The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1900-11-21
THE COTTON SEED INDUSTRY.
TwENrY YrAEs Ano rmh SEED WAS

New Orleans, Nov. 4 There is pro
badly no great industry In Amcric;
about which 50 little Is known by th,
general public as that of cotton seed
Twenty years ago cotton seed was
thrown away. Today, although tn,
business IS but in its infancy, there ar,
more than 500 mills in the South that
represent an Investment of probably
$50, 100000, while the value o. tho
products of these mills is II excess OF
$4,000, 900 per year.
In oldcu times cotton planters looked
upon the surplus seed as one Of The
burdens they couldn't escape. They
burned the stuff, used il to fill low
spots in the field, paid TO have ii hauled
away, and were clad TO get rid of it,.
There is tradition that the Lewisla-
turc of Texas passed law making it
penal olfcnsc 70 dump cotton seed
in streams. However that may be the
law is now a dead letter, for farmers
arc not addicted to the habit these
days.
Today the cotton mills Of Texas are
paying from ST. to SD per toa for
cotton seed That would mean So to
81 per bale of cotton if all the seed
were sold. To make one bale of 800
pounds of cotton the pickcrs gather
500 to 900 pounds of lint and seed,
the seed weighing twice as much as
the lint, which adhcres to it. But the
planters DO not sell all their seed. A
small portion is retained for planting,
some is kept for stock tceding con-
siderable quantity is wasted. The au-
thOritieS say that not one half the seed
is sent TO the mills to be crushed,
MILLS IN OPERATION.
A census of the cotton oil mills of |
America would probably show between
800 and 600 in operation and large |
number in course of erection. From |
one of the most complete lists obtain
able the division Of mills in operation
Is given us follows Texas, 1870 f; |
Oklahoma, Indian Territory, .;
Arkansas, - Alabama, 40 Georgia,
GS; Louisiana, 33; Mississippi, Go:
North Carolina, 30; South Carolina, G6-
Tennessee, %; Florida, 3, and Nir-
ginia, |. This makes total OF sol.
The American Cotton Oi! Co. con
trolls the largest number of mills IN the
South. 1t operates in the separate
States under distinct names In Texas
it is officially known IT'S the National
Cotton Oil Co.. in Louisiana it is the
Union Oil Co.; IN Mississippi it is The
Mississippi Cotton Oil Co.. in Arkansas
the Arkansas Cotton Oil Co and in
South Carolina and North Carolina it
takes the name of the State to start
its official style. In Texas the Ameri.
can Cotton Oil Co. operates six mills,
one at Houston, one at Seguin, one at
Denison, one at TeXarkana, one at
Waco and one at IIearnc.
Next to the American Cotton Oil |
Co. in point of operation comes the
Southern Cotton Oil Co. The head
quarters of this corporation is at
Philadelphia. Its system seems to be
to divide its mills in sets Of two and TO
have each set under one management.
The Houston and New Orleans mills
arc under one management; so are the
mills of Savannah and Atlanta; so are
the mills of Little Rock and Newport,
Ark. This company in addition to the
plants named, owns mills at Memphis,
Montgomery and various other places
III the cotton belt.
EXTENT OF TIE BUSINESS.
The greatest cotton oil mill of the |
world is at Sherman, Tex. 1T is the
property of the Sherman Oil and Cot
ton Co. 1t is not only the largest but
the oldest, and itsproduct is the stand
ard of excellence, the Sherman brand |
commanding premium wherever
cotton seed products are sold. This |
mill has capacity to crush $50 tons |
of seed per day.
The ramifcatiOns Of the cotton seed |
business are wonderful. As adiuncts |
TO the mills Of Texas there are re-
tincrios, barrel factories, soap factories,
delinters, gins, stock pens for the feed |
ing of cattle preparatory to sending |
the beeves to market and variety of |
other industries.
Armour, Swift, Cudahy and all the
great packing house people are largely |
interested IN cotton seed mills, and use |
great quantities of the oil in the max
ing of compound lard and the many
substitutes for butter. Their business
in cotton seed products, however, does
not compare with that of England and
Germany, which countries arc the
largest customers of the,mills. The .eX-
porting of cotton seed oil and cake is
now only second in importance to cot
ton itself at most Of the Southern ports,
and an immense business is being de
vcloped France and Italy are pur
chasers of cotton seed oils
THE EXPORT DEMAND.
In former times France had quite
an industry in making of oils from the
crushing of tie African and East In
dian ground nut, but cotton seed oil
has supplantcd the ground nut oil and
shiploads of partially refined oils go
each season from Galveston and New
Orleans to MIarseilles to be again re-
fined and perfected by the process 80
well known to the French manufac.
turers. To Genoa considerable
quantity of cotton seed goes each year,
which comes back, it is alleged, as
pure olive oil, and which is difficult to
detect from the real thing.
Texas makes more out of cotton seed
than the other states. In the South
Atlantic States, whore Tie soil has
been worn out by excessive cultivation,
the meal is used in large quantities as
fertilizer. In Texas there has been
no necessity for reinforcing the soil,
so the entire cotton seed product is
put upon the market.
Statistics in REGARD to rho oyporta nf