The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1891-11-05
late AsS,rican Cotton Seed Oil Trust,
csASSs.. he field to the same extent
asSS -ing the earlier days of the
deca8a esent farmers move
A. 1o, opoourooo1 tho


decad esent farmers move
ment il the 9th has encouraged the
erection of numerous small and inde-
pendent mills, crushing 20 or 30 tons
a day. These have sprung up in great
numbers during the past eighteen
months. The tendency seems to be to-
wards the smaller mills, indeed, the
talk is now of mills so small that e"ery
cotton gipnery can have one attached,
and the planter find no difficulty IN
converting his own seed into oil. In
this way the meal can be at once re-
turned to the soil, and as 1t contains
ali the elements Of fertility, the land
will grow richer instead of becoming
impoverished. If the cotton seed IS
taken from the soil and not returned,
or if the land is not properly fertilized
in some way, it will soon destroy its
agricultural value. The seed takes ten
times as much nutriment from the soil
as the lint or staple, and therefore I'M
poyerishes it ten times as rapidly. This
nutriment however is wholly in cake
and hulls, not in the oil. If, there
fore the latter is extracted, and what
remains is returned to the land it will
not only not impoverish it, but actually
strengthen and enrich 1t.
The farmers, at first did not fully ap-
preciate this. They found if they sold
their cotton seed, their land rapidly
detoriated and many Of them refused
to sell on that account. Now that they
understand the matter better, the op-
position to feeling has died away. In
many parts of the Southern cotton
States, the farmer sells his seed to the
mills, gets back the meal, which he
can return to the soil, making the land
more fertile each year.
PRESENT CONDITIONS.
Cotton seed oil bad so generally su-
perseded olive oil here and elsewhere
that the Italian, and other govern
ments where the cotton is produced,
legislated against it and attempted to
drive it out of use as an adulterant or
substitute. In this, however, they only
partially succeeded, for the Southern
product, which sold 40 cents gallon,
was just as good and half as cheap as
olive oil at 40 cents.
If the foreign market was at all cut
off by this hostility, new field was
found at home for the oil as substi-
tute for lard. It has been seen at an
early day that for culinary purposes,
refined cotton seed Gil was as good as
lard. 1t had been used as substitute
for it in the South from the day that
it was first manufactured, and in En-
gland as well. The Italian, the Jew,
and hundreds of other people object to
hog fat, and use olive or other oils to
fry their food with. In cotton seed oil
they get the same article much cheap
er, at I or cents pound.
The oil had been in use for a number
of years both in this country and Eu-
rope as substitute for lard when the
lard refners of Chic go first thought of
utilizing it in their business. The
American hog did not produce enough
fat to supply the market with lard and
refners had taken to throwing the
heads, entrails and other refuse into
the lard kettles in order to increase the
products. With lard atll and y cents
pound and cotton seed oil just as
good or better, worth only 3 or 1 cents,
the temptation to use the latter product
was irresistible. It was tried and the
so-called refined lard" came into use.
1t gave boom to the cotton seed oil
business. Of the 600,0O0,OOO pounds Of
lard now manufactured in this country
320,00O,00 or II per cent is the so
called pure lard. In the compound
lard" 100000 pounds or 9,330,0O0
gallons of cotton seed oil are used.
The result has been to arouse move
ments against "the compound lard"
and cotton seed itself on the part of
Western farmers. 1t has shown itself
in the Conger bill which passed the
House and is now before the Senate,
and which places duty on compound
lard similar to that on oleomargine, in
tended to drive it from the market.
Such has been the career of cotton oil
and other cotton seed products since
they were first manufactured, varied
career with ups and downs.