hich he
paid fourteen shillings a bushel. He sold his crop for ten and one-half
pence a pound.

In 1791 John Scriven, of St. Luke's Parish, planted thirty to forty
acres on St. Mary's River. He sold it for from one shilling twopence to
one shilling sixpence per pound. It is certain that at this period many
planters on the Sea Islands and contiguous mainland experimented with
long-staple cotton, and probably it was produced by them for market.

One of the earliest reports of export of cotton from the colonies is a
bill of lading which certifies that on July 20, 1751, Henry Hansen
shipped, "in good order and well conditioned, in and upon the good snow
called the Mary, whereof is master under God, for this present voyage,
Barnaby Badgers, and now riding in the harbor of New York, and by God's
grace bound for London--to say--eighteen bales of cotton-wool, being
marked and numbered as in the margin, and are to be delivered in like
good order and conditioned, at the aforesaid port of London--the danger
of the sea only excepted--unto Messrs. Horke and Champior or their
assigns, he or they paying freight for the said goods, three farthings
per pound, primage and average accustomed."

The feeling regarding the culture and manufacture of cotton in the
colonies at this period may be gathered from the following extract from
a letter of July 7, 1749, addressed by the Georgia office of London to
the Governor of Georgia: "You say, sir, likewise in your letter, that
the people of Vernonburgh and Acton are giving visible appearance of
revising their industry; that they are propagating large quantities of
flax and cotton, and that they are provided with weavers, who have
already wove several large pieces of cloth of a useful sort, whereof
they sold divers, and some they made use of in their own families. The
account of their industry is highly satisfactory to the trustees; but as
to manufacturing the produces they raise, they must expect no
encouragement from the trustees, for setting up manufactures which may
interfere with those of England might occasion complaints here, for
which reason you must, as they will, discountenance them; and it is
necessary for you to direct the industry of these people into a way
which might be more beneficial to themselves and would prove
satisfactory to the trustees and the public; that is, to show them what
advantages they will reap from the produce of silk, which they will
receive immediate pay for,