Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1917-11-25
NEW BALING MACHINE { HELPS RICE GROWERS
HELPS RICE GROWERS Compressor Makes Available for Ship ing Straw, Formerly Allowed
 to Waste.

Stuttgart, Nov. 24.-Arkansas rice and it's by-products now promise to enter a wider field of commercial use, by reason of the solution of the prob" lem of compressing the straw to a density that will permit of it's eco nomical handling. 1 Announcement of the successful mechanical tests to bring this about was made here today by w. R.. Beat tie, agricultural commissioner for the Cotton Belt route, who has been con- ducting compressing experiments in the Arkansas rice districts around Stuttgart for nearly five years.
 Almost simultaneously with the perfection of the new compress comes a ready market for the straw as a feed in the drought stricken districts of Texas. Dealers and brokers of that state within the last few days have visited the Stuttgart and Dewitt ter ritory, offering from $9.50 to $10 a ton for all bright and dry straw that can be shipped to them from now un- til February 15.
 MT. Beattie explained that the ad- vantage of the compress lies in the fact that equal to two ordinary car loads can be shipped in one car, thus increasing the utility of cars. He said if the Texas demand is supplied this year the Arkansas rice farmers will be able to hold the market for fu- ture years, and while the same con ditions may not prevail there will be an increasing demand for the straw as it's value as feed becomes known Great quantities of the straw is now being shipped to government camps; and this demand will increase during the winter months, so that there car be little doubt regarding market fo1 all the straw available.
 Several types of machines have been experimentd with by the Cotton Belts agricultural department, but none o1 these proved entirely satisfactory te those making the tests. The new compress is declared to be 95 per cent perfect in mechanical construction and 100 per cent efficient from working standpoint. The first press is now running on the Walton-Arkansas Rice company's property, near Dewitt Ark. M. R. Crandall, manager of the Walton farms, is enthusiastic over the performance of the machine, and il is now regarded certain that it will do the work in a satisfactor manper In design, the machine is exactly like the ordinary power baler, but is much more powerful. and has a capac. ity of from 20 to 30 tons of rice straw daily, the bales being the ordinary size and weighing from 100 to 14( pounds each, as compared with weights of 35 to 70 pounds with the common baling machines. The power required by the new compress is very little greater than that for the ordt nary power baier, but the baled straw is so solid that it closely resembeE blocks of wood, making it possible tt load the baled straw 10000 to 5O,OO( pounds in a box car.
 To any one acquainted with shipping conditions at present, the commercial value of machine of this character will be readily understood, and it il predicted that it's use will revolut ionize the entire hay and straw ship ping industry of the country.
 1 The operation of the machine is be ing closely watched on Grand Prairie and it said by rice farmers here tha number of the machines will be pur chased in the near future