The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1877-10-18
The Rise of King Cotton.


II There was, some months past, a
notification in your paper, copied from
the Charleston Courier, requesting a
communication upon the subject of the
introduction Of cotton into Georgia and
South Carolina
1t has been ntimated to me that pos
sbly this notification has originated in
some one desirous for correct informa.
tion, in order that it might enter some
more general work, and HI ! am at pre-.
sent, perhaps the only person alive who
recolects distinctly the introduction of
sea island cotton, | have addressed this
letter to you.
1t is known to many that cotton was
cultivated for domestic purposes from
Virginia to Georgia, long anterior TO
the revolutionary war. Mr. Jefferson
speaks of it in his notes on Virginia ;
Bertram speaks of it in his travels AS
growing in Georgia, And have under
stood that twenty acres were cultivated
by Col. Delegate, upon email island
near Savaunsh, before the revolution /;
but this was the green seed or short
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 pale
yellow, approaching to whte-one with
the seed covered with fu2z, 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 impossi-
BILE; but we may very well suppose it
was by one of the southern preparatory
governments, and possibly from Turkey,
the trade of which country with England
was then of much higher consideration
than it has subsequently become.
Nor would it have escaped those pro-
prietors (many Of whom were enlightened
men) that the climate of Asia Minor
where cotton grew abuntantly was anaa'
gous to the climate of the provinces south
Of Virginia.
Just about the commencement of the
revolutionary war; Sir Richard Arkwright
had invented the spinning jenny, and
cotton spinning became matter of deep
interest in England. Cotton rose much
in price. Its various qualities attracted
notice, and the world was searched for
finer kinds. The island of Bourbon was
alone found to produce them, and yet
the Bourbon cotton greatly resembled in
its growth our green seed cotton, although
it cannot be its parent plant, for all
attempts to neutralize it in Georgia
(Which were many and repeatedly have
failed. 1t gave blossom, but was cut off
by the frost in the fruit, nor would il
rattoon or grow from the root the next
year, in which, too, it resembles the
green seed cotton of our country. This
is all am able to say, and all that is
perhaps necessary to be said of the short
staple cotton The sea island cotton was
introduced directly from the Bahama
islands into Georgia.
The revolutionary war that closed in
| 1888 had been q war not less OF opinion
and of feeling than of interest, and had
torn asunder many of the relations of life
whether of blood or friendship. England
offered to the unhappy settlers of this
country who had followed he. standard,
home in but two of her provinces-to
the provincials of the north she offered
Nova Scotia, to the provincials of the
south she offered the Bahama islands
Many of the former inhabitants of the
Carolinas and Georgia passed over from
Florida to the Bahamas with their slaves,
but what could they cultivate? ?
The rocky and arid lands of those
islands could not grow sugar cane. Cof'
fee would grow, but produced no fruit:
There was but one plant that would
grow, and that bore abundantly; it was
cotton. The seed, as ! have been in
formed by respectable gentlemen from
the Bahamas, was in the first instance
procured from small island in the West
Indies, celebrated for its cotton, called
Auguilla. 1t was, therefore, long after
its Introduction into this country, called
Auguilla seed. ,
Cotton, as | have already stated, had
taken new value by the introduction
of the spinning Jenny ints England. The
quality of the Bahama cotton was then
considered among the best grown. New
life and hope were impaired to a colony
and people with whom even hope itself
had been almost extinct. The first sue
cess, as is natural to the human mind,
under whatever influence it may act, re.
called the memory of the friends they
had left behind them. The winter of SO
brought several parcels of cotton seed
from the Bahamas to Georgia, Among
them lin distinct resemblance upon my
mind) was a parcel to the late Gov. Tat
nall, of Georgia, from near relation OF
his then surveyor. .eneral of the Bahia
mas, and another parcel at the same time
was transmitted by Col. Roger Kelsal, OF
Exuma, (who was among the first, il not
the very first, successful growers of cot
tOn) to my father, Mr.. James Spalding
then residing on st. Simons island
Georgia, who had been connected il
business with Col. Kelsal before the
revolution. have heard that Gov
Ta.nall, then a young man, gave hi
seed to Mr.. Nicholas Turnbull, lately
deceased, w!.o cultivated it from tina
period successfully.
know my father planted his cottol
seed in 1887, upon the banks of smal
rice field on st. Simon's island. Th
land was rich and warm, The cottol
grew large and blosspmed, but did no
ripen its fruit. 1t, however, rattooned
or grew from its roots, the followin
year. The difficulty was now over. TIL
! cotton adapted itself to the climate, an
every successive year from 1877 saw tn
, long staple cotton extending itself alon
} the shores of Georgia and into SOut
Carolina, where an enlightened popul.
l tion, engaged in the cultivation of indigc
| readily adopted it.
All the varieties of the long staple, q
at least the germ of those varieties, cam
3 from that seed.
/ Differences of soil develop them and dil
r ferences of local situations are developln!
E them every day.