68 



Husk in Decorticated Cotton Cake, [august, 



Adulteration— According to Winton* the yellow meal 

 obtained by grinding the decorticated cake obtained from 

 Upland cotton-seed is often grossly adulterated with ground 

 cotton hulls, and occasionally with rice refuse. Finely ground 

 hulls, owing partly to the fine state of division of the dark- 

 coloured matter, and partly to the exposure of the nearly 

 colourless palisade cells, is not so dark as the coarsely ground 

 hulls and more readily escapes detection in the meal. 



The following table gives the percentage composition of 

 various cotton-seed products, as given in the above-mentioned 

 United States Bulletin : — 



Percentage Composition of Cotton-Seed Products. 





Ginned Seed (Average 

 of 25 Analyses). 



Hulls (Average of 22 

 Analyses). 



Hulled Seed (Average 

 of 7 Analyses). 



Undecorticated Cotton- 

 seed Cake (Average 

 of 62 Analyses). 



Decorticated Cotton- 

 seed Cake (Average 

 of 429 Analyses). 



Water 



9-92 



11-36 



6-94 



11-64 



8-62 



Ash 



4*74 



2'73 



6-92 



6-26 



7'05 



Protein 



19-38 



4-18 



30-35 



24*08 



44-09 



Fibre 



22-57 



45 "32 



4-76 



20-68 



5-16 



Nitrogen, free extract 



23 "94 



34*19 



2i'39 



31-43 



20*85 



Fat ... 



I9'45 



2*22 



29-64 



5-9i 



14-23 



It will be seen that the fibre in undecorticated cotton 

 cake in these analyses averaged 20 -68 per cent., while that 

 in decorticated cotton cake was 5 -16 per cent. It is 

 evident, therefore, that " decorticated " cotton cake, such 

 as that referred to in the first paragraph of this article as 

 containing 15 per cent, of fibre, approaches and more nearly 

 resembles in this respect " undecorticated " cotton cake. 

 From the description of the process of manufacture, it would 

 appear that the excessive quantities of husk and woolly fibre 

 present in many of the decorticated cotton cakes now on 

 the market are not due to difficulties in manufacture but 

 to deliberate adulteration. 



* Microscopy of Vegetable Fcods, 1st ed. 1906, p, 206. 



