The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1894-03-09
So"'e eFs Of the History OF Coiton Culture
in So2th Carolina.


Cotton was early sold in Charleston.
The packages in which it was put up
varied in weight from one to thirty
pounds. In 1887 the feecy staple was
taken to the City by the Sen from
Or"ngcbnrg, Newberry, and, perhaps,
from Union, and sold at two pence n
pound to the merchants, who resold il
mainly to the ladies to make "patch-
work bed-quilts." About the year
named two or three bugs, each weigh
ing near hundred pounds of seed
cotton, were packed in the store of
Wadsworth e. Turpin by Samuel Nav
erlck and jeffrey, Il half-blood Indian.
lih's Maverick, by tho way, claimed
to be the first person that made sugar
In South Carolina. About the year
1900 he planted some ribbon cane,
purchased in the Havana, in his lot to
the east of the present orphan house.
ii yielded 800 pounds. The cane was
pounded in mortar and the Juice
boiled in iron pots
These bags were sent to England as
sample md an experiment. Tho
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 Prentiss
planted cotton for market near Orange
burg Q. II. Either in that year or the
next Col. William Thomas, the Revo-
lutlonary soldier, planted cotton to
sell Mt Bcllville, in st. Matthews
parish. In 1896 cultivators of this
crop appeared in several parts of the
State. Among them was Samuel
Fielder, of Oraugeburg. John May
rant and Asbury Sylvester first grew
cotton in the high hills of the Santce
in the year 1898. A year later Gen
Wade Hampton introduced the plant
into Richland district; gathered over
600 bags from 600 acres
General Hampton was the first man
in South Carolina to use water as the
propelling power of Whitney's cotton
gin. Fifty years ago Col. Wade Hamp-
ton wrote Whitemarsh B. Seabrook:
"When Whitney's gin was exhibited in
Georgia, none but women were per-
mittcd to enter the room. An ingeni-
Gus mechanic at length introduced
himself into tho apartment in woman's
apparel, and Ivy n minute examination
of the machine, satisfied himself that
he could not only initiate but improve
on its construction by making it more
efficient. This discovery was commu-
nicated to my father by General Gun,
who spoke so confidently OF the capac-
ity of this individual that my father
was induced to visit him Mt his resi-
dence in Georgia. This visit resulted
l1 fSRsEsscss sFss scss t9E thfss sHS sRsaldsAs
were unQuestionably the first ever
driven by water-power.
1t has been written that General
Hampton's gins were furnished by an
ingenious artisan or Georgia assisted
by William Munson, of Richland.
These gins were roughly constructed;
still they were models for others made
in 1901 by William Munson and James
Boatwright, of Columbia. These were
the first of the new machines of home
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 1875.
How to dispose Of the cottonseed was
n perplexing problem to some of the
early spinners. It was considered
worthless and carelessly thrown on the
ground like sawdust The hogs ate
the seed and died. Then it was put
up in pens like shucks. The pigs got
the seeds out through the cracks and
soon went the way of their elders. As
n last resort, and hoping to get rid of
the nuisance" the seed was dumped
into the creeks, but in low water an
odor was generated which was 30 Of
fcnsive as to create strong feeling of
prejudice against the further culture
of the crop.
The fear of "overproduction" is no
new thing. Ninety years ago an OPP
inion prevailed that the supply of cot
ton would soon exceed the demand
A planter at st. Johns, Colleton, look
ing Mt his first crop, the produce of
few acres, after it had been housed,
exclaimed; "Wcll, 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 an essay
on the cotton plant written two score
and ten years ago by an Edisto Island
planter, Whitmarsh B. Seabrook,
afterwards governor of our State, whose
very words md sentences have been
freely used. w. S. NJ, of Clemson
College, S. G.