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

Emphasis for the large-scale planter in Alabama, as was the case elsewhere, was planting as much of the cash crop as possible.

Much, and in some cases all, of the money from the sale of the last season’s cotton crop went back into production of more cotton. That profit bought more land, which was in constant demand because of the intense deterioration of soil caused by the growth of the cotton plant.

In addition, the planter spent much of his income on the maintenance of his slave labor force. For example, to maintain a slave for one year, the plantation owner spent between $20 and $25 to provide the individual with a limited supply of food, clothing, blankets, medical attention and shelter.

For the planter, the move to Alabama was a commercial one, with business interests foremost in his decisions. The occupation he had chosen enslaved others and chained them to the land. The planter had to constantly add land to his holdings, or he would perish as a businessman.

As a result, he was continually on the move, pouring more of his earned income into land purchases. In conjunction, the planter almost always had to place the bulk of his remaining cash into labor to work and the large parcels of land needed for raising a cash crop.

After the Civil War, the plantation agricultural system was completely altered in its focus. The labor system, originally rooted in slavery, was eliminated with the results of the war and the passage of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which outlawed slavery.

With the demise of slavery, the system changed, but the plantation did not disappear. In essence, the labor pool did not decrease, as the former slaves remained in large numbers on the plantation as paid labor in a system that we know as sharecropping. Cotton remained the primary cash crop produced by this labor system, and by the 1890s surpassed the amount grown prior to the Civil War.

As the planters established themselves in the most bountiful areas in Alabama, the small farmers migrating into the area sought a place to call home and to establish their families. Unlike the large-scale planter, they were not dependent on the cotton market and most traveled west in search of a new start, free from the constraints of the Atlantic region. The small farmer sought a subsistence lifestyle for himself and his family instead of cotton lands and access to markets. Most came west to Alabama with little or no property and truly carved out a home in the wilderness.

To settle in Alabama, the small farmer needed little to make a start. He usually did not compete with the plantation owner for property, nor did he rely on cotton production in order to purchase other things the family needed.

Often, the small farmer experimented with growing wheat, although a lack of mills and market forced a switch to corn. And above all, the small farmer sought a permanent home, whereas the planter looked at the move as a more commercial venture.