The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1884-08-14


Gus affair than her disagreeable expert
ences in that village, and as it was fal
pleasanter to think of, she was never
weary of saying to the gaping old ladies
who came to see her, while she gently
famed herself with the turkey-tail fan,
"And actually, ma'am rode eight miles
under fire I"
"And never knew it," I wanted to add,
but didn't.
Mason's Cotton Harvester and the Pros.
poets Of its Success.
The autumn of 1884 bids fair to be a
memorable epoch for the Southern States,
not only because it is likely to bring to
an end the long reign of Republican
misrule in our National affairs, but be.
cause it promises to usher into successful
use an invention which will certainly
give a wonderful impetus to our great
agricultural industry, and may bring
about peaceful revolution in our sys-
tenn of field labor. We refer to the new
cotton picking machine, known as Ma
sons Cotton Harvester. The multitude
of inquiries about it that reach us from
all parts of the South shows how wide
spread is the public interest in the sue
cess of the invention.
The opening bolls will in few weeks
spread "the snow of Southern summers
over our fields, and before the close of
the present month it is hoped that there
will be abundant opportunity for the
final test of the new Harvester. Since
the last crop was gathered no time has
been lost and no endeavor has been
spared by the Company which owns the
patents to prepare for this crop ma.
chine which would satisfactorily do the
work of picking the cotton from the
plant and take place of the expensive
and tedious process of hand labor. Sev.
eral machines of slightly varying styles
have now been completed and are ready
to straddle the cotton lows. at the
close of the last season Mr.. Mason had
succeeded in perfecting machine which
would pick out the open cotton without
injury to the growing plants, or the un.
matured cotton bolls and blooms. This
machine, which was tested in the pres.
ence of large numbers of planters, DEM
onstrated that the principle which was to
solve the great problem had been discov.
cred. The mechanical application of
the principle at that time was not per-
fectly satisfactory to Mr.. Mason. 1t was
too complicated and costly, and in other
respects needed improvement. The
conveyors which remove the cotton from
the boxes, where it is deposited by the
picking stems, were not of sufficient ca.
pacity to remove the cotton as fast as it
was picked. 70 remedy the defects OF
construction and to sim mplify the machine
has been the aim of Mr.. Mason's work
during the past six months. The coming
tests will best show how completely he
has succeeded in this difficult task. The
machine is now quite light, weig hing
only about 300 pounds, and is shapely as
we'll as handy. Yet it is SO strong that it
cannot easily get out of order, and its
manipulation requires no other skill than
the knowledge of how to drive horse or
mule. Until the test shall have been
made it is impossible to say what the
capacity of the machine will be. Its
inventor is confident that it will harvest
1000 pounds of seed cotton in day of
ten hours.
After the first tests, which will be
made near the company's shops at Sum-
ter, S. c., it is likely that tests will be
made in different parts of this State and
other cotton growing sections. A letter
from the Treasurer of the Worlds Ex-
position at New Orleans says that, in
compliance with suggestion made by
the Cotton Harvester Company, the
Director. General will appoint commit.
tee of competent judges to witness q trial
of the Cotton Harvesting Machine at
such time and place as shall be desig-
mated by the Harvester Company. This
arrangement has been made in order that
the real merits of the machine may be
conclusively demonstrated. In Decem-
ber, when the Exposition will open, and
in January when it will probably be only
fairly organized and largely attended,
the cotton in the fields will not be in
favorable condition for picking. Such
cotton as might be preserved on the
plants for the purpose would be wind
tossed, stained and full of trash. What
the Cotton Harvester Company desires to
demonstrate is that their machine is
specially adapted for gathering the cotton
at precisely the same time that it is
picked by hand. To demonstrate this it
is likely that some time about the middle
of October will be fixed for the test.
The committee will then have every op.
portunity of examining the work per-
formed by the machine upon the cotton
plants when filled with blooms, forms,
unripe bolls and open bolls. Whatever
award the judges may decide to make
can be made during the Exposition, and
machine will. of course, be on exhibi'
tion as part of the South Carolina ex.
hibit.
The deep interest which is felt through
out the South in Mr.. Mason's work is
shown by the large number of prominent
gentlemen who travel long distances to
visit the shops in Sumter to see it. They
come, incredulous that the machine viii
ever succeed in the practical work O.
picking cotton; but they 60 away con
yinced that its success is assured. The
magnitude of the results of the solution
of the problem which has baffled the in
genuity of inventors for half century
is hard to oyerestimate. The complete
practical success of the Cotton Harvester
means that the Southern States can and
will raise the cotton for the world at s
cost at least forty millions of dollars les:
thar it now costs to produce it. NJ
wonder that the outcome of Mr.. Masoni
modest machine shop in Sumter is watch
ed by the whole South with eager anc
impatient gaze !-Neacs and Courier.
= The young man who used to SIM
"I fear no foe" before he was married
now says, ~ cannot sing the old songs
"A young girl began to sing: "Lis
ten to the mocking Bird" and everybod.
in the room rushed out to find a mock
ing bird to listen to.
- "In what condition was the patri