The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-07-12

century has been full of romance: for 1t has revealed the equivalent of gold miues in discarded products. One time the coal tar of the sas-houss was con- sidred worthless annoyance; now 1t is Immensely profitable because science gets from 1t all the beautiful aniliue l dyes and q curious list of useful chem ical substances including chemical su- gar. used for sweetening the diet of a certain class Of invalids. Out of the slag Of furnaces now comes building material: out of the smoke of coke ovens come products as valuable as l the coke; out of the offals of the l slaughter house comes as great profit as there Is in the carcase. All these conquests by science are full of TO- nance. both in discovery and develop- l ment.
 The south shares in this romantic progress because out of the discarded cotton seed of the gin has arisen an industry mounting up into the millions seed, bringing to the cotton grower and daily multiplying the uses of more profit and foreteliing the day when to the south shall belong every vestige of advantage in handling cot ton as 1t grows, cotton as 1t Is spun and cotton seed as 1t Is utilized. Novel Tee Cream Made. At last years State fair, many ladies enjoyed delicious samples of ice cream This ice cream was made of an enui- sion of cotton seed oil and eggs. IL was rich. creamy. satisfying. The pro- cesses through which the oil had gone were many and complicated, involving chemistry and mechanics applied to q great and growing new industry. 1 Let us take rapid journey through the largest cotton seed oil mill in Ala bama and we can then quickly get an understanding of the curious transfor- nation of heap of cotton seed into a substance for the frying pan. for salad dressings. for ice-crearn. for ba- keries and for soap.
 No reader in Alabama or Montgom- cry needs to be told what cotton seed 1 Is Or how it looks. Alabama produced nearly 600.ooo tons of this seed last year. It was worth roughly. $1S.oo a ton, delivered ct the oil mill The oil mills would be happy indeed if it were all delivered, for they have to go hunting for if and then do not even get 1t all, valuable tho it Is. The gov eFnmenk states that only about 51 per cent of all cotton seed produced reach es the mills. Of course. 10 per cent of the difference is needed for seed. the balance 40 per cent is still almost to- tally wasted by backward farmers; I though profitable, when sold for oil. According to government reports. Ala bafna still wastes nearly 60 per cent. But to proceed; the seed on its first arrival at the mill. is cleaned. The results are extraordinary; sand, brick bats. nails. and sometimes houseshoe. for luck. come out as a result. The l cleaning reduces the ton of seed 70 about 1900 lbs.
 Then 1t is ginned. The oil mill gin, I takes off as far as possible. the remain ing lint on the seed. A ton of seed produces about S0lbs of lint. This lint is very largely exported to Germany. because in Germany their scientific de- velopment has enabled them to spin and weave 1t into cloth. This Is a refinement of process not attained in America. Here 1t is only used in its easiest manner as felt for mattresses. horse collars. etc.
 Knives Revolving Rapidly
 Now the seed passes to the hulling machine, which is really cracking or cutting machine. The knives of the hulier are revolving at fifteen hunoreo revolutions a minute.
 So it is easy to understand why nails and horseshoes have to be removed In advance. From this point on. cotton seed looks like cotton eeed no longer.
 The process beyond the hulling ma chine is to separate the meats and the | hulls. It is done by a series Of sieves,
 
 l of air, Kaueed to the weight of the | hull. the hull thus being blown away | from fhe meats. The hulls are good l roughage for cattle and make excellent beef. Hundreds of poor stock are l bought up during the year. fattened on hulls and meal, together with other food, and thus make the first return of tse eotton seed, to the people of the South, in eatable form. Hulis are worth $500 a ton in the bulk. or $i0 a ton retail. In bags weighing 100 pounda each.
 The meats then lose sli ssnblance to anything that grows; for they pass be- tween a series of immensely heavy | steel rollers revolving in opposite di- rections, thus giving in q large way almost the same motion as the drug l gist's mortar and pestls.
 The pasty mess then has to be cook : ed. The cookers are no picayune pans but immense cylinders. capable of con taining hundreds of pounds each. The cooking is by steam and endures for | about twenty minutes.
 Preparfmg for the SQuee9e.
 When the cooking has reached the l proper point, long cloth Is laid in a .former'' close by the cooking cylinder and enough of the steaming meal is allowed to drop into the former to
 ail if level. Then the two ends of the ! clOtn are bAouSHS NR w S.N '.- thA meal is now ready to go Into the
 oil press. It is moved to the press by pushing under the cloth long spade
 shaped piece of Iron. which enables the
 workman to carry the soft mass to the
 press and the supporting spade with
 drawn from beneath 1t when properly
 placed.
 Fifteen such forms or cakes i'll (
 press and then commences the mos l strenuous process of all through whici
 the meal has to pass. By turning or
 hydraulic power the fifteen cakes art
 subjected to q pressure eQualling S0'
 pounds to the square inch. But that fl
 not all. After the oil begins to TUT
 freely from the edges and ends of thi
 cake, the pressure Is Increased until |
 reaches 4.0o0 pounds to the square inch
 The torture endures for about eigh
 teen minutes after which the cake are drawn out, their cloth eoVerlnRl