Usually two for the typical Southern county, depending on population size and distances involved. Different men were responsible for different census districts, so handwriting would change. Don't know for sure, but manuscript census copies appear to be transcripts of notes taken in the field.

Based on research of antebellum Southern counties (my own and work reported by others), the term 'planter' wasn't often used. In Jacksonian America, weathier planters preferred to to identify with the average farmer rather than be perceived as a cotton snob. Even earlier, wealthy planters like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson liked to describe themselves as farmers.

The census taker appears to have made his notes and moved on to the next house without questioning what he was told. For that reason a fair amount of nonsense can be found in the census. As far as professional self-descriptions are concerned, my favorite comes from Barbour County, Ala., where one gentleman gave his occupation as 'Yankee Hater'.