486 ANNUAL KECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



rent at seventy-two cents per gallon, while the latter, with 

 duty off, brings only one dollar in gold. JV. Y. Shipping List, 

 December 24,1870. 



UTILIZATION OF COTTON FIBRE. 



A communication w r as presented to the British Association 

 at its late meeting in regard to the utilization of the fibres 

 of the cotton seed. The author expressed his astonishment 

 that a vegetable production which was capable of so many 

 important applications, and could be supplied by millions of 

 pounds, was now entirely wasted, the amount thus thrown 

 away in America alone being a million and a half tons.* Ac- 

 cording to Mr. Rose's estimate, as the seed is composed of 50 

 per cent, of kernel, yielding about one third of oil, and 50 per 

 cent, of husk, one third of which is fibre, the wasted seed 

 should produce 250,000 tons of pure cotton, 250,000 tons of 

 oil, and 5000 tons of cattle-cake, representing the value of 

 $1,000,000. The husks could then be taken to a paper-mill, 

 and the cotton abstracted in such a state as to form most 

 valuable material for paper. By a process devised by the 

 speaker, the cotton fibre could be completely separated from 

 the shell. He stated that a very slight alteration in the or- 

 dinary machinery for manufacturing paper will enable this 

 material to be utilized. 15 A, October 8, 1870, 469. 



TENSION OF COTTON FIBRE. 



In the course of some experiments by Mr. O'Neill upon 

 cottons, he ascertained that the average length of the staple 

 of Sea Island cotton amounted to nearly two inches, while that 

 of Surat cotton was but little over one inch. The tensile 

 strength of this cotton is, however, much inferior to that of 

 many other qualities, breaking with eighty-three grains, while 

 Pernambuco cotton and Surat cotton sustained a weight of 

 one hundred and forty grains. It is said that the amount of 

 twisting in cotton thread is a very important element in the 

 estimate of its strength, and that the Dacca muslins of India 

 owe much of their superiority in lightness and strength to 

 the tightness of the twist of the delicate filaments of which 

 they are composed. According to Dr. Watson, the average 

 number of twists per inch in a French muslin is sixty-eight, 

 * The crop of 1870 would yield at least two millions of tons. 



