OIL BEARING SEEDS AND THEIR BY-PRODUCTS 175 



247. Cottonseed feed. On northern markets cottonseed feed, which 

 may consist largely of hulls, is often sold for but a few dollars per ton 

 less than choice cottonseed meal. By appearance alone it is impossible 

 to distinguish good cottonseed meal from finely ground cottonseed feed. 

 Cottonseed feed may be an entirely legitimate product, for it is impos- 

 sible to separate thoroly the hulls of certain kinds of cotton seed from 

 the kernels. However, such feed should be bought at a price correspond- 

 ing to its crude-protein content. 



In case of doubt as to purity, the following simple test will show the 

 approximate amount of hulls present in cottonseed meal. 20 



Place a teaspoonful of the meal (do not use more) in a tumbler and pour over it 

 from 1.5 to 2 ounces of hot water. Stir the mass till it is thoroly wet and all the 

 particles are floating. Allow it to settle for 5 to 10 seconds and pour off the liquid. 

 If there has settled out in this time a large amount of fine, brown sediment which 

 is noticeably darker than the fine yellow meal and which keeps settling out on 

 repeated treatments with hot water, the product is low grade. All meals contain 

 small quantities of hulls and will show dark specks when thus tested, but the 

 results are striking when pure meal is compared with cottonseed feed. 



248. Cold-pressed cottonseed cake. Cold-pressed cottonseed cake, or 

 "caddo" cake, is produced by subjecting the entire uncrushed, unheated 

 seed to great pressure. In the residual cake there is a larger proportion 

 of hull to meal than in normal cake, with correspondingly lower feeding 

 value. This product is usually sold in nut or pea size but is sometimes 

 ground to a meal. The crude-protein content of cold-pressed cake is a 

 reliable guide to its feeding value. (598, 751, 855) 



249. The poison of cotton seed. Cottonseed meal or even cotton seed 

 can be fed with safety in limited amounts and in properly balanced 

 rations to dairy cows, beef cattle, sheep, and horses. However, practical 

 experience and scientific trials alike show that when injudiciously fed, 

 animals are poisoned by these feeds. Cottonseed meal is most poisonous 

 to swine. When cottonseed meal forms as much as one-third of the con- 

 centrates fed pigs, they thrive at first, but after a few weeks may become 

 sick and die. Restricting the allowance of meal, keeping the animals on 

 pasture, supplying succulent feeds, or souring the feed may help, as is 

 discussed later (974), but no uniformly successful method of feeding 

 cottonseed meal to swine has yet been found. Steers closely confined and 

 heavily fed on cottonseed meal often are affected by the poison after a 

 period of about 100 days. They have a staggering gait; some become 

 blind, and death frequently ends their distress. Young calves are 

 especially susceptible to the poison. Feeding allowances as small as one- 

 fourth to one-half pound of cottonseed meal per head daily has proved 

 fatal to calves. 21 



Numerous efforts have been made during the past 20 years to deter- 

 mine the cause of the poisonous effect of cottonseed meal. The harm has 

 been variously ascribed to the lint, the oil, the high protein content, to 

 a poisonous albumin or alkaloid, to cholin and betaine, to resin present 



20 Vt. Bui. 101. N. C. Bui. 109. 



