The Lancaster ledger. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1852-1905, 1902-08-02
$3.50 PER ANN
MOST POPULAR FOOD STUFF tUA
CATTLE. o. 4
Pointers That Are of Vital interest 10 the
Up.to. date Farmer. Money in Oairying.

What has cotton 70 do with dairy
ing? Cotton seed products have be-
come tho most popular food stun Tor
cattle, because OF tho low price and
the most excellent results, They are
the natural cattle feed for tho cotton
region on account OF saving in freight
and the easy and convenient access
Strange to say, tho value OF these pro-
ducts was not first discovered in their
native home. 1t remained for German
scientists to point out their great
value. German agriculturistS aro IL
ways standing ready to mako uso Of
the discoveries OF science. and so they
imported vast quantities OF cotton seed
meal from this country and used It for
cattle feed in their dairieS years before
our own people woke up to the great
possibilities in cotton seed meal as n
feed stuff. But it is now very Well
known that cotton seed meal, i'll con-
neCtion with cotton seed hulls, mako
the most valuable cattle foods that are
the Southern Cotton Oil company Of
the Carolinas and Georgia, at any OIL
their mills or at their headquarters at
Columbia, =. c., Savannah, Ca, At
lanta, Ca, or Raleigh, n. g.
There is one fact in connection with
cattle feeding on cotton seed products
that Is not generally given tho prom
inence that it's importance demands.
This is tho value OF the manure.
Most exhaustive experiments have
been made, both in this country and in
Europe. with view TO finding the
relation between the feed and tho re-
sultlng excrement from cattle. a.
most important and far-reaching con-
clusion has been reached, and It IS
one which does not admit of any
doubt. This is that practically l~of
the nitrogen that is fed to. cattle re-
appears in the eXcrement: about half
in the solid and half in the liquid.
Nitrogen is the most expensive 1ngre-
dent in all food stuffs, and in all fer
tilizers. Hence this discovery Is a.
most important one, leading TO the
astounding fact that the present com-
merCial value of cotton seed meal as a.
feed stuff is but half it's real value,
when properly understood. It means
that the full value of tho nitrogen dn
The meal may be utilized in feeding.
and then, if sufficient care be taken TO-
save solid and liquid manure the whole
of the nitrogen may be collected and
used again Il manure. There Is q,
further value in this, in that tho form
of the nitrogen in this manure, taken
with the other elements, chemical and
mechanical, makes the manure Il bet
ter fertilizer than the original meal.
The general statement that practf-
cally all of the nitrogen fed to cattle
reappearS in the eNcrement might lead
to the conclusion (Which would be
easily elf-contradictory) that nitrogen
feeds are of no value to cattle, and that
it is in no way aSsimilated or made use
of by the animal economy. Nothing is
genouS feeds are most important, in
producing both beef and butter; but it
is not yet we'll understood how the an
imal uses the nitrogen and then ex-l
cretes it. 1t may be that the nitrogen
from the air is utilized, or it may ba
that through some transformation dn
the system the nitrogen does it's work.
and is then rejected.
There is Il perfect analogy in tho use
of nitrogen in making sulphuric acid:
1t is necessary to supply u certain
amount of nitrogen to make the process
operative, and yet all OF this nitrogen iS
either recovered or lost mono OF it
actually being retained in the suIphurio
acid. :.
The cotton plant requires 4 largo
amount of nitrogen, and this may be
supplied with the manure from dairy
cattle, which themselves feed on cotton
products, and in the interim, turn out;
large amounts of valuable milk cream
and butter. Then dairylng on tho cot
ton farm becomes logical occupation.
There are now many cotton seed OH
mills of the Southern Cotton Oil Co. so
widely scattered that it is easy for any
cotton farmer to trade his cotton seed
fcr meal and hulls. and thus provide
himself with valuable feed stuffS for
dairy or beef cattle, and incidentally
procure the very best fertilizer that is
known-the manure from cattle main-
tanned on nitrogcnous feeds. 50
Aside from all considcrat tionS OF ma
nurial value, the relative feed value OF
cotton seed meal and hulls IS shown
below. in connection with relative value
of other feed stuffs in the following; ex-
tract from a table in the book Cotton
and Cotton orr by d. A. Tompkins.
Relative Nutritiya
Feed Value. Ratio
Cotton Seed Meal. .S2t16 TO II
LnSecd Meal. . . 21.1S Ito 1.G
Cow Peas. 21.20 Ito 23
Alfalfa Hayes. 1924 Eto 45
oats. x.tis:, I7.L2 ITO So
Glover Hay. 1884 hto 6.G
Corn: 22.72 ITO 30