National Republican., 1888-01-21
Revolution in Cotton Seed,

The new machine for testing cotton seed,
now being introduced in the southern MARKET
is beipg received with general favor, as can be
seen from the following editorial in the New
Orleans Times. Democrat;
when the shrewd northern capitalists whose
fertile brains conceived the vast scheme of
controlling all the cotton seed Of the south.
had secured the cooperation of nearly all the
cotton oil mills aud created monster mo.
nopoly. in whose ruthless grasp the cotton
planters were TO be held MS in n wise. they
ehuckled to themselves at first, and then openly
boasted that they were, masters of the situa-
tion, and that, practically, the cotton planters
were their vassals, doomed to sweat aud labor
In the fields for the benefit of the monopoly
bar0ns.
1t was big project, cunningly devised and
cleverly executed, and reflected credit on the
brainy men who concocted 1t as cold, cruel
business proposition.
vitally interested, there was fatal flaw in the
grand scheme for making millions of money
out OF their cotton seed, and for crushing the
life out of them by debating the price of their
It Is that little flaw which is destined to
wreck the colossal scheme that was the Won
der of the time, and in which great fortunes
have already been lost and won.
The Oil Trust Company, 1t will be remem-
bered, purchased from some inventor, at a
small price. a patent process for cleaning the
lint from cotton seed and put that patent into
the company at the enormous figures of a5, ,6DO,-
900. The price was big, but II would not have
been too big If the process-cleaning the seed
fortunately for the Trust Company, the acid
was found to iDjure the seed for food purposes
and also the oil, while 1t utterly destroyed the
1t was sad blow to the men who had
counted so largely and so surely upon the
profits TO be derived from their process, and 1t
SO happens that success In the cotton seed busi-
ness and in making oil depends absolutely
upon the cheap and perfect cleaning OF the
seed by mechanical process
What the Cotton, Trust operators thought
they had has been discovered and Is to-day in
successful operation. This ingenious piece of
mechanism is the invention of a Mr, Crawford,
whose handiwork Is destined to disenthrall
the cotton planter and to yield untold millions
to the south by the economies IL will introduce
into the manipulation of cotton seed. Tho
machine, in the first place cleans the seed of
small grains OF coffee. In that condition IL can
be shipped In bulk 10 Europe-a thing which
has never been possible with uncleaned seed
mand for 1t at high figure. In 1855, of
30 isG tons of cotton seed imported into Great
Britain and sold for fl,S53 500, the United
States only sent d,997 tons, receiving for the
same t32,s50 The seed sent from this country
was Sea Island, which, like the Egyptian, is
almost free from lin.
seed 200 pounds of lint, which finds ready sale
for paper stock, &c, at 2 ceats per pound.
This one item means an increase OF 100000
bales of cotton or lint 70 the crop at cents per
BY removing the lint from the seed not only
is 81 of lint Obtained per ton, but 1t enables
manufacturers to crush the seed entire, hull
and all, as Is doue in England In this country
the seed has heretofore been first decorticated
the hull being removed and some OF the ker
mel being lost.with with IT. by crushing the
whole seed the amount OF oil obtained pei
ton is fifty gallons instead of thirty.seven
and cake 1,400 pounds instead Of 700, the cake
containing proportion of the crushed hulls
These are big statements, but they have
These results are being obtained from clear
seed every day in England.
II has been proved by.actual test that a ton o
seed can be cleaned by this new process fol
less than 81, SO that 1t is easy to see the great
profit there must be in the business. These
Work n eomnlete reyointion is The eotton.Seed
business