The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1870-06-03

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We have accounts from the South
west of the inycntion Of new cotton
Gin, which promises to be of incaicu-
liable benefit to the cotton planter.
Since emancipation, no part Of the
details for cultiyating and preparing
the cotton crop for market has given
planters half the trouble they have ex-
pcrienced in getting their crops pick
ed out and housed ready for the gin.
Hands who, before the war, averaged
200 and $50 pounds day, now rarely
exceed half that amount. Indeed, the
question of the future supply of cotton
from the South has depended, not so
much on the amount which, with our
present labor system, We could actn-
ally produce, but rather how much
could we pick and gather from the
fields. There is hardly a planter in
the South who, since the war, has
gathered the crop with the same Auns
Der of hands required to cultivate u.
Cotton picking" and fodder-puiling
seem to be the pet aversion OF negro
field laborers
The inventor of the new gin claims
that by the introduction and use Of
his machine, the old tedious and tr0u-
blesome plan of picking the cotton
from the bolls in the field by hand, is
entirely dispensed with. An ex-
change, in giving description of this
new invention, says: 1t Is now only
necessary to pluck hollis, cotton and
all,' from the stalk. Three or four
bolls can be grasped at once and torn
away, land i'm this crude state they are
placed in the receiver of the machine,
which separates the cotton from the
husks, leaves, stem, dirt and sand, by
running it through the. picker rs fast
as it is wanted for ginning, The
planter merely sends his hands into
into the field where they gather, in
the most rapid manner, all the matur-
ed cettoR, whether the bolls are open
or not. Ii is estimated that one hand
can pick one thousand pounds of cot
ton in the new way quicker than a
person could pick one hundred and
fifty pounds after the old style. 1t is
said that OH q plantation of five hun
bred acres OF bottom land, single
machine viii save in cotton and labor
from $1,000 10 $4,000 year. Be-
sides turning out a better article, the
new machine will extract at least fif-
teen per cent more cotton than was
saved under the old process. The
price will be about fifty per cent more
than the old apparatus; but old gins
can be so changed as to be utilized in
connection with the new invention"
If this gin shall perform all that is
claimed fer it, the benefits which the
cotton planter will derive from its in
PRODUCTION will be of incalcnlable val
ne. There are two points of excel
lence claimed in which we feel well
assured there will be failures. We do
not believe that it will ever be posi-
Bile to get q machine which will be
able to get get cotton of good quail
ty out of unopened or unmatured
bolls by a machine. We do have
faith, however, in the capacity of
American ingenuity to perfect ma
chine which will rapidly separate the
cotton from the hollis i'm place of the
present tedious system OF hand pick
ing.
We learn that arrangements have
been made for placing large number
of these machines in the market in
time for gathering the growing crop,
and trust that careful and intelligent
experiments may be made by planters
to test their yalue,-AWqust0 ChrOn-
icle and Sentinel.