182 COTTOX CULTURE. 



in sacks upon the bank of the river, at some convenient 

 landing ; the sacks usually contained from 80 to 100 

 pounds, and were supplied by the manufacturers, who sent 

 them to the planters. When cotton seed oil mills were 

 first erected in the South, the planters, who had, previous 

 to that tune, been in the habit of allowing their cotton seed 

 to rot about the gin-houses, were suddenly seized with the 

 idea that this seed was a very valuable article of trade, 

 and that the demand would be far beyond the supply ; 

 many, therefore, began to house and take care of the seed, 

 and held large quantities at prices varying from eight to 

 twelve dollars a ton ; and, for a few years, the manufac- 

 turers paid as high as ten dollars per ton for the seed they 

 consumed. But as soon as they learned what quantity of 

 seed was produced for each bale of cotton that was grown 

 they put down the price ; and, in 1860, more seed was 

 offered at five dollars per ton, than their mills could have 

 consumed during the year. 



A proper mill for the manufacture of oil and oil-cake 

 from cotton seed, should consist of a substantial building 

 having three and a half stories and basement, one hundred 

 feet long by forty to fifty wide. The engine should have 

 power in proportion to the proposed capacity of the fac- 

 tory twenty horse-power, if two pairs of five-box 

 hydraulic presses are used. The hydraulic presses must 

 be placed on a firm foundation, carefully laid. Heaters 

 and rollers are machines made by the same machinists 

 that supply the presses and pumps. Of hullers, the ma- 

 chines that bear the same relation to oil that gins do 

 to lint, there are two or three patterns that will do the 

 work, though the best, because it is least liable to get out 

 of order and has a much greater capacity than any other, 

 is one invented by Abram J. Sypher, for some time an en- 

 gineer in the United States Navy. This machine is in its 

 appearance, in its operation, and manner of receiving 

 seed, somewhat similar to a wheat thresher. The seed 



