SUGAR FACTORY FEEDS AND OIL MEALS 201 



same reason. Eecent investigations at the North Carolina Station 

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

 can be overcome by giving them in their drinking water for every 

 pound of cotton-seed meal eaten, for each 100-pound pig, one gal- 

 lon of a solution of iron sulfate (made by dissolving 1 pound in 

 50 gallons of drinking water). 13 If further work shows that cotton- 

 seed 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 fol- 

 lowed 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 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. 14 



Immense numbers of steers are fattened in the South on these 

 feeds only, generally mixed in the proportions of four parts of 

 hulls and one of meal. The fattening is continued from 90 to 120 

 days. Sheep and dairy cows are also fed mixed cotton-seed meal 

 and hulls with good results. "All the information at hand indi- 



13 North Carolina Circular 5. 



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

 seed Meal and Hulls to Farm Animals." 



