his slaves. He was told that some of the outer islands of Georgia presented an opening, and that he might with advantage place himself upon that point, and devote his time to the planting of provisions until some fortunate circumstance should occur. This advice was, however, neglected; and he finally concluded to establish himself in the Bahamas, and engage in planting cotton. He was warned of the attempt, but after some delay, concluded to advance to that place for this purpose. Becoming discouraged with his prospects at this point, he was soon led to proceed to Georgia, in accordance with the former suggestion of his friend. Hay. ing established himself in this state, he received, from Walsh, in the spring of 1786, several packages of seeds from Jamaica, and among other kinds, three large sacks of Pernambuco cotton sced. No use appears, however, to have been made of these seeds, until three years after, in 1789, when the sacks, being required for the purpose of gathering in his other provisions, their contents were emptied upon a neighboring dunghill. The season being wet, a great number of plants were found covering the spot during the spring. These plants, having been carefully drawn out, were planted upon a tract of two acres, which were found to thrive beyond his most ardent anticipations, and he was induced to renew the experiment by planting more, and exercised all his energy, not only in extending but in cleaning the crop; and from the crop of 1789, he succeeded in gathering several tons of clean cotton.* From this fact may be traced the introduction of the sea-island cotton into the United States. About this period, the upland, or bowed Georgia cotton, to which we shall hereafter refer, was successfully introduced, and cultivated to a considerable extent; and from that time, the production of cotton, as a systematic branch of enterprise, was permanently established in the country.

The inventions to which we have before alluded as having taken place in England, leading to the improvement of manufacturing machinery, cast a new era over the condition of manufacturing enterprise, and tended effectually to work out important changes in the production of cotton. Sir Richard Arkwright had taken out his patent for the spinning frame. Hargrave had framed the spinning jenny, which he claimed as his discovery; and also the mule spinning, which he invented, and that was subsequently perfected by Crompton. And James Watt, as early as 1790, had applied his steam-engine for the propulsion of machinery, an engine that was soon introduced into cotton factories; while Cartwright succeeded in getting his power-looms in motion. These combined inventions exerted, of course, a powerful influence in increasing the amount of manufacture, and the market for manufactured goods; for it must be admitted that the wants of men, in the use of manufactures, increase just in proportion as they are satisfied,-extravagance, like other bad habits, growing by what it feeds on. What are luxuries in one age become necessary articles of use in the next, as the means of general supply are multiplied. The coarse cotton gives place to the fine linen, and the coarse fustian yields to the broadcloth. Thus it was in England, and thus it has been in this country. The people who were formerly accustomed to wear only the plainer cloths, as soon as the improvements in machinery and the consequent improvement of manufacture enabled them to wear finer at the same expense, still kept on increasing in the cost of their dress; and if but

• White's History of the Cotton Manufacture, p. 347.

little benefit was produced to their pockets by that continuance, an advantage was at least gained to the manufacturer by the great enlargement of the consumption. Thus machinery, while it saved the labor, contributed also to the extravagance as well as the comfort of men.

An important change was soon effected in the cultivation of cotton, by increasing the motives of its production, and the profits that would thus necessarily accrue from that cultivation, which was, the invention of the saw-gin, by Eli Whitney. This individual, a native of Westborough, Massachusetts, gave early indications of mechanical genius; and, although a graduate of Yale College in 1792, appears to have directed his mind less to literature than to mechanical philosophy. Upon taking his degree, he was cast upon the world to make his way, and soon entered into an engagement with a citizen of Georgia, to reside in his family as a private tutor. On his arrival in that state, to conform to that engagement, he met with a severe misfortune at the threshold, for he was informed that another teacher had been employed. He was thus left without resources or friends. He fortunately here met the family of General Greene, then residing in Savannah. "My young friend," said that gentleman to Whitney, "make my house your home, and pursue what studies you please." This generous offer was very promptly accepted by Mr. Whitney, who soon commenced the study of the law under that roof, employing the intervals of relaxation in a devotion to mechanical pursuits; and among other articles, he succeeded in making his hostess a tambour frame, which at this time excited much attention. At this period, the family of General Greene were accustomed to receive frequent visits from the neighboring planters; and among other remarks made respecting the agricultural interests of that portion of the south, it was regretted that since all the lands that were unsuitable for the cultivation of rice, were eminently favorable for the production of cotton, no means were ascertained to clean the green seed-cotton effectually, or to separate it from the seed; and that, unless some contrivance should be adopted for that purpose, it was useless to attempt to raise it for the market, as one day's work was frequently required to separate one pound of the clean staple from the seed. "Apply to my young friend, Mr. Whitney," said Mrs. Greene, "he can make any thing; whereupon she conducted them to an adjoining room, and showed them her tambour frame, and other ingenious toys, which he had wrought for her children. The visiters who chanced to be present were then introduced to Mr. Whitney, who disclaimed any excellence in this respect. But a new object of ambition now burst upon Whitney's vision. He determined,. if possible, to attempt the invention of the cotton-gin, and proceeded to Savannah, searching among the warehouses for specimens of the staple, which he had never before seen. A basement story upon a Georgia plantation was assigned to him for his labors, and he quietly toiled on, with the knowledge of only a few friends, to perfect his projected invention, a silent labor that was regarded as very mysterious by those who were unacquainted with the secret. Near the close of the winter, the machine was completed so far that its success was made almost certain. The discovery was regarded with enthusiasm, as the state was in a depressed condition, owing to the want of occupation for the negroes, and its products were scarcely sufficient for the substantial support of the white inhabitants. The machine having been at last got ready, a temporary fabric was erected for its exhibition; and a number of spectators having been

collected from different parts of the state, it was perceived that by this instrument more cotton could be separated from the seed by a single hand than by the old method in many months. Bright prospects soon opened upon him. The machine destined to develop vast resources of wealth to the state was regarded with a general and deep interest; and multitudes flocked to the place where it existed, in order to witness its operation. But it was deemed even imprudent to exhibit it to the public, as the patent right had not then been taken out.

By one of those infamous acts which are stamped with the blackest injustice, Whitney, when he had just entered into partnership with a friend, in order to push the results of his invention to those points whereby he might reap some portion of its benefits, then having relinquished the profession of the law, was nearly cut off from all the advantages that he should have derived from the exertions of his genius. The people in the neighborhood, against law and decent morality, entered the building at night, and carried away the instrument; and before Whitney could complete his model or secure his patent, a number of machines of a similar kind were in successful operation. Disaster arose upon disaster in the life of this man. His shop, with the machines, and all his papers, were consumed by fire; and reports began to be circulated abroad that the fibre of the cotton was injured by the action of his instrument. The patent, which he had supposed was permanently secured, was infringed upon, and having hazarded considerable expense in the construction of his gin, to supply the markets of Georgia, total bankruptcy seemed to threaten his prospects. Indeed, a long course of litigation, which appears to follow in the footsteps of too many inventors of genius, clouded his prospects; and Mr. Whitney, in his correspondence with Robert Fulton, upon this subject, in a desponding tone, attributes the difficulties with which he was obliged to contend, to the fact that there was a "want of disposition in mankind to do justice." He alleges that throughout the state of Georgia combinations against him were regularly organized; that few men dared to come into court, to testify to the facts of the case; and that in one instance he had great difficulty in proving that his machine had been used in Georgia, although there were three separate sets of that machinery in motion within fifty yards of the place where the court sat, and so near that the rattling of the wheel was distinctly heard upon the steps of the courthouse. The legislature of South Carolina were, however, induced to offer Mr. Whitney and his partner, Mr. Miller, fifty thousand dollars for the use of his machine; and a sale of the patent right for that state was also negotiated with the state of North Carolina, the consideration of which is understood to have been promptly paid; and a like arrangement was afterwards made with Tennessee. The success of the machine was, however, fully demonstrated, and the eagerness with which it was hailed manifested itself throughout the state of Georgia as soon as it was finished. The planters of that state, perceiving that new impulse was to be given to their prospects in the cultivation of cotton, by this instrument, entered deeply into the matter, and in 1794, were willing to borrow large sums of money, at five per cent premium besides the lawful interest, in order to extend this species of agriculture; while Whitney earned the credit of giving a spring to the agriculture of the south in that species of enterprise, which has been handed down unimpaired to our own day,-a credit that will endure while the cotton plant whitens the plantations of the south with

its snowy harvests, or the machinery of the cotton factory clatters upon the waterfall!

It may not be uninteresting to give a particular account of the saw-gin of Mr. Whitney, as it has now become the most important instrument of the south for preparing that staple for market, and by which three hundred pounds of cotton may be cleansed in a day, through the agency of a single man. It consists of a receiver or hopper, with one side formed of a grating of strong parallel wires, separated from each other by the distance of only one eighth of an inch, into which the cotton is placed. Near to the hopper is arranged a wooden roller, having a circular series of saws upon its surface, each separated by the distance of about an inch and a half, and that pass to a certain depth within the grating of the hopper. Upon the revolving of the roller, the locks of the cotton are seized by the teeth of the saws and dragged between the wires, the seeds being prevented from passing through on account of their size, and fall to the bottom of the receiver, from which they are carried off by a spout. A cylindrical brush, revolving, sweeps the cotton from the saws. By this instrument, the fibre of the cotton is somewhat injured, but the mode of cleansing it is the cheapest that has ever been devised, and all the cotton produced in this country, excepting the sea-island, passes through this operation.

We have before alluded to Mr. Whitney as having been instrumental in advancing the cotton production of the south, by the invention of the saw-gin, his genius thus enriching the southern planter; and in order to ascertain the amount of this advantage, it will be necessary only to state that in 1807, thirteen years after the cotton-gin was introduced, fifty-five millions of pounds of upland cotton were exported, whose value was eleven million and five hundred thousand dollars; and that from 1827 to 1830, upon an average of four years, two hundred and seventy millions of pounds were annually exported, that were valued at twenty-four millions of dollars during each year; and that in 1833, the quantity exported was three hundred and thirteen millions five hundred and fifty-five thousand six hundred and seventeen pounds, that were valued at about thirty-two millions of dollars. Yet, in the state of Georgia, which had received the first and most important benefit from his invention, he was excluded from all its advantages. Even in that state, the right to the invention was disputed, and in consequence he was obliged to resort to the judicial tribunals; but his suits failed, and before he was able to take advantage of a new patent law that had been enacted in part for his own benefit, thirteen years of his patent had expired. It is said that Judge Johnson, of South Carolina, who presided on that occasion, gave, in his charge to the jury, the most ample justice to Mr. Whitney as the original inventor of the cotton-gin. In 1812, Mr. Whitney applied to congress for a renewal of his patent, and a report was made in his favor by a committee of the house of representatives; but the war which followed, and a combination of other circumstances, prevented the conclusive action of that body upon the subject, and Georgia had the full benefit of the machine without making the inventor any compensation for its use.

It may be proper here to give a brief account of the particular mode of the cultivation, which prevails in the different sections of the south. And, in the first place, we would take a brief view of the particular section where the sea-island cotton was first introduced. A long range of

islands lies between St. Mary's, in Georgia, and Charleston, in South Carolina, originally crowned with the evergreens of the south, intermingled with live-oak, and whose soil is principally composed of a mixture of clams, oysters, and other shells, together with the aboriginal remains of the Indians who formerly occupied that point; and their shores were at an early period colonized by a body of English people, who cultivated the indigo upon the soil. Upon one of these islands, separated from the mainland by a salt marsh, the sea-island cotton was first produced, and the fact that this species of cotton requires the salt air, and was first cultivated in such positions, has probably originated the name.

The great value of the sea-island cotton, and the extent to which it is produced in our own country, induce us to present a figure of its general form. This figure was originally procured from Mr. Seabrook, an intelligent planter of the south, and by him furnished to Dr. Ure, from whose work on manufactures we transfer it to this paper.

Sea-island, or Long-staple Cotton of Georgia.

The seed of the sea-island is entirely black, and is sometimes covered with a species of fur. Its cultivation is extended about forty-five miles from the sea shore, and the quality of the shrub appears to diminish according to its distance from the ocean. The best kinds are produced upon the