[for the Richmond Dispatch.]
oil for railroads, machinery, &c.--important suggestion.
Camp Carolina, Near Norfolk, Va., Headq'rs. 2d Regt. N. C. Volunteers, June 22d, 1861.
I noticed in your paper, a day or two since, a short article in regard to the lack of oil for railroads, machinery, &c. I should like to call the attention of the Confederate States to an invention of Mr. A. J. Hardin, of Shelby, Cleveland county, North Carolina, by which I am sure this want can be easily supplied Mr. Hardin has invented a machine by which he can hull the cotton seed with great rapidity.
The hard outer coating of the cotton seeds contains a gummy substance, which makes it unfit for almost any purpose; rid it of this and you have one of the finest oils in the world.
It is pure, translucent, fine for table purposes, burning, machinery, or any other purpose to which the best oils are applied. I have seen it tried for burning, machinery and printing, and I can assure you it answers admirably well. The machinery to manufacture it is not very expensive, and as we have in the South the material in great abundance, all that would be needed to supply the wants of the entire South is a little capital to put the thing in operation. Mr. H. is a man of small means, and of course could not go into the manufacture upon a large scale. I hope you will give this an insertion, and thereby call the attention of capitalists to the fact; for, in our present condition. I regard it of the utmost importance. A. W. B.
