The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1877-10-11
The Rise Of King Cotton.

tuu Will DC reaQ Win mQcn interest at !
ibis day:
There was, some months past,
notification in your paper, copied from
the Charleston Courier, requesting a
communication upon the subject of the
of cotton into Georgia and
South Carolina
1t has been intimated to me that pos
sibly this notification has originated in
some one DESTROYS for correct infOrma
ton, in order that it might enter some |
more general work, and as I am at pre- |
sent, perhaps the only person alive who |
recollects 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
BeTtram speaks of it in his travels as
growing in Georgia. And have under
stood that twenty acres were cultivated
by a Col. Delegate, upon email island
near Swans h, 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 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 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
han it mas subsequently become.
Nor wOuld it have escaped those pro
pfietors (many of whom were enlightened
men) that the climate of Asia Minor
where cotton grew abuntantly was anala-
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 a 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 he its parent plant, for all
| attempts to neuLrali8e it in Georgia
| (Which were many and repeatedly have
| failed. 1t gave blss ON, but was cut of
( 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. Tbi:
| is all am able to say, and all that il
! perhaps necessary to be said of the short
staple cotton. The sea island cotton wa:
/ introduced directly from the Bahama
islands into Georgia.
The revolutionary war that closed il
/ 1888 had been war not less of Opinic 1
and of feeling than of interest, AMI haC
torn asunder many of the relations of lif
whether of blood or friendship. England
offered to the unhappy settlers of thi
country who had followed her standard
a home in but two of her prOyinces-tC
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 thost
islands could not grow sugar cane. Cot
fee would grow, but produced no fruit
/ 1NEIt WIS DuJ OIlC klout IlldG WOtN
grow, and that bore abundantly; it wa
cotton. The seed, as | have been in
formed by respectable gentlemen from
the Bahamas, was in the first instanC
procured from a small island in the Yves
Indies, celebrated for its cotton, callet
Auguilia, 1t was, therefore, long afte
its introduction into this country, callct
Auguilla seed.
Cotton, as | have already stated, ha
taken new. value by the intrOduCtiO
; of the spinning jenny into England. Tn
quality OF the Bahama cotton was the
considered among the best grown. Ne7
| life and hope were impaired to a colon
and people with whom even hope itse
had been almost extinct. The first sue
cess, as is natural to the human mine
under whatever influence it may act, II
call d the memory of the friends the
, had left behind them The winter of o
, brought several parcels of cotton see
from the Bahamas to Georgia. Anon
them lin distinct resemblance upon m
. mind) was a parcel to the late Gov. Ia
nall, of Georgia, from a near relation
his then surveyOT=2e of the Babl
mas, and another parcel at the same tim
was transmitted by Col. Roger Kelsal, {
=. EEuma, (whO was among the first, ii nc
Z tony to my father, Mr. James Spaldins
= then residing on st. Simon's islanC
I Georgia, who had been connected !
business with Col. Kelsal before tn
2 revolution. / have heard that Go,
Ta:nall, then q young man, gave ii
e seed to Mr.. Nicholas TUr3bUll, latel
t deceased, wio cultivated it FROM ths
g period successfully.
t l know my father planted his cote
Z seed in 1897, upon the banks of a sma
D rice field on St. SimOn's island. Tt
I land was rich and warm, The cOtto
4 grew large and blOSsOmed, bat did NJ
, ripen its fruit. 1t, however, rattOOnet
or grew from its roots, the follOwin
a year. The difficulty was now over. Tt
r cotton adapted itself to the climate, an
! every successive year from 1877 saw til
r long staple cotton extending itself alOn
a the shores of Georgia and into Sout
= Carolina, where an enlightened popul
: ton, engaged in the cultivation of indlg
n readily adopted it.
All the varieties of tho long staple, {
a at least the germ of those varieties, can
b from that seed.
e Differences OtsOil develop them and di
ferences of local situations are developir
|, them every day.
>, Inc same COTTON SeeQ planted on or
\ field viii give a black and naked seet
I while the same seed planted on anotht
= field, different in soil and situation, wi
= be prone to run into large cotton. wit
:, long bOlls or pO1s and the seed tuited
y the end with fUzz.
: should have great doubts il there
= any real difference in these apparer
:, varieties OF the long staple cotton. b.
= if there is, all who observe must kno
= that the plants when they have once il
y termingled their branches will Tequil
: attention for a long series of years. SUI
> sequentIy to 1877, as the cultivation
cotton extended and became profitabI
o every variety of cotton that could |