356 



General Botany 



these hairs vary in length from a half-inch to ij inches. For- 

 merly, only the fiber was marketed ; but today the hulls of 

 the seeds are used in the manufacture of hard paper board, the 

 ^' meats " of the seeds are pressed for cottonseed oil, and the 

 " oil cake " that remains after pressing is used for stock feed. 

 The United States produces more than ii million bales (500 

 pounds each) of cotton. Seven and a half million bales were 

 consumed in this country in 1919; and at the same time 175 

 million gallons of oil and 2 million tons of oil cake were pro- 

 duced. Most of the oil is used in making soap, lard sub- 

 stitutes, and for salad oil. 



Another coastal plain crop that has recently assumed great 

 economic importance is the peanut. This legume has the pe- 

 culiar habit of burying its developing ovularies in the soil by the 



Fig. 222. A sugar-cane field in Porto Rico. The plant accumulates 



stems. 



Bruce Fink 



sucrose in its solid 



