90 COCONUTS, KERNELS, AND CACAO. 



The Americans first bestowed the care on cotton-seed 

 oil which brought it into prominence. As the seed is 

 ginned it is removed to splendid storage accommodation 

 in the mills. Raised to the top of the store by bucket 

 elevators, a screw " conveyor " distributes it wherever 

 available. As required, it drops into another distri- 

 butor, which transfers the seed to the revolving " boll 

 screen," a cylinder perforated with holes sufficiently 

 large to pass the seed, and retain the bolls, stalks, or other 

 large impurities. From the screen the seed passes to 

 another revolving perforated screen, which separates 

 smaller impurities e.g., sand, dust, etc. 



The clean seed is next conveyed to the " linters," 

 a saw-gin which removes the short lint, thenfce to the 

 " millers," an outer cylinder and an inner drum with 

 knives set in both. The " millers " having broken the 

 shells and partly cut up the kernels, a revolving screen 

 and an oscillating separator or " shaker " eliminate the 

 hulls. The remaining kernels are crushed between heavy 

 rollers, heated, and shaped into cakes, which, wrapped 

 in hair cloths, are packed into presses. The squeezed- 

 out oil is pumped into a settling tank, where any impuri- 

 ties sink to the bottom. The oil cake, which fetches 

 about a quarter of the price of the oil, is used for 

 fattening cattle and exported. Demargarinated cotton- 

 seed oil is sometimes called " winter oil." Kapok 

 oil from the silk-cotton tree is similarly expressed 

 for butter substitutes, but this is largely a Dutch 

 industry. 



Sesame or " gingelly " oil, also a semi-drying oil, is 

 bland, nearly colourless, and without smell. It comes 

 from the flat seed of an herb or plant which grows from 



