Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1881-01-21
A NEW COTTON PICKER.
The Stalks to be Cut Down and the
HOlls TO be Picked I'm the GIN
House.
Neso Orleans Democrat.

will be read with interest throughout the
South. Mr.. Cockrill, the writer, is an
experienced planter and ought TO know
whereof he speaks. His machine to
pick the cotton from the bolls by iron
fingers, after the stalk has been cut
down, is certainly novel, and. if success
full, will work great change in securing
and preserving full crop
PINE BLUFF, ARKANSAS, -, 1881.
4 TtOS. J. Spear, New Orleans:
DEAR SIR-In the Cotton Planters Journal,
Vicks6urg, notice a statement from you
on the value of the section stalk, )" In which
! You allude to a statement made twenty
years ago. have been cotton grower, in
Alabama and Arkansas, for forty years, and
I this portion of the plant has escaped my
notice till this year, 1880.
! Since the war have given the subject of
harvesting the cotton crop with machinery
much attention, and have now reached the
j conclusion it can be done. In short, that
4 the cotton crop can be gathered and made
/ ready for the gin without human fingers.
Mules and iron fingers can do It.
| Inc plan or process leads to the question
which you have started-Aaye the stalks a
/ value? You answer, "yes."
4 AS this value can be now utilized as soon
/ as the machinery is completed for picking,
I l wish to obtain from you what has been
4 done toward putting the ''fibre," bark, cot
/ ton jute or cotton MANILA into shape, to as
certain this value.
The plan for using the machines to pick
the crop is this, and success is certain.
No. /. The cotton stalks are pulled up in
/ October and November, when the cotton is
/ open, and hauled out to proper building
or shed.
No. 2. The clippers are used to cut off the
limbs, aud then cut off the bolls.
/ No. 3. This machine is "hull separs-
ter, "and takes the cotton from the bolls.
No. 4. This machine takes out all the
leaf, dust, trash, and sends 1t to the gin
clean.
You have there the stalks, every one that
| grows on the land. You have the limbs
with the bolls cut off. The stalks and
limbs are then ready to go to the vat, to be
made ready to have the jute taken off.
The bolls are also ready to go to the pa
per mill. The seed cotton is clean and goes
to theNgin, or, which Is preferable to the
Clement attachment cotton mill, to be spun
into yarn, worth 500 bale.
Cotton picking with human fingers dis
pensed with.
This machinery is nearly ready to be
offered to cotton planters.
f1nd that the MANILA fibre, on the roots
OF the cotton stalks, to be thick, strong and
good. Hence the plan OF pulling up the
stalks instead of cutting them down. The
roots will give good percentage of fine
cotton MANILA.
This division OF work is the keynote to
success. | would like TO sell the patent for
the State of Louisiana, or for certain par
| ishes of Louisiana, to this combination of
machinery.
/ am cotton grower, but aiding the in
n roi dc 70 rrrfkh
combination of machinery, which is to be
worth millions to cotton growers of the
whole South. 1t includes this new profit to
the cotton planter, which you discovered
twenty years ago. / mean this valuable
fibre, found on the stalk, the limb, the root
1t Will make bagging enough to tie up the
crop.
This new article must be carried through
some processes OF preparation to make 1t
ready for the spindles, or loom, or rope
works.
would thank you for any information ON
that subject, as 1t is now identified with the
machinery, to pick cotton mules and iron
fUgers.
These new cotton pickers may become of
great Importance III the labor question.
am yours respectfully,
s. r. CoCKRILL,
Vice President for Arkansas in the Missis-
sippi Valley Cotton Planters Association. at
Vicksburg.
Could you send me a sample of this Gbre
from the cotton stalk? C.
PINE BLUF, ARK, January 8, 1881.
1HoS, j. Spear, NeeO Orleans:
DEAR Sm-Yours Of the 5th inst, cover
ing samples of cotton stalk, okra and iute
fibre received day.
/ am much pleased with these specimens,
especially that of the cotton stalk
This new mode of gathering the cotton
crop is Of great Importance to all the cotton
countries in the world. This evidence fur
nished by YOU of a new profit from the
cotton stalk is just in time to be made USE
ful. You have my consent to make use of
my letter In your circular.
l am confident that you are not mistaken
In the value of the cotton stalk fibre.
The cotton stalk is cultivated for the lint
cotton and seed, and you propose to develop
the value OF the fibre. Then 1t will yield:
Cotton lint, oil, oil cake, cotton, MANILA,
seed hulls and bolls.
The seed hulls In demand for adding to
lubricating compound for railroad engines
and cars, the bolls for paper mills-brown
paper.
j. am now fully satisfied that success will
follow the new method of picking cotton
mentioned In my letter
That is, machinery is to be substituted for
human fingers
| have decided that this machinery must
be stationary and not run In the field among
the cotton stalks. The cotton stalks must
be moved to the machines and the work
divided when they get there. This gives a
combination of machines.
The first thing to be done is in your favor,
and is, when the crop is about ripe In Oc-
tober and November, pull up all the stalks
with the cotton in the bolls, put 1t in shocks
and let it stand till all the bolls are open. 1t
is then ready for the machines. The two
first machines are clippers, or one may
answer. Cut the limbs from the stalk, then
cut the bolls, holding the cotton from the
limbs. This gives you the stalks aud limbs
trimmed for your vat or mill. You need
them both for the fibre, and 1t will give you
very large yield per acre, as the produce
per acre is from 5000 to 10000 stalks
On an acre there are 1890 stalks, at
three feet check each way, one stalk In
check. The number depends on the land and
distance. The stalks in the river bottoms
of Louisiana will yield more fibre than fur
ther north; more on rich lands than poor
lands. The fibre on the roots is excellent.
This new invention to gather and clean the
cotton prepares the stalks for your MILL
and 1t should become q part of this new
process. The pulling up and delivering at
the shed costs very little and the clipping
noG mucn, as % 0O VIII pay Ior pulIlng up,
hauling, clipping, hulliDg and cleaning
bale ready for the gin. l want you to show
in your circular that you can take the stalks
and limbs from this new combination cotton
picker and pay the bill for cleaning the
cotton by these several machines mentioned
in my former letter.
Cotton is the most extensively cultivated
crop in the world which yields fine fibre
that is easily taken off. 1t is now 7,000, ,060
bales and will be IL 100000 in fifteen or
twenty years. mean in the world.
Send me your circular. These two new
inventions and discoveries 60 together. The
cotton gatherer and cleaner prepares the