The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1894-11-20

have ground as high as eighty one
thousand tons of seed during the same
period. Last season, 1892 and 1893,
1,275,O 600 tons of cotton seed we're
crushed and sold at $50 per ton. The
South Is not slow to recognize that
cotton and its seed products are the
main chance for profit. The chemical
properties of the cotton seed are unex
celled as fertilizer. The poorest land
can be made to yield enormous crops
by the application of seed as an en-
richer. A Southern planter of large
experience in raising cotton, says:
The day is fast approaching when cot
ton will be largely raised in the United
States for the seed to make OIL He
says that an acre of good soil will pro
duce one thousand pounds of seed,
which Is more remunerative than an
acre of ground producing forty bushels
of oats, The meal and hulls mixed
makes fine food for cattle. AS an il
illustration, he bought six dollars worth
of this seed and fed it to a poor OK. He
weighed the animal at the time he
commenced feeding him on meal; in
four weeks he weighed the same ami
NAL, and was surprised to find that it
bad gained 400 pounds. The gain in
the weight of the OK cost him Sc His
net profit on the investment was $18
This feed is Ofspecial value where haul
ing IS done with open wagons atlongd dis
tances. During the fifties it was difficult
to secure 9 600 tons of seed. Agents were
sent through the surrounding country,
trying to buy cotton seed, and expert
enced great difficulty in inducing the
cotton planters to sell their seed, they
believing it would be loss of labor to
haul the seed from the plantation to
the point of shipment. 1t has been
estimated that, owing to the ignorance
of the cotton seed production of the
South before the war, that enough seed
were allowed to go to waste to have
paid a large portion of the national
debt at the close Of the war. Since 1865
a great Industrial change has come
over that section. This industry,
which is bringing such wealth to the
South, owes its growth and develop
pnent to the consequences of the war.
When peace was declared between the
States, is found the cotton planter with
a large acreage of land without means
to employ labor to cultivate the crop.
He had to solve the problem of the
means which would enable him to re
sumo business, and to accept the first
offer that presented i,self, which was
a system of dividing up the plantation
into smaller ones, ranging from ten to
one hundred acres, and letting them
out on shares. The larger number of
these tenants were negroes, ex slaves,
some of whom, during the past twenty
years, through carefulness and indus
try, have become the owners of the
land they then titled on shares. There
was another factor which figured con
spicuously in the business of the cotton
planter, known as the supply man. He
has what may be termed mortgage
upon the crop Of cotton. This supply
man runs the planter between the crops,
of whom the planter is compelled to
purchase every, hing at the most extOr
tionate prices, the result being that
when the crop is picked, the supply
man gets the money, and the planter
simply gets another credit, minus the
debt left over from the last. Hence it
can be seen that the planter has hard
time, in working out a very scanty
livelihood; but since the war cotton
seed has become valuable, and the
planter, by this means, is able, after
he has seen all of his cotton go to his
credit, to have little reserve left over
from the sale of the crop of seed. The
demand for cotton seed has kept pace
with the increase in the number of seed
mills. In 1866 there were only seven
seed mills in operation. In 1870 the
number had increase to 26. In 1880 it
reached As At the present time there
are over 200 in operation. This shows
the continued increase and the appre-
citation shown by the people of the
South of this great product. 1t is an
nually increasing in proportion to the
amount of increase in the production
The main product that the cotton seed
industry has in view is the oil, which
has become the next most important
adjunct of the business. Before the oil
can be extracted it is necessary to press
the seed. After the oil has been crushed
out of the seed, what is left is in the
form of a cake. This is ground into