The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1882-02-28
New Orleans Picayune.]
THE COTTON SEED PROF LEM.
Shall We Sell the Seed and Iarve
the Land?

Shall We Sell the Seed and Iarve
the Land?
1t was the custom forty yea. 1go in
the prairie lands of Mississippi to use cot
ton seed on the corn planted on the "bald
spOts' on the prairies. These "bald
spots were the highest parts of the
undulating prairies, and the top soil
was soon washed away after they were
brought into cultivation, leaving an ash
colored sub-soil, in glazing contrast to the
rich, black soil around it. Crops failed
to produce upon these barren spots With
out fertilizers, but the planters were not
long in finding out that cotton seed prop
erly applied would bring up their produc-
ton to that of tho bottUIn lands. This
was long before the days of cotton-seed
oil and cnttOn-seed meal. Cotton seed
was drug, and accumulated at the GIN
houses, until 1t was as great nuisance as
sawdust at saw-mill. The cotton seed
was thrown out of the Clubhouse as fast
as the cotton was ginned, and took the
rains as they came. A small quantity
was fed to cattle and sheep, and hogs
were allowed to feed upon the bulk after
it was thoroughly rotted. In the Spring.
dumped near the places needing fertiliz-
ing, and when the ground was too wet for
other field work the trash-gang" ap-
piled one to two handfuls to each stalk
of corn.
1t has been urged by economists that
the application of raw cotton seed as a
fertilizer is wasteful and extravagant ::
that the application of fresh seed will not
do, because they will sprout and the
young cotton plant will extract all of the
plant food from them. The wetting and
heating in bulk is objected to because the
amount of heat necessary to destroy the
germ will hberate great deal of ammo
MA, which passes off in the air and is lost.
The political economist claims that the
surplus of cotton seed will do more good
to mankind by passing into the hands of
the oil-mill, where it is converted into
cetton-seed hulls, cotton seed meal, pure
ollve-oil, stearine candles, and chest
Western creamery" "Only the meal
and bulls are of value to the farmer,
therefore be should sell his seed t. the oil
mil and buy back the bulls and neal he
neeis for fertilizing purposes This
pro osition reads well and sounds reason
abb The meal is in much bett r form
Tor Stimulation as plant-food Il an the
raw .'eed, then why should the pL nter be
such a dog in the manger as to thhold
from others that for which he has 10 use I
Lei Us look into this matter an count
the cost to the planter of selling cotton
seed and buying cotton-seed meal
We will say that the planter S. lis the
seed in bulk at his gin, and rece yes 90
tains 35 gallons of oil, which, ighine
seven pounds per gallon, would mount
to 245 pounds to be taken from th ton OF
seed. There then remains LIZ pounds
of dry seed, cake and hull. What is the
value of this remnant of the original cot.
ton seed as fertilizer? Certainly not
more than the cotton seed before it left
the plantation, but we cannot say it is not
less, for we cannot tell what valuable
gases have escaped in the process of
roasting the decorticated seed before
pressing.
Ihe mill men estimate the bulls in a
ton OF seed at one-half, hence after the
oil Is expressed there will remain 1000
pounds of bulls and 755 pounds of cake
49, - A--SA WtcucS W IeLUTu the SOHO
part OF his ton of seed to his field he
must pay - for the 1000 pounds of bulls
and II for 755 pounds of meal, amount
ing to SIS, but this is not all of the
cost to the farmer. He must paw his
commission merchant for advancing and
buying IS cents, drayage 80 cents, insur
ance 25 cents, steamboat freight at 40
cents, on II sacks $3.50, receiving and
storing at landing Is cents per package,
1855, and haul them to his plantation at
cost Of e1.76-all of which added viii
swell the amount to t27.90, which he
must pay out to get back the dry product
Of bis ton of cotton seed which he sold
for %.
What does the cotton seed oil man re-.
eeive for the product Of this ton Of seed
which he bought for tof
For IS gallons Of refined Oh It o5 cents. "a n
1NV pounds Of INSTRUMENTATION. 400
% pounds q cottonsseed meAl. ............ 100
- pounds Of Lint ffom SEED 1t cents ....... 400
Making total q. ..............!.......Ss san
Thna the nlankAr Il nat hQI 90 an sha