The age-herald., 1899-04-30

rOTty SdllOnS Oi Oll.....s.............. oOJ IDS Meal or cake ........ ................. 150
 t1ulls ...,............. ..,...... ....... 800 " Lihters ...'.:' '''..... '''''''''' '... N
 Notes and dirt .......... ............. 13O "
 Total. ......... ....... 2,00o lbs
 The ton for which the farmer received $6 has become under his eyes worth these fig ures:
 40 gals. oil O 15c. 15c.......................$ 6 %. 75O lbs of meal e $15 ton................. g SVO lbs of hulls e g ton ................. 80 20 liSs of linters c 2hc................... o 50
 Total ........... ......... ...... ......$12 s2 The value of the seed has been doub.ed by manipulation; and by farther manipula- tions of the oil it could be readily trebled. At Memphis and few other central points l in the south the oil is refined to articles Of domestic and tables uses; out It aGe aaSes c. nc, become in the south olive oil. The art of re- hnement is not carried that far in the south.
 Such uses are not new to the world. Cot ton seed was crushed and fed to cattle by the people of the eastern countries many centuries ago. The Chinese squeezed the oil from cotton seed at least five hundred years before the Christian era. The Eng fish and Dutch mills antedate the American mills; but only in this country is oil made rom seeds fresh from the fields, and only in this country has the industry reacned large proportions. The best oil is made here, partly because American seed is readily decortcated, and more is made here because the seed is grown here in huge quantities.
 The great aggregate that is dripping from a thousand powerful presses in the south, amounting to 70000,0G0 gallons a year, is largely used as food. It becomes through manipulation common lard," it goes into soap, it is an adulterant of real lard, 1t becomes olive oil, or sperm oil or almost any other kind of oil that the manufac. urer may desire. It is a very facile oil, or rather the hands that handle it are.
 The portion exported is rapidly becoming leading feature of the industry. In 1859 only 2,691 ,000 gallons were taken by foreign consumers This amount was swelled in 1897 to 27199,000 gallons, the export value of which was 20 cents gallon-thu5 swelling, the country's exportation figures to the ex- tent of $101 900. The exports of oil last year were unprecedented, but 1t Is believed the exports of oil from the current crop, in the present fiscal year, will exceed those for the previous year. It is taken in other countries as a substitute for other oils, un- dergoing at first the needfu manipulations In the fiscal year of 1898 France was the largest European consumer of cotton-seed oil, Germany being a poor second, and Great Britain good third. Mexico is the best consumer in the Americas, Brazil talk ing almost as much, and tho West Indies coming next.
 The S0,00O,OO0 of gallons consumed at home cannot be accurately traced but the proportion consumed is the stead of animal fats may, without mourning the risk of ex- aggeration, be put at 75 per cent or about W0O9,000 gallons. It becomes ''refined lard," butterine, salad and cooking oils assuming perhaps dozen other forms of food Chicago, Kansas City, Omaha and East St. Louis are heavy patrons of south ern oil mills; and, while the labels may not always be framed in strict accordance with one of the laws of the decalogue, yet it is certain that the health of no one Is hurt by the substitution of a clean, pure vegetable oil for animal fats. Ten per cent. of the home consumpton goes to the Stand ard Oil company and other manufacturers of illuminants. It goes in this way into the lamps of miners The remaining 15 per cent. must be distributed among the soap factories, the packers of "sardines," the cod-liver emulsion people, the manufac- turers of bolts and nuts, the candle makers and perhaps dozen other classes of manu- lecturers.
 If the prejudices that spring from a long use Of animal fats could be wholly over- come, and cotton-seed oil properly refined, could take their place in the kitchen, this country alone would need the present pro- duction of oil, and very soon there would be cry for more. There has been," said the Augusta Chronicle, recently "some ob- jecton hitherto on account of rancldity, but that need not be the case. The Angus ta oil mills furnish fresh, sweet and pure article, and only habit and prejudice pre- vent its use in the kitchen A prominent gentleman of this city asked his wife to try it instead of lard, but she refused to do so He then told the cook to use 1t exclusively, and she did so. The lady of the house never knew that oil, instead of lard, was being used until so informed by her hus- band, who showed her all the lard unused by the cook. Certainly pure vegetable oil Is better than grease made ffom all sorts of hogs, many of which were possibly diseased" Cotton-seed oil is as mild and pleasant to the taste olive oil, and there is no reason why 1t should not supplant olive oil in high-grade soaps, in the pack ing of all articles that require oil and in the kitchen it should take the place of the uncertain animal fats from great packing houses These changes will be made. and | when they are the fields of the south will | be taxed to produce cotton seed enough to l meet the demand for cotton-seed oil. At | present, however there is an ample margin | between seed production and oil production. | and there is no danger of deficiency in | either.
 The methods of handling the seed and se- | curing the oil in 1t mean cleanliness and | purity in the final product. The seeds are | put through a gin of superior construction | for the purpose of removing the short fibre | remaining after their passage through a l country ginnery. Tenacious as the fibre is, | the gins of the oil mills remove nearly ali | of 1t, and at the same time they remove all | the dirt and imperfect seeds. The we'll ginned and sound seeds are then carried to a machine that thoroughly chops the hard | shells and meats, and the chopped material | is then carried to the separators. The hulls are taken to the baling room, and the meats, now finely pulverized, are conveyed | to the room in which the cooking is done When the meats are cooked-a crucial and important feature of the process-they are