ON THE COTTON GIN. 285 



Georgia. From that day to this, the agriculture and commerce 

 of the country has been at the mercy of speculators. 



9th. Care was taken, for many years, as much as possible to 

 separate the seed carrying any fur, from the black seed in- 

 tended for planting. 



10th. The St. Simon's cotton stood first, and Major Butler's 

 and my own first among them. From the character of the 

 tradesmen attending his gins, or the greater strictness of his 

 manager, his cotton soon took a preference which it preserved 

 for some years. The staple of the St. Simon's cotton was 

 thought better than any other; the putting up of Maj. Butler's 

 cotton placed it at the hands of others. 



llth. The bags were packed as now, with the pestle. I 

 never knew the screw used for long staple cotton but at Mr, 

 Hamilton's plantation, and it was soon given up. 



12th. The green seed cotton was for some years packed with 

 the pestle ; in fact I remember to have heard objections made 

 to the screw, and square bales, at. their first introduction. 



13th. Negroes were worked in task-work, in Carolina and 

 Georgia, upon the sea-coast, from my earliest recollection. 

 The task in listing, the fields being previously cleared up and 

 the remains of the former year burned off, was half an acre ; 

 the laborer was required to ridge afterwards, when carefully 

 done, three-eighths of an acre ; and in hoeing, half an acre was 

 the task, depending, however, much upon the season and the 

 condition of the field. 



14th. The bags generally were expected to weigh 300 Ibs. 

 Major Butler's were 4J yards, and contained 260 Ibs. 



15th. The rust did not appear for some years in our fields, 

 and when it did, I attributed it to listing in green vegetable 

 matter in the latter summer, for the next year's crop ; or coarse 

 vegetable matter in the winter, instead of burning off, which 

 left a light top-dressing of ashes. The caterpillars made their 



