127 



The " lint", when thoroughly cleaned, is packed in bales by hydrau- 

 lic pressure for export. The bales are covered with coarse jute or cot- 

 ton canvas, and bound with ropes or iron bands. 



Cotton-seed oil — The expression and utilisation of this oil is a distinct 

 industry, but in India the seed is used rather as a cattle-food direct, 

 than an oil-yielder. Egypt exports very large quantities of this seed 

 to England. The seed requires cleaning before shipping, otherwise it 

 heats and deteriorates on the voyage. In the United States there are 

 a large number of oil-mills for working up cotton seed, and a good deal 

 of the oil is exported. The yield of oil varies with the season and the 

 locality in which the seed is produced. One authority estimates that 

 100 lbs. of seed yield 2 gallons of oil, 48 lbs of oil-cake, and 6 lbs. re- 

 fuse fit for soap-making. The value of the oil in New York is stated 

 to be 18d. to 20d. a gallon. 



Cotton Oil-cake — The cake remaining after the expression of the oil 

 is very valuable as a catfle-food and as a manure. 



Feeding cattle with the cake on the estate, and using the manure on 

 the fields is the readiest method of returning to the soil the valuable 

 ingredients extracted by the growth of the plant. 



But if the cake becomes heated or mildewed, it is not suitable for 

 food, but can be applied direct to the land. In this case the finer the 

 -cake is crushed or ground the better. 



Munro gives the average quantities of manurial ingredients in one 

 ton as below : — 



Phosphoric acid. Potash. Nitrogen. 



Brown or rough cotton cake 451bs. 45lbs. 851bs. 



Decorticated cotton cake 70 45 145 



" Oil-cakes heat and decay fast and act quickly when ploughed into 

 the soil. They are organic manures (more than nine-tenths of their 

 weight consisting of organic matter), and contain no ready-formed am- 

 monia ; but soon give rise to this by decomposition." 



The value of oil-cake to feed cattle for the purposes of obtaining a 

 rich nitrogenous manure, and also for the distinct purpose of fattening 

 cattle, has been alluded to as follows in the introductory lecture of the 

 Institute of Jamaica Lectures on Agriculture : — 



" In England cattle are often kept on a farm simply for the sake of the 

 manure they produce, and it may be advantageous or even necessary to 

 purchase fo d for them over and above what the farm can provide. 



" In Jamaica, too, it might be found profitable to stall-feed cattle for 

 the sake of the manure. In that case it would be necessary to care- 

 fully consider not only the cost of various kinds of food, bat also what 

 kinds would yield, the best manures. 



" As nitrogen is the most costly ingredient of purchased manures, it 

 follows that other things being equal, and looking at it from the point 

 of view of manure, the best food is that which contains the most nitro- 

 gen. 



" Chemical analysis shows that oil-cakes yield the richest manure ; next 

 corn, peas and beans, and bran. Clover-hay yields a richer manure 

 than corn, and com a richer than meadow-hay. 



