COTTON-SEED MEAL. 63 



allude to what he said respecting cotton-seed meal. It seems 

 to me, from what I know of it, and from what I know of the 

 opinions of practical farmers in regard to it, that his experience 

 does not correspond with the general results obtained in feeding 

 cotton-seed meal ; and it may arise from the fact that his exper- 

 iments were made soon after the preparation of cotton-seed 

 meal was begun, and not within the last few years. It seems to 

 me that the article which he used must have been different 

 from that which is used now. It is known to most farmers, 

 perhaps, that when it was first brought into the market, it was 

 unhulled, undecorticated, and there were some positively 

 injurious results which followed from feeding that article. 

 Within the last few years, however, it has been decorticated, 

 the hull has been taken off, and it has gone into the market. 

 Now, Dr. Loring's experiments were made several years ago, 

 if I am not mistaken, and I am inclined to think that the 

 article was different from that which is in the market at the 

 present day. At any rate, it is the only instance that has come 

 to my knowledge where the result has not been satisfactory in 

 a very high degree. It is not a week since I heard a practical 

 farmer, speaking of its effect on dairy cows, say that the 

 increase of milk was very perceptible, to the extent of two or 

 three quarts, within a very few days. I allude to this point 

 now, in order to ascertain if any other farmer has found any 

 objectionable results to arise from its use. 



An acquaintance of mine wanted to reduce a very rough, 

 bushy pasture, too rocky to plough, and the question was, how 

 to do it. Pasturing cows upon it, which had been done for 

 many years, did not effect his object, and I advised liim to stock 

 it very heavily with sheep — twice as heavily, perhaps, as the 

 pasture would naturally and easily carry — and then to feed the 

 sheep with a very small amount of cotton-seed meal once or 

 twice a day. He acted upon my advice, and put something 

 like sixty-five sheep upon a seventeen acre pasture — not more 

 than six or eight acres of which were open pasture, the rest 

 being bushes. I have watched that experiment very carefully. 

 It was made, in fact, under my own eye. He has fed some 

 four or five tons of cotton-seed meal to these sheep and to 

 another flock of fatting wethers, where I have had an oppor- 

 tunity to see the result, and so far as I can judge from my own 



