320 THE BOOK OF USEFUL PLANTS 



from its sediment. Refined, it is ready for use in 

 cooking, as food adulterants, as medicines, and 

 for miners' oil. The oil needs no apology. It is 

 a pity that it has come into use as an imitation 

 of other oils, including butter. 



The farmer takes his seed to mill and sells the 

 oil for which he has no need. He keeps the hulls 

 and the meal, which contain the most valuable 

 feed and fertilizer for his cattle and his land. The 

 nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash in one ton of 

 cotton seed is worth #12.75. A ton of cotton-seed 

 meal contains the three plant foods named above, 

 in about double the quantity, so that its market 

 value is #25. The farmer who keeps up his 

 farm's fertility must count the cost of commercial 

 fertilizers very carefully. His decision is to bring 

 back the seed, in one form or another, sparing the 

 oil only, for that has no value when it is fed or put 

 upon the land. With constant cropping the land 

 will be impoverished, and the crops constantly 

 poorer, unless feeding the land is practised. 



The best form of fertilizers is barnyard manures. 

 The wise farmer raises cattle, feeds them the hulls 

 and meal left after the lint and oil are taken from 

 his cotton crop and sold. The cattle grow, and 

 the milk, butter, and beef are marketed in due 

 time. The manure is spread on the fields, and so 



