﻿AGRICULTURE. 
  141 
  

  

  Carolina 
  was 
  favorable 
  for 
  its 
  production, 
  and 
  the 
  first 
  

   Provincial 
  Congress 
  of 
  that 
  State, 
  in 
  1775, 
  "recom- 
  

   mended 
  to 
  its 
  people 
  to 
  raise 
  cotton." 
  

  

  Georgia 
  is 
  said, 
  however, 
  to 
  have 
  taken 
  the 
  lead 
  in 
  its 
  

   cultivation 
  ; 
  yet 
  the 
  first 
  shipment 
  of 
  cotton 
  known 
  was 
  

   in 
  1784, 
  when 
  eight 
  bags 
  were 
  seized 
  by 
  the 
  custom- 
  

   house 
  officers 
  at 
  Liverpool, 
  it 
  not 
  being 
  credited 
  that 
  even 
  

   the 
  small 
  quantity 
  of 
  two 
  thousand 
  pounds 
  had 
  been 
  

   raised 
  in 
  the 
  United 
  States. 
  Seed 
  was 
  introduced 
  into 
  

   Georgia 
  from 
  Jamaica 
  and 
  Pernambuco 
  in 
  1786; 
  but 
  the 
  

   cultivation 
  of 
  the 
  Sea 
  Island 
  variety 
  was 
  not 
  established 
  

   until 
  1789. 
  The 
  Upland, 
  or 
  the 
  Georgia 
  (bowed 
  cotton), 
  

   was 
  successfully 
  introduced 
  about 
  the 
  same 
  time. 
  

  

  Cotton 
  was 
  doubtless 
  indigenous 
  to 
  America, 
  having 
  

   been 
  found 
  growing 
  wild 
  in 
  Hispaniola 
  and 
  other 
  West 
  

   India 
  Islands 
  when 
  discovered 
  by 
  Columbus 
  ; 
  and 
  at 
  the 
  

   period 
  of 
  the 
  conquest 
  of 
  Mexico 
  by 
  Cortez, 
  the 
  natives 
  

   made 
  "large 
  webs, 
  as 
  delicate 
  and 
  fine 
  as 
  those 
  of 
  

   Holland." 
  Their 
  other 
  cotton 
  fabrics 
  were 
  varied 
  and 
  

   beautiful, 
  and 
  constituted 
  their 
  chief 
  article 
  of 
  dress. 
  

  

  When 
  and 
  from 
  whence 
  the 
  plant 
  was 
  first 
  introduced 
  

   into 
  Mississippi, 
  is 
  not 
  certainly 
  known, 
  most 
  probably 
  

   by 
  the 
  early 
  French 
  colonists 
  from 
  St. 
  Domingo, 
  which 
  

   was 
  a 
  touching 
  point 
  for 
  the 
  company's 
  ships, 
  and 
  the 
  

   place 
  whence 
  they 
  derived 
  much 
  of 
  their 
  supplies. 
  It 
  

   would 
  seem, 
  indeed, 
  that 
  its 
  cultivation 
  here 
  and 
  in 
  

   Louisiana 
  on 
  a 
  small 
  scale 
  for 
  domestic 
  purposes 
  pre- 
  

   ceded 
  that 
  of 
  Georgia. 
  

  

  Charlevoix, 
  on 
  his 
  visit 
  to 
  Natchez 
  in 
  1722, 
  saw 
  the 
  

   cotton 
  plant 
  growing 
  in 
  the 
  garden 
  of 
  Sieur 
  Le 
  Noir, 
  the 
  

   company's 
  clerk. 
  

  

  Bienville 
  states, 
  in 
  one 
  of 
  his 
  dispatches, 
  dated 
  in 
  

   April, 
  1735, 
  that 
  the 
  cultivation 
  of 
  cotton 
  proved 
  ad- 
  

   vantageous. 
  

  

  