226 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[Sept,  t,  1892. 
immediate  vicinity  of  the  oil  mills,  but  our  people 
seem  to  have  paid  very  little  attention  to  it.  N umerous 
experiments  have  been  made,  of  which  I quote 
a few.  Professor  W.  E.  Stone,  of  the  Tennessee 
Experiment  Station,  writes  as  follows:  — 
Our  investigations  seems  to  justify  the  following 
conclusions : 
1.  The  practice  of  feeding  cotton  seed  hulls  and 
meal  as  an  exclusive  diet  is  well  established  and  in- 
creasing in  the  vicinity  of  the  centers  of  the  cotton 
seed  oil  industry.  All  the  information  available 
indicates  that  the  practice  is  economical  and  profitable. 
2.  It  seems  in  no  way  harmful  to  the  health  of 
the  animal  nor  to  the  healthfulness  of  the  products 
(beef  and  milk)  resulting. 
3.  The  diet  seems  adapted  both  to  the  production 
of  beef  and  mutton  as  well  as  milk. 
4.  The  average  ration  should  consist  of  52-35  pounds 
of  hulls  and  5-8  pounds  of  meal  daily. 
5.  The  hulls  are  a cheap  and  effective  substitute 
for  hay. 
6.  The  manure  produced  by  this  system  of  feed- 
ing is  an  important  factor  in  considering  its  profit- 
ableness. 
Mr.  A.  H.  Rice,  of  Tennessee,  gives  the  fol- 
lowing result  of  feeding  cattle  on  cotton  seed  meal 
and  hulls  : 
As  requested,  I give  you  below  the  results  I obtained 
in  feeding  three  (3)  year  old  steers,  on  this  feed  in 
comparison  with  other  food  under  similar  circum- 
stances for  sixty  days. 
Two  Jersey  steers,  twin  calves,  precisely  alike, 
except  that  one  w’a-s  thirty  pounds  heavier  than  his 
mate  ; hence  the  heavier  showing  more  thrift.  I 
will  number  him  one  (1)  and  the  other  twin  two  (2). 
These  two  steers  were  weighed  on  the  evening  of 
January  26,  1889,  without  food  or  water,  thus 
making  a fair  test. 
No.  1 weighed 759  pounds. 
No.  2 weighed 720  pounds. 
No.  3 weighed 740  pounds. 
No.  one  (1)  was  fed  on  cotton  [seed  and  corn  mixed, 
and  sometimes  corn  meal  instead  of  corn — all  he 
would  eat.  No.  two  (2)  was  fed  on  cotton  seed  hulls 
and  meal — all  he  would  eat.  No.  three  (3)  was  fed 
on  shelled  corn — all  he  would  eat.  All  were  watered 
alike,  and  had  what  wheat  straw  they  wanted. 
On  March  27,  1889,  I weighed  them  without  food 
or  water,  with  the  following  result. 
No.  1 -weighed  780  pounds,  .a  gain  of  30  pounds 
No.  2 weighed  825  pounds ..  a gain  of  108  pounds. 
No.  3 weighed  715  pounds,  .a  loss  of  25  pounds. 
I am  sure  No.  2 was  the  inferior  steer,  and  showed 
less  thrift.  I did  not  keep  a correct  account  of  the 
cost  of  the  above  experiment,  but  am  positive  the 
feed  of  No.  2 did  not  cost  any  more  than  that  of 
Nos.  1 and  3. 
My  only  regret  is  that  I did  not  know  the  value 
of  this  food  sooner.  I am  so  well  satisfied  with 
this  experiment  that  I have  put  all  my  fattening 
cattle  on  cotton  seed  hulls  and  meal,  and  another 
year  I shall  feed  extensively,  and  cotton  seed  hulls 
and  meal  shall  be  my  feed. 
Mr.  W.  M.  Towers,  of  Rome,  Georgia,  gives  the 
following  result  of  his  experiments  in  feeding  cattle 
on  meal  and  hulls  : 
We  bought,  April  14,  1888,  a very  handsome  ox, 
but  thin  and  gaunt,  who  had  been  ridden  by  a boy 
about  fifteen  miles.  Weighed  April  13,  1888,  1,325 
pounds;  April  17,  1,360  pounds;  April  19,  1,400 pounds; 
April  20,  1,465  pounds;  April  27,  1,450  pounds;  April 
30,  1,510  pounds;  May  1,  1,500  pounds;  May 
5,  1,560  pounds ; May  7,  1,590  pounds ; May  10,  1,595 
pounds;  May  15,  1,615  pounds  ; May  17,  1,625  pounds; 
May  24,  1,650  pounds. 
The  writer  has  the  results  of  numerous  other  ex- 
periments before  him,  all  proving  that  cotton  seed 
meal  and  hulls  make  a magnificent  stock  food.  It 
is  needless  to  give  more,  as  the  above  suffice  to 
show  the  value  of  them  to  our  farming  classes. 
Cotton  seed  meal  and  hulls  mixed  in  the  proportions 
given  above  cost  about  $1.50  per  month  for  feed  per 
head  for  cattle,  and  therefore  is  about  the  cheapest 
feed  which  cau  be  procured.  The  result  of  this 
discovery  will  be  to  render  fine  pastures  unnecessary 
for  raising  cattle,  and  every  farmer  can  have  the 
fattest  beef  whether  he  has  pastures  or  not.  The 
benefit  of  this  will  be  great  in  many  sections  of  the 
South,  and  it  is  greatly  to  be  hoped  that  our  farmers 
will  soon  be  supplying  our  city  markets  with  beef 
instead  of  our  having  to  import  it  from  the  far  West. 
I was  informed  by  a gentleman  living  in  Fulton 
county,  Georgia,  a few  days  ago,  that  for  the  past 
two  years  he  had  been  buying  all  the  poor  cattle  he 
could  find  in  the  county,  feeding  them  for  a couple 
of  months  on  cotton  seed  hulls  and  meal,  and  then 
selling  them  for  the  fattest  beef  at  a profit  of  froui 
fifty  to  seventy-five  per  cent,  over  and  above  the  C03t 
of  the  cattle  and  the  feed  together.  It  would  seem 
that  nature  has  given  the  South  every  advantage 
possible  for  supplying  her  people  with  every 
necessity  of  life,  and  they  should  not  be  slow  to 
utilize  this  great  discovery,  which  will  save  the 
necessity  of  owning  “pastures  on  a thousand  hills” 
for  grazing  their  flocks  and  herds. — Dixie  — Oil 
Paint  and  Drug  Pej>orter. 
KAINIT. 
The  use  of  kainit  as  a fertilizer  is  almost  universal 
in  Germany,  and  has  extended  largely  into  other  parts 
of  Europe,  the  coffee  plantations  of  Brazil  and 
Ceylon  [?  Ed.  C.  O. j and  is  now  commanding  the  earn- 
est attention  of  farmers  in  the  United  States.  Its 
use  as  a fetiliser  Las  increased  to  an  enormous  extent 
from  a comparatively  small  beginning,  and  has 
attained  an  importance  equal  to  that  which  Peruvian 
guano  reached  years  ago.  Thousands  of  tons  have 
been  exported  annually,  and  the  quantity  is  increas- 
ing rapidly. 
An  analysis  of-  kainit  shows  that  it  contains  sul- 
phate of  potash,  24‘80  per  cent ; sulphate  of  magnesia, 
1430  per  cent ; chloride  of  magnesia,  12  62  per  cent ; 
chloride  of  sodium  (common  salt),  32-00  per  cent ; 
moisture,  14-36  per  c-mt ; insoluble  matter,  1'92  per 
cent ; total  100,000.  Guaranteed  23  per  cent  sulphate 
of  potash. 
It  is  chiefly  valuable  for  the  potash  contained  in 
it,  which  is  an  ingredient  of  every  cultivated  plant, 
and  without  which  none  can  grow.  Potash  is  neces- 
sary for  the  formation  of  starch  in  the  leaves,  stalks, 
&e.,  for  without  it  the  ph, :.t  cannot  assimilate  the 
materials  needed  for  its  growth,  nor  show  any  in- 
crease in  weight.  It  is  a well-known  fact  that  all 
plants  absorb  potash  from  the  soil— some  to  a greater 
extent  than  others;  as,  for  instance,  hay,  clover,  corn, 
tobacco,  hops,  potatoes,  and  roots  absorb  largely, 
whilst  grain  crops  exhaust  it  less.  Commercial  ferti- 
lisers, such  as  superphosphates,  bone,  fish,  and 
slaughter-house  refuse,  &c.,  containjlittle  or  no  potash. 
The  well-known  Peruvian  guano  yields  but  a small 
percentage.  It  will  be  interesting  in  this  connection 
to  note  carefully  the  following  remarks  made  by 
Dr.  Fransz  Giersberg,  a celebrated  professor  of 
agriculture  in  Germany,  in  lectures  delivered  by  him 
by  order  of  the  German  Government,  before  agricul- 
tural societies  throughout  the  empire.  After  alluding 
to  the  nourishment  of  plants  in  general,  and  the  most 
beneficial  materials  needed  for  „such  nourishments, 
he  says:  “ There  is  no  doubt  about  the  fact  that  the 
application  of  bone-dust,  as  well  as  other  phosphates 
to  the  soil,  may  and  w ill  produce  large  yields  for 
several  years,  the  soil,  by  reason  of  such  application 
(mainly  in  connection  with  nitrogen),  being  stimu- 
lated to  more  vigorous  action.  The  soil  yields  largely 
of  the  nourishment  which,  in  addition  to  phosphates, 
all  plants  necessarily  require,  but,  as  no  compensation 
is  allowed  for  the  absorption  of  the  former,  we,  but 
too  often  experience  the  result  that  where  a soil 
receives  only  phosphate  manuring  for  a length  of 
time  it  will  become  eventually  entirely  unproductive. 
Phosphate  manuring  only  restores  to  the  soil  the 
one,  omitting  the  other  nourishments  needed  for  the 
active  thriviug  of  the  plants,  and  as  a consequence,  the 
soil  and  crops  deteriorate  in  quantity  and  quality. 
One-sided  manuring  will  not  produce  satisfactory 
results  for  any  length  of  time,  but  we  may  justly 
claim  and  expect  for  the  use  of  potash  salt  (kainit) 
