158 Feeds and Feeding. 



seed meal is added to the ration. It is shown by a moping dull- 

 ness of the animal, with loss of appetite and tendency to lie 



apart The fatal cases all show spasmodic breathing, 



and in many instances the animal will turn in one direction only. 



When exhausted by his efforts the animal drops 



down suddenly, sometimes flat upon the belly, sometimes on its 

 haunches, with his fore legs well apart to keep from falling over, 

 almost always with evidence of more or less acute internal pain. At 

 death a quantity of bloody foam exudes from mouth and nostrils. J J 



Cornevin 1 fed two three-months old pigs 4.3 and 6.6 pounds, 

 respectively, of brownish-yellow Egyptian cotton-seed meal, with 

 fatal effect. A dog weighing fifty -three pounds was killed by 

 subcutaneous injections of a watery extract from 1.7 pounds of 

 seed. In all cases examination showed the digestive tract of the 

 animals to be highly inflamed. The oil pressed from the seed 

 had no poisonous properties. 



All efforts to determine the poisonous principle in the cotton 

 seed if there really be one have thus far proved futile, and 

 the matter is still a mystery. The ill effects have been ascribed 

 to the lint of the seed, to the leathery seed coats causing injury 

 to the delicate lining of the digestive tract, to moulds, to changes 

 in the composition of the meal when exposed to the air, and to 

 some definite poisonous principle in the seed itself, as in the 

 case of the castor- oil bean. 



220. The rational use of cotton seed and cotton-seed meal. 

 It may be stated in general terms that when cotton seed or its by- 

 products are fed in reasonable quantity with a proper complement 

 of other feeding stuffs, satisfactory results are secured with all 

 farm animals except calves and swine. 



Wet or mouldy cotton seed, or that which has heated, should 

 not be fed. Good cotton-seed meal has a bright yellow color and 

 a fresh, pleasant taste. Meal of a dull red color, due to exposure 

 to the air, that from musty seed as well as that which has fer- 

 mented, should not be used for feeding purposes. 



221. Cotton-seed hulls. Until recently cotton-seed hulls were 

 regarded as of no value except for fuel at the mills. It was soon 



1 Ann. Agron. 1896; Milch Zeit. 1897, p. 342. 



