Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1908-09-11
THE CARE OF COTTON.
Important Matter Urged Upon the At
tention of the Farmers

Gentlemen:
! The time for picking cotton having
arrived, has it ever occurred to you to
look into the question of damage
brought about by a lack Of care for
| the staple from the time it is ginned
to the time of marketing? Having
| lived on a plantation for twenty-on
years, and at present owning and oper-
ating one, as we'll as being in the cot
ton business for the past ten years, I
thought possibly that my observations
along this line might tend to show the
great amount of money lost to this
cotton producing country. I desire to
impress upon the farmer the necessity
of caring for his cotton after laboring
hard all the year to make it, and there
by lessen friction between producer,
buyer, and manufacturer. A large
portion of the farmers, as we'll as the
carriers, treat the staple as though it
were coal, allowing it to lie on the
ground for months after ginning sub
ject to climatic conditions, which re-
suits in rot and country damage.
When the cotton is ready for the
market it is picked up and offered for
sale, the damage, as a usual thing, be-
ing disregarded until subjected to the
| buyers inspection, who. In protecting
his interests, will either dock for the
sulting in great loss to the farmer
Unquestionably it is to the farmers in
terest to store his cotton in a reputa-
BILE warehouse, thereby protecting him
self from loss from fire as we'll as
damage, and in addition he can secure
| warehouse receipt for same, which is
prime mercantile paper, and can be
discounted at any bank, allowing the
| farmer to sell his cotton when he de-
| Sires to do so.
My object, however, is to impress
upon the farmers to house their cotton
as soon as it is ginned, whether it be
in a warehouse, or in their barns, or
dwelling, thereby reducing the element
Of damage to a minimum.
To my mind, one of the most i'm
portant things the Farmers Union and
the Southern Cotton association could
handle is the caring for cotton after it
is ginned and up to the time it is mar
keted. Having personally handled,
during the past ten years, about 100000
bales of cotton of all grades and sta
pie, this cotton being shipped here from
Texas and Oklahoma on the west, to
North Carolina on the east, I do think
[ am in very fair position to speak
inteligently Of the item Of damage,
largely caused by carelessness.
In addition to the rotten cotton on
thousands of bales, varying from five
to as much as three hundred pounds
per bale, all of which has to be pick
ed off before settling for and which is
caused by allowing the cotton to sit on
one end or lie on one side in the mud
and rain for months before being Of
fered for sale; there is another element
Of damage which is not so easily de-
tected, but which has a far more
reaching effect on the buyer, as we'll as
the manufacturer. l refer to what is
called country damage.
When cotton is allowed to stand in
the weather after being ginned for
any length of time, although the own
err may turn it about from side to side
to keep it from rotting, the staple Of
the cotton on the outside of the bale is
affected just in proportion to the time
it is allowed to remain exposed to cli-
matte conditions. To illustrate, bale
Of cotton ginned and packed December
the first and allowed to remain in the
weather until the first of March, will
have about half as much country dam
age as the same bale would have if 1t
remained in the weather until May the
first. and when the manufacturer opens
this bale. he will find that the cotton
sticking to the bagging and extending
inward is practically without any
strength of staple, and as a result all
Of this affected cotton will go in waste
or be found in the shaftings overhead.
Should the buyer detect this country
damage. the farmer, is the loser;
should the buyer not detect it, the buy
or is the loser; in any event, dissatis-
faction is the result, all of which
could have been avoided by housing the
cotton. The amount of country dam
age varies in proportion to the time the
cotton lies out in the weather, and will
vary from three to twenty-five pounds
per bale. I have 100000 bale crop
produced, the producer, the carrier,
and the compress together, allow 25O,-
| 600 bales to be destroyed by rot and
country damage, and when you figure
this at ten cents per pound it amounts
to S12.5OO,OOO. all of which could be
saved to the producer, the buyer, and
the manufacturer should they exercise
the proper precautiOn against damage.
| Three years ago a farmer brought
twenty bales Of cotton to the ware
been out in the weather since it was
ginned in the fall. Some Of the bales
were so badly damaged and water sog-
ged that they weighed one thousand
|
allowed his cotton to get in that condi-
!. ton: he replied. that he was so busy
| making preparation for another crop
that he had not cared for what he had
already made When this cotton was
conditioned for market. he had about
ten bales Of merchantable cotton left
out Of the twenty. A bale of cotton
ginned dry and housed until marketed
will hold out better than one allowed
to remain in the weather subject to
climatic conditions, and will not pos
scSs the element of damage, and will
also retain its strength of staple, even
to the bagging.
Travel where you will. and you will
see cotton sitting at railroad stations
in the mud and rain. or you will see it
lying on the ground around farm