) : Southern Advocate. Sept. S, 1826, Sept. 29. 1826; Huntsville Democrat, Sept. 8. 1826.
29 Southern Advocate, Nov. 17, 1826.
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reached bottom at about eleven cents a pound.30 During these years of falling prices, the value of slaves declined steadily,31 though there was more land cultivated in the Ten- nessee Valley in 1821 than during any previous season.32 By 1823, however, discouragement had set in, and the low price resulted in the planting of a smaller cotton crop.33 Retrench- ment was, however, a hard matter for the planter. He could Go little more in that direction than raise all his own supplies of corn and pork, and the amount of cotton shipped from Mobile remained practically stationary during 1822, 1823, and 1824.34
In 1825 there came a jump in the price as a result of spec- ulation in the British market. Corn was actually plowed up in Alabama for the sake of planting more cotton ;35 the vol- ume of the crop rose; and the value of slaves was stimulated. But the optimism was short-lived. The price of the staple receded to a lower level than it had reached before, and for several years thereafter cotton sold in New York for about ten cents a pound. The depression in Alabama was marked.
Complaints of the unprofitableness of cotton went up on all sides, and the need for diversification was urged. The prev- alent unscientific methods of planting were condemned and a widespread agitation for agricultural societies set in.36 The Governor's message of 1826 urged diversification and sug- gested a standing committee to consider the agricultural problems of the State.37 So great had been the over-planting of cotton in 1825 that the Alabama Journal, on Sept. 6, 1826, proposed a special meeting of the general assembly to afford relief in view of the impending scarcity of provisions. Yet there was only a temporary decrease in the amount of cot- ton that went out from Mobile.
30 For yearly average of prices for middling upland cotton in New York and Liverpool, see J. L. Watkins, Production and Price of Cotton, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Statistics, Miscellaneous Bulletins, 1895, No. 9, p. 8-9.
31 For chart of slave prices, see U. B. Phillips, Negro Slavery, 370. 32 Alabama Republican, Nov. 2, 1821.
33 Mobile Argus, Oct. 31, 1823; Huntsville Democrat, Oct. 28, 1823; Alabama Republican, Oct. 24, 1823.
34 Hazard, U. S. Commercial and Statistical Register, III, 272.
33 Tuscumbian, June 27, 1825.
36 Alabama Journul, Sept. 29, 1826; Southern Advocate, Sept. 15, 1826. Dec. 1, 1827; Huntsville Democrat, March 9, 1827.
37 Senate Journal, 1826, 9.
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The average production of cotton for a siave was, during. these years, about a thousand pounds, ginned.35 This, at ten cents a pound, would be worth one hundred dollars, and since the maintenance of a slave cost approximately twenty-five dol- lars a year in money and provisions, there remained about seventy-five dollars to provide for up-keep, interest, and prof- its. The indications are that ten cents was the lowest price at which cotton could be raised at this time without a loss; but it seems that the production of a slave was later in- creased so that a lower price became possible.
As to the management of slaves in Alabama during the early period, no information has been obtained. In describing a Georgia plantation in 1828, Basil Hall gives an account of the "tasking" system ;"" and E. C. Holland, in a treatise written on the subject in 1822, says that this was the universal practice at the time.+ Fields were staked off into quarter-acre, half- acre, or three-quarter-acre "tasks" in proportions to the la- boriousness of the work and the strength of the hand. By diligence, the worker could finish his task early in the after- noon and have the rest of the day to himself. In this way, compulsion was reduced to the minimum, and the slaves given a stimulus to work. Another account shows that this system was in use in South Carolina, and there are scattered refer- ences to it in agricultural discussions. Whether it was really universal cannot be stated except upon the authority of Hol- land's assertion. For Alabama there is no information one way or the other. «
The small farmer was not dependent upon the price of cot- ton. He had come into the new country in search of econom- ic freedom rather than of fortune. He sought subsistence for his family rather than cotton lands and access to market. He did not compete for the most fertile and accessible locations because he lacked the capital, and because it was not to his in- terest to do so. A secluded nook would serve him as well or better, for he loved the freedom of the forest, his rifle, and his
38 Statistics for Madison County for 1819 give 825 pounds as the av- erage for a full hand. See Alabama Republican, Aug. 25, 1820. James G. Birney is said to have produced 1850 pounds to the hand in 1820, Jackson Papers, James Jackson to Andrew Jackson, May 28. 1821. But a thousand pounds to the hand is mentioned in most estimates as the average.
39 Basil Hall, Travels in North America, II. 229-231.
to Edwin C. Holland. A Reputation of the Cahonnies Circulated against the Southern and Western States Respecting Slavery, 48-53.
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THE FORMATIVE PERIOD IN ALABAMA
axe. He built his house of logs, cleared his corn patches, and raised his hogs. There was a fine range for cattle in the woods, and large herds found their own subsistence for the greater part of the year.+1
Many, perhaps most, of the small farmers had come west with practically no property, and their farming equipment was at first of the crudest kind. Wheat was a familiar crop to many of them, and it was tried in Alabama, but lack of flour mills made the grinding of it a difficult problem. Corn prov- ed to be more practicable, and grist mills were built on the streams during the first stages of settlement. Cotton, too, soon came to be popular with the small farmer. Though a man could not raise the supplies for his own family and plant a large cotton crop at the same time, he could raise a small amount of the staple and. sell it for enough to supply his fi- nancial needs. Thus, largely because of the ease of market- ing it, cotton came to be the "money crop" among the farm- ers.+2
Taking a general view of the State, the several regions within Alabama differed materially in their economic compo- sition. The Tennessee Valley, to begin, offers the most com- plete picture of agricultural, and hence social and political, diversity. The Georgians who established Madison County in 1809 invested extensively in land, and, being on the ground during the phenomenal years of 1817 and 1818, their fortunes soared. By 1826 some of them owned gangs of negroes num- bering into the hundreds." Also among the Virginians, North Carolinians, and Georgians who purchased lands in the Valley in 1818 were men of extensive wealth. The specula- tive conditions under which the valley region west of Madison County was opened up served to debar men of moderate means from securing desirable tracts. But all the northern counties contained lands lying outside the valley region, and consequently there remained many less desirable tracts which could be taken up by private entry after the auction sales were over. Tennesseeans of moderate means came down in large numbers and settled in the same counties with the wealthy planters.
41 Hodgson, Letters from North America, I, 124; Riley, Conecuh Coun- ty, 52; Southern Advocate, Sept. 7. 1827.
+= Teeple and Smith (Publishers), Jefferson County, 59; Riley, Con- ecul County, 22-25, 92-111; Smith. Pickens County, 46-48; Yerby. Greensboro, 8.
+" Based on statements published in Southern Advocate, Dec. 1, 1826.
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AGRICULTURE
This diversity of origin and station between close neighbors developed a certain antagonism which was aggravated by the commercial situation. The cotton of the Valley had to be lightered over Muscle Shoals and then floated all the way down to New Orleans before it could be marketed. To have a crop ginned and baled, and shipped in this way to merchants in New Orleans; then to cash the draft which was received in return and secure the proceeds, required months of delay and entailed reliance upon forwarding agents, brokers, and banks, which the small producer was not able to face on his own ac- count. In order to avoid all this, he sometimes sold his cotton in the seed to local merchants who provided him with his sup- plies. Sometimes he prepared his crop for shipment and turned it over to a merchant who advanced him a certain per cent. of its value and paid the balance when the remittance came up from New Orleans. ++ In either case, he was likely to lose at every turn in the transaction, and this condition of commercial dependence tended to leave him resentful toward those with whom he was forced to do business. The political result of this situation made the Tennessee Valley a hotbed of partisan contention.
This section seems to have gone in more for quantity than quality, 45 and its cotton brought the lowest prices on the mar- ket. When a crop was disposed of to a country merchant, the staple was usually taken at a uniform price." The fact that a large part of the output was sold in this way may ac- count for the relatively careless handling of the product in the Tennessee Valley. Picking and preparing the staple for market required great care, and negligence in these process- es resulted in a trashy fibre that greatly reduced the value of the article. Over-planting of cotton caused congestion during the picking season and naturally led to careless hand- ling.
Over-planting also made it necessary to purchase a large part of the corn and pork supply for the negroes, and the im- portation of these articles into the Tennessee Valley was large. The trade was encouraged by the ease with which such pro- ducts could be brought down the River from East Tennessee.
4| See Chapter IX.
45 Documentary History of Industrial Society, from the Georgia Cour- ier, Oct. 11, 1827, 283-298.
46 Mobile Register, Jan. 6, 1823.
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THE FORMATIVE PERIOD IN ALABAMA
Occupying the north-central portion of the State and ex- tending from the Tennessee Valley to the navigable waters of the Alabama and Tombigbee Rivers, lay the hilly region. Here the isolated valleys were settled by men of pioneer in- stincts who began to come in as early as 1815. Small clear- ings were made and log cabins rose here and there. The woods furnished abundant game and an excellent range for cattle, while corn and hogs were relied upon as the principal food supplies. In other words, this region reproduced the characteristics which have always typified the advancing frontier of our Country.
Since a large majority of the inhabitants of Alabama were of the farmer rather than of the planter class, and since the planters needed supplies of corn and pork which the farmers principally raised, it seems, at first glance, strange that the hilly region did not send large quantities of these products in- to the river valley regions. This would have been an easily accessible market for the farmers, and the planters would have had a convenient source of supply, but no such trade ev- er reached significant proportions. The explanation is that the farmer planted his surplus in cotton rather than in corn. Cotton was easier to handle, and the financial return was evi- dently more satisfactory in spite of the fact that the small pro- ducer could not own his gin nor market his crop except by disposing of it to a local merchant. For the greater part of the central hilly region, Tuscaloosa, at the head of navigation on the Black Warrior, was the most convenient market after the steamboat came into general use. The road which connected Tuscaloosa with Huntsville passed through Jones Valley, in which Birmingham now stands; and along this route most of the cotton was carried to market and the supplies of coffee, sugar, and flour brought back to the farm."
Though the sticky soil of the prairie region, or Black Belt, was avoided by the planter until about 1830, there were fer- tile tracts of land upon the northern border of the prairie which proved attractive to the first planters who immigrated to Alabama. These areas, together with the bottom lands along the Alabama and Tombigbee Rivers, constituted the cot- ton section of the southern part of the State.
Excepting in the prairie region, the stretches of good land were not so extensive as in the Tennessee Valley, and the
47 Alabama Republican, March 1, 1822; Huntsville Democrat, Jan. 19, '1827.
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AGRICULTURE
planter lived in closer relation to the man who farmed with- out slaves; and since he was a fellow agriculturist rather than a capitalist in the eyes of his less wealthy neighbors, the sharp political dissensions which agitated the Tennessee Valley lost their sting in the south.
Perhaps the best expanse of land in all this region lay in the vicinity of. Montgomery County, and here there grew up what was probably an ideal planting community. The inhab- itants are pictured as peace-loving, industrious, and economi- cally independent. Instead of dealing with the local merch- ants, they carried their cotton to Mobile and brought their sup- plies back up the River.+3
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