BLACK OAK AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 25 



gin. None of these, however, stood the test of 

 trial, and were successively abandoned for the foot- 

 gin. Some of these gins were bought at two hun- 

 dred and fifty dollars each. As slovenly as was 

 originally the tillage of the cotton plant, the prepa- 

 ration of its produce for market was much more so. 

 It was indeed so badly cleaned as to be deemed 

 suitable only for the coarser fabrics. 



Up to 1830, the pickers took no especial pains 

 to abstract the dead leaves. The wool was sunned 

 all day, and ginned often with stained particles in- 

 corporated with it. In the process of moting, these 

 were removed by women sitting on the floor, where 

 it was whipped with twigs. No bag or box re- 

 ceived the cotton as it fell from the gin. In pack- 

 ing, an old iron axle-tree or wooden pestle was used, 

 as at present. With many the cotton was ginned, 

 moted, and packed in the same room. 



It is proper here to remark that while the quali- 

 ty of the wool has been vastly improved, the prod- 

 uct of the plant has been proportionately dimin- 

 ished. Although, therefore, the pecuniary circum- 

 stances of some individuals have been greatly im- 

 proved, the planters generally have sustained a loss, 

 in some instances to an almost ruinous extent. 

 The stalk produces no more pods, and yet, five 

 and often seven pounds of seed cotton are required 

 to yield one of clean, instead of one to three, as 

 formerly. Ten years ago, the staple of our sea 



