350 



Grmoth of Cotton. 



Vol. VIII. 



tural clubs, to make trial of such wheels, 

 and for other improvements. All the ex- 

 pense of such a wheel, defrayed by a club 

 of ten or twenty members, would be so 

 small to each member, in comparison with 

 the ^reat object gained, that the expense 

 would be no objection. A wheel for the 

 purposes of farmers generally, would not 

 cost more than five dollars. I think one 

 made with hollow spokes, decidedly prefer- 

 able to the other, as not being so liable to 

 get out of order, and I believe much less 

 expensive, though I suppose it would re- 

 quire the wheel to be larger, to raise the 

 water to the same height. Rusticus. 



Lancaster, Co., Pa 



The foregoing, as well as another article in this No., 

 under the same signature, were written tor the Penn- 

 sylvania Farmer, which has been discontinued. They 

 were kindly handed over for the Cabinet. — Ed. 



Growth of Cotton. 



At the convention at Annapolis, m 1786, 

 Mr. Madison in a conversation with Tench 

 Coxe, concerning the cotton husbandry, re- 

 marked that, " from the garden practice in 

 Talbot, and the circumstances of the same 

 kind abounding in Virginia, there was no 

 reason to doubt that the United States 

 would one day become a great cotton pro- 

 ducing country." The evidence then exist- 

 ing on this subject, especially the interesting 

 fact, that during our struggle for Independ- 

 ence, Philadelphia had been furnished with 

 native cotton, worth two shillings sterling 

 per pound, enough for the limited home con- 

 sumption, and the information communicated 

 to General Thomas Proctor, of that city, by 

 Richard Leake, of Georgia, removed all 

 doubt in reference^ to the practicability of 

 raising the gossypium, as a crop on a large 

 extent of the Atlantic coast. This convic 

 tion of the public mind soon insensibly led 

 to the belief, that the United States could 

 also card and spin its fleece, and probably 

 weave it by water power. The result was 

 a mission to Great Britain, at the expense 

 of Tench Coxe, to obtain the machinery, 

 and all the information which it was import- 

 ant the parties should possess. The influ- 

 ence of a manufacturing society, established 

 in Philadelphia, in 1787, and the prevalent 

 opinion, that the raw material might be 

 made a profitable source of revenue, induced 

 Congress, at the first reformation of the ta- 

 riff, to impose a duty of three cents a pound 

 on foreign cotton, with which the United 

 States were at that time supplied from the 

 West Indies and the Brazils. 



That, in 1792, the growth of cotton in 

 this country was unknown to Mr. Jay, or 

 that as a commercial article it was deemed 



of little value, is obvious from the fact, that, 

 in the treaty negociated by him, it was stipu- 

 lated, that no cotton should be imported from 

 America. The object of that diplomatist 

 being to secure to the English the carriage 

 of the West India cotton to its market in 

 Europe. This is the rea.'^on why the Senate 

 refused to ratify the 12th article of that 

 treaty. In half a century how wonderful 

 has been the revolution effected in the cot- 

 ton husbandry of the United States! In 

 1782, the entire crop was 138,328 lbs. ; in 

 1842, 785,221,800 lbs. were produced. The 

 first Provincial Congress in this State, held 

 in January, 1775, recommended to the in- 

 habitants to plant cotton, but their recom- 

 mendation was almost entirely disregarded. 

 The whole quantity of that commodity, prior 

 to 1795, exported from the United States, 

 was inconsiderable, but in that year it 

 amounted to 6,276,300 lbs. ; of this, the pro- 

 portion contributed by South Carolina was 

 1,109,653 lbs. 



Among the exports of "Charles Town" 

 from November, 1747, to November, 1748, 

 are included seven bags of cotton wool, 

 valued at 3j£. lis. 5d. per bag. In 1754, 

 "some cotton" was again exported from 

 South Carolina. In 1770, there were ship- 

 ped to Liverpool, three bales from New 

 York, four bales from Virginia and Mary- 

 land, and three bales from North Carolina. 

 Before the Revolutionary war, Virginia e.v- 

 ported, communibus annis, hemp, flaxseed, 

 and cotton, to the value of #8000. In 1784, 

 an American vessel that carried eight bags 

 to Liverpool, was seized on the ground, that 

 .so muck cotton could not be the produce of 

 the United States. In 1785, 14 bags; in 

 1786, six bags; in 1787, 109 bags; in" 1788, 

 389 bags; 1789, 842 bags; and^'in 1790, 81 

 bags were received in Europe from this 

 country: of these, 153 bags were sent di- 

 rectly, and a portion of the remainder by 

 the way of Philadelphia and New York, 

 from Charleston. The first bag of cotton 

 sold in South Carolina, was purchased in 

 1784, by John Teasdale, from Brian Cape, 

 then a factor in Charleston. The first bag 

 of the wool exported from that city to Liv- 

 erpool, arrived January 20th, 1785, per 

 Diana, and was consigned to Messrs. J. & J. 

 Teasdale & Co. The exports from 1790, 

 though very much mixed up with foreign 

 cottons, slowly but steadily increased until 

 1794, when a powerful impetus was given 

 to the cotton culture by the invention of the 

 saw gin by Eli Whitney, of Massachusetts. 

 This ingepious but unfortunate artist, who 

 by his machine doubled the wealth and 

 means of employment of his countrymen, 

 and thereby in an especial manner confer- 



