The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1894-10-30

anu SOMETHING'S lar INTO TIE my ut- L &c
interior OF the furnace. where fierce
flames strive for ascendancy and
writhe about each other IN the red
glare, suggests a scene from Dante
Inferno" or the fiery furnace alluded
to in Scripture. Two giant presses
stand dripping with oil in the middle
of the lower floor OF the mill: their
huge clamps. ever pressing the cooked
seed confided to them into corporate
mass. are black and shiny with the
rich substance exuiing from them. All
workmen are costumed alike, however
different their clothing may be in real
ity. in the greenish tilminess that set
ties IN fakes over every object it
touches. Their black faces shine out
in becoming contrast 20 their odd sur
roundings.
The walls are shaded with tinge of
this green-yellow root, shall term il,
FOR want of a better word: the floor
seemed OF the same yellow hue Even
the conventional attire OF the superin-
tendent is tinted with the badge of his
occupation, and the transient visitor
brings away on his hat or coat re-
hinder o. his visit. The first thing
that IS done to the seed that is brought
IN from the country is to relieve it of
any foreign substances that may be
lurking among it. II is said that
many queer bits of matter are found,
matter that neither the cotton plant
nor the cotton gin are likely TO pro-
duce-objects that add much more to
the weight Of the seed bought than TO
the buyers opinion of the honesty of
the seller-found so commonly that
an oyerhauling and examination
of consignments of seed is now
regular institution at the mills.
The next thing is TO subject the seed
TO a description of gin much more dis
eliminating even than the delicate
saws that have 50 recently freed it
from the hbrous substance in which il
was imbedded. \ cotton seed. after it
has passed through the ordinary pro.
cess of separating it from the
lint, appears to be as clean and
denuded of all particles of cot
ton as it well could be, but the
amount OF lint obtained from it at
the oil nall amounts TO 4 large number
Of bales, showing how trivial quanti-
ties, patiently accumulated, viii aggre-
gate an important store. The lint or
cotton rubbed from the seeds in this
way is shipped off to be made into car
pets and the coarSer kinds of cotton
goods. After the lint IS removed the
seed is hulied, the bulls. alternated
with other foods, being given to cattle,
many farmers selling their seed with
the prOviso that the hulls are 20 be re-
turned to them. Having been cleaned
and ginned and skinned, or hulled, the
germ of the seed is ready for the cook
Jag process, which process must be con-
Quoted with the experience and judg-
ment necessary in all successful cook
ing. After being cooked the proper
length of time. the mass is placed in
the peculiar machine alluded to. which
separates every drop of fatty substance
from the rest OF the seed, and this resi-
due is left in square fiat cakes, hard,
brown and dry. which, in their turn,
must be ground into the cotton-seed
meal, so valua Die as food for stock
and also 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 to the depot.
1t is estimated that one hundred pounds
Of seed will yield three pounds of lint
cotton, and that ton of seed will give
thirty gallons of clear, pure oil and
three of an inferior quality. The
oil mills have made for the southern
farmer new avenue of profit, but they
are a doubtful blessing, inasmuch as
the value of the seed as n fertilizer is
from the soil, the majority
Of the smaller farmers selling their
seed when opportunity offers and not
troubling themselves to supply its
place or get back either the meal or the
lulls. Cotton seed, in former times,
when considered useless for any other
purpose, was always used asa fertilizer
Tor corn with the best results, and now
hat element is withdrawn and some O.
The corn crops are proportionately
poor. Many farmers claim that the
constant use OF the cotton seed restored
% the land much that was taken away
rom it, whereas the fertilizing phos-
Jhates now so much in use, while they
produce immense yields, exhaust the
and on which such abundant crops are
made. just after the war a cotton-seed
III mill was started IN Columbia. :. c.,
md +ba rro,1 ,,-,e f,,,..,: NJ 20 che fo,,,
planters enterprising enough 20 try
lew departure at time when agricnl-
ure was IN q depressed condition, ovv-
ng to the scarcity OF stock. farming
.ools. Generalization of hands, etc
The meal at that time was offered
or sale IN cakes, il not having been
thought necessary TO reduce il TO a
orm more likely TO attract the cattle
The hard. crusty substance was reject
d By the stock; they did not take to-
he new kind Of food, and for many
md various reasons the enterprise was
/ failure. For years many doubted
hat cotton-seed oil would ever become
popular. and even now, IL neighb Dor
foods where the mills have been IN sue
essful operation for four or Eve years,
armers are slow % believe N the good
qualities % either the meal OF the hulls
tier the oil has been distracted. though +
hoy are gradually getting accustomed I
o the idea When the II above men, /
Toned was first IN operation FOR two I
? three seasons agents had 20 90 about /,
monv the farmers out in the interior 4
.oUntry soliciting Their seed and rep I
esenting the advantage = would be T. /
he owner - first have the oil extract 4
d and then use the hulk Tor food = 4
-Eeat many Old-fashioned farmers 4
--,,ss,l nor rzre 90 rnr iGca even s1e.., 4
2 -