Oil-bearing Seeds and their By-products. 149 



a feeding grain, and, unlike the kafirs, it has a beneficial laxative 

 effect on the bowels. White and brown durra are grown in Cali- 

 fornia under the name of Egyptian corn. The ripened seed of 

 durra shatters easily, and the forage is less valuable than that of 

 kafir. (532, 859) 



185. Millet. At the Massachusetts (Hatch) Station 1 Brooks 

 produced millet at the rate of 74 bushels per acre, weighing 47 Ibs. 

 per bushel, but concluded that this grain cannot successfully com- 

 pete with Indian corn in that state. Wilson and Skinner of the 

 South Dakota Station 2 produced 30 bushels of hog or Black Vero- 

 nesh millet, Panicum miliaceum, per acre. The ground grain proved 

 satisfactory for fattening swine, tho for a given gain one-fifth more 

 millet was required than wheat or barley. The carcasses of the 

 millet-fed pigs were clothed with a pure white fat of superior qual- 

 ity. At the same Station 3 in the production of baby beef somewhat 

 more millet than corn was required for a given gain. The millets 

 are valuable and are growing in importance for grain production 

 in the plains region of the United States, northward of the areas 

 best suited to kafir and durra. (433, 530, 751, 860) 



IV. OIL-BEARING SEEDS AND THEIR BY-PRODUCTS. 



186. Cotton seed. The annual crop of the United States now 

 amounts to over 12,000,000 bales of 500 Ibs. each with not less than 

 6,000,000 tons of cotton seed as a by-product, since for each pound 

 of fiber, or lint, there are 2 Ibs. of seed. Previous to 1860 the seed 

 of the cotton plant was largely wasted by the planters, who often 

 allowed it to rot near the gin house, ignorant or careless of its 

 worth, while meat and other animal products which might have been 

 produced from it were purchased at high cost from northern farm- 

 ers. The utilization of the cotton seed and its products as food for 

 man and beast furnishes a striking example of what science is ac- 

 complishing for agriculture. 



According to Burkett and Poe,* 1 ton of cotton seed yields ap- 

 proximately : 



Linters, or short fiber 27 pounds 



Hulls 841 pounds 



Cake, or meal 732 pounds 



Crude oil 280 pounds 



Loss, etc. 120 pounds 



Total . . . . 2000 pounds 



1 Bui. 18. - Bui. 83. 3 Bui. 97. * Cotton, its Cultivation, etc. 



