The people's journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1891-1903, 1896-11-26


hulls commercially and until about
ten years ago, when the experiment
was made of feeding them to cattle,
they wcro literally thrown away or
burned for fuel at the mills.
This article has had the hardest kind
of Il fight against ignorance and pre-
judtce to lind Its way into profitable
consumption but such intrinsic merit
bas 1t that to-day out Of 800 or moro
oils mills in the South, do not know
OF s. single one that is burning its hulls.
A considerable supply Of crude potash,
in which the hulls are rich, was taken
away whom these ashes were no longer
oDtainable.
many thousand head of cattle are an
nually fed, and with the addition of
cotton seed meal are fattened upon
cotton seed hulls. Much of the Cut
cago dressed beef shipped all over the
country in refrigerator cars Is simply
concentrated cotton seeo hulls The
prico ut which hulls sell is far below
tn n intrinsic value as u feed stuff
and varies from $3.50 to SIS per ton at
tho mills, though as high as $40 per
ton has been paid for IL In somo cascs
when tho demand unexpectedly OK
cccded tho supply, whom tho mills
wcre not running, and this is about its
real value. | bolievo that every dairy
in or about tho cities, like Momphis,
Atlanta or New Orleans. is now feed
ing its milch cows on cotton seed hulls.
Competent chemists figure that 80
per cent. Of tho value Of the hulls Is
| available for fertilizer after being used
| for feed. Hulls arc little known or
used outside tho South, but there is q
new enterprise at Memphis, tho Ten
| ncsscc Fiber Company, working under
letters patent, that Is successfully TAX
| ing tho hulls,from the Oil'm;!ls and con-
contrasting in more suitable form for
shipment, tho nutritious portion Of tho
hulls, which is termed cotton seed
bran," and separating tho lint for use
OF paper makers and packers, which
IS turned out in small compressed
bales.
Having now shown what cotton seed
hulls really are, their value, their
great actual and numerous possible
production, We are prepared to consi-
dor the merits OF this article as O.
wealth producer. 1t will first be neces-
sary to say something it regard to the
location OF the cotton oil mills. Though
some Of the large citios, like Memphis,
Atlanta, Houston and New Orleans,
have more than ono mill each, they
are, as rule, very widely distributed
over the southern States and gener-
ally in the towns which vary in popula-
tion from 500 up. The average price
at which cotton seed hulls can bo OBJ
tanned at the mills is about SO. 25 per
ton. Their intrinsic value as q feed
ing stuff is about 80, say $S. The
average freight from the South to tho
New England and Middle States is
about ST. per ton. 1t could hardly be
possible, therefore, unless under ex-
ceptionals circumstances, to use cotton
seed hulis in their ordinary form out
side the South.
From the fact that tho oil mills are
located In the towns and cities, and
that the lands near them have been
cultivated longer AID more closely
: than these at q distance, thus being
more in need Of fertilizers, it is evident
that the most profitable use to be made
/ Of tho hulls is by farmers or stock
raisers On the lands near the oil mills.
) A farmer, therefore, located on land
! which needs fertilizing, near an oil
l mill, who also raises cattle or keeps a
dairy, and who has market ready to
: his hand for his farm products, Is pre-
pared to make an astonishing profit
, upon this article.
Estimating the cost Of freighting
l to the farm at Is cents per ton, the
J average cost OF the hulls at the mills
} at 50 70 per ton, and the intrinsic vauo
! OF the hulls as compared with Othor
Iced stulfs or fertilizers rs only SIS per
ton, tho farmer will make profit of
{ " per ton on every ton Of hulls he
consumes. II we add to this 90 per
cent. OF the intrinsic value, which per-
conthgc the chemist allows for it after
feeding, he would have $ll per ton as
! the total profit, or 81 go per ton as the
: net profit over and above feeding stutrs
+ and fertilizers. IL is difficult to con-
J coive OF any situation in which far
mcr could bc placed in populous terri
tory in the United States where he
) starts out with conditions SO favorable
to success, or where he has finer op-
: portunity OF producing wealth from
= using an undervalued product which
eau be had in practically unlimited
, quantity. Add to this that such lands
) rs have been described can be had at
, a very low price, because OF their more
) or less worn condition, and also be-
} cause Of the present general deprecia-
5 tion in rcai estate, tho probability of
large profit from tho enrichment OF
the lard and the unearned increment
from the probably rapid growth Of all
, Southern cities in the near future, and
it is scarcely possible to point out any
better illustration which the South
offers OF her many and great oppor-
: tunitics than is contained in this long
; deopised and still greatly undervalued
article-cOttOn seed hulls.