EXPOSITION, INTERNATIONAL COTTON. 



265 



which is said to be as efficient in the destruc- 

 tion of " blind-worms crawling in the grass," as 

 the miraculous agency of St. Patrick. One 

 man and horse, with this machine, in the 

 course of a day, can kill the worms on a large 

 cotton plantation. The display of cotton-gins 

 was very large. One of the main objects which 

 the exposition was expected to demonstrate 

 was a gin made on the knife-roller principle, 

 which would equal in speed and in quantity of 

 lint the ordinary saw-gin. While one or two 

 proved capable of somewhat higher speed than 

 any roller-gin hitherto seen, none of them came 

 near enough in ginning power to the saw- 

 gin to warrant the belief that they will take 

 its place on cotton-farms. In the vast num- 

 ber of gins displayed, some very simple, some 

 quite complex, in their construction, it was 

 remarkable that the foundation principle of 

 them all is precisely similar to that the in- 

 vention of which has made Eli Whitney as fa- 

 mous as Watt throughout the civilized world. 

 The modern gin is of course a great improve- 

 ment on that of Whitney an exact model 

 of which was exhibited and was an object 

 of much interest but the scientific prin- 

 ciple, though amplified and perfected, is the 

 same. Another anxiously anticipated result 

 of the exposition was the production of a ma- 

 chine which would cleanse cotton thoroughly 

 from the motes, consisting of bits of leaves, 

 bolls, and trash from the field, dust and trash 

 from the gin-house, and which would remove 

 the almost impalpable sand or dust which is 

 found in cotton grown on many soils and does 

 great injury to the machinery of the factory, 

 and which would thus benefit the producer by 

 enhancing the value of his crop, particularly 

 that known as " storm-beaten " cotton. It is 

 estimated that the present rude method of pre- 

 paring cotton for market costs the producer 

 at the lowest calculation from two to five per 

 cent on his entire crop. In other words, if all 

 the raw cotton were properly ginned and 

 cleansed from the above-mentioned impurities, 

 and then properly packed, so that no rain or 

 dirt from the bagging or yard could penetrate 

 it, the value of the larger part of the entire 

 cotton-crop would be enhanced five per cent to 

 the producer and probably as much more to the 

 consumer. The profit to the latter from well- 

 cleansed and well-baled cotton would arise part- 

 ly from the saving of time and labor now spent 

 in picking and carding, but mainly from the 

 greater strength of the yarn, which is now 

 much injured by the mechanical appliances em- 

 ployed in factories to remove the trash and 

 dust. Machines to do this important work 

 were exhibited by Joseph Ealston, of Bren- 

 ham, Texas, and by the Clark Seed-Cotton 

 Cleaner Manufacturing Company, of Atlanta, 

 Georgia. The machines of both inventors were 

 highly approved by large numbers of farmers 

 who had fully tested their merits, and who 

 stated that by their use " storm-cotton " had 

 been enhanced in value from three to four 



cents per pound. The display of their power 

 to do what is claimed for them, which was 

 made daily at the exposition in presence of 

 numbers of practical and intelligent planters 

 and manufacturers, proved beyond question 

 that they are of incalculable value. The mo- 

 dus operandi in cleansing dirty cotton is to sub- 

 ject it to the action of " beaters " before the 

 fiber has been removed from the seed. The 

 seed with the lint attached, being of greater 

 specific gravity than the trash, dust, etc., mixed 

 with the lint, is detached and carried by the 

 action of the beaters away from the trash, and 

 the trash is deposited in receptacles prepared 

 for it. The judges, believing that the Ralston 

 Cotton- Cleaner is the best that has ever been 

 devised for the accomplishment of the long de- 

 sired end. awarded it the " Grand Prize of the 

 Exposition " five hundred dollars, or a piece 

 of plate of equal value. The Clark machine 

 had also great merit. It wcs distinguished by 

 the award of one hundred dollars in money or 

 plate. The demand for these machines is now 

 so great that the Ralston and Clark factories 

 will find it difficult to fill the orders already 

 received. An intelligent planter of large ex- 

 perience an extensive cotton - grower re- 

 marked, when looking at the cotton-cleaner at 

 work, "That machine alone is of sufficient 

 value to pay the South the cost of the entire 

 exposition ten times told." This is no exag- 

 gerated estimate. Of the 6,000,000 bales of 

 cotton now produced, far more than 1,000,000 

 bales are graded as u ordinary " and u low- 

 middling," in consequence of the trash, sand, 

 and dirt which they contain. A machine which 

 would remove this trash, and give to the price 

 of even 1,000,000 bales .'in addition of one cent 

 per pound, would add $5,000,000 to the annual 

 value of the crop. 



Of cotton-presses with power sufficient to 

 compress a bale of cotton so as to make it im- 

 pervious to rain or dust, under the rough treat- 

 ment it receives when in transit between the 

 gin-house and the factory, several were ex- 

 hibited. One press, that of P. K. Dederick & 

 Co., of Albany, New York, displayed power to 

 compress a bale to forty pounds to the cubic 

 foot, giving it the density of elm-wood, with- 

 out, as is alleged, any injury to the fiber. The 

 main advantage of this compression accrues to 

 the carrier by land and sea. The good effected 

 by making the bale proof against rain and dust 

 is done away by the increased difficulty caused 

 by compression in removing motes and other 

 trash from the lint. The price of these pow- 

 erful presses is so great, and it being by no 

 means a settled question that great pressure 

 does not injure the elasticity of the fiber, that 

 farmers in general are not likely to purchase 

 them. 



Another agricultural machine well worthy 

 of notice was Kemp's Manure-Spreader. It is 

 a cart with large broad-tired wheels, capable 

 of holding between 30 and 40 bushels of ordi- 

 nary manure, with a short tongue to connect 



