The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-12-30
PRESSING THE COTTON.
A Mill Where Nothing Is wasted-The
Last Bit of Lint Is Picked Of.
IRON the New York Tribune.

Last Bit of Lint Is Picked Of.
From the New York Tribune.
\ cotont seed, after it has passed
through the ordinary process of separat-
ing it from the lint, appears to be as
clean and denuded Of all particles of cot
ton as it well could be, but the amour OF
lint obtained from it at the oil mill az
gregates a large number of bales. show
ing how trivial quantities, patiently ac-
cumulated, will sum up an important
store. The first thing that attracts the
attention at cotton seed oil nell is a
great pile of hulls massed in duh gray
compactness, as high as the upper sto-
ries of the building, its broken outlines
closely resembling the Jagged surface of
an enormous cliff. In the shadow of this
limitation mountain is the huge furnace,
which supplies heat for the various ma
chimes that are painting, blowing and
whirring, with never-ceasing energy all
day and every day, and sometimes far into
the night.
Two great presses stand dripping with
oil in the middle of the lower floor of
the mill; their huge clamps ever pressing
the cooked seed contided to them, are
black and shiny with the rich substance
exuding.
All the workmen are costumed alike.
however different their clothing may be
in reality. in the greenish filminess that
settles In flakes over every object il
touches. Their black faces shine out in
becoming contrast to their odd surround
ings. The walls are tinted with a shade
of this green-yelow SCOT; the floor seems
of the same lively hue; even the conven-
tional attire of the superintendent and
assistants is tinged with the badge of
their occupation, and the transient WISH
tor brings away on hat or coat a reminder
of his visit.
The first thing done to the seed brought
in fresh from the country is to relieve it
of any foreign substances that may be
buried in it. Many queer bits of matter
are found, things that neither the cot
ton plant nor the cotton gin are likely to
produce; objects that add much more to
the weight of the seed bought than to
the buyers opinion of the honesty of the
seller. and these objects are found so
commonly that an overhauling and exam
ination of consignments of seed is now a
regular custom at the mills. The next
process is to subject the seed TO discrip-
ton of gin more discriminating even
than the delicate saws that have so re-
Gently freed il from the fbrous substance
in which it was imbedded, and the lint
rubbed from the seeds in this way is
shipped OIL TO De lldGE INTO carpets and
the coarser kinds of cotton goods
After the lint is removed the seed is
hulled, the hulls, alternated with other
foods, being given to cattle, many farm
ers selling their seeds with the proviso
that the hulls are to be restored to them.
Having been cleaned and ginned skinned
or hulled, the germ of the seed is ready
for the cooking process, which must be
conducted with the experience and judg-
ment necessary in all successful cooking.
After being cooked the proper length of
time, the mass is placed in the peculiar
machines before alluded to- which sepa-
rate every drop of fatty substance from
the rest of the seed, and this residue is
left in square, fiat cakes, hard, brown and
dry, which, in their turn, must be ground
into the cotton seed meal, so valuable as
a food for stock and also as a fertilizer
for crops.
out in an adjoining apartment. though
not under the same roof as the machinery,
stand the huge watts or tanks, into which
the oil is emptied ready for transportation
on the railways Just at the door. 1t is es-
timated that 100 pounds of seed will yield
three pounds Of lint cotton, and that a
ton of seed will give thirty gallons of
clear. pure oil, and three of an inferior
quality.
The oil mills have made for the south
ern farmer new venue Of profit, but
they are doubtful blessing, lnaSmuch
as the value of the seed as a fertilizer is
withdrawn from the soil. the majority of
the smaller farmers selling their seed
when opDortunity offers, and not trub-
ling themselves to supply its place or
get back either the meal or the hulls. Cot
ton seed in former times, when considered
useless for any other purpose, was always
used as a fertilizer for corn with the best
results. and now, when that element is
Withdrawn. some of the corn crops are
proportionately poor
lust after the war cotton seed oil mill
was started in Columbia, S. c., ana the
meal was furni4&ed to the few planters
enterprising enough to try new depar
ture at a time when agriculture was in a
depressed condition, owing to the scarcity
of stock. farming tools, and demoraliza-
tfon of hands The meal at that time was
offered for sale in cakes, it not having
been thought necessary to reduce it to
form more likely to attract the cattle
The stock did not take to- the new kind
of food. and for various reasons besides
the new enterprise was a failure. For
,-aars many doubted that cotton seed oil
would ever become popular. and even now
in neighborhoods where the mills have
been in successful operation for four or
five wears, farmers are slow to believe in
tbe good qualities Of either the meal or
the huils after the oil has been presse,
though they are gradually getting accus-
toned to the idea.