of the late planting, the cotton was not sufficiently
advanced to resist the attacks of the caterpillars in September, and for
a month these insects held grand carnival on the yet immature plants,
causing widespread damage to the crop. The low wages offered to the
freedmen by Government were no offset to the attractions of trading with
the army and navy, and all the negroes were ambitious to have some
connection with camp life. As a natural result of this condition of
things, both the industry and interest of the freedmen were drawn away
from the cotton fields. Early in the season, also, when the young crops
required constant attention, all the able-bodied men were drafted into
General Hunter's regiments, and kept in camp till the fall. The
influence of the draft upon those who remained at home, added to the
delay and smallness of the Government payments, made the laborers
discouraged at their prospects, disaffected toward the superintendents,
and careless at their work.

The obstacles in the way of successful agricultural operations, produced
by the military occupation of the islands, are still further evident
from the fact that both provision and cotton crops improved in
proportion to the distance from the camps. Thus, on Port Royal and
Hilton Head Islands, where most of the troops were encamped, very little
cotton was raised, and so small a crop of provisions, that it became
necessary for Government to ration many of the freedmen during a brief
period. On Ladies' and St. Helena Islands, away from the immediate
vicinity of the camps, very fair crops of cotton were raised, and nearly
enough provision for the support of all the laborers. The rations
furnished by Government, and which have given rise to so much unfriendly
comment, were called for, either by the refugees from the mainland and
adjacent islands, many of whom had at first no means of subsistence, or
by the freedmen on those plantations so exposed to the camps and so
harassed by the soldiers, that the crops which they were able to gather
failed to last them through the year. In one district on St. Helena
Island, including three plantations, which was under the care of a
capable and judicious superintendent, of sufficient means to advance his
private funds to the payment of the laborers, the total receipts from
the sale of the cotton and the surplus provisions raised were more than
double all the expenses incurred in wages, clothing, and
superintendence.

Su