The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1897-11-09
No. 40

laborers; but so far the problem of re-
ducing this work to machinery has not
yet been solved. The expense of pick
ing is the heaviest item in handling the
crop. Il costs between fifty and sixty
million dollars to harvest the crop an
nuRlly. A negro picker in the slave
days averaged 100 pounds Of cotton per
day; but this average is nearly doubled
Oy the modern employers, who receive
from 35 cents to 80 cents per 100 pounds
IN various States of the South.
When picked, the cotton is carted to
the gin house, where it is weighed and
piled away. The ginning process is
nearly the same as that introduced by
old Eli Whitney years ago, and there
is no apparent need for any improve
ment. The fiber passes through a
series of circular saws or rollers which
tear the seed from the fiber and blow
them out into two separate compart-
ments. Formerly all this cotton seed
was practically wasted; but now it
adds about $50, 900 600 annually to the
resources of the South. To every bale
OF 500 pounds there are generally about
800 pounds Of seed, and ton Of this
seed yields about thirty five gallons of
oil, valued at forty to fifty cents per
gallon. This part of the industry has
sprung into existence only in the past
ten years; butt is already an enormous
business. In 1889 the export of Gotten
seed oil amounted to 6, ,25O, 900 gallons,
and in the next year it reached ii, ,324.-
600 gallons. In 1895 over ], 200, 600 tons
of cotton seed were crushed and about
az, 900, 600 gallons of oil were obtained.
Besides furnishing oil, the cotton seed,
after it has been crushed, supplies the
cattle with good food in the form of
meal and cake, which is claimed to be
only little less nourishing than corn.
The cotton belt of the South has been
greatly extended since slave days.
Tnen it was considered to be only q
narrow belt through Georgia, the Caro-
linas and Virginia; but it now meas
ures about 900, OCO square miles All
OF 1t is not by any means cultivated
with cotton. Probably not more than
90, coo, 900 acres are cultivated with
cotton in eny one year, and some years
it has run less than half this number
of acres. Tha average yield of this i'm
mense territory ia between 6. 600 COO
and 9, 600 600 bales. Texas leads all the
other States by nearly one half, with
Georgia and Mississippi following in
order. With an average crop Of 6, ,OOO,:
600 bales, we lead all other countries
by far in cotton growing. India is
second, with about 8 000, 600 to 4, 000,-
600 bales. and China and Egypt come
next in order with less than 2, 600, 900
bales each. The cotton area IN these
other countries is being extended, how
ever, and while the South will un-
doubte5ly always control the markets
Of the world, she will suffer more or
less from foreign competition. We
produce the best cotton in the world.
and in no parts of the globe can our
famous S8a Island cotton be duplicated.
This variety, Gossypium Barbadense,
grows on the ISLANDS off the coast Of
South Carolina and Georgia, and pro.
duces q fiber about one inch longer
than that of any other variety grown
in this or any other country. The Sea
Island cotton is as fine and glossy as
silk, and the English spinners take
nearly all that we can raise OF this su-
perlOr grade.
There have been many agencies at
work to improve the cotton crop as
we'll as to utilize the by products; but
so far the only real advance has been
made through the Glow process of SUI
perior cultivation and the improve.
ment of plants by careful selection.
Recently the newspapers gave cur
rency to q story of marvellous cotton
plant introduced from Africa which
promised to revolutioniz9 the cotton
industry of the world in a year or two.
This new cotton plant was described
as towering to the height Of twenty
feet, and producing q great mass OF
downy balls that would increase the
acreage enormously. But e j. Red.
ding, Director of the Georgia Expert
ment Station, discounts the claims of
the new variety, and adds: 1.-The claim
that the variety Of cotton belongs to q
different genus cannot for q moment
be allowed. It is not even of a new
new species, but simply variety Of
G1sspyium herbaceum, and very prob
ably of local Cdomestic) origin I"
Nevertheless, the cotton plant has
been greatly improved in the last half
century through cultivation and selec.
tion. Fifty years ago the old ''peeIeri'
variety Of cotton was used entirely by
the Southern planters This was q
long jointed, struggling variety, with
comparatively few bolls to the stalk.
The comparison between il and a speci-
men of the present peerless" variety
is vivid. The latter is short, compact
in form, and loaded down with bolls.
The first step In improving the upland
short staple cotton through careful
selection and cultivation was followed
by an improvement in the length and
hneness of staple. This was accomp-