io8 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



of by water, is from one hundred and fifty to two hundred and 

 fifty tons. 



The bags are in the press about fifteen minutes, the oil run- 

 ning out and the dry kernels remaining behind in a solid cake 

 the oil cake of commerce. This product is of a rich golden 

 color, quite dry, and of a sweet and oily taste. When used for 

 food it is ground to the consistence of corn meal, and it is known 

 as cotton-seed meal. A comparison of the number of pounds of 

 flesh produced by several kinds of food is as follows : Cotton-seed 

 cake, forty-one pounds; bran, thirty-one pounds; peas, twenty- 

 two pounds ; corn, twelve pounds ; rye, eleven pounds. The num- 

 ber of pounds of fat produced by the several foods are these : 

 Cotton-seed cake, fifty-seven pounds ; bran, fifty-four pounds ; 

 peas, fifty pounds; corn, sixty-eight pounds; rye, seventy-two 

 pounds ; hay, fifty pounds. It is claimed that cotton-seed cake 

 fed to cows gives a rich and plentiful supply of milk. 



The oil, having been pumped into the oil room, is treated with 

 caustic soda and constantly stirred. A deposit falls to the bottom, 

 of the kettle and the refined oil is turned off. It averages about 

 eighty-two per cent of the crude oil. The deposit, known as soap 

 stock, sells readily to soap manufacturers, or it is used by the mill 

 itself in the manufacture of soap. Much of it is sent to foreign 

 countries. The oil is occasionally refined over again to remove 

 wholly a slightly bitter flavor of the seed which reduces the culi- 

 nary value. 



It will be noticed that the products of the seed are (1) oil, 

 both the crude and the refined ; (2) oil cake ; (3) lint ; (4) hulls ; 

 (5) soap stock ; (6) glycerin. One gallon of crude cotton-seed oil 

 will yield three pounds and a half of glycerin, but thus far only a 

 small amount has been made. The use of the seed for these 

 several purposes has been of great benefit to the Southern States. 

 Their output is constantly increasing, while the supply of petro- 

 leum in the oil fields of Pennsylvania and elsewhere appears to 

 be decreasing. The world was greatly excited when petroleum 

 was discovered. But the discovery of cotton-seed oil has been so 

 gradual that the importance of it has not been realized until 

 lately. This brief statement of what is being done to-day with 

 . an article that was going to waste a generation ago must lead 

 every student of economy to ask, " Are there not other waste 

 products of the present time that will be used a generation hence, 

 and thus not only increase the comfort of living but also decrease 

 the expense ? " 



