154 Feeds and Feeding. 



commercial fertilizers, of over two million dollars. This loss of 

 fertility to American farms is a serious matter, which can easily 

 be prevented by feeding the oil cake at home. See Chap. XVI. 



210. Cotton seed. 1 The products of the cotton plant used as 

 food for live stock are cotton seed, cotton-seed cake or meal, and 

 cotton -seed hulls. 



The cotton crop of the United States amounts to over 9, 000, 000 

 bales annually on the average, yielding about 4,500,000 tons of 

 cotton seed as a by-product, since for each pound of fiber the cot- 

 ton plant produces about two pounds of seed. No one can acquaint 

 himself with the great value of cotton seed and its by-products, 

 and then consider this enormous annual output of seed, without 

 becoming deeply impressed with the great possibilities for stock 

 feeding at the South. Previous to 1860 almost all this vast sup- 

 ply of stock feed was wasted by the Southern planter, who allowed 

 the seed to rot back of the gin house in ignorance of its worth, 

 while meat and other animal products were purchased at high cost 

 from Northern farmers. The utilization of the cotton seed and 

 its products as food for both man and beast is an excellent exam- 

 ple of what science has accomplished for the advancement of 

 agriculture. 



According to the report of the Tenth Census, one hundred 

 pounds of cotton seed yields approximately: 



Pounds. 



Cotton-seed meal 37.5 



Cotton-seed oil 12.5 



Cotton-seed hulls 48 . 9 



Short lint from hulls 1.1 



211. Teeding cotton seed.-^Seed as left by the cotton-gin is now 

 a common feed at the South for steers and dairy cows. It is 

 usually supplied to cattle without treatment of any kind, though 

 in some cases it is roasted, boiled or steamed before feeding. 



Trials at the Texas Station 2 by Gulley and Curtis show that 

 seed at seven dollars per ton made cheaper though somewhat 

 smaller gains than cotton-seed meal costing twenty dollars per 



1 Much of the data here presented is from Bui. 33, The Cotton Plant, 

 Office of Experiment Stations, U. S. Dept. Agr. 



2 Buls. 6, 10. 



