Year: 1860

|
A correspondent from Mississippi puts to us
the following questions: How much oil can
be expressed from ton of cotton seed? How
much from the hullcd seed by weight What
will be the weight of cake after the oil is press
ed out? What machinery would be required
to clean the seed ready for the press Cost i'll
New York or New Orleans? What is the
wholesale price in New York, of the oil, Of the
cake, Of the meal?


These questions open subject of very great
Importance to the cotton planter 1t is whether
the seed of his main staple, now an article that
rots at the ginhousc or that is only used for
manure, can be made profitable to him. The
plan of our correspondent manittsly is to pur-
chase machinery. TO express the OF! upon the
plantation, and to use the cake for feeding, il
it can be made to pay, The question is not
whether mechanic or capitalist in Nicksburg
or Natchez, who can buy cotton seed at ten
cents bushel can make the manufacture of
oil or cake pay, but whether the planter eau
afford to go into this business on his own ac-
count? What is the cotton seed really worth
W mn lc 10 luI lCCuiHS puTpuStS
We wish to look at this aspect Of the question
before proceeding to the questions touching the
machinery, etc.
| Throughout the cotton region there is great
lack of feeding stuIls. Cotton is regarded as
| the main staple, and everything else is neglect
ed for this. Though it is not regarded as good
husbandry by the most Intelligent planters, ii
not unfrequently happens, that the planter does
not raise his own corn, or pork. In n season
of drought like this, many planter will spend
thousands Of dollars for corn, hay, pork beef
ETC., that might all be made upon his own plan
tation. Whatever may be the fact in the case.
it ia generally believed that our cultivated
grass es will not flourish in the cotton belt, and
it is only in rare cases that the seed is sown
The COWS, where they are kept, get q mcagcr
subsistence from the woods and cane brakes
and give milk but part of the year. The main
reliance for fodder for mules horses and horned
cattle, is the stalks and grain of Indian corn.
This plant which comes from the South, and
might be made immensely productive and
cheap, is very seldom cultivated with animal
manures, and the crop is much smaller than in
q less congenial climate, where it has better
husbandry. Corn is often, if not always, a.
high in the cotton region rs in this Market
Immense quantities of corn go down the Mis-
sissppi and lis tributaries, TO find n markc
upon the cotton plantations. A dollar is no
unfrequently paid for bushcl of corn, aili
scventy-iivc cents is a common price. proba
bly, this last figure would not he an over csti
mate for the average price Of corn in the cottol
belt for term of years.


In such region, n new supply of fodder is
desideratum, and one of the richest boons thu
could be bestowed upon the planter. We ar
quite confident that he has this dcsidcratun
and this boon, in the seed of his great staple
1t is not until quite recently that the cotto
seed has received any attention as an Article c
food, or that any use has been made of it c,
cept az manure. Even now it is wasted quit
as often rs saved, and though its value, as


manure, is demonstrated, ii is thrown into tn


nearest stream, or suffered to rot in the ncig,


borho0d of the gin. Its value is not yet gen,


rally understood, and there is no largo dcmant


either for the oil or for the cake. The who


use of the seed is still matter Of cxpcrimen


and it must be some years before il can wor


its way into popular favor. II is only bccaus


the seed could be had for q song that cilor


have been made to extract oil from it, and


use the cake for feeding purposes. A very il


genious machine has been invented for hull


the seed, and We have cake and oil made fro


the hulled and unhulled seed. The cotton SCI


oil is used for various economical purposes, al


the meal gives pretty general satisfaction so Fl


as it is used. The crude oil is quoted in u


prices current at about fifty cents gallon, NJ


the refined at about eighty. The meal has SO


in the Northern markets at about one doll


and fifty cents the hundred weight the past SC


son. This We suppose to be the meal of 4


cake ground after the oil is expressed.


course the meal made from the seed bclu
: pressing, would he much more valuable t
ho feeding purposes. Judging from the mark
H. prices Of the oil and the meal, cotton seed


the planters gin is not worth less than u doll
ro Il buslel as an article of fodder. How fur I
,lv corn mills would answer to grind cotton Sc
gh we are not able TO say, but we would suppo
~ they would make the meal sufficiently fine
~ feeding Every large plantation has its o,
nc mill generally at the gin-house and the sai
'p- machinery that makes corn meal would ser
art to make cotton seed meal We should like
~ ~ sec, some experiments made to establish Il
sht point. Oar present belief is, that the colt
os- seed is worth a great deal more to the plant
ito to feed to his cattle, than it would be to sell
nj the manufacturer, Or to work up himself ii
at. oil and cake for market o.
ads TirAhystem of husbanlry pursued npon t
"ir %l cotton plantation, is rapidly destroying I
he soil, and deserves the reprobation of every
hat tclligent cultivator. Nothing but cotton
at sold from the plantation, and no pains are t.
Ia en- to make manurcs and to restore the wasii
Til fertility of the soil. The use of cotton seed


some compensation to the land for the consta


drain upon it. 1t would be worth still mt
TO to the land 1T could be passed through
" bodies of animals, be mixed with muck or st
ins "
the and the compost be applied to the cultivat
ian fields. To turn the seed into oil and cake
at market, would be only to hasten the destr
.n. tion Of the plantation, process that is goi


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