COTTON 279 



$25.00 a ton contains just about twice as much 

 fertilizing value as cotton seed. On a basis of 66 

 bushels of seed in a ton the value per bushel of seed 

 is twenty cents. This price makes an even ex- 

 change, without allowing the farmer anything for 

 hauling seed to the oil mill. When you sell seed for 

 less than 20 cents per bushel, you actually give 

 more than you get in return. It follows that you 

 should always receive as much as twenty-five cents 

 per bushel when meal sells for $25.00 per ton. 



ON BASIS OF EXCHANGE 



But as a matter of fact you should never dispose 

 of your seed except on a basis of exchange. Your 

 soil cannot stand the continual drain upon it, if the 

 seed are sold and nothing is put back to restore the 

 fertility they draw from the land. All seed taken 

 from the soil by the growing crop, should be re- 

 turned to it either in form of seed, meal, or cattle 

 manure. Since the oil in the seed has no fertilizing 

 value, and is of no use to the farmer, he can ex- 

 change this oil for meal, the product of more 

 especial value to him. But on what basis of ex- 

 change ? As we have mentioned before, for fer- 

 tilizing purposes meal is slightly less than twice 

 as valuable as seed ; but you cannot haul your seed 

 to the oil mill and then haul the meal to your home 

 without some compensation. This compensation 

 should therefore be in the form of extra meal. Just 

 what that amount shall be will depend on the dis- 

 tance, condition of roads, and the composition of 

 meal. In a general way it may be said that you 

 should receive at least 1100 pounds of meal in ex- 

 change for a ton of seed, and an additional 

 amount to compensate you for your trouble, 



