COTTON 213 



The cotton seed, after the lint has been removed, is crushed, 

 and the "meat" is separated from the hull. This meat 

 is cooked at high temperature by steam, and later sub- 

 jected to great pressure, which expresses the oil and leaves 

 the residue in the form of a cake, which is ground into 

 meal. 



A different method of extracting the oil from the seed 

 is used by a very few mills. In these the hulls are not 

 separated from the meat, and the oil is expressed without 

 cooking. The cake that is left by this process has more 

 oil than that which is cooked. 



Cottonseed meal mixed with hulls makes a very de- 

 sirable feed for dairy cows and fattening steers. One ton 

 of cottonseed meal contains three times the amount of 

 digestible protein contained in one ton of wheat bran. 

 This does not mean, however, that it is worth three 

 times as much as wheat bran for feeding purposes, for what 

 it gains in percentage of protein it must lose in the per- 

 centage of carbohydrates or other material. In feeding the 

 meal to dairy cows, it is best to limit the amount fed to 

 about two to three pounds to each cow per day. If addi- 

 tional grain is desired, add wheat bran, rice polish, or corn 

 chops to the ration. 



The nitrogen contained in the cottonseed meal makes 

 it a valuable fertilizer, and it is much used for this pur- 

 pose, although it would be a more profitable practice to 

 feed the meal to dairy cows and carefully save the manure 

 for application to the soil. If this is done, about three- 

 fourths of the fertilizing value of the meal will still be 

 retained in the manure. It is very desirable that more live- 

 stock be kept in the South. 



