Abbeville press. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1860-1869, 1869-08-27

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onc-tcnth Of q grain, and it all has
! marks inside by which it can be
traced; but Of the thousands Of bales
! of cotton l have handled since 1861,
and | have kept q very close account
hardly cnc per ccnt.has been accord.
ing to standard, to say nothing Of the
mud and dirt. Now will Col. Wcsson
let lis hear from Mississippi ?
Col Wcsson: l cannot defend the
cotton planter in all things. Indeed,
| never DO anything but what think
morally right. There is too much
truth in what the gentleman says
about f;llse packing. 1t is done all
around me, but it is very hard 10
catch the offender. l tried last Sum
mcr, but did not succeed 1t is {.
common practice now to wet the
cotton inside, or to wet q pile of sand
roll il in q fleece of Gotten, and put
that in the middle Of the bale. In
the case where l detected it, the cot.
ton was raised by one man and sent
to another mans gin, and the negroes
put it up there, SO We could not reach
it.
There is q remedy which most of
you, gentlemen, may adopt. You
may buy your cotton in tho interior
and save very much Of the loss, the
drayagcs, the insurance, and commits
sions TO which it is subjected in pas
sing through thc cities. Every time
it is rcsold it is resamplcd. Somo Of
our folks apply the word "stealing"
to it, and l don't know Lut that il is
q good word, for it is taken out for
the purpose Of gain. have heard
Of q man who made 600 bales Of cot
ton in one season by samp!ing.
Mr.. Saunders, Of Tennessee, l
should recommend TO parties to buy
their cotton at the scaboard rather
than in the interior towns. Cotton
cannot lie examined well unless it l.;
bored clear through. The difference
in cotton in the same bale arises frc-
qucntly now from there being differ
cnt varieties in the same Clubhouse.
Under the now Or slud system of
farming, each sqad pnts it's cotton
by itself in the house and they
sin by turns. Under the old
system, each grade, first, second and
last picking, was ginned separately
now squad may not have enough Of
either one TO mako :: separate bale,
and the different kinds arc put to-
gcther. False packing is much more
common in India. than in America.
This could show. if l had time,
from tic reports Of the Cotton Supply
Association. If YOU bore a bale well
you will find if there is wet cotton or
too much trashy cotton in ii.
Col. ~Wcsson: II l.; very important,
t'is examining deep. They Call it
"ca;ching the coon," in Georgia, but
the more directly You deal with the
planters the better. If you buy the
bales Of Mr.. Smith, in Columbus or
Jackson: and it is sent right to your
mill. and you find it false packed, Mr..
Smiths honor is touched; an cxpla-
nation and reclamation follow. When
you buy at the scaboar,l, it has pas
scd through so many hands that you
can't tell which Mr.. Smith is; rcspon-
siblc. l have opened the past year
twenty odd bales Of cotton that had
rolls Of sand in the nipple, but it had
gone through too many hands.
could not tell which put the sand in.
Mr.. Garscd: / alluded TO China,
not India cotton.
Mr.. Saunders: Mr.. Garsed will buy
no more China cotton for many years,
if ever. The past season China i'm
ported from Great Britain 235. 900, 600
yards of cotton goods, and did not
export to Great Britain single pound
of cotton. India and China Jointly
imported 100000 bales of cotton
goods, and did not export over .42O,-
600 bales of cotton.
MI Nichols: We labor under an
enormous disadvantage. Cotton is
put up at the South for export prop
crly and in light bagging. When it
is put up for Northern manufactu:
rer, there is tho strongest temptation
to put on as much iron and heavy
bagging as possible. We want the
united action of every Board of Trade
and Of every community where cot
ton is used. If New York and the
New England States can be induced
to pass an enactment suggested by
this Association (and they unqucstion-
ably can bc],it will be impossible to
sell cotton without dcducting the
tare. They cannot get it from the
Englishman, and they cannot get it
from US.
1t will be seen from tho above ex-
tracts that not only are the planters