The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1885-02-12
A MACHINE TO PICK COTTON.
Az Invention Which II Expected to
Rcroiutionize Cotton iIcl.ing.
New Tor. Tribune.

New iorx Trb1ne.j
Charles T. Mason, the inventor OF tho
Mason cotton harvester, is young man,
spent most Of his life within sight Of the
cotton iie.ds. He has been working on
the cotton harvester for nine years. lie
said To reporter recently:
he extended use Of my machine for
tie haryestiD; OF cotton viii almost
Q eet Il revolution in cotton picking, and
L may bring about q considerable change
III the price Of cotton. 1t will do the
WORK OF thirty or forty men. 1T present
il costs the planter abo t 800 10 pick
bale of cotton, BY the use of the har-
yester q bale can be picked at a cost Of
si.5D. 1t cost nearly -, 100000 to
. harvest the great cotton crop Of l3s2,
and one can see how great viii Lc tne
aggregate ali INIT sayed when tic crop
is gathered by machinery. None OF
these laryestcrs have bcen manusact-
Ered for the market yet. We hope &c
have limited number in use next fall.
] am making some further improve
ments in the invention. Tho machine
will bc sold for about SO
Is your harvester the only machine
of tho Kind in the market
Since 15i0 100 patents have been
given to the inventors of cotton picking
machines. | have never heard of any
Of these many patents except at the
Office in Washington. There is no cot
ton picking mac hina in use. In Te as
they have some kind of rough machine
when rakes ap the Der, Int it has no
discriminating quality, and gathers
wood, leaves. and dirt, and mixes these
i foreign matters with the cotton. My
harvester is machine which resembles
a reaper somewhat; a large number Of
slender cylindrical rollers, armed with
teeth which lie lelow the surface OF the
! cylinder, run over every inch Of the cot
| compliant, and if the boll has opened
j wide enough to indicate that the plant
! is ready for picking, the fiber is grasped
by the sunken teeth, and all the other
substances pass through the machine.
Nothing hut the cotton is taken. a
negro roy and mule can gather crop
Of cotton with it. We have protected
onr patent in all Of the cotton growing
countries Of the world and in Eng
land"
..What will he the effect Of your in
yention upon cotton growers and labor.
ers in the SOUTH
I'm South Carolina my invention will
not be welcomed. Tho farmers there
look forward to the introduction with
gloomT forebodings. In Texas there
will he IN enthusiastic demand for the
harycsters. The South Carolina farm.
ers cannot raise cotton in such abnnd-
ance as it is produced III Texas Oh an
equal amount Of land. They have te
make extensive use of commercial fer.
till ers, and with the additional expense
do not begin to prodn e as many pound.
to the acre as the Teas planters do.
In south Carolina there is a large Negro
population and labor is cheap. Ihs
cotton grower there can gather
all Of his crop at smaller eSrcasi
than his Texan competitor In Tcya.
there is not enough field labor, and :
large portion Of the crop is always lost
sometimes fully one-half Of it is no
gathered There is no doubt that the,
will have q great advantage over tn,
cotton-grOwers of South Carolina ant
that they will be able to nndersell them
The negroes will have to seek other en-
plovmcnt. There is always enough el>,
for them 10 do; othe. crops have beer
neglected in the south because til,
negroes would do little else than picl
cotton during the season II is harvested
do not fear that the introduction O
mv machine will caGse any dstr s.
amoas the eolored people. think the.
will find IN abnn lance of profitable en-
ployment in other directions"