AGRICULTURE IN THE UNITED STATES. 457 



tobacco was given to a person, as an inducement to remain in 

 the country and prosecute the trade in silk ; and in the next 

 year a premium of 10,000 pounds of tobacco was offered to 

 any one who should export ^200 worth of the raw material 

 of silk." About the same time, 5000 pounds of the same article 

 were promised "to any one who should produce 1000 pounds of 

 wound silk in one year." 



Cotton, which is the staple of the Southern States settled by 

 Virginians, was first grown by the early colonists in 1621, but it 

 was not an article of general home consumption, or of export, 

 for many years. In 1748 seven bags of cotton-wool, valued at 

 ;"3 i is. %d. a bag, were among the exports of Charleston, South 

 Carolina ; and after the Revolution the growth and exportation 

 of the sea-island cotton was commenced, seed having been 

 obtained from one of the Leeward Isles. Originally the cotton 

 was separated from the seed with the fingers, and afterwards 

 there were several contrivances used, among them the employ- 

 ment of a long bow fitted with a number of strings, which, being 

 vibrated by the blows of a wooden mallet while in contact with 

 a bunch of cotton, shook the seed and dust from the mass. In 

 1742, M. Dubreuil, a wealthy planter of New Orleans, invented 

 a cleaning-machine, which was so far successful as to give quite 

 an impulse to the cotton culture in Louisiana, and several other 

 inventions were subsequently used in other sections of the 

 South ; but none of them accomplished the desired work. In 

 1794, Eli Whitney, a native of Massachusetts, then residing in 

 Georgia, invented the saw-gin, which completely removes all 

 extraneous matters without injury to the fibre, and enables 

 a man to clean 300 pounds a day instead of one pound, as 

 he had been able to do by hand. This wonderful labor-saving 

 machine has exerted an influence on the industrial interests of 

 the world, and has placed cotton foremost among our national 

 exports. 



The production of wine in the Atlantic colonies was believed 

 to be practicable by many of the early settlers, and several of the 

 governors endeavored to encourage the planting of vineyards. 

 In 1758, the " London Society for the Encouragement of Arts, 

 Commerce, and Manufactures " proposed the following premium 

 for the wine itself : " As producing wines in our American colo- 



