342 Elementary Principles of Agriculture 



rich but must now receive regular applications of fertilizers 

 containing phosphates, nitrogen, and often potash, in 

 order to produce reasonably good crops. Cotton is a 

 "clean cultivated" crop, and returns but little organic 

 matter to the soil. Barnyard manure is always beneficial, 

 but is not abundant in cotton growing countries because 

 the stock are not kept in barns as they are in the colder 

 sections. 



504. Harvesting and Ginning. The cotton as it is 

 picked from the stalks in the field is called seed cotton. 

 It is picked by hand and hauled to gins in lots of 1200 to 

 1700 pounds, sufficient to give a bale of about 500 

 pounds of lint. Machines have been invented that 

 successfully harvest cotton, but have not yet come into 

 general use. The gins separate the lint from the seed. 

 The proportion of lint to seed cotton is usually about 33 

 percent, varying from 28 to 42 percent lint in upland 

 cotton, and only 20 to 30 percent in Sea Island cotton. 

 As seed are worth only about one cent a pound, and the 

 lint 10 to 15 cents and upwards, it is plainly evident that 

 high percent of lint is a valuable quality. After ginning, 

 the lint is pressed into rectangular bales, wrapped in 

 coarse burlap or bagging, and tied with steel ties. In 

 this condition it is usually sold by the farmer in local 

 markets to cotton dealers who have the bales compressed 

 and shipped to mills or cotton merchants. The " round 

 bale" pressing, while seemingly more desirable than the 

 usual form, is not largely used. 



505. Cotton Seed Products. Cotton seed were former- 

 ly discarded, because, like the tomato, they were thought 

 to be poisonous. To-day, however, cotton seed products 

 are staples on the world's markets. Cotton seed meal 

 is very rich in protein and is exported in large quantities 



