ADDRESS. 



Gentlemen of the Black Oak Agricultural Society : 

 At your last anniversary meeting, the following 

 resolution was passed, to wit : 



" Resolved, That the President be requested to prepare, for the 

 next anniversary meeting of the Society, an historical account 

 of the introduction of cotton-planting into this section of 

 country ; together with short biographical sketches or remi- 

 niscences of the earlier planters who were instrumental in its 

 cultivation — detailing the progress made in its culture and 

 preparation for market, in the climatizing of the finer quali- 

 ties of cotton, whether by selection of seed grown here or by 

 importation from the sea islands, with a comparison of the 

 productiveness of our lands at its earliest cultivation with the 

 old Santee "black seed" and that of the present time with 

 the finer island seed, and all other points of historical interest 

 connected with the progress and development of our staple 

 crop." 



It will be readily admitted, gentlemen, that pru- 

 dence ought to have deterred me from attempting a 

 compliance with your wish thus expressed ; having 

 no record or reference, but thrown altogether upon 

 memory, stretching back over a period of more than 

 sixty years. I have, however, been induced by the 

 desire to comply with the requirements of a Society 

 over which your partiality has called me to preside. 



