THE TEXTILE PLANTS 49 



And here there is a story of waste that assumes 

 more significant proportions. For the cotton 

 plant also produces seeds as well as fiber; and it 

 is only in comparatively recent years that these 

 seeds have been regarded as other than a waste 

 product the handling of which gave great an- 

 noyance. 



Fortunately, however, this has been changed 

 in recent decades, and the cotton grower now 

 understands that the seed of the plant is a prod- 

 uct quite rivaling in importance the coveted fiber 

 itself. Not only does the seed contain an oil that 

 when pressed out makes a very palatable substi- 

 tute for the oil of the olive, but the residue con- 

 stitutes cattle food that sells for from fifteen to 

 twenty dollars a ton a residue that until recently 

 was used only as fuel, until its value for starch 

 was discovered. 



So the cotton plant takes high place among 

 producers of commercial seeds, quite aside from 

 its significance as a producer of the most beauti- 

 ful, useful, and abundant textile fibers. 



In the present connection, however, it is the 

 quality of the cotton as a producer of textiles 

 rather than as a producer of seeds that chiefly 

 claims attention. 



The importance of the plant as a producer of 

 fiber is too well known to require extended com- 



