566 HORTICULTURE, FORESTRY, FLORICULTURE 



food ingredients in 100 pounds of meal will show: Protein, 37.01 

 pounds; carbohydrates, 16.52, and fat, 12.58. 



Cotton-seed meal is extensively used as a fertilizer, and for this 

 purpose it is worth from $20 to $25 per ton, determining the price on 

 the same basis as that used in calculating the value of other commer- 

 cial fertilizers. It frequently happens, even in Northern States, that 

 cotton-seed meal can be bought for less than its fertilizing value, cal- 

 culated on the above basis. Its composition with reference to fertiliz- 

 ing constituents is shown by the following summary of results of 204 

 analyses : 



Fertilizing Materials in Cotton-Seed Meal. 



Although cotton-seed meal contains considerable percentages of 

 phosphoric acid and potash, a large proportion of which has been 

 shown to be readily available to plants, it is chiefly used as a source of 

 nitrogen in fertilizers. Cotton-seed meal has given excellent results, 

 especially in the Southern States, as a fertilizer for sugar cane, cotton 

 and corn. It has also been successfully substituted for barnyard 

 manure in the culture of tobacco. 



While cotton-seed meal, as the above facts show, has high value 

 when applied directly as a fertilizer, a more rational practice in many 

 cases is to feed the meal to animals and apply the resulting manure to 

 the soil. From 80 to 90 per cent of the fertilizing materials of the 

 meal will thus be recovered in the manure, and additional benefit will 

 be secured in the production of meat, milk, etc. 



Cotton-Seed Hulls. They constitute about half the weight of 

 the ginned seed. Analysis shows them to be principally crude fiber 

 and nitrogen-free extract matter, these two constituents, with water, 

 constituting more than 90 per cent of the hulls. The hulls are hard 

 and dry, usually covered -with a fuzzy lint. On superficial examina- 

 tion they appear to be a most unpromising food material, and, in fact, 

 until a comparatively recent period they were universally considered 

 worthless for this purpose. They have been found to be a cheap and 

 effective substitute for hay. 



Digestion experiments have indicated that 10 per cent of the 

 protein of cotton hulls is digestible, 38 per cent of the fiber, 40 per 

 cent of the nitrogen-free extract, and 77 per cent of the fat ; so that 

 100 pounds of hulls contains the following amounts of digestible food 

 constituents: Protein, 0.42 pounds; carbohydrates (including fiber 

 and nitrogen-free extract), 30.95 pounds, and fat, 1.69 pounds. 



Cotton-Hull Ashes. Cotton-hull ashes have been on the market 

 since 1880 and have come into great demand as a cheap potash sup- 

 ply, especially among tobacco growers. The quality of these ashes 

 varies greatly on account of impurities introduced, principally by the 



