The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-10-13
A REMARKABLE SEED STORY.
A Statement That $4,000 Is to BE
Paid for IS Bushels of Cotton Seed.
From the Atlanta Constitution.

|
From the Atlanta Constitution.
| An Atlanta farmer has created a sensa-
ton in agricultural circles by being wait
ed on by committee of south Georgians
| appointed by the farmers of that section
of the state to buy from him the seed
| from crop Of cotton. The price to be
paid for the seed is sls,OOO
The man who raised and owns these
| valuable cotton seed is Mr.. Jackson, a
we'll known farmer, who lives on and Gull
tivates the farm of Tax Collector Stewart.
The citizens of South Georgia are not
the only persons who are anxious to be-
come owners of these cotton seed. Other
men throughout this state have made Of
| fers almost as fattering, all of which
have been refused by Jackson.
The unnatural part of the offer to be
made Jackson by the committee from
| South Georgia is the fact that the men
who will buy the seed do not wish to
| plant them. On the contrary, if they get
| possession of the seed they will destroy
them as quickly as possible, taking care
that not a single seed escapes The com
mittee called on Jackson Saturday, but
he was not at home and they have not
yet had an opportunity to make their of
fer.
The seed which the citizens of South
Georgia propose to buy are the only ones
of the kind in the world. There are only
twenty bushels of them, and the price
to be paid will be about $1,000 per bushel.
Such price as that for cotton seed was
never heard of before. jackson has re-
| ceived hundreds of offers for his seed, but
| even he was surprised when he heard that
committee would walt on him for the
purpose of Offering him high as $4,000
| for his crop of seed.
| These seed have a history of kind that
| is unusually interesting. Several years
| ago Mr.. Jackson was presented with them
| by a Jew who had brought them from
! the interior of Africa, from a part of
| the dark continent on which the foot of
| white men seldom treads.
The Jew had Joined an exploring party
which had started to the center of At
| RIGA. He was wealthy and went on the
| trip simply for the novelty of the expe-
rience. While in the very middle of At
| RIGA the party came across some cotton,
| the stalks of which were over twenty feet
| i'm hight The government botanist, who
| was along with the party, took the meas
| ure from one of the stalks, and 1t was
| from this stalk that the first seed came
| The Jew cut off about eighteen inches
of the stalk, with a view of bringing it
| to America.
On the stalk were sixty-fve bolls, the
| largest ana nneSt ever seen IN bhlS c0un-
| try. The seed were well preserved by
their original owner and were brought
| safely to America. While on a trip
through the south the man who had
| brought the seed from Africa told of them
and stated that he would give them to
some farmer who would take care of them.
| Jackson was mentioned to him and the
jew turned the seed over to him.
Jackson planted the seed and watched
their growth with fond eyes. He had
hear how high the stalks from which the
seed were taken had been and he determin-
| ed to grow stalks equally as high. His first
| crop was a success. The stalks of the
cotton grew to an enormous hight and
at the time the matter was mentioned to
| the Constitution.
This year, when the time for planting
cotton came, Mr. Jackson determined to
| give the seed a severe test and see if
they would stand it. He planted every
seed in the poorest ground on his entire
farm and on the west side of a hill. AS is
well known to farmers, the west side up
land ground is always very poor.
Though the land was unusually poor and
the year one of the worst cotton years
in the history of the south, the cotton
hourshed and is still blooming. Mr.. Jack
son used nothing to enrich the soil in
which the seed were planted. The test
was a severe one but Notwithstanding
that fact, some of the stalks are as high
as seven feet.
The cotton produced by these seed is
of the very finest quality and 1t is even
as fine as long staple cotton. Jackson
| has been offered 10 cents per pound for
what he has raised this year, but he
has refused to accept 1t and believes he
will be able to get IA cents for 1t.
One of the pecuharities of this cotton
| is the fact that 1t is leafless. When the
| stalk grows up leaves begin to sprout out
on II and after they have grown out for
| some distance, the fruit comes out from
| the stem of the leaf. After the fruit has
| partially matured the leaf drops off, leav-
| ing the stalk perfectly leahess This is
| the only cotton Of this kind ever heard of
| in this country and is causing no end of
| comment among the farmers throughout
| the south.
The farmers of South Georgia have sem
their committee to Atlanta to buy the
| seed from Mr.. Jackson, because they be-
| lieve that If the cotton is planted through
out the south they will be ruined beyond
| repair.
They are of the opinion that II cotton
| will do so good under so severe a test
when planted and cultivated it will pro-
duce so much that cotton will be so cheap
that there will be no money in 1t for the
| farmer.
Jackson says that If the cotton is cult.
waited 1t will produce at least two bales
to the acre, and possibly as much as
four. He feels sure that he will be able
| to convince the committee from South
| Georgia Of the fact that the cotton viii
be the greatest thing the south has ever
| seen or heard Of
He says that with this cotton in use All
| over the south the farmer can reduce his
| acreage by over one-half and raise mora
| cotton then than he is raising now. This
| land that he does not use for cotton can
be put 70 profitable use, and the income
| OF the farmer will be doubled as compar-
| ed with the amount of labor employed in
| the raising of cotton.
! Jackson does not much like the idea Of
| havngs the seed destroyed, but VIII soil
"a lnta d laf. vssrt.