The Dawson journal., 1883-05-17
Cation Seed the Wonder of the
day.

eteIle. agricultural editor of the Mobile
fAla.) Register, paper read BY him read
before the American Agricultural Associa-
tion. at its second annual meeting, held in
the CITY of New York, February 1st, End
aud3rd, 1882, entitled ''cotton seed, the
greatest wonder of the present day" AS
will be seen by its title it treats of a subject
which though, perhaps somewhat hack.
peved, is still of absorbing interest to every
cotton planter, and in the hands Of Pro-
fessor Stelle, it becomes even more than
usually entertaining.
In this paper the Professor alludes con.
cisely to the former disrespect paid by
nlanters to cotton seed, and shows how
completely has that disrespect given way
to reverence, Up to the beginning of the
late war, says the, cotton had been raised
in the United States for its lint alone, the
seed usually being looked upon by planters
as disagreeable but unavoidable nuisance.
Toe prevailing practice was to let it rot,
or burn it in heaps at the gin, while as a
food article for cattle it was looked upon as
positively injurious and stock was fenced
off from it, But what a change has been
wrought by the result OF the war between
the States. The necessities arising from
southern lmpoverishment caused the valua-
bic properties of the cotton seed to be in
vestigated, and what was discovered? !?
That either hulled, unhulled or as meal it
was an excellent fertilizer; that itsuppled
splendid article of oil which could be
used in place of lard oil, than which it was
not onlv superior, but cheaper; an oil
which tanners pronounced entirely suitable
for leather, and to the superiority of which
even the woll-carder and spinner bore
ample testimony; an oil which provided a
splendid1u 1ubricator for the finest machinery,
and '.the natural cleanliness, freedom from
unpleasant odors and great perfection as to
keeping qualities" of which, all combined
to render it decided favorite in every in
stance where there is any demand for an
oil of its character.
Nor have the wonders of cotton seed and
cotton oil by any means stopped here. AS
an article of food for cattle, it has been
found that cotton-Seed meal possesses Al
O25 per cent Of flesh forming principles.
28044per cent of heat producing principles
and 16.005 per cent of far producing prin-
ciple, while corn only possessed Is. 175 of
the flesh forming principles, 1886 of the
heat producing principles and 5.945 of the
far reducing principle. So much for the
value of the seed, after the, oil had been ex-
pressed there from, as a food article for
beast For man it was found equally
useful in some respects. "All along" says
Professor Stelle, "the greatest demand for
our cotton seed oil came from Europe, and
hence much the greater portion of it has
been exported. What were they doing
with it over there? We could not answer
the question at first, but finally on the
principle that murder viii out we got in
possession Of the secret. They were refin-
ing and shipping it back to us for our use
as olive Oil, and we were Using it probably
with feelings of gratitude toward our
European neighbors for having supplied
us with bettcrQuality of6il ,bah common,
at the seeming low price of from $500 to
S4OO per gallon-a product which had
gone from us only a few months before,
leaving as an equivalent for each gallon
exported the just and full sum of from
thirty to forty cents!" Thus it seems that
the formerly much despised cotton seed
was found to be not only a fine Fertilizer,
but an article which furnished oil suitable
1or almost every known purpose, and
splended food for man and beast. No won-
der this all sounds more like an extrgva-
CANT romance than stern reality" and
that from 1870 to 1882 cotton Seed oil mills
increased in the South from IS to 81.
We have in this article necessarily glancd
very hastily over the able paper of Pro.
lessor Stelle, and culled therefrom the point
on this subject of the most striking intet.
est Our readers may imagine that they
were fully aware of the wonderful pro-
pertles OF cotton seed before, and that
neither Professor Stelle nor ourselves are
'elllngstheni anything new. This may be
aho probably is partially true, but there
arc great many who, because Of the very
familiarity Of the subject, have not giver
10 the valuable qualities of the cotton seec
anything like the attentionit deserves. Al
any rate Its varied properties are, no matter
now much considered, wonderful, and +
is always highly interesting to consideI
"hat can be done with this, formerly re
garded "disagreeable, but unavoidable
nuisance" as showing one Of the many
vast natural resources of tie Southern
STATES Cotton seed alone is Capable O
making OF the South, the wealtlJiest snf
most powerful section of this great tountry
-----------
That Bad Boy Again.
said the bad boy to the groceryman "
'n'nK when a man is in trouble if he has
sooa little boy to take his mind from. hi
troubles and get him mad at sometfiinl
else, it rests him.
Last night we had hot maple sirup an,
biscuit for sumner o,5 -,