Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1900-09-12

prices is attended by penalties in
llict"' upon the mill making the
change without authority. This
agreement between the mills is gen
orally understood to be made in the
interest Of their business and to pre-
vent what might result in losses to
them by reckless competition. But
whatever price the mills agree upon
should be no settlement Of the value
of our seed. The producers should
inform themselves AS to the true
market value of their products and
then Insist upon the payment of
lair price by the buyers. If the
mills arc not willing to pay fair
price, then hold the seed off the
market, and if necessary utilize them
in other ways equally as profitable.
rLANTATIoN OH. MILLS.
By erecting small plantation oil
mills of five tons daily capacity the
farmers can press the oil out OF their
seed and sell it direct to the larger
mills, Keeping the meal and hulls at
home, and make as much money out
of the sale Of the oil as they have
been heretofore receiving for the
whole ton of seed from the mills.
This is not the only advantage to
be gained by this system of handling
our seed in the future. If the farm
crs keep The meal at home there will
no longer be any need for buying
ammoniated guanos, and the Vir-
ginia and Carolina Trust Company
will cease to monopolizc the fertilizing
industry Of the South. With the
cotton seed meal kept on the farms
every farmer can purchase his phos-
phatc and potash, mixing the differ
cnt clements in proper proportion,
and the cost Of the commercial fer
tilizcrs in Georgia will be reduced
more than 100 per cent.
Wherever the small plantation oil
mills have been in operation they
have given perfect satisfaction, and
have uniformly paid a dividend Of 25
per cent on the invcsmn"t. 1t may
be said further that the larger oil
mills would prefer buying the crude
oil to the seed, as they now take all
OF that product from the smaller
mills. The great obstacle in the way
OF onr Southern farmers progress is
their general ignorance of the value
OF their money products, and the
slack and unbusincssikc methods
thry employ il disposing of their
products in the open markets.
FEEDING AND FERTlLIzIVG.
For feeding and fcrtilizing pur-
poses our cotton seed are even more
valuable than selling them to the
mills at high prices. A ton of cot
ton seed and q ton Of first class bran
are OF about the same feeding value.
The annual cotton seed crop is csti-
mated at 100000 tons. Naluine a
ton of seed at the usual market price
OF $40 per ton, and we find the feed
ing value of the crop to be SI5, 900.
0O0. With nitrogen at II cents,
phoSphOrlc acid at 5 cents and pot
ash at 4 cents, we have the manurial
value Of the crop, amounting to S40,-
3Go,OOO, making a totol annual value
to the Farmers, when the product is
led at home to live stock and the
manure is preserved, the sum of
$9l,3G5,OO
II the crop is sold in the markets
TO oil mills at the usual price Of $40
per ton, we receive only $4,000, 900,
sustaining a net loss Of about $50
100000. Now, if the seed are cx-
changed with the mills and only the
oil sold, or il that element is pressed
out in ncighborhood mills and sold
to the mills, the farmers would be
just as well off in the matter Of feed
stun, gaining in addition thereto
about $4,000, 900 for the oil alone,