Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1882-04-08

put the staple IN the very best condition,
looking well to the eye, standing in every
re-pect tfse test Of examination? Such, one
would ina CINE, would be the question the
grower would put to himself, but lar too
commonly he does not. lie has toiied and
cared, and thought to produce; nov comes
the delicate question Of tting it before the
buyer in the most attractive manner
possible; the ginning smooth AMI com
plete, the cotton dry and clean,
free from leaf and other impure
ties, and clear of dirt, and sand, and
dust, and each bale equable in quality.
We usually take pride in what our hands
have produced, and delight in showing it to
Others at The very best advantage. Where
the mechanic has constructed a piece of
machinery or of furniture how he files, and
poiishes, and Smoother, and vsneers, and var
nishes, that what has been well made may be
attractive looking Far too many of the
cotton growers appear never to have thought
of this part Of their business. The question
OF quality is lost sight Of in consideration of
quantity. The pride of the producer is not
in him. He has plowed and sowed and
gathered, and watched the clouds and the
sunshine, and the rains and the winds, and
when he has the product Of it all in his
hands he has not the pride in the outcome
of his sweat and his vigiIs to put it before
scrutinizing eyes and questioning hands
at its best. What makes this mere sur
prising is that 20 much OF the profit of
what his wit has brought him depends upon
the finishing processes. What has cost
months OF labor will now bring greater or
less reward according the last cares are
bestowed. The cotton more or less clean and
pure, or even ia quality, or better or wore
ginned, and carefully or slovenly baled and
stored will make an important difference in
the sum OF money bale will bring. Just
last effort over these finishing touches will
decide whether the previous exerticn and
toll shall or shall not be literally re-
warded. What motive is here for unusual
care, and thought and effort, and how ample
a reward will follow doing "one's level bes.p
Yet here comes the failing point; like the
wOman's bad butter from good sweet milk,
comes bale of dusty, sandy stuff, tangled as
an unwashed sleeps back, and mingled with
broken twigs and shreds OF leaf, and showing
shades like Hec. OF breakfast bacon, and per-
haps lying heavy and mean-looking from wet.
The bale has been left out in rain and slime;
it looks soaked and muddy, and the outside
cotton gives the inside the worst possible
character. Have we pictured this too highly?
Let the complaints from Lowell and Man
chester give the answer, or, if mere be
wanted, take this from the New Orleans
Times, in speaking OF some of the results of
the Atlanta Exposition: 'rhe mill owners
who visited that exposition did not curtail
their visits to the buildings only. These in
terested experts, who know from long, costly
experience of adulterated and stained cotton
in bales, determined to ascertain why it was
thus. They went to the cotton fields around
Atlanta. They saw pickers at work har-
messed to elongated sacks which dragged on
the ground for from one to three feet. Many
of these sacks were made OF coarse material,
which allowed the particles of earth and
sand to pass through them. The longer the
cotton rows and heavier the sacks become,
the more dirt sieyed through them into the
cotton. They saw pickt pile their picked
cotton on selected spots on field edges. But,
Notwithstanding their care in that respect,
the winds would blow and shower those piles
with fine dust. Often wagon boxes arr, used
to haul it from the field which contained
pounds of dust. They examined ginhouses;
saw dirt in then. Bale sscking was thrown
carelessly on the ground. In bale form the !
staple was thrown on the filthy floors, and !
dragged over earth. These and many other !
needless practices demonstrated why soiled
and injured cotton, when not purposely and
IN lliciously adulterated, was sent into the
market" How correct this description is,
the country reader will recognize; its bearing
upon the appearance of the cotton when it
comes to market, and upon the price it will
bring there, is evident. Let every raiser of
produce remember that it is his business first |
to produce good article, then to put it on
the market in the most attractive manner |
possible