L. TECHNOLOGY. 485 



sawdust, and then placing it for a time (the duration of this 

 depending upon the nature and state of division of the wood) 

 into water, and leaving it there to rot, as is clone with flax. 

 By this treatment a great many substances are removed from 

 the wood, which is consequently afterward more readily re- 

 duced to pulp. The rotting in water has the effect of disin- 

 tegrating and partly decomposing the nitrogenous matter of 

 the woods, which is also afterward more readily bleached, 

 not demanding the use of chlorine, as is the case where these 

 matters have been left in the wood. The rotted wood, pre- 

 vious to any other treatment, is to be thoroughly washed 

 with boiling water and steamed, and next treated with an al- 

 kali. 1 A.October 15, 1870,192. 



UTILIZATION OF COTTON SEED. 



Various movements have been made of late years looking 

 toward the utilization of cotton seed, usually considered a 

 burden to the cotton planter, and in getting rid of which 

 great ingenuity has been expended. Among the more recent 

 propositions of the kind, that of the employment of the ad- 

 hering cotton, and perhaps of the woody material, in the man- 

 ufacture of paper, has been brought forward, and a calcula- 

 tion presented as to the number of tons of paper stock that 

 could thus be introduced into the market. Lately, large es- 

 tablishments have been started in the South for the purpose 

 of obtaining the oil from the seed, the refuse being converted 

 into oil-cake for fattening cattle. The crude oil brings in 

 New York from thirty-five to forty cents a gallon, and the oil- 

 cake commands nearly the price of corn, being said to equal 

 it in its fattening qualities. Shipments of the seeds have 

 been made recently in great quantities to Liverpool from 

 New Orleans, one vessel taking over ten thousand sacks of 

 the seeds, and about one thousand sacks of oil-cake, and it is 

 expected that these shipments will be followed up on a large 

 scale. As over two million tons of cotton seed are every 

 year produced in the South, we may well imagine how im- 

 portant it will be to our country should the whole of this 

 now nearly waste substance be utilized in some form. 



The comparative value of winter refined cotton-seed oil 

 and of olive-oil may be gathered from the fact that at the 

 latest dates the former is quoted in the New York prices cur- 



