• INTRODUCTORY. 11 



of bushels were produced. In 1857, Dr. Parker made, near Columbia, the 

 largest crop per acre ever obtained anywhere ; from two acres he gath- 

 ered three hundred and fifty-nine bushels, and one acre gave two hun- 

 dred bushels and twelve quarts. In consequence of the higher prices of 

 cotton the corn crop was reduced in l&fio by one million of bushels ; in 

 1870 it had gone down one half, having fallen to seven and a half 

 million bushels. 



-i r r- 



COTTON. r ^''-t- 



Cotton is mentioned in the records of the colony as early as 1664, and 

 in 1747, seven bags appear on the list of exports from Charleston. In 

 1787, Samuel Maverick, and one Jeffrey, shipped three bags of one hun- 

 dred pounds each of seed cotton from Charleston to England as an ex- 

 periment, and were informed for their pains by the consignee, that it was 

 not worth producing, as it could not be separated from the seed. In 1790 

 a manufactory of cotton homespuns was established by some Irish, in 

 Williamsburg county, the lint used being picked from the seed by hand, 

 a task of four pounds of lint per week being required of the field laborers 

 in addition to their ordinary work. All this speedily changed with the 

 invention of the saw gin by Eli Whitney, in 1794. The first gin moved 

 by water power was erected on Mill Creek, near Monticello, in Fairfield, 

 by Capt. James Kincaid, in 1795. Gen. Wade Hampton erected another 

 near Columbia, in 1797, and the following year gathered from six hundred 

 acres, six hundred bales of cotton, and cotton planting became soon after the 

 leading industry in nearly every county in the State. The crop steadily 

 increased in size until 1860, when the three hundred and fifty thousand 

 bales produced in the State were worth something over fourteen millions 

 of dollars. From this date to 1870 there was a great decline, the crop of 

 that year being more than one-third less than the crop of ten years pre- 

 vious, and reaching only two hundred and twenty-four thousand five 

 hundred bales. 



TABLE, 



Showing the Production of Cotton in South Carolina froni 1830 to 1880: 



Years. ^fJ^^H^ Ve%1ft! Lbs. Lint Cotton. 



1830 

 1840 

 1850 

 1860 

 1870 

 1880 



185,166 X 341 = 63,446,606 



156,600 X 394 = 61,710,274 



300,301 X 429 = 128,829,129 



353,412 X 477 = 168,577,524 



224,500 X 442 = 90,229,600 



516,490 X 475 =-245,486,305 



