Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-01-24
A MACHINE TO PICK COTTON.
Views of an Inventory Field Where
Machinery is Badly Needed.

! Views of an Inventory Field Where
Machinery is Badly Needed.
Charles T. Mason, the inventor OF the
Mason cotton harvester, is young man,
| a native of South Carolina, and has spent
most of his life within sight of the cotton
! fields. He has been working on the cot
ton harvester for nine years. He said to
A New York Tribune reDOrter recently:
'SThe extended use OF my machine for
| the harvesting Of cotton will almost effect
a revolution in cotton picking, and it may
! bring about considerable change i'll the
| price of cotton. 1t will do the work of 30
or 40 men. At present it costs the planter
! about 50 to pick bale of cotton. by the
use Of the harvester a bale can be picked
| at a cost Of 81 90 1t cost nearly 0,000,-
| GOO to harvest the great cotton crop of
! 1882, and one can see how great will be the
aggregate amount saved when the crop is
gathered by machinery. None of these
harvesters have been manufactured for
the market yet. We hope to have linn
tied number in use next fall. | am max
ing some further improvements i'll the
invention. The machine viii be sold for
about $780,
ais your harvester the only machine of
the kind in the market?'
'sSince 1910 one hundred patents have
been given to the inventors OF cotton
picking machines. l have never heard Of
any of these many patents except at the
office in Washington. There is no cotton
picking machine in use. In Texas they
have some kind of a rough machine which
rakes up the fibre, but it has no discrlmi-
mating quality, and gathers wood, leaves
and dirt. and mixes these foreign matters
with the cotton. My harvester is ma
chine which resembles a reaper some
10 roo bpr of 6 pOdQr pV lin6rIcaI
rollers, armed with teeth which lie below
the surface of the cylinder, run over every
inch of the cotton plant, and If the boil
has opened wide enough to indicate that
the plant is ready for picking, the fibre is
grasped by the sunken teeth, and all other
substances, and pass through the ma
chine Nothing but the cotton is taken.
a negro boy and mule can gather crop
of cotton with it. We have protected
cur patent in all of the cottOn-grOWing
countries in the world and in England"
"What VIII be the effect of your inven-
ton upon cottOn-grOwers and IabOrers in
the SOuthY'
"In South Carolina my invention will
not be welcomed. The farmers there look
forward to it's introduction with gloomy
fOrebOdings In Texas there Will be an
enthusiastic demand for the haryesters.
The South Carolina farmers cannot raise
cotton in such abundance as it is pro-
duced in Texas on an equal amount OF
land. They have to make extensive use
of commercial fertilizers, and with the
additional expense they do not begin to
produce as many pounds to the acre as
the Texas planters do. In South Carolina
there is a large negro population and
labor is cheap. The cotton grower there
can gather all of his crop at a smaller eX-
pense than his Texan competitor. In
Texas there is not enough field labor and
a large portion of the crop is always lost;
sometimes fully One-half of it is not
Gathered. There is no doubt that they
will have a great advantage over the cot
ton growers of South Carolina, and that
they will be able to undersell them. The
negroes will have to seek other employ
ment. There is always enough else for
them to do; other crops have been ne
elected in the South because the negroes
would do little else than pick cotton dur
ING the season when it is harvested. do
not fear that the introduction OF my
machine will cause any distress among
the colOred people. think they Will ind
an abundance of profitable employment
in other directions.