io6 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



oping the industry were good until the breaking out of the civil 

 war cut off the supply of seed. Directly after the war, in 1866, 

 there were only seven mills in the whole country. Three of 

 them were in New Orleans, one in Providence, one in Cincin- 

 nati, one in Memphis, and one in New York. In 1870 there 

 were twenty-six mills ; in 1880, forty-five ; and in 1890, two hun- 

 dred and twenty-five all but two being in the Southern States, 

 ^as follows: Alabama, thirty; Arkansas, twelve; Florida, three; 

 Georgia, thirty-nine ; Louisiana, fifteen ; Mississippi, twenty-three ; 

 North Carolina, twenty ; South Carolina, thirty-four ; Tennessee, 

 twenty; Texas, twenty-seven. The highest capacity of any of 

 the mills is 320 tons daily ; and for all the mills, 7,636 tons daily, 

 or 2,367,160 tons annually. None of them are operated on full 

 time, and most of them run only three or four months during the 

 height of the cotton season. The mills are of all sizes, and they 

 range from $5,000 to over $250,000 in value. 



The output of cotton-seed products was valued at $600,000 in 

 1860, $2,205,000 in 1870, $7,691,000 in 1880, and nearly $22,000,000 in 

 1890. Since that date the product has fallen off. The details for 

 1890 were : 28,000,000 gallons of crude oil ; 17,000,000 pounds of 

 cotton batting ; 283,000 tons of oil cake ; 378,000 tons of hulls, ash, 

 soap-stock, and other by products ; and $2,853,000 of enhanced 

 value in refining the oil and manufacturing the soap. The 

 Southern States produced 2,870,417 tons of cotton seed in 1880, of 

 which barely one eighth was crushed in the mills. The yield of 

 seed during the past five years has been as high as 3,600,000 tons ; 

 but only one fifth of it reached the mills. The American Cotton- 

 seed Oil Company, formerly known as the Cotton Trust, owns the 

 entire capital stock of ninety-five factories, a small portion of 

 which are not in operation. The factories include not only crude- 

 oil mills, but mills for the production of fertilizers, soap, and the 

 other products. The total business for the year ending November 

 1, 1889, the best in the history of the mills, was about $25,000,000. 

 An improved method of crushing gave better results than for 

 any previous year. At first the oil was transported from the mills 

 in barrels, but now a great saving is effected by the use of tank 

 cars. 



When the season is not dry the seed is rich in oil, and it yields 

 readily thirty-five or more gallons to the ton. An unfavorable 

 season reduces the yield to thirty-one gallons. When the seed is 

 well stored and properly ventilated, it will keep for a year ; it is 

 liable to become rancid in the hold of a vessel. If stored long in 

 bulk, it becomes superheated and liable to spontaneous combus- 

 tion. These facts prevent exportation in large quantities. The 

 cotton plant yields an average of nine hundred and fifty pounds 

 of seed to each bale of cotton. The price of seed has been as high 



