The Lancaster ledger. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1852-1905, 1894-03-03
some Srss Of the History of Cotton Culture
in South Carolina.

Cotton was early sold in Charleston.
Ihe packages in which it was put up
varied In weight from one to thirty
pounds. IN 1887 the heecy staple was
taken to the. City by she Sea from
orangeburg, Ne,"berry, Snd, perhaps.
from Union, and sold at two pence a
pound to the merchants, who resold it
mainly TO the ladies to make "patch-
work bed-quilts." About the wear.
named two or three bags, each weigh
Ing near hundred pounds of seed
cotton, were packed in the store Of
"adsworth e. Turpin by Samuel Nav
erick and Jeffrey, half-blood Indian.
(This Maverick, by the WAY. claimed
70 be the first person that made sugar
In south Carolina. About the year
iooo ne planted some ribbon cane,
purchased in the Havana, in his lot TO
the cast OF the present orphan house.
IL yielded 300 pounds. The cane was
pounded in mortar and the Juice
boiled in iron potsI
These bags were sent to ENGLAND "a
sample and an experiment. The
parties to whom they were sent wrote
that the article was not worth produc
ing, as It could not be separated from
the seed
In 1894 DR.. James Otis Prcntiss
Pianted cotton for market near Orange
burg Z. II. Either in that wear or the
next Col. William Thomas. .he Rcvo-
'utionary soldier, planted cotton to
Bell Mt Bellville, in st. Matthews
parish. In 1896 Cultivators of this
crop appeared in several parts Of the
State. Among them was Somuol
FIELDER, of Orangehurg. John Nav
rant and Asbury Sylvester first grew
| cotton in the high hills of the Snrtce
IN the year 1898. A year later Gen
Wade Hampton introduced the plant
into Richlaud district; gathered over
500 bags from 600 acres.
General Hampton WAS the first man
IN South Carolina to use water ns tbe
propelllnR power Of Whitncv's cotton
gin. Fifty years ago Col. Wade Hamn-
ton wrote Whitemarsh r. Snehronk.
when Whitncy's gin was exhibited in
Georgia, none but women were uer-
mitted To enter the room. An inopni-
ous mechanic mt length introduced
himself into the apartment in woman's
apparel, and by minute examination
OF the machine, satisfied himself that
he could not only initiate but improve
on It's construction by making it more
efficient. This discovery was commu-
nicated to my father by General Gum.
who spoke so confidently of the capsc-
ity of this individual that my father
was induced to visit him mt his resi-.
dence in Georgia This visit resulted
In contract for three gins. applicable
to large scale'of operations. and they
we're unquestionably the first ever
I-.-Nr hr water-pnwer
IL has been written Nunv-r.erierul
Hampton's gins were furnished by an
ingenious artisan of Georgia assisted
by William Munsou, of Richland
These gins were roughly constructed;
still they were models for others made
in 1901 by William Munson and James
BoatwriRht, Of Columbia. These were
the first of the new machines Of home
manufacture. General Hampton was
not, however, the first to use the Whit
ney gin in South Carolina Capt.
James Kirkland, Of Fairfield, put up
one near Monticello in 1895.
How to dispose OF the cottonseed was
| perplexing problem to some Of the
early spinners. II was considered
worthless and carelesslv thrown on the
| ground like sawdust The hogs ata
the seed and died. Then it was put
mp in pens like shucks The pigs got
the seeds ont through the cracks and
soon won't the way Of their elders. As
last resort, and hoping to get rid of
the nuisance, the seed was dumped
into the creeks, hut in low water nm
| odor WAS generated which was so of
fensive as to create u strong feeling Of
prejudice against the further culture
| of the crop.
| The fear of ''overproduction" is no
new thing. Ninety years ago an Op-
inion prevailed that the supply Of cot
ton would soon exceed the demand
A planter at st. Johns, Collcton, look
ing at his first crop, the produce of a
few acres, after it had been housed.
exclaimed; "Well, well. am done
with the cultivation Of cotton Here
is enough cotton TO make stockings
for all the people in America.
| These items are taken from nm essay
on the cotton plant written two score
and ten years ago Ivy an Edisto Island
| planter, Whitmarsh B. Seshrook.
afterwards governor of our State, whose
very words and sentences have been
freely used w. s NJ, of Clemson
| College, s. G..
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