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THE YEAR-BOOK OF AGRICULTURE. 



meal, till the 10th of April, when they were slaughtered. They were measured on the 10th 

 of January and 10th of April, (when the cotton-seed cake was finished,) and weighed after 

 they were slaughtered. The results are as follows : 



They consumed each daily during the experiment about 150 pounds of Swedish turnips, be- 

 sides straw. The cattle, when slaughtered, were not as fat as we would have wished ; but 

 we thought it better to send them to the butcher, as the cotton-seed cake at our disposal 

 was finished. This will account for the actual weight being less than the weight by mea- 

 surement, as cattle not in a ripe condition never weigh out to the measurement, a fortiori. 

 The difference between the real weight and the weight by measurement, on the 10th of 

 January, will be greater than the difference between the real weight and the weight by mea- 

 surement on the 10th of April ; so that the real increase in weight during the three months 

 of experiment is not indicated by the figures above. All that we wish to prove is, that cattle 

 fed on cotton-seed cake made as much progress as those fed on linseed cake and bean meal 

 a fact which was abundantly manifest both from the appearance and touch of the animals. 



Subsequent experiments were made with cotton-seed cake obtained from New Orleans, 

 with nearly the same results. In some instances the cattle refused to eat it, unless pre- 

 viously mixed with other food. This dislike was attributed to the cake having been injured 

 by sea water or other causes. Several other persons who used the New Orleans cake ex- 

 pressed their satisfaction with it, and esteem it valuable. In some cases the cattle did not 

 seem disposed to eat it at first, but eventually did so, when they became very fond of it, 

 and greatly improved. 



Two methods are adopted in New Orleans for the extraction of the oil from the cotton- 

 seed. They are as follows : 



Plan I. 1. Break up the cake as fine as can be in a cast-iron or other mill ; 2. crush it as 

 fine as can be through rollers ; 3. put it into large casks, and put a jet of steam into it ; then 

 the oil, the stearine, and the oleine will rise to the top, and the seed below is prepared for 

 the feeding of cattle. Plan II. Crush and run it between rollers ; apply a jet of steam into 

 it till it is properly cooked ; then put it into the presses. It will give 5 quarts of oil to each 

 100 pounds of cake. 



In addition to the oil contained in the cotton-seed, there is also an exceedingly bitter prin- 

 ciple, which has never been examined chemically. This principle would undoubtedly act 

 medicinally. When the fresh cotton-seed is examined under the microscope, it may be 

 noticed in the form of minute red spots or vesicles, distributed uniformly throughout the 

 white part of the kernel. In the mealed or crushed seed the action of this principle is not 

 so strikingly noticed ; it still, however, exists, and is undoubtedly the cause of the repug- 

 nance which cattle sometimes manifest towards it. Editor of the Tear- Book. 



Farinaceous Aliment Obtained from Straw. 



THE attention of agriculturists in France has been recently directed to the discovery of a 

 method of converting straw into a kind of bran. This discovery has been claimed by two 

 individuals. The first is a miller near Dijon, who, it is said, on trying the mill-stone of a new 

 mill, discovered the possibility of converting straw into a nourishing food. The second, 

 M. Jos. Maitre, of Vilotte, near Chatillon. 



This distinguished agriculturist, known for the purity and perfection of his breeds of 



