The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1906-11-03
FARMER AND PLANTER
MARKETING YOUR COTTON.
How Georgia Congressman Would
Have II Done.

We have heard our leaders and
ablest speakers upon this important
subject; but 1t remained for Con-
gresham Lon Livingston, from New
ton county, Georgia, to give us the
clearest and most concise presenta-
ton Of this vital subject in an ad-
dress to the farmers institute, held
in CovingtoI, Ga, says the Southern
Agricultural.
1-Gather it right. 1t is ruinous pol
Icy to rush our cotton from the field
to the gin. We lose from u to u
cent in grade; then twenty bales gath
cred and packed down in a cotton
house would yield twenty-one bales
in lint, but the lint growing longer
and the oil coming out of the seed
into the fiber. He illustrated this by
the fact that a persons hair grows
after they are dead. He estimated
we lose at least $3.50 per bale in this
hurrying our cotton to the gin. AS
our mills weave finer and finer fab
better grade of cotton. This point
cannot be stressed too much. Do
not rush your cotton either to the gin
or upon the market; delay both as
long as you are in position to do so.
2-See that 1t is put in a neat pack
age by the ginner, and keep 1t out Of
the weather. No farmer should re-
ceive a bale from his ginner that is
not both neatly and securely packed
We lose from rs cents to 81 per bale
here.
3-Ascertain just as nearly as you
can what the spinners of the world
will consume, and also what will be
our probable yield. AS the law of
supply and demand ought to fix the
price and would do so, If so many in
terventions and go-betweens were not
brought into play, to prevent its doing
so. Do not trust this to others, but
read your papers and learn for your
self
4-Sell your cotton as it is con-
sumed-not all in three months, but
in twelve. No middleman or millman
is going to carry this cotton for us,
without insurance, storage, interest
upon their money and then a profit
We can do 1t more cheaply than we
can hire them to do 1t for us. This
costs us about Sill per bale.
5-Never sell one bale or ten bales.
Through your clubs sell in %, so, 100
and 1,000-bale lots. Cotton sold in
this way always commands from v
to II cent more. 1t is just as i'm
provident to sell by the bale as Il
would be to buy sugar by the ten
cents worth.
6-Never be in hurry to sell, when
everybody else is selling; it is a good
time to hold When everyone is
holding, you can use judgment in
selling, because there will be better
demand
Cut down your area half and pro-
duce twice the amount per acre. This
makes it cost you much less to pro-
duce 1t.
Sect better seed, as this also re-
duces the cost
9-The banker and business man
calculate to mill their income and
outgo. II We will guard all these
leaks. We can save at least $40 on
every bale of cotton we grow. See
what it will mean to the comfort and
wealth of the producers. We want
to add No. 10. We have seen thous-
ands of acres of cotton in our south.
land that is as fine as we ever saw,
and thousands the poorest. Why
this latter condition? The lack of
work. They will say too much rain,
but we say too little work. Do not
plant so much. Do not plant more
than you can cultivate well. "'Tis
not lack of labor we are suffering
from; It Is over-acreage in cotton and
cultivated crops. Sow in gram, PIT