OIL-BEARING SEEDS AND BY-PRODUCTS 137 



lets are chiefly sown in early summer as catch crops, owing to the short 

 period required for growth. In the northern plains district, where 

 the growing season is too short for the sorghums, they are of increasing 

 importance for grain production. The yields reported range from 

 16 to over 30 bushels per acre. Ground millet seed has been success- 

 fully used for fattening cattle, lambs, and pigs, tho usually of some- 

 what lower value than corn. 



III. Buckwheat and its By-Products 



Altho rarely used for feeding stock, buckwheat has a fair value for 

 such purpose, its nutrients running somewhat lower than those in the 

 leading cereals. 



Buckwheat by-products. — The black, woody hulls of the buckwheat 

 grain have little feeding value. On the other hand, buckwheat mid- 

 dlings, that part of the kernel immediately under the hull, which is 

 separated from the flour on milling, contains 28 per ct. crude- protein 

 and 7 per ct. fat, with little fiber, and is equal to dried brewers ' grains 

 in value. To dispose of the hulls, millers usually mix them with the 

 middlings, selling the combination as buckwheat bran or feed. The 

 value of such feed depends entirely on how much hulls are present. 

 This can be told from the amount of fiber it contains. Buckwheat 

 by-products are nearly always used for dairy cows, but should not be 

 fed as the only concentrate or the quality of the milk may be injured. 



IV. Oil-Bearing Seeds and their By-Products 



The annual crop of cotton in the United States now amounts to over 

 14,000,000 bales of 500 lbs. each, with not less than 7,000,000 tons of 

 cotton seed as a by-product, since for each pound of fiber, or lint, there 

 are 2 lbs. of seed. Before 1860 the seed of the cotton plant was largely 

 wasted by the planters, who, ignorant of its worth, often allowed it to 

 rot near the gin house, while meat and other animal products which 

 might have been produced from it were purchased at high cost from 

 northern farmers. The utilization of the cotton seed and its products 

 as food for man and beast furnishes a striking example of what science 

 is accomplishing for agriculture. 



Cotton seed. — The cotton seed carries about 19 per ct. fat, or oil, 

 and nearly 20 per ct. crude protein. Formerly much seed was fed in 

 the South, especially to steers and dairy cattle. Now little is fed 

 before the oil is extracted, both on account of the value of the oil and 

 because cottonseed meal usually gives better results. Owing to the 

 high oil content, cotton seed sometimes has an unduly laxative effect. 

 Wet, moldy cotton seed or that which has heated should never be fed. 



