The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1881-03-10
Cotton Picking by Machinery.
Interesting Letter from y. Il. Coekrill on
the Subject.
Orleans Democrat. ]

Interesting Letter from y. Il. COekrill on
the Subject.
New Orleans Democrat
The question for the cotton interest
of the South Is, "can iron fingers and
mules be substituted for human fingers
in saving the cotton crop y
am satisfied it can be done. You
have published, in a former issue Of
your paper, the plan suggested by me,
with your intelligent comments and ad-
missions and doubts.
The plan is to pull up the stalks and
shock them till all the bolls are open,
then haul them out to the combination
cotton picker by horse power, composed
Of clippers, hull separators and cleaners.
Thes machines are stationary and pro-
duce clean cotton.
This portion of the work you think
can be successfully done. You wish
further evidence on the effect or loss
sustained by pulling up the stalks in
October and November.
1t is true that the plant does not ma
ture all the balls at the same time, but
it is also true that the crop is ripe in
August and September. | mean by
that to say, that blooms after the if
teenth or twentieth Of September pro-
duce no cotton and, therefore, they are
of no value. Bolls are grown in thirty
DAYS from the bloom. Any boil that is
grown in size, or is twenty days old after
the bloom drops, will ripen and open if
the stalk is pulled up and shocked 50 ii
receives the light and air. The oil for
the seed comes from the air and not the
ground. There is moisture enough from
the dews and rains to keep the stalks
alive, and the bolls fifteen or twenty
DAYS old will open in the shock. In
Louisiana and Texas it may be pulled
up in August and September; up to lat
itude 80 deg. in September and perhaps
up to 81 deg from "a to 30 deg. in
October. When the season is forcing
the growth Of the stalk on bottom lands,
and not maturing and opening the bOlls
then grown, pull up the crop and save
it, otherwise it may be lost by too much
moisture When put into shocks the
say is cut off, and the maturing process
begins. You cut off the top and it will
not change the tendency Of the plant !;
pull it up, and it will. This may be
worth % per cent. to the crop below
latitude 80 deg, instead of destrOyingit.
1t will be worth ten per cent. to the
crop North Of that latitude.
/ mean this certain remedy for stop
ping the growth Of the plant when it Is
full Of boils and blooms. This remedy
could not be used before the invention
of the combination horse power cotton
picker"
Cotton is a sun plant, and will grow
on the rich bottoms of the Mississippi
river and its tributaries without rain.
These alluvial lands are level, and hold
too much water generally for this plant.
1t will often make crop Of grown bolls,
and continue to bloom and make bolls,
and not mature them, so they will open,
and this crop may be lost but this
new remedy. the result of the new
"cotton picker" furnishes a plan OF
saving this crop by changing the amount
of moisture by pulling up the plant,
and it then commences to mature the
fruit. The oil is gathered from the air
bv the seed, and the excess of sap taken
from the level wet lands is cut off when
the roots are taken from the ground.
On undulated uplands and tired lands
pull the crop, when the open bOlls and
unopen, twenty days old, will make an
average crop, regardless of squares and
blooms. Nature is prolific in squares
and blooms. Squares, which would
make blooms and bolls, are thrown off
by the million every year. Look at
the blooms of the peach tree, fifty for
every ripe peach. The clippers, hullers
and cleaners for the new picker are in
vented, and in shape sufficient to decide
the machinery question.
The machinery is divided and is all
stationary, and with the mechanical
genius of our country, it is not possible
that it will fail. In its present shape |
consider it a success. improvements
will soon remedy any defect.
Pull up the stalks when ripe, haul to
the machines, which cut off the bolls,
take out the cotton and clean it till it
will make Glow middling" now, and
''middling" when improved. | decide
machinery can clean seed cottOn-whilst
the lint is fast on the seed Imean-per-
fectly clean, leaf, dirt, sand and dust
all to be taken out This never can be
done after it is ginned.
The cotton grower, and not the cot
ton spinner, is the man to clean the cot
ten. 1t goes to the spinner after it is
ginned, pressed and compressed, with
the leaf. trash and dust in it. 1.-The
combination cotton picker" is to get the
cotton out of the boil, which is cotton
picking, and then to take out all the
leaf, dirt and dust. This makes a re-
suit far superior to human fingers at
one-fourth that cost. The seed are sep
arated, the lint Strengthened and then
the cleaner whips off and the fan blows
out leaf, dirt and dust; the seed holds
the cotton and the lint can't be blown
away.
The average number of seed in a
boil of cotton Is SO. The cleaner will
separate these and straigten the lint in
every look This is done by the first
cleaner. Ii goes into the second
cleaner in that condition, where the fan
has more power and the heaters more
motion. and the residue of the leaf and
all the sand and dust are blown out.
Our cotton mills can get it, in this con
dition, ready for the card, and save 1C
per cent. of waste, and can make thread
and cloth cheaper than Fld England OIL
New England
This combination cotton picker will
bring the spindles to the cotton fields,
and give the growers 800 a bale for
yarns, besides oil and oil cake, from the
seed, ju,e from the stalks, railroad axle
greese from the hulls of the seeds
;. r. CoCKRHL,
Vice President of Arkansas and Missis
: sippi Valley Cotton Planters Associ
& alton.