DESCRIPTION OF FEEDING-STUFFS 197 



have been removed (decorticated) and that where 

 the hulls and seeds are all ground together (un- 

 decorticated) . The seed from which the decorticated 

 cotton cake or meal is made comes principally 

 from the United States and is often freed from 

 impurities, such as stones, pieces of iron, cotton 

 fibre, etc., in the ports where it is imported and 

 then is sold as a purified product. The meal made 

 from unhulled seeds comes from Egypt and India, 

 and possesses a smaller nutritive value on account of 

 the larger amount of hulls (about 50%). 



Good fresh cotton-seed meal ought to have a 

 bright yellow colour, a nutty flavour and a pleasant 

 smell. Milch cattle ought not to get more than 

 2 lbs. per head per day, horses the same quantity, 

 draught oxen up to 4 lbs., fattening cattle 5 lbs., 

 whilst fattening sheep may be given J— | lb. Caution 

 should be exercised in using this feeding-stuff, for 

 it has been known to affect the animals injuriously 

 in some cases. As a rule cotton-seed meal causes 

 severe and sometimes fatal sickness amongst pigs, 

 so they and also young and pregnant animals 

 ought not to get any. It is not the hulls and 

 cotton fibre that cause the injury, as was previously 

 thought, for in the countries where cotton is grown, 

 the hulls are fed in large quantities without any ill 

 results. 



Earth-nut cake and earth-nut meal are also sold 

 in various forms. The best product is made from 



