Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1909-12-28

The rise In value and commercial inn
pcrtance OF cotton-seed constitutes one o
the greatest Industrial development,
which has characterized the south in the
rast quarter Of a century. Il Is conceded
that one OF the first attempts made q
crush cotton seed and extra oil and cak'
therefrom was made at Natchez. Miss.
IN 1854 This pioneer effort attracted bu
little attention for the industry languish
ed for nearly a third OF a century. as
there were only about four mills i'm Amer
ica In 1857 In 1870 there were some d
mills. and in 1870 g. The oil mill indus
try made remarkable strides from 1850 to
1Ssc, and a development characterized
most aptly b. the word phenomenal from
$50 70 the present time. The increase in
this period has been over 500 per cent
and there are now approximately 500 mills
producing oil, cake, huIls and other by
products which characterize this indus
try. The utilization Of the seed has nat
. urally kept pace with the development
OF the mill business. the per cent crushed
10 the total production OF seed inereas-
ing from 10 70 per cent in a period OF
IS 20 % years
The capital invested In the oil mill in
dustry represents fully slo0. 10000. and
gives employment 10 between 1900 and
4eo0 salaried employees. besides the $500
TO COCO laborers required TO operate the
plants and handle the product therefrom.
The value OF the products is considerably
in excess OF 500 o0oOo0. and this industry
now contributes TO the expert trade OF the
country more than 100000 annually. IN
other words. the once neglected and de-
spised cotton seed now brings in a stream
OF gold worth this vast sum annually,
and II our foreign markets were ex-
-
given TO the industry by congress. this
sum would be materially increased in the
near future
II Is the promise of this paper TO show
or how much greater value this industry
may be made 10 the south, within the
next few years IL II is managed with in
teiligence. and an effort made to edu-
cate the producer as TO the economic i'm
pOFtanee Of improving the quality of the
seed and then dispOsing of it 10
the oil mill: and the consumer TO
realize what a variety OF wholesome ma
terials cotton seed by-products provide
for the .nourishment and maintenance OF
the human race at a moderate cost as
compared with many fOOdstUffs now con-
sidered essential TO the dietary. There are
many difficulties in the way OF discuss
ing this subject with the proper degree
OF intelligence and accuracy which is de-
sirable. One Of the first and most i'm
pOTtant is the fact that reliable statistics
are exceedingly difficult To secure. and
therefore estimates. which are always un-
satisfactory had 10 be employed TO a
considerable extent in this discussion. The
cotton seed industry has now become so
important and the capital invested In IL
OF such a large volume that IL would
seem that those interested should get to-
gether and insist upon the bureau Of
statistics giving more attention to this
subject. and securing accurate data each
year for the information of those inter
exted in the manufacture and handling
Of cotton seed by-produets- Up to this
Atime the amount OF seed has been de-
teFmined practically on the basis Of cot
ton ''thirding' itself. Such an estimate
Is bound to be at a considerable variance
with actual production for the reason
that some varieties OF cotton produce q
per cent of lint. and others as high as a
per cent In some instances IL may take