The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 26, July 1922 - April, 1923 Page: 111
324 p. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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The History of a Texas Slave Plantation, 1831-63 111
from James Reed & Company, R. & D. G. Mills, and William
Hendley & Company. Smaller items came from Mills and Ben-
nett, Stringfellow & Aharns of Brazoria, Smith and Pilgrim,
Blackwell and Schlecht, E. Purcell and Company, and Canfield
and Slater of Galveston. It was not indicated where all of these
firms were located.
The 106 bales of the 1839 cotton crop netted $3744 after de-
ducting $297 for the cost of the bagging and rope for baling.
This year and the years immediately following were hard in
Texas, because of the panic in the United States and the declin-
ing value of Texas currency due to the unsound finances. The
currency depreciated steadily until it was worth about one-third
of its face value. The prices, according to the Telegraph, were
unreasonably high; pork was eighty cents per pound; a beef, from
$70 to $80; corn meal $6 to $8; coffee per pound, fifty to sixty
cents; butter, from $1.25 to $1.50 per pound.82 Mills & Bennett
shipped the 1840 crop of 103 bales, and the net proceeds were
$4561.73, after deducting cost of bagging, rope, charges to and
at San Luis, and the balance of the interest. This is about two
cents per pound more than the year before. R. & D. G. Mills
handled the 89 bales of the 1841 crop and returned a net price
of $4338.58. The sum of $1306.14 was the net price of the 50
bales of the next year, while the 61 bales of 1843 yielded $2700.78
after the usual expenses incident to baling were paid. Perry
ginned J. T. Hawkins's 1843 crop also. He was to receive one-
tenth of the net proceeds after R. & D. G. Mills had sold the crop
plus $1.00 per bale for packing. The extremely low price of
three cents in 1844 brought the net proceeds of the 118 bales to
$3133.45, or $174 as the net yield per slave for each of the
eighteen field hands. The largest cotton crop of the whole period,
130 bales, brought in only $4644.55. It is a big jump from 130
bales to the 10 bale crop of 1846. This brought $46 per bale,
and $700 would cover the amount brought in by corn, meat, and
lard as set down in the record. Thirty-six bales of the 105 bales
of the 1847 crop brought $1217.46. It was not recorded how
much the 159 bales of the 1848, 1849, and 1851 crops amounted
to. The sale of sugar cane products for 1852 through 1856 added8Telegraph and Teacs Register, October 2, 1839.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 26, July 1922 - April, 1923, periodical, 1923; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101084/m1/117/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.