Part one of a two-part examination of 19^th century agriculture in Alabama.

Early in the 19^th century, Alabama became the destination point for thousands of settlers who hoped to improve their families’ lives through agricultural production in the new territory of Alabama. 

Into this frontier came two principal types of settlers: those of the planter class that sought to expand their empire and those of the farming class that hoped to find freedom for themselves and a home for their families.

Based on census figures, the Alabama population was a mere 125,000 in 1820. That number was comprised of both whites and blacks, with slaves making up 31 percent of that group. By 1830, the population had soared to 300,000 with the slave population accounting for 38 percent of that number.

The most heavily populated areas at that time were the regions of the Tennessee Valley. Madison County was the only county with a population of more than 16,000. Baldwin County remained sparsely settled, with the largest concentration found along the waterways, including the river system and Mobile Bay.

The settlers that came to Alabama during this period did so with agricultural pursuits as their goal. The two primary groups, the planters and the farmers, while focusing on agriculture, did so for different reasons seeking distinctive results.

The cotton culture drew many planters from Georgia and the Carolinas with the promise of new, fertile soil. Historian Thomas Perkins Abernathy believed that the cotton industry in Alabama began as early as the 1770s. It had certainly been elevated above another earlier cash crop, indigo, by the early 19^th century. 

The indigo plant, of which there are numerous varieties, was grown in the American colonies and the United States afterward as a cash crop. The plant was used extensively to produce a blue dye used in textiles and clothing. As the 19^th century progressed, indigo gave way to rice and cotton as primary cash crops in the Americas.

The migrants of the planter class that came to Alabama did so with the idea of planting cotton and little else. They also arrived with an advantage over the farmer class in their employment of labor.

With the service of slaves, the planters were able to clear land relatively quickly in order to get their initial crop in the ground and prepped for harvest.

On virgin ground, the planter had first to clear the area of trees often times through a process known as girdling. The method called for removing a strip of bark from around the entire circumference of a tree in the proposed field. The tree would then die above the cut, making the eventual removal of the tree much easier. 

At about the same time, the planter would prepare the living quarters for himself and his slave contingent as well as building all the essential out buildings, including barns, a smokehouse and cotton gin and press. The goal for the planter was to quickly regain the normalcy of the plantation he left behind in Georgia or the Carolinas.