BLA CK OAK A GRICUL TURAL SOCIE TV. 13 



In Georgia the long-staple cotton was first planted 

 for market ; in Virginia, North Carolina, and South 

 Carolina, the short-staple. 



As early as 1787 small quantities of cotton in the 

 seed were brought from Orangeburg district and 

 sold to merchants at 2d. per pound, who resold it 

 principally to ladies to make patch-work bedquilts. 

 When Whitney's saw gin was first exhibited in 

 Georgia, none but women were permitted to enter 

 the room. An ingenious young mechanic intro- 

 duced himself into the apartment in women's ap- 

 parel, and by a minute examination of the machine 

 satisfied himself that he could not only imitate but 

 improve on its construction by making it more effi- 

 cient. The gins so constructed were first applied to 

 water-power by General Wade Hampton. 



The first attempt to raise a crop of long cotton 

 in South Carolina was in 1 788, by Kinsey Burden 

 of St. Paul's Parish. In 1793 General Moultrie 

 planted a crop of one hundred and fifty acres on 

 Northampton plantation. This was a decided fail- 

 ure, the result of his unacqualntance with the proper 

 method of culture. 



The cotton culture from this time progressed 

 rapidly in these parishes. This plant and indigo 

 struggled against each other for the ascendancy. 

 In three years the latter ceased to be grown as a 

 market crop. To prove the value of the crop and 

 the success of some of its planters in the parish, in 



