THE COAST REGION. 39 



Dundee bagging, in round bales. No press is used, as it is thought it 

 would injure the fibre. The work is done by hand, the cotton being 

 beaten into the bag with a pestle. At the large ginhouse on St. Helena, 

 however, even this work is accomplished by machinery. The bag is con- 

 veniently suspended from an iron hoop, and a disc of two inch plank, 

 exactly fitting the bag, and moved b}^ steam, pushes the cotton in, secur- 

 ing greater dispatch and accuracy in the packing. 



The seed is used for manure, and when sold for this purpose, brings 

 twenty-five to thirty-five cents per bushel of forty pounds. In 1880., only 

 about fifty tons were exported from Charleston, chiefly to Egypt, to be 

 used as planting seed. In this connection an incident related by Governor 

 Seabrook illustrates the difficulties •attending the handling of newly in- 

 troduced products. In 1796, on Mr. Brisbane's White Point plantation, in 

 St. Paul's Parish, the disposition to be made of the cotton seed, which 

 " the gins bfegan to furnish freely, became a perplexing question. Being 

 carelessly thrown on the ground, the hogs ate it and they died. It was 

 then put into pens, but the pigs found their way between the interstices 

 of the rails and shared the fate of their elders. As a last resort, and with 

 a view to be rid of the nuisance, it was deposited in a small creek con- 

 tiguous to the Mansion House. There, at low tide, it soon generated a 

 miasmatic odor, which, when the wind was favorable, was so offensive 

 as to create a strong feeling against the future culture of the crop." 



AVhat has been written refers distinctly to the sea islands. A conside r- 

 able quantity of long staple cotton in addition is grown on the mainlands 

 and is known as Santees and as mains. The general economy of the cul- 

 ture is the same as on the sea islands. The seed is obtained annually or 

 biennially from the islands, as it is thought to deteriorate very rapidly on 

 the mainland. In the absence of determinate experiments for a series of 

 years it is not easy to say what the cause of this deterioration is, or even 

 if it is due to causes of a permanent character. That the seed does deteri- 

 orate is a fact beyond question. But whether it would do so if not ex- 

 posed to hybridization with uplands, and if the selections were made with 

 the same skill and patience that is shown by the sea island planters, can- 

 not be said to have been demonstrated. To be perfectly secure from the 

 influence of uplands it should be planted at least three miles distant from 

 it, that being determined as the range of the bee whose search for honey 

 and pollen is the fruitful source of this miscegenation. New factors too 

 might have to be taken into consideration in the selection of the seed on 

 new soils and in a new climate. Crops of sea island cotton have been 

 made as high up as Orangeburg and Aiken counties. The yield was as 

 good as on the coast, and the staple, while ranking well in the market, 

 did not command the higher prices. Were a serious effort made for a 



