The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1900-12-10
COTTON SEED-CoTT0N MEAL

II is the fashion with n younger genera
tom Of writer's. when discussing the phe
nomenal development of the commercial
uses q cotton seed and its various prod
ucts To m.nify the old-time farmers es-
timate of its value for footi and fertiliz-
ing purposes. This fashion may be either
the evidence IL SELF conccit or vanity of
wisdom. which we # this day cherish when
comparing what we know with what our
fathers and granGfathers knew in the
Flooding GAYS before the war" or il may
bc proof OF ignorance on the part OF those
Who are accustomed TO Took backwards
wi'h the lst;le end Of the telescope direct
Ell 10 the past. 1t is "A common saying
that IL is only within the last few years
tstv twenty or twenty-five that we have
found ont that cotton seed We're much
more valuable than so much garbage or
wlzte material that must be got rid of
somehow and that back of that period
the farmers had but little appreciation of
its value io- any purpose. AMI that IL
was largely permitted to go 10 waste
and decay. poiiu;ing the air with its rot
ting gases.
OF course. we older men. whose adult life
ami practical experience as farmers. goes
back into the early sixties and even into
ihe nfties and forties. laugh gently when
We read such idle tales. Ny first expe-
rience as "a worker on d farm
was had in 1888 when l tried to
pillow "Oid Jerry, but could not throw
the pillow over a log and was put TO the
hoe. I well remember ,he huge log pen
beside the old Sinhouse and the spout
from the Einnery above. and how we boys
used 60 love 10 push the cotton seed out
10 tire rotting pen below. Many farmers
Were not careful enough TO provide
rottng pen. but threw the seed out into
large heap. And how the seeds were haul
eli out to the corn field and placed in
small piles. three or four on every acre.
We Were shown how 10 divide "haml-
Cur' between two hills of corn. or put
2 fVl handful, 10 the hin." and some
times more. Cotton seed were known 10
bc "a valuable and most effective fcrti-
iizcr FOR corn. wheat. sugar cane way
back yondor. farther than I can icmem-
beg. Tor it WAS no new thing. "just come
about in 1>fg
Farmers then believed ia cotton seed
about as strongly as they DO now. il
may b. true. and doubtless was that a
few Mississippi river bottom farmers
treated cotton seed as a nuisance and
Gid Not utilize IL as a manure. But these
must have been only exceptions u the
rule. even in those rich felix's. and IL was
perhaps oNcusaoie ignorance IN the pres
cnce OF soil already too rich" as they
some times expressed IT,
The fact Is that cecomposed cotton seed
VIII fertiiize and render more productive
the richest natural soil THE sun ever
shone on provided due proportion of
ac-8 phosphate and potash be mixed with
H. Those rich bottoms did not neoi nitro
gen, and therefore responded 20 appliCa-
ts1ns a. cotton seed alone with only an
Increased rankness of weed" that was
already before too rank"
Isul what 1 set out 10 say is that farm
crs So highly appreciate the value Of
cutten seed ass a manure that they DO not
properly esteem cotton meal. Some 90
NOT understand that the meal contains
tle essence ANA substance OF The itrlli@-
.rs uuaut.y. ~ The seed. The hunts which
.-e worth very little as a fertilizer. ami
...s did when - ao-uiuteiy worthless. axe
ID. r-at llEr uteu removed rom liie
ST. al ur tle -u4u men, the mua4 la worm
O.. AIS farmers. as a ftrui1tts luit4 wv
sliu ruc-nali tihl-a as hiutn az 80 49,
utt-hl col zetd- la uaafts. so poulu7
uf meal are -qcal 10 teitl.1in& cohlen'a
.fI uracL4tssl N.llt4s as a manure, 10 -''7N
u.Iuu- nl seed. The oil mails VIII give
a.. l.sfmtr u0t less-as "a rule-ihtn Ll'o
mounds 81 meal ia exchange Tor one Ton
-,..r... .- cor more. mayrel OF meal over ana
BONE rh. ltrtill1ln. value 81 IN" tpn 'l
-..,I t. SET uu against The expense al
s...tr.r'uE tua ~ce4 10 .ne nitil. IA SOM
lrsL. ta. tNeaauEe. on account u lhe
distance. when the latter Is more than ten
miles ana the +.rr8IS are Dad.
uf course. 7 do not advise the use OF
cotton meal rs q fertilizer except the sur
r.Tre over anl above what farmer can
itei 90 bis cattle IN a 1udicious manner
h-- more o. ~ r. J. REDDING.