The times and democrat. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1881-current, 1908-09-11
AFTER 1T IS PICKED.
FARMERS LOOSE MILLIONS OF
DGLLORS By THE
Careless Handling of Their Cotton
After 1t Is Gathered and Being
Prepared for Market.

Every year cotton farmers worry
themselves almost into nervous pros
tration over the matters OF seed
selection, excess CT mcis. ure, drought
firing, army worms. rust, boil Wee
vii and dozen other ills to which
the growing plant is subject. But
when the staple has come to maturity
and been harvested Tin more or
less careless and wateful manner
what DO they do? This is the ques-
ton proDounded and answered by
the Savannah News.
Beginning with the picking and
running through 10 the final market
ing there is tremendous amount of
waste, roughly estimated to amount
to nose than million dollars per
crop. The "clean" picker is the eN-
ception rather than the rule. The
average picker. hustling to get out
the greatest number Of pounds in
the shortest space Of time, leaves
many ripe bols unplucked to take
the weather and drops other open
cotton upon the ground 10 he trampl-
ed and lost. In hauling to the gin
houses much more cotton is lost
through careless handling. In gin
nine modern methods have made the
losses inconsiderable, which is also
true of bailing. But after the fleece
is baIed then follow the greatest and
and most ineXcusable losses Of all.
The bailing is not carefully done, III
such manner as to preserve, the con-
tents Of the package IN the best
possible condition. There is no
standard or uniformity in size Of
press boxes, no standard Of density
of compression and no standard rule
for covering that will keep out mois-
ture and dirt and prevent what may
for convenience be called leakage.
The farmer will watch his growing
crop as carefully as he would SICK
child. and then, after the cotton is
ginned. permit it to BE badly baled
md rolled out into the open to take
the sun and rain as they come. II
is. not an uncommon sight to see
even thousands, of bales
of cotton parked" in the open air
at shipping point, the bales ragged
and unkempt, and. without protection
against water or fire; and the same
sort of thing is true on great many
farms The producer seems to lab
or under the impress n that his
duty to this crop ends when he has
got it picked and baled. He will see
the bales get soaked in heavy rain
without turning hair or he will
see the bales rolled through mud
puddles without entering protest.
But if he were to see bug in his
growing crop he would have a nerv-
Gus chill.
Bad baling inf1icts a tremendous
loss upon the cotton growers every
year. 1t is unreasonable to suppose
that .spinners will pay as much for
bale that is dirty and wet and rotten
ON the outside as they will for bale
that is clean and dry. It IS against
the very common sense OF things
that they should do so, Indian cot
ton nearly. always reaches the spin
ner in excellent condition, because
great care Is taken in the balfng OF
it and the bales re always kept III
good order. When the Indian bale
is broken open at the mill there are
no 10, 20 or 80 pounds to be thrown
out as unfit for spinning. as rs very
often the case with American bales.
Efficient packing Of cotton. OF
course, costs little more than poor
packing and vnere is some expense
attached t., tho ~~nrtior of sheds.
these added rcests are, IN the
long run, real economies.
Happily Married.