288 COTTON PLANTER'S MANUAL. 



and other machinists of this State, have, by various improve- 

 ments, brought the saw-gin to great perfection ; but whilst 

 conceding all due praise to them, let us not be guilty of slight- 

 ing original inventors, especially those whose mental achieve- 

 ments have contributed so much to enrich and aggrandize our 

 own Georgia. Respectfully, 



Blakcley, Ga., May, 10, 1S52. J. C. 



[We approve the suggestions of our correspondent from 

 Blakeley, and hope that they may be the means of eliciting 

 the desired information. There are doubtless some persons 

 residing in Middle Georgia, perhaps in Putnam or Hancock 

 counties, who could furnish us with such a memoir. The im- 

 portance of the invention, or the honor due to the name of the 

 man who made it, is enhanced as it grows older ; and whilst 

 those who were the contemporaries of such a man may not 

 properly estimate his claims to distinction, it is due to the 

 history of the times, as well as to the fame of the man, that 

 we should properly record the facts in the case, and give 

 " honor to whom honor is due." Monuments rise, and history 

 teems with eulogies upon the valorous chief of the battle field, 

 while the name of the humble, unpretending mechanic, who 

 may have originated improvements which swelled the wealth 

 of the nation, saved labor, and ameliorated the condition of 

 the whole human family, may have failed to descend to pos- 

 terity, or find a place in the history of the country. It may 

 not have been a matter of any great importance when Georgia 

 was the little and obscure member of the old family of thir- 

 teen, to have known who lived or figured in that day. But 

 now, when her cognomen is, " The Empire State of the 

 South," we want to go back, (as with our great men,) to her 

 school boy days, note the indices of those times, and see what 

 and who hath helped to build up this great name.] 



