MISCELLANEOUS CROPS. 209 



COTTON-SEED MEAL. After the oil has been expressed the 

 cake is ground and sold for stock food, under the name of cot- 

 ton-seed meal. Both chemists and dairymen claim for it a 

 superiority over linseed meal. The great bulk of it is exported 

 to England, where it commands good prices sometimes above 

 forty-five dollars per ton and is used by dairymen and stock- 

 feeders. Its use is also increasing in this country, so that what 

 but a few years ago was considered valueless is now worth to 

 the planter several millions of dollars per annum. 



To show the value of cotton-seed meal as compared with lin- 

 seed, I copy the following from Professor Voelcker as his opin- 

 ion after making an analysis of several specimens of cotton- 

 seed meal : " 1st. The proportion of oil in all the specimens is 

 higher than in the best linseed cake, in which it is rarely moro 

 than twelve per cent, and ten per cent may be taken as an 

 average. As a supplier of food cotton-seed is, therefore, superior 

 to linseed. 2d. The amount of oil in several specimens differs to 

 the extent of 5i per cent, the lowest being 13.50 per cent and 

 the highest 19.19 per cent. 3d. Decorticated cake contains a 

 very high and much larger percentage of flesh-forming matters 

 than linseed cake, and it is, therefore, of great value as food for 

 young stock and milch cows. The dung is also very valuable. 

 4th. In comparison with linseed there is much less mucilage 

 and other respiratory matter in cotton cake. This is com- 

 pensated by a larger amount of oil. 5th. The proportion of 

 indigestible woody fiber in decorticated cotton cake is very 

 small, and not larger than in the best linseed cake. 6th. It 

 may be observed that the ash of cotton cake is rich in bony 

 materials, and amounts to about the same quantity as in other 

 oily cakes." 



Sorghum. * This plant, after twenty years of constant cul- 

 tivation in this country, is now so well understood by all scientific 

 men and chemists, it hardly seems necessary for a moment's time 

 to be spent by any writer in giving further information to this 

 class of men. But capitalists, farmers, and laborers should be 



* Contributed by HENRY TALCOTT, President of the Ashtabula County, Ohio, 

 Sorghum Association. 



