The times and democrat. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1881-current, 1909-09-07
SUine GUOD AL VICE
ABOUT THE CAREFUL HANDLING
OF GINNED C:5TTON.
It is Matter That Involves a Loss
Of Big Sum of Money to the

|
It is Matter, That Involves Loss
Of a Big Sum of Money to the
South. s,5i 80 .uy
The time for picking cotton hay
ing arrived, has it ever occurred to
you to look into the question of
damage brought about by lack Of
care for the staple from the time
1t, is ginned to the time. of market
ing? Having lived on plantation
twenty-one years, and at the pres
ent owning and operating one, as
Well as being in, the cotton business
for the past ten years, ! thought
possibly that my observations along
| this line might tend. to show the
great amount of money lost to this
cotton producing country. Il desire
to impress upon the farmer the
necessity OF. caring for his. cotton af-
ter. laboring hard all the year, to
make, 1t, and thereby lessen friction
between producer, buyer and manu-
facturer. A large portion of the
farmers, as well as the carriers, treat
the staple as though 1t were coal,
allowing it to lie on the ground for
months after ginning, subject to eli
matte conditions, which results 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 being disregarded until sub
jected to the buyers inspection, who,
in protecting his interests, will eth
er dock for damage or have the cot
ton picked, resulting in great loss
to the farmer. Unquestionably it is
to the farmers interest to store his
cotton in reputable warehouse,
thereby protecting himself from loss
by fire as well as damage, and in
addition he can SECURE warehouse
receipts for same,, which is prime
mercantile table, and can be dis
counted at any bank, allowing the
farmer to sell his cotton when he
desires to do so.
My object, however, is to IMPRESS
upon the farmers to house their cot
ton 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 mini
mum.
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 cot
ton after it is ginned, and up to
the time it is marketed. Having
personally handled, during the past
ten years, about 100000 bales of
cotton of all grades and staple, this
cotton being shipped here from Tex
as and Oklahoma on the West and
to North Carolina on the East, do
think I. am in very fair position
to speak intelligently of the item
Of damage, largely caused by care
lessness. zs
/. 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 picked of before. selling for
and which is caused by allowing the
cotton to sit on one. end or be on
one side in the, mud and rain for
months before being offered for
sale, there is another element of
damage which is not so easily de-
tected, but which has more far
reaching effect on the buyer, as well
as the manufacturer. refer to what
is called country damage.
When cotton after being ginned is
allowed to stand in the weather for
any length of time, although the
owner 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 proper
ton to the time it is allowed to re-
main exposed to climatic conditions.
To illustrate, a. 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 damage
as the bale would If it remained in
the weather until May the first and
when the manufacturer opens the
bale, he will find that the cotton
sticking to the bagging and extend
inginward is practically without any
strength Of staple. and as result
all Of this affected cotton will go
in waste or be found in the shaft
ings overhead.
Should the buyer detect this coun-
try damage the farmer is the loser,
should the buyer not detect it, the
buyer is the loser, in any event,
dissatisfaction is the result, all of
which could have been avoided by
housing the cotton. The amount Of
country damage 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 carefully estimated that on
every 100000 bale crop produc-