The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1882-01-12
A NEW ROMANCE,
Depicting the Uses OF the Cotton Seed.
Correspondence Of sie Atanta Constitution.

- ON Ahf. AhAlN, january L.
Suppose We start the new year with
romance? All right, here goes. TIL
Romance of Cotton Seed
III the lavish and careless days of sa
very cotton was raised for its lint alone
This was swept off the snowy surface O
the fielo and the rest was wasted. Un
DER the pressure Of poverty the Soutl
learned that it was jusy,.s foolish TO rails,
sheep Tor the fleece as IN -s.ise 8 cottor
stalk for lint, and that tie heavy seec
from which the fibre lowered wa.
Just as valuable rs the mutton fror,
which the wool grew. The story of the
slow but sure way In which the despised
seed grew into appreciation is en- inter.
esting, one, involving enormous figures
and illustrating the progress that is being
made in the South.
MAKING CRUDE OIL FROM SEED.
year or two ago ! wrote letter
concerning certain mills that had been
established for the purpose of pressing
the oil out OF cotton seed. The process
was then rough one, and the oil pro.
duced of inferior grade. The bulk OF
seed from which the oil had been taken
was made into cakes and sold for stock
food or fertilizer. There were then
about 16 seed oil mills in the South.
Cotton seed was worth sc ton, and the
OIL 80 cents gallon.
There are now siyty-seven seed oil
mills, land the price of cotton seed has
doubled, being now about twelve dollars
q ton. This increase Of six dollars pcr
ton for cotton seed adds about three dol.
lars to every bale of cotton raised by far.
mers who sell their seed, as each bale
represents half ton of seed. The mills
take thirty-fve gallons of oil from every
ton and sell it at forty cents n gallon
They thus take fourteen dollc "a of wealth
from each ton of seed, and the dry bulk
left is better food or fertilizer than il wna
before the oil was taken ort. The sixty
seven mills worked up 10000 tons Inst
year, stripping out $2,5OO.O 900 worth Of
Oh that had previously been wasted, and
paying. the farmers nearly $l,000,000
more for the seed than the same seed
would have brought three years ago.
Inns business is increasing very rapidly,
new mills being built every year.
REFINING THE CRUDE OIL.
But another step has been taken in the
handling of cotton, and mills have been
established for the purpose of refining
cotton seed oil, apd thus increasing its
value. Oil that has been refined is
worth from 60 ceLts to 81 gallon, whilo
crude Oil is worth only so, so that the
regaining process adds about so per cent
and makes the oil of ono ton of seed
worth about 1922, or one. fourth the value
OF the cotton that the seed produced.
There are nine Of these refineries now
In operation. One of them, in Mont.
gomery, re6nes 100 barrels or 5000 gal.
Ions day, thus adding 81 ,25O every day
to the value of the product it handles.
The other mills average perhaps so bar.
rels a day each, making 500 barrels a
day Tor the total, thua creating q value
OF over $4,000 every twenty-four hours
ana adding it to a heretofore despised
product. This business is increasing
rapidly. The profits are large, and next
year will see the refining capacity
doubled perhaps. The mills now run.
ming sell all they can make. and could
sell ten times rs much. England and
France would take the product of 100
rehneries at present prices. Indeed,
5Host of the mills seli their yearly pro.
duct by contract. Il late suit developed
that and English company had deposited
$oO,OO0 IN Memphis as bonus to secure
the the output of one oil refinery for one sea.
A SUBSTITUTE FOR LARD.
In the meantime the refiners are ere.
atlng new market and better demand
tor their oil. 1t is used largely as an
illuminating oil, being the best for head.
'ights and reflectors. It is used as an
adulteration of linseed oil, and is pro.
nounced by painters preferable to the
linseed itself. 1t il used sln,os: entirely
Tor packing fish and especially sardines
i'll America. And it is used as substi.
tute for lard in cooking. 1t is made
into what is called cotton butter, and in
this shape is rapidly supplantipg lard.
Two pieces of steak, one fried with oil
and the other with lard cannot be told
apart. For bread it is perfect subs,i.
tute for lard and for batter breads il
is much BETTER. In egg bread it fills
the place of eggs. In fact, in the kitch.
en-, it is c!eanlier, healthier, and better
than lard, if the testimony Of housekeep.
ers can be taken. It is much cheaper.
A pound of cotton butter will do the
cooking of q pound and q half of lard
and cost only thirteen cents, while lard
is worth sixteen to twenty cents. When
pan of steak has been cooked with oil.
the OF! not absorbed in the steak can be
poured back into the can and used again.
being just as clear and pure as before II
was put over the fire. If it was used
entirely In the place of lard, we should
have to write the epitaph, "Died of n
Frying Pan" over departed Southern
vigoT, less frequently than before. This
Gil has been tried in making the lightes,
and best OF cakes, and found incompara.
BILE. 1 asked Mr.. J. X. Boston, who is
interested in the sale ofcotton butter. why
it was, it being half as costly, quite as
good, and cleanlier than lard, it did moi
supplant it at once and entirely.
simply because there is q prejudice
against changing custom which our
fathers and mothers used. 1t is just the
same prejudice that caused people to car.
ry a pumpkin at one end Of stick and
balance it with a rct' t the other fo,
years anu years o;.ore they discovered
that they could put one pumpkin ur
against another. However, it is beinp
introduced more rapidly than we had
dared to hope"
If you can sell all you refine" ]
asked Mr. Boston the other day, "to Eu
rope, why do you labor to create q de
mand in American"
Simply because if We open a new
market we make larger demand anc
better prices. We have just shipped
1000 barrels from the Montgomery re-
finery at IS cents gallon. At Is cents
n pound for cotton butter, every gallor
of oil will yield 81. For many reasons
we prefer home market, and then we
believe We do good thing in cu5stitut-
ing this perfectly clean, pure vegetabl,
oil for lard in the kitchens of our homes