302 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Ashes oj the Hulls of Cotton-Seed. 



Potassium oxide, 23.72 



Phosphoric acid, 7.88 



Calcium oxide (lime), 5.60 



Magnesia, 4.43 



Insoluble matter, 7.10 



Moisture, 26.81 



Carbonic acid, oxide of iron, etc., - 



The sample of ashes which furnished the material for the 

 above-stated aiial^'tical results, was sent me by a farmer in 

 our vicinity, with the request to give my opinion in regard to 

 its commercial value. My analytical results do not corre- 

 spond with those published by good authority with reference 

 to the composition of the ashes of the hulls of cotton-seed. 



Prof. H. C. White, of Georgia, who has given us during 

 the past year a valuable report "On the complete analysis of 

 the cotton-plant," states that the ashes of the hulls of the 

 cotton-seed contained 14 per cent, of potassium oxide, and 7 

 per cent, of phosphoric acid. My results correspond more 

 closely with those obtained from the ash of the roots of that 

 plant. 



The commercial value of ashes of the above-stated com- 

 position, would bo, in the retail trade with us, from |40 to 

 $42 per ton of 2,000 pounds, allowing five cents per 

 pound of phosphoric acid and eight cents per pound of potas- 

 sium oxide. 



Fertilizer dealers, as a rule, do not yet furnish for less 

 money the constituents of the ash, phosphoric acid and potash 

 in particular, in an equally valuable form. 



The farmer who buys this ash as a special fertilizer for his 

 fields, shows better judgment than the one who sends it habit- 

 ually into the general market, as a product of his special 

 agricultural industry, without feeling sure that he can replace 

 in a more economical way its main constituents. 



The Avaste material of any farm crop, as a general rule, 

 pays best when turned to account upon the same field which 

 served for its production. 



This is still more true in case of industrial crops, where a 

 frequent reproduction of the same crop becomes a leading 

 feature of the entire farm management. 



