The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1898-02-01

quite possible TO save to the growers by
some organized system on their part
For as soon "a the great army OF pick
ers has done it's work, the buyers (who !
number over .OOO) appear on the scene
and strive to secure control of the crop
for their employers. This costs more
than two million collars, the tax on the
growers being 26 cents bale. Then
come the freights to the great shipping
centers. the principal one being New
York City. 1t is estimated that fully
800, 600 men are employed in this stage
of the business, including those who
handle the crop on the railroad, the
lighterers at the ports, the sailors who
man the ships, and the OWL ers of the
vessels employed. But such is the
competition for business that by the
time the cotton reaches the ultimate
market and gets into the hands of the
manufacturers of the cloths, the in
crease of value is not over 26 per cent
Of its cost to the grower. Indeed. all
the modern convenieuces in the NOV.
ing of these millions of bales, and in
the final change of raw material into
She cloths made of it, and the reduction
Of the cost of this manufacture, do not
finally increase the total value more
than 100 per cent. so that the ultimate
cost of the goods is not over twice the
value Of the raw material.
The South produces an average of
eight million bales, which is about
equal to the whole product of the world
elsewhere. A full crop in India is
four million bales. China produces
about two million, and Egypt about as
much. Brazil yields much less, and
with the rest of the cotton producing
countries of the world, the total product
is swollen to about sixteen million
bales. But our bales are much larger
than those Of Egypt, whose product is
nearly all the long staple, which is
known here as the Sea Island cotton,
and is used for the finest lawns and
laces on account of it's length, fneness
and strength OF fiber, and which will
not Withstand the heavy pressure of
baIing, so that bales of this sort do not
weigh over 200 pounds, or half OF a full
bale here. Altogether, our product
thus makes up something more than
half of the worlds yield of this staple.
The utilization of the seed for the oil
it contains is scarcely considered as to
the magnitude of the business, which
has mostly all grown up within the
past twenty years, and eince the inven-
ton by the French of that we'll maligned
product, oleomargarine. This is made
of the oil of the cotton seed mixed with
refined tRllow, and has given more
worry to the butter and cheese makers
than all the rest Of their business COM
bined. Last year, more than a million
and half tons of seed were crushed
for the oil contained in it. AS one ton
of seed yields 40 gallons of oil, worth
40 cents a gallon, this total value is
added to the economic value Of the cot
ton crop; and although there is q wide
and strong objection to the use of this
oil, vast quantity Of it-nearly the
whole of it, in fact-is surreptitiouely
disposed of for other kinds of oil, chiefly
that of the olive. The culture of the
olive for it's oil product is almost wholly
abandoned in Europe, the cotton oil
having really equal value as a food
product, and selling at lower price.
It cannot be justly charged against the
cotton oil that it is in any way un
wholesale or Injurious, and there is
doubtless a vast quantity of it going
into both of our dairy products (butter
as we'll as cheese), both in the hands of
factories and private dairies; for it lie
quite possible to mix this oil with the
cream Of milk, in quantity of 25 to so
per cent, and in cheese to the extent of
nearly as much as Of the natural but
ter oil, and this without detection ex
cept by careful chemical analysis.
Another product of cotton seed is the
meal of the crushed seed after the oil
has been expressed. Taking out the
weight of the oil from the quantity of
seed crushed in the mills, there is about
one half million tons Of the meal left to
be accounted for. Some Of this is used
for fertilizing Southern crops; the bulk
is used Tor feeding cattle; large guam
tity is exported; and all the money thus
made goes to add to the actual value of
this great crop, which, however, is no
longer king, except like some other
kings now dethroned. 1t is a remark
able fact, showing the rapid extension
of the use of this cotton seed meal, that
was the first who used it for feeding