The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1893-04-06
ABOUT COTTON SEED.
SOME CONSOLATION FOR THE
SOUTHERN COTTONTOTS.

How tho Industry has Increased tho For.
tiiisor Trade-That: Liut1ess Cotton
Again-tndia Rubber from Cotton s,oa
n Possibility
CHARLESTON, s. G., March as
From time to time attention has baen
called by The News and Courier 20 the
growing Importance OF the cotton seed
industry, an industry which has sprung
n the last few years from comparatively
nothing to an enterprise controlled bv
great corporations aud in which mll.
lions OF dollars are invC sted. The aver
age cotton yield per acre last year was
IA bales. Or bale to about 2.25 acres.
This means about | 500 pounds OF seed
cotton, OF which 200 pounds are seed.
In | 200 pounda ofseed there are about
| 33 brshcls, calculating 80 pounds to
the bushels, which at the avera ge price
OF seeds nets 20 cents, or $500 to 1t
acres, which, "dded to the rece pts for
bale OF cotton, brings the protis up
considerably.
BIG MONEY.
Ihe figures are not available in this
city, where the lack of stayls tical infor-
nation outside that published iu the
| A--nual Review of The News aud Cou.
r'er is notorious, but a prominent cot
toh firm in Savannah has furnished some
figures which are interesting. bearing,
as they do, upoa the subject. The firm
collected during the past season ell ,506-
.lS Tor Two OF its ustOmers-G eOrgis
| farmers, near Savannah-for seed sold
TO oil mills. This amouuC represepvs
over 525 tons Of cotton seed, and is
| merely one instance ou3 of numerous
others like it.
The industry OF raising tho seed is
growing rapidly and about four fifths Of
The seed produced last year was mark.
| eted, where very little o. it. was sold
two years ago. The yield from the seed
counter balances to great extent the
depression to the farmer as a result Of
low prices Tor the lint cotton, and, in
stead OF being dumped back on the field
lor lertlllzers, it Is now almost all sold
10 thc mills, and commercial fertilizers
are used to enrich the lands.
a USEFUL PRODUCT
lhere IS prospect, too, that cotton
seed will bring far better prices as tho
} products derived from it are increased.
There has been discovered means tor
making India rubber from the oil OF tho
l seed, and experiments are now being
l conducted In the vicinity of this city
3 With view to making the process
= cheap enough TO be profitable. In iacv,
good deal of the product has been
G successfully put On the market. The
h lnala rubber Is pronounced the genuine
d article, aud is said to be as good as that
g when comes from the juice of the ORR
entail rubber tree. The seed which will
C produce an oil which is one of the most
t excellent and wholesome foods yet dis
t GOV cred, meal which is perfect stock
food, hull which caa hardly be excalled
} as fertilizer, and besides all these an
OIL which promises to yeld rubber shoes,
coats, hose and the vacious other arti-
cles made from the Indian gum, promi,..
cs one day to yield an industry which
will rival in importance the cotton in
dustry itself.
| No certain limit can be set to It's de-
velooment, and there is no predicting
what other products may be extracted
from 1T. There are few people who
are aware that the source of most OF
their fruit flavorlng extracts is the black
aild sluggish coal tar, yet such is the
case, and chemists are now wo king to
draw Guinlne from that seine source.
There is possibility that some day tho
cotton seed industry may be the prime
yield OF the cotton plant.
Ihe report that the large sale Of tho
commercial fertilizers this year means
an increased cotton acreage, and conse-
quently reduced price, is a good argu-
ment on its face, but the fact is that
most OF the seed formally used as fers
IillZer on the cotton fields have been
marketed during the past season, and
there was nothing to do but supply
their place with the commercial article.
ABOUT FERTILIZERS.
Inc profit in the seed has boen 80
great even at the price it now brings
that the farmers make great deal by
selling 1t and uslny commercial fertiliz-
crs, which answer almost as we'll in
their stead. Thus the cotton seed in-
dustry has ca!lcl forth an increase IN
The fertilizer business, and in that Way
indirectly built uD another industry.
TIE LINTLESS COTTON PLANT.
Some years ago The News and Couri.
er called attention to the discovery OF q
llntless cotton plant which was raised In
Sparlanburg County and Of which O.
specimen was sent to Charleston. The
plant which produces the seed ls SINH
lar to the ordinary cotton plant, but can
stand greater degree of drought. The
seed, which grow in pods or bolls, are
smaller than the seed of the ordinary
cotton plant, and have not quite 50
large kernel, but the large Increase in
the yield compensates for the small sizs.
The plant, it is claimed, produces from
200 to 400 bushels OF seed alone to each
acre. AT any rate tle culture of tho
lintless cotton would pay tar better than
the ordinary cotton crop. Since then
this plant has been cultivated ia Texas
and elsewhere, and, in view of the re-
centgrowth of the cotton seed industry,
IL may be we'll worth looking into.
THIS YEARS. PROSPECTS.
During the coming season the PROS
poets are favorable for a somewhat in.
creased cotton acreage over last wear,
put the total yield will hardly be as
large as it was in 1891. The pr CO of
seed has advanced with the increased
If