I would say variously from 500 to 2,500 acres in cultivation.
Q.How valuable are these plantations per acre?
-- A.

That is a question which cannot be answered definitely except in this way: where a planter owns the land, and he is out of debt, the land is not for sale, because he cannot invest his money in anything that is so profitable; but where a planter's property is mortgaged, and the mortgagee wants to foreclose and will foreclose, and there is not in that country the money which the planter can borrow to relieve himself of his indebtedness, he will probably sell his land at a small excess of his debt in order to save something.

You see there is a want of capital in that country, and if a planter is involved, as many planters are and have been ever since the war, he must do the best he can.

There are many planters in that country who are nothing but agents of the factors, from the fact that the interest and commissions they pay upon the debt amount to more than the rent for the property, and they hold on to it as a home.
Therefore, a planter in that condition will sell at a nominal price, whereas a plantation owned and paid for is not for sale.
By Mr.PUGH: Q.There is really no established market price?
-- A.

None at all, owing to the necessity of the one to sell and the desire of another to buy.
By the CHAIRMAN: Q.At what rates per acre have you known the title to change in some instances?
-- A.