1898.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 33. 79 



COTTON-SEED FEED AS A HAY SUBSTITUTE 

 FOR MILCH COWS. 



J. B. LIKDSEY, E. B. HOLLAND AND B. K. JONES. 



The Experiment concisely described. 

 What Cotton-seed Feed is. — The seeds of the cotton plant 

 are irregular, egg-shaped in form, and almost hidden by a 

 tuft of white fibre which covers their surface. The meat of 

 the seed is covered with a thick, tough hull of a black color. 

 Machines have been invented to remove this hull, and the 

 meat is subjected to warm pressure for the purpose of re- 

 moving as much as possible of the oil. The pressed meat or 

 cake is ground, and results in the decorticated, bright yellow 

 cotton-seed meal of commerce. The black hull, covered with 

 the white fibre, was formerly almost entirely used as fuel, 

 and the ashes were sold for fertilizing purposes. Of late 

 many southern farmers, at the recommendation of experi- 

 ment stations in the south, have been mixing these hulls with 

 the cotton-seed meal and feeding them to beef and dairy cat- 

 tle, with very good success. Within the last few years this 

 material, under the name of cotton-seed feed ^ has been ofiered 

 in our Massachusetts markets. The manufacturers claim 

 that the feed consists of 1,600 pounds of hull and 400 

 pounds of meal, thoroughly mixed by machinery. The price 

 charged has been $13 per ton in car lots, delivered in Mas- 

 sachusetts, which would be equivalent to at least $15 in sin- 

 gle tons. The feed, shipped in bags, is quite bulky, and, 

 because of the white fibre covering the hull, looks somewhat 

 like wool waste. Its color is light yellow, due to the ad- 

 mixture of the cotton-seed meal. 



The Experiments briefly stated. 

 The experiment station has conducted four experiments 

 with this feed, two with milch cows and two with sheep. 



