$2 MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. I904. 



"prime" in the trade sense, but is below the guarantee usually 

 placed upon cottonseed meal sold in Maine. 



The hulls and cotton which should be removed from the seed 

 before it is crushed and pressed have but little feeding value. A 

 little of these materials is always present in the meal. The 

 temptation to include as much of them as practicable is great. 

 Occasionally it happens that considerable of the black hulls are 

 ground with the cake and a dark colored meal of inferior feeding 

 value is the result. From information that seems reliable it 

 appears that recently considerable money has been invested in 

 machinery designed to grind the hulls very fine and thus dis- 

 guise them more completely. This may account for much of the 

 cottonseed meal offered this year in Maine running lower than 

 it has in past years in protein and fat. 



Strictly first class fresh cottonseed meal is always bright and 

 yellow and should have a pleasant nutty flavor. Not all dark 

 colored cottonseed meal is necessarily adulterated. Sponta- 

 neous heating of the seed in the field, or overcooking of the 

 "meat," may render the meal dark in color without changing its 

 composition. Such meal is not first quality, however, and is 

 usually sold at a lower price. Cottonseed sometimes carries 

 practically no cotton and the hulls break up and pass into the 

 meal. This is, of course, an adulteration with hulls, although an 

 unintentional one. 



The hulls are lighter than ground cottonseed cake, and their 

 presence in meal, particularly if they are not finely ground, can 

 be readily detected by stirring up a little of the meal in a tum- 

 bler with hot water. The hulls will settle out more slowly and 

 will appear on the top of the meal in the bottom of the tumbler. 

 Testing a high grade meal in comparison with a poor meal will 

 easily familiarize any one with this simple, yet quite reliable test. 



Samples have been received of 24 different named -brands and 

 quite a number of samples have been forwarded by dealers that 

 were unbranded. These were usually samples that were sub- 

 mitted to them for purchase and in many instances the reported 

 low analyses have resulted in the Maine dealers not buying the 

 goods. This is one way in which the law has greatly helped the 

 dealer and still more, the consumer.* 



*This is illustrated by a sample of cottonseed meal offered to the Paris Flour- 

 ing Company. On analysis is was found to carry only 24.62 per cent protein, and 

 the goods were not purchased. 



