The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1877-10-19
The Rise Of King Cotton.


The following communication appeared
III the Savannah Georgian, of May, 1873
and viii be read with much interest at
this day
x There was, some months past,
h"tlhcatl0n IN your paper, COPIED. from
the larlesten Courier, requestlt
communication upon the subject OF the
introduction of cotton into Georgia ana
South Carolina.
1t has been intimated to me that pos
sibly this notification has originated IN
some one DESTROYS Ter correct lntofma-
ton, IN order that it might enter some
more general work, and as ! am 81 pre-
sent, perhaps the only person alVe VINO
recollects distinctly the introduction OF
sea island cotton, have addressed TINS
letter to you.
1t Is known to many that cotton was
cultivated for domestic purposes from
Virginia to teOtgia, long anterior 10
the revolutionary war. Mr.. Jefferson
speaks of 1t IN his notes on Virginia !;
Bertram speaks of it in his travels as
/ growing in Georgia. And l have under,
stood that twenty acres were cultivated
/ by Col. Delegate, upon & email island
near savanna b, before the revolution ;
/ but this was the green seed or snort
/ staple cotton. Two species of the same
/ family then existed in this country-the
/ real green seed and low cotton resem-
bling it in blossom, both being OF a pale
/ yellow, approaching TO white-one with
/ the seed covered with fuzz, the other
With fuzz only upon the end OF the seed.
To explore the first Introduction OF
the short staple cotton into this country
would now in all possibility, be impossl-
BILE; but we may very well suppose ii
was by one of the southern preparatory
governments, and possibly from Turkey.
the trade of which 0untry with England
was then of much higher consideration
than it has subsequently become.
Nor would it have escaped these pro
prietors (many of whom were enlightened
men) that the climate of Asia Minor
where cotton grew buntantlv was anala
gous to the climate q the provinces south
of Virginia.
Just about the commencement of the
revolutionary war, sir Richard Arkwright
had invented the spinning jenny, anc
cotton spinning became a matter Of deer
interest in England. Cotton rose much
in price. Its various qualities ATTRACTED
notice. and the world was searched fol
finer kinds. The island of Bourbon wa
alone found to produce them, and we
the Bourbon cotton greatly resembled il
its growth our green seed cotton, although
II cannot be its parent plant, for al
attempts TO neulrslize it in GeOrgi;
(which were many and repeated) have
failed. Il gave bisssOm, but was cut OF
bv the frost in the fruit, nor would j
rattoon or grow from the root the mex
wear. in which. too, it resembles thu
green seed cotton OF Our country. Ihi
Is all / am able to say, and all that /
perhaps necessary to be said of the shor
staple cotton. The sea island cotton wa
introduced directly from the Bahami
islands into Georgia.
The revolutionary war that closed II
1888 had been q war not less of opinion
and of feeling than Of interest, and ha,
torn asunder many Of the relations of iit
whether of blood or friendship. Englan,
offered to the unhappy settlers of thi
country who had followed he standard
a home in but two Of her province,
the provincials of the north she Offered
Nova Scotia. TO the pr0vincialh Of tn
south she offered the Bahama Islands
Many of the former inhabitants of TIT
Carolinas and Georgia passed over from
Florida to the Bahamas with their slaves
but what could they cultivate
The rocky and arid lands Of thos
islands could not grow sugar cane. Cot
fee would grow, but produced no fruit
There was but one plant that woul,
grow. and that bore abundantly; il wa
cotton. The seed, as / have been in
formed by respectable gentlemen from
the Bahamas, was in the first instanc
procured from small island in the Yves
Indie. celebrated for It's cotton, CalleC
Auguilla. 1t wss, therefore, long ate
its introduction into this country, called
Auguilla seed.
Cotton, as I hayskly stated, hac