38 THE COAST REGION. 



there Avitli tliis varieiy of cotton seed, descendants, doubtless, of the Hin- 

 doo jiins, mentioned by Kearchus. h\ 1790, Dr. Joseph Eve, a distin- 

 <iuished })hysician and poet, tlien of tlie Bahama islands, but subsequently 

 a resident in Georgia, near Augusta, made great improvements in this 

 gin, and adapted it to be run )>y horse or water power. It was claimed 

 that his gin would detach the seed from short staple cotton ; but it ap- 

 pears not to have succeeded in doing this. Other improvements took place 

 in the roller gin, from time to time ; and about 1840, F. McCarthy, of 

 Alabama, devised a machine Avhich bears his name, and has been in use 

 ever since on the sea islands. Shortly after this, small steam engines 

 were used with the McCarthy gin, and now oxen and horses have been 

 discarded and all the gins on the sea islands are run by steam power. 

 A two horse power is required for each gin, which turns out on an average 

 a bale weighing three hundred and fift}^ pounds as a day's work. 

 There is a recent English improvement of the ^IcCarthy gin, known on 

 the sea islands as the double McCarthy. This gin gives two bales in a 

 day's work ; but as it requires greater skill to attend it, they are not in 

 general use; two, however, are in successful operation in the large gin- 

 house of Mr. John G. Nichols, on St. Helena island. 



The great subdivision of the land into small farms under independent 

 management, renders it impracticable for each cotton planter, as formerly, 

 to have a gin and ginhouse of his own. To meet this state of things, 

 " toll" gins have been established. They are usually in the hands of 

 store-keepers at the various boat landings. The largest establishment of 

 this sort is the one above mentioned on St. Helena island. Here ten gins 

 under one shelter are run by one steam engine. Bagging is kept on hand 

 for the convenience of customers, and the cotton is either purchased by 

 the proprietor of the gin, or shipped by him directly from the ginhouse 

 to any American or European port the planter may prefer. There being 

 a large store on the premises, where the wants of the planters are sup- 

 plied throughout the year, and a skilled machinist being in constant 

 attendance on the gins, to keep everything running in the best order, it 

 is much patronized. Almost the entire crop is prepared and marketed 

 here, and planters, even as remote as Edisto island, bring their cotton to 

 be ginned and disposed of at this gin, saving thereby, as they say, the 

 heavy charges of wharfage, storage, insurance and commission, which are 

 incurred when sent to city factors to be sold. This establishment is 

 worked, in connection with others of a similar character along the coast 

 of Georgia, and in Florida, which together handle and dispose of eight 

 thousand or nine thousand bales of long staple cotton annually. 



The usual charge at these gins is three and a half to four cents per 

 pound, lint, and they are said to pay well. The cotton is packed in 



