316 COTTON PLANTER'S MANUAL. 



known, and its adequacy was fully established, the inland 

 districts of the south and south-west at once rose immensely 

 in value, and the extensive public lands of the United States 

 rose with them. Whatever, therefore, the government, as a 

 direct owner of property, which it offers for sale, has received, 

 or is yet to receive from this advance upon its property, that 

 has been and will be put into her treasury, by the gift of Eli 

 Whitney ; of what the value of his gift to her in this form has 

 been, and is to be, some idea may be formed from a remark 

 of Mr. Jefferson to Mr. Whitney, not long after the purchase 

 of Louisiana, that the increased value of the lands of the 

 United States, in consequence of the cotton gin, had at that 

 time (this was ten years after the invention), been more than 

 sufficient to pay the cost of that territory. How many times 

 fifteen millions of dollars have since been added to the value 

 of the public domain, by the increased culture of cotton, and 

 the widening market for it, can neither be estimated nor con- 

 jectured. 



Whitney gave to his country its greatest staple production, 

 and the means of an extensive and profitable trade with Eng- 

 land. Though the cotton plant had been known before the 

 days of Herodotus, and though the green seed or upland cotton 

 had been known from this early period, yet, as an article of 

 commerce, it never had been known till this method of clean- 

 ing was discovered. A few statistics need only be given to 

 show the immense value of the production, which was created 

 by this invention, and of the trade which has grown out of it. 

 In the year 1791, the whole cotton crop of the United States 

 was 2,000,000 Ibs. In 1845, it was more than 1,000,000,000. 

 In 1791 the United States produced ^ of the cotton produced 

 in the world. In 1845, it produced more than I of the pro- 

 duct of the world. 



1793, the year of the invention, the whole crop was 



