[Illustration: NEGROES GATHERING COTTON IN THE FIELD.]
After the planters had talked awhile about this work, Mrs. Greene
said, "If you want a machine to do it, you should apply to my young
friend, Mr. Whitney; he can make anything." "But," said Mr. Whitney,
"I have never seen a cotton plant or a cotton seed in my life"; for
it was not the time of year then to see it growing in the fields.
180. Whitney gets some cotton wool; he invents the cotton-gin; what
that machine did.--After the planters had gone, Eli Whitney went to
Savannah and hunted about until he found, in some store or warehouse,
a little cotton wool with the seeds left on it. He took this back
with him and set to work to make a machine which would strip off the
seeds.
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