The patron of husbandry. (Columbus, Miss.) 1875-1883, 1882-04-15

~ ~ AP"ibS iSNlcF from one OF
the most successful cotton planters
in Georgia will be interesting 70
our readers. The Improvement in
the fineness, strength. lustre and
length OF his cotton should be the
aim of every intelligent farmer in
the Cotton States. 1t would nav
him well for all the time and care
and labor that such improvement
might cost him.
Cotton.
Proper Handling of Cotton-Grading and
Classification of Cotton.
Editor Southern CuAi0atoy.
Under the above capations ap
peared two letters in your January
number, to which | beg reference.
Under the first DR.. NJ. w. Phillips
makes as usual, timely vindication
of Southern farmers and exposes
the inconsistency and fallacy of the
extracts which he quotes from the
Scientific Amcyican. Being the
farmer referred toin that quotation
who carried the seed cotton to the
Atlanta fair, for which the manu-
facturer gave 10 cents her pound"
Qint0 | would like to make still
clearer the point made by DR.. Phil
FPS, by explaining that the saving of
hive and half cents per pound
was not from careful picking,
careful ginning, secure baling and
careful assortment of the different
grades" but from the length and
qnaIity'of staple I enclose YOU
sample of that cotton which was
combed by "the manufactures at
the Atlanta fair from which YOU
will see that the ''five and a half
cents extra" was paid for fueness,
strength, Iustre and length, and not
cleanliness or whiteness of short
staple.
Very properly are we reminded
by the Scientific american of the
generally careless methods of
handling cotton" but as Dr.. Philips
'ntimates, it is largely due to the
fact that consumers have not duly
Disseminated against careless hand
ling, by paying a sufficiently higher
or remunerative price for proper
handling and preparation. Not
withstanding this lack of due dis
tinction in' prices, l have in past
numbers of The Cultivator advo-
Gated cleanliness of preparation,
and always insisted upon its paw
ing better than the reverse plan, so
generally adopted as the most pro
fitable.
The enclosed sample of long sta
pie was carried to the Exposition
or "Atlanta fair in the seed" for
the purpose of testing gin on ex
hibition which was recommended as
being particularly adapted to gin
ming long staple upland cotton, and
the "evtra five and a half cents paid
for it by the manufacturer" did not
exceed its former prices more than
half a cent.
In this connection [ note with
uIuCll SdLiSldCLlOH the COfIlIIl uUlCd~
ton of Jno. G. Campbell, on ''gra-
ding and classification of cotton"
The embodied resolutions offered
at the meeting of the National Cot
ton planters Association, held on
the exposition grounds while in
some respects not at once practical
BILE. are the keynote to the great
revolution so much demanded in
the present system of grading and
handling cotton-the abuse of
which impose such burdens upon
planters in the sacrifice of so much
of their legitimate profits, and in
tending to retard that most rational
and needed advancement in cotton
culture-the Improvement of the
texture and sLeneM of staple. The
adoption of a system of grading
cotton, based upon the actual length
and strength of the staple-its pres
ent actual criterion ofvalue-would
rapidly work such an improvement
in the quality of the American crop,
and the fabrics manufactured from
If, as would advance values at least
fiftv per cent. H. P. JONES.
Hcrndon, Ga.