The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1893-06-13
THE COST OF COTTON.
How the Production Is Increased and
ChenpcnCd In Texas.

>Nso
The Texas Agricultural Experiment
Station has issued a bulletin that will
create q vast deal of interest, not only
among cotton planters and factors, but
among spinners. 1t is O bulletin that
will be read around the world. It's in
terest Is of paramount Importance to
the people of the cotton growing states.
We copy tho following from The Gal
weston News Of June 3rd
From actual experiments it appears
tina cotton can be produced, hand
picked, at a cost of 4.O9 cents a pound,
and machine picked at PIP cents a
pound. These are the lowest figures
given. Other experiments are ap-
proXimately az cheap. These expert
ments were not ideal in the sense that
conditions were selected. They were
the actual experiences of practical
farmers in Texas. The cost included
rent of land and pay of all labor from
planting to marketing. The signif-
of this is tremendous. Ifthe cot
ton planters of Texas could on would
adopt u system bringing cost as low as
8 cents u pound, it is plain that they
would soon solve the problem of south
ern agriculture. The cheapest cotton
land that had already grown q crop of
peas. In another place the farmer,
Mr.. w. A. Clark, OF Bell county, ex-
hibits his intensive system of farming
by which with peas followed by cotton,
he made a made q net profit of $S2.45
an acre. 1t is to be observed, too, that
this profit was made not without but
with fertilizer, and the fertilizer is
charged up in the expense. The best
farmers in the state use all the ferti-
llZer they can rake and scrape to aid
them In the production of their crops.
AND this has been proved to be a pay
dred fold at least. If Mr.. jeff Well
born could raise cotton at a cost of PIP
cents per pound-and he did it-on
postoak upland what could be done on
the rich river bottoms? What could
others do? When the Cunningham cot
ton picker, which Mr.. Wellborn used, or
some other, COMES into general use
throughout the state, and other i'm
proved machinery, and farmers have
learned to raise what they want to con-
instead of paying out their money for
nearly everything that goes on to their
tables and even into the mouths of
their beasts the millennium in cotton
raising will have arrived, and not be- |
fore. The secret in cheap cotton rails |
ing, other things being equal, lies in
doing as much of the work as one and
his family can do themselves, and in |
not drawing on n grocery too heavily, |
particularly when hired labor is to be
fed. Taking this view Of the matter, |
no one a doubt that in time-when
the cotton harvester comes into use
cotton may generally be raised in
Texas during favorable seasons for
less than PIP cents per pound.
But supposing 1t should cost B or even
4 cents, there is still money in cotton,
and always will be-"
Cotton Is the staple crop of the South
Atlantic AZ we'll as the Gulf States of
the South. 1t is the great money crop
but IL Texas ian grow cotton at q cost
2.1z cents per pound, machine pick
ed, the cotton growers of Georgia and
South Carolina may have to find al
more profitable crop to cultivate, and
abandon the field to Texas.-Augusta