outh Carolina, drawn up in Charleston in
1731, says, "Flax and cotton thrive admirably."

In 1734 cotton-seed was planted in Georgia, being sent there by Philip
Nutter, of Chelsea, England. Francis Moore, who visited Savannah in
1735, in his description of that place, says: "At the bottom of the
hill, well sheltered from the north wind and in the warmest part of the
garden, there was a collection of West Indian plants and trees, some
coffee, some cocoa-nuts, cotton, etc."

About the same time the settlers on the Savannah River, about twenty-one
miles north of Savannah, are said to have experimented with cotton, the
date being fixed by McCall as 1738. One of the striking features
connected with the early culture of cotton in the American colonies is
that it was grown as far north as the 39 deg. of latitude. Trench Coxe, of
Philadelphia, who contributed so greatly to the early success of the
culture and manufacture of cotton in the United States, says: "It is a
fact well authenticated to the writer that the cultivation of cotton on
the garden scale, though not at all as a planter's crop, was intimately
known and thoroughly practised in the vicinity of Easton, in the county
of Talbot, on the eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay, Maryland, as
early as 1736."

Its cultivation was so well understood in this part of the country that,
according to the same authority, the necessities of the Revolutionary
War occasioned it to be raised for army use in the counties of Cape May,
New Jersey, and Sussex, Delaware, and it continued to be raised, though
only in small quantities, for family use. At the time of the Revolution,
the home-grown cotton was sufficiently abundant in Pennsylvania to
supply the domestic needs of that State. Cotton was also cultivated in
Charles, St. Mary's, and Dorchester counties, Maryland, as late as 1826.
And at a later date (1861-1864) upland cotton was cultivated, and at the
prices current at that date was a most profitable crop on the eastern
shore of Maryland. Cotton was grown with very good results in
Northampton County, on the eastern shore of Virginia, in those years.

The culture and improvement of cotton had received considerable
attention by the planters of South Carolina and Georgia as early as
1742. In 1739 Samuel Auspourguer attested under oath that the "climate
and soil of Georgia are very fit for raising cotton." William Spicer
also certified to the adaptability of the country for cotton prod