The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1905-04-26
GIL MILL MEMS WEN.
MILL MEN ESTIMATE ACREAGE
REDUCTION.
Average Decrease of From 10 to 20
Per Cent. in Planting Observed by
Cotton Seed Crushers.

Per Cent. in Planting Observed by
Cotton Seed Crushers.
The Manufacturers Record this
weeks says:
Figures Of the total cotton seed
crush in the South during the season
now closing are not available, but
letters from the cotton seed oil mills
filing three or four pages reveal rath-
er an unsatisfactory situation from the
mill standpoint and Incidentally
brings out quite a number Of interest
ing points about the cotton crop Of
1e04-5 and the prospect Of the COM
ing crop.
''In the first place, many Of the mills
did nto receive as much seed in the
aggregate as they might have expect
ed. The extraordinary yield of lint cot
ton had much to do with a decrease in
the size and weight Of the seed. The
high as 40 pounds or more to the 100
pounds of seed cotton, and it is believ-
ed averaged frequently from sc to SO
pounds, whereas the average is usually
33 1-3 pounds. One ablishment, for
instance, handling more than 1000
bales not infrequently got 500-pound
bale of lint from 1850 pounds of seed
cotton, showing a falling off in the
yield Of seed per bale Of about $50
pounds. This falling off accounts in
part for the small quantity Of linters
in comparison with the large ginning
reported, though another influence
was the fact that there was reduction
in the quantity of seed moved to the
mills for crushing, the farmers prefer
ring to use the seed for cattle feed or
to fertilize grain and vegetables, rath-
er than to sell at the low prices which
were offered after the fall in the, price
of the lint was accompanied by a fall
in the price of oil At one point in In
dian Territory it was noted that the
falling off was from IS to so per cent
Of the total seed produced.
.'While this unprecedented yield OF
lint left some seed short Of oil, so that
instead of Al or AZ gallons to the ton
of seed, only about '3S gallons We're
obtained, the average amount Of Oil
was obtained from other seed in spite
of the fact that the yield Of seed from
seed cotton was but 60 per cent Of the
total weight, whereas it is usually 81
per cent. The actual yield of oil per
ton Of seed was about the same as
usual, or was smaller or greater III diff
ferent localities and sections. The
Weld seems to have been about the
same or better in Alabama. Florida,
Georgia, South Carolina and North
Carolina, though in Georgia where one
mill obtained IL gallons more Of oil
to the ton because of improved meth
DDS Of handling rather thar cndition
of seed. and another had better
crush than for fourteen years past,
third found the seed unusually dry
and had to use water in cooking the
meats, and a fourth attributed the bet
terment to the fact that it had been
obliged 10 use damaged seed IN the
preceding season and while some mills
in Mississippi found the seeds richer
in oil by three gallons to the ton than
for the past five years, others reported
a yield of one or two gallons less per
ton. with one North Carolina mill
tracing the good yield to improved ia
cilities for crusheing. The shortage
in yield ranged from three to five GAL
Ions per ton in the Indian Territory,
to two to five gallons per ton in Texas,
and the shortage is accounted for by
the dry and hot summer making small
and shrivelled seeds, or to the prema-
ture opening of young bolls in Arkan-
sas, by damage of the seed by rain in
the gathering season in Louisiana, by
the dry spring and wet summer pre-
venting the proper maturing OF seed
in South Carolina, by the dry and
small seed in North Carolina, by the
full ripening Of the seed in Georgia,
by faulty seed due to the dry season
in the Indian Territory by the punct-
ure of the seed, by the boil ~eevil IN
Texas, or by the very hot and dry
weather in August, causing too early
maturity of the seed in Texas. 1t is
interesting to note that at several
points machinery of recent make and
best quality kept up the average of
production or increased it.
'The oil mills generally note the
prospect of a reduction in acreage, va
:,. ~. c+o+oc on1 hv different local