SUGAR FACTORY FEEDS AND OIL MEALS 201 



of the North Carolina Station, has lately identified a toxic principle 

 called gossypol in cotton-seed kernels and studied its physiological 

 effects; he found that it may be changed to inert forms by oxida- 

 tion and precipitation. 13 The latter method may be adopted by 

 treatment with soluble iron salts. Recent investigations appear to 

 show that the danger in feeding cotton-seed meal to pigs can be 

 overcome by giving them in drinking water for every pound of 

 cotton-seed meal eaten, for each 100-pound pig, one gallon of a solu- 

 tion of iron sulfate (made by dissolving 1 pound in 50 gallons of 

 drinking water) , 14 If further work shows that cottonseed meal can 

 be safely fed to pigs by this method, it will prove of great importance 

 to American agriculture, as it will tend to do away with enormous 

 losses of pigs that occur each year through the feeding of cotton- 

 seed meal either to pigs direct or to steers followed by pigs. 



Cotton-seed hulls are also fed to cattle in the South, being 

 used as a roughage and a cheap substitute for hay. They are dry, 

 hard and usually covered with a fuzzy lint. The average composi- 

 tion of cotton-seed hulls is as follows : 



Moisture 11.3 per cent 



Ash 2.7 per cent 



Protein 4.2 per cent 



Fiber . . . 45.3 per cent 



Nitrogen-free extract . . . 34.1 per cent 



Fat 2.2 per cent ^_ 



100.0 



Ten per cent of the protein has been found digestible ; 38 per 

 cent of the fiber, 40 per cent of the nitrogen-free extract, and 77 

 per cent of the fat, making the amounts of digestible feed con- 

 stituents found therein: . 



Protein 0.42 per cent 



Carbohydrates and fat 34.77 per cent 



The hulls are used as a fuel at the oil mills and, as stated, for 

 stock feeding, either clear or mixed with concentrates, like cotton- 

 seed meal, wheat bran, cracked corn, etc. In the South cotton-seed 

 meal and cotton-seed hulls are often fed as the entire ration for 

 fattening steers, milch cows, and other stock. 15 The hulls are con- 

 sidered of a similar feeding value as a good quality of straw or 

 low-grade hay. In feeding experiments with steers conducted at 

 the Texas station they were found of nearly similar value as an 

 equal weight of sorghum hay. 



13 Journal of Agr. Research, v, p. 261. For literature on experiments with 

 cotton-seed meal, composition, etc., see Ga. Bui. 119. 



14 North Carolina Circular 5; Jr. Biol. Chem. 15, 161. 



15 Farmers' Bulletin 36, pp. 14-15: "Directions for Feeding Cotton- 

 seed Meal and Hulls to Farm Animals;" Texas Bulletin 159. 



