SEA ISLAND COTTON PLANTING. 131 



of these years, it will appear that in 1850 it amounted, in the 

 ports of Savannah and Charleston alone, to 26,634 bales, or 

 8,522,880 Ibs. ; in 1851, to 28,362 bales, or 9,075,840 Ibs ; in 

 1852, to 30,878 bales, or 9,878,900 Ibs. And up to this date 

 of the present year, we have 30,031, against 28,552 of the same 

 time last year, giving us the reasonable assurance of a larger 

 crop, by some 2,000 bales, than we have had for many years 

 previous. 



Nor is this the only improvement. The price has very 

 greatly advanced, at least within the last year. The price at 

 present ranges, for Santees and Maines, from fifty to fifty-five 

 cents per Ib. ; for Floridas, from forty -two to forty-eight ; and for 

 Sea Islands, from fifty to seventy ; and though this may be 

 slightly above the ruling prices for the season, the average 

 of all long staple cotton, for the entire season, would not vary 

 far from forty-eight cents, leaving an immense profit to the 

 planter over that afforded by any other staple: To pay as well 

 as the short staple cotton, the long staple must sell for twice 

 as much per Ib. At present it sells for more than four times 

 as much ; and its cultivation must be, therefore, by so much 

 the more profitable, and give by so much the greater induce- 

 ment to its continuance and extension. 



SECTION XVII. SEA ISLAND COTTON PLANTING. 

 From the American Agriculturist. 



EDISTO ISLAND, one of the largest of the South Carolina group, 

 about thirty miles southwest of Charleston, containing 5,000 

 or 6,000 inhabitants, is the principal point where this valuable 

 crop is cultivated. It is a sandy soil, but little above tide, 

 which, flowing through many channels, gives very irregular 



