The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1884-06-25
Deduct sum paid for seed,
And there remains for value gained
in manipulation of seed, 49,

And there remains for value gained
in manipulation of seed, 1926
Taking the cotton crop at six millions
OF bales, of 400 pounds each, and ac-
cepting the usual ratio of two pounds of
seed to n of lint, the cotton-seed crop
of the United States is 100000 tons.
OF this the forty-one mills working in
1882 manufactured 40, 900 tons. There
are some sixty mills at work in the
South at the present time. These fig
ures are sufficiently impressive without
any additional remarks.
Cotton-seed oil is almost identical in
composition with olive oil. 1t is refined
either by freezing, when the heavier
molecular weights Cthe so-called stearin)
solidify first, and lighter oils run off ; or
by alternate treatment with alkaline
and acid solutions. The refuse oil is
used in making soap. The oil is used
largely for a~dulterating olive oil, and
large amounts were exported to Italy
for that purpose until the Italian Gov
ernment imposed a tariff ON it. since
which time the exports of olive oil from
Italy have decreased by almost exactly
the amount of the previous importation
of cotton-seed oil. In New York State
a number of samples of olive oil were
recently examined, and four-fifths of
them were found to be adulterated but
as cotton-seed oil is Just as good as
olive oil, this fact need cause no uneasi-
ness.
Cotton seed oil is largely used in the
southwest as a salad and cooking oil.
1t finds use also as a burning oil in
mines, as a lubricant, and to an increas-
ing extent, after a certain treatment.
which is supposed to make it a better
drying oil than it is otherwise, as a
paint oil.
The other half of the cotton seed, the
hull, is a tough, woody material, some
times used for feeding, but generally
burned at the mills under the boilers.
They more than supply fuel for the lar
ger mills. The ash Is a very valuable
fertilizer.
The crude hull ashes sell generally
for from So to sl5 per ton for fertiliz-
ing purposes. Well-made ashes free
from coal ashes and char) should sell
for two or three times as much, in COM
parison with other fertilizers.
The uses of cotton seed meal are well
known. 1t contains more fat and more
protein than the cereals. but has less
starch, and all the ingredients are mix
ed in less favorable proportions than in
the latter. so that it is not as much used
and commands a lower price than il
otherwise would. Cotton seed meal
should be used along with starchy mat
tiers, and when so used its value will be
appreciated, and it Will command a
higher price than it does now.
The cotton plant produces other val
liable materials besides the seed and
the lint. The stalk produces a fibrous
bark. from which a beautiful fibre can
be manufactured. The hay from the
plant after the seed has been picked
from it is fully up to the standard OF
rough meadow hay in composition. and
could he used with profit if the people
were alive to make use of these adyap-
tages, Mr.. Edward Atkinson has pro
posed ensilaging the ground stalks with
greener folders which would dissolve or
soften them. The root of the plant has
been used for some time, yielding a
medicine described in the Pharmaco-
p9ia; and a dye has recently been OBJ
tanned from the same source.
In the discussion which followed DR.
Dabney's interesting paper. Prof. Ord
way said that there was no substitute
for American cotton, there being no
cotton SO good, except the Egyptian.
He pointed out the similarity between
the cotton fibre and wool. the latter is
scaly and will felt on this account the
former is not so scaly, but its fibres are
fiat and twisted, and hooks and twists
thus formed make it possible TO card
and spin. The cotton fibre is the only
n in the vegetable kingdom which has
this characteristic. He said cotton seed
oil if perfectly pure, was unsurpassed
for table use, and would keep better