DELINTING AXD RECLEANING COTTONSEED FOR PLANTING. 15 
To remove these inferior seeds and the inert matter without the loss 
of good seeds is of far greater importance than anxiety regarding 
apparently excessive dockage. By preventing the loss of heavy- 
weight seeds, however, the dockage is reduced to the minimum con- 
sistent with efficiency in recleaning. 
If cottonseed is well matured and carefully ginned and delinted, 
the total dockage in recleaning should not exceed 5 per cent. In 
recleaning the delinted seeds from which the lightweight seeds shown 
in Plate VIII were taken, the total dockage averaged only 4 per cent; 
while in recleaning the ginned seed (see Pis. II and III) the total 
dockage, of which the so-called lightweight seeds in Plate VII were 
taken, was 20 per cent. Granting that three-fourths of the total 
dockage in recleaning the ginned seeds was composed of seeds as 
shown in Plate VII, a saving of 58 per cent of that portion would mean 
a net reduction of 43.5 per cent in the total dockage. In other words 
the total percentage of dockage including inert matter would have 
been reduced from 20 per cent to 11.3 per cent. 
In some instances which have come to the writer's attention the 
dockage in recleaning ginned seed was only 2 to 3.5 per cent. A com- 
parison of the ginned and recleaned seeds in each case based on the 
weights of the individual seeds showed little or no reduction in the 
number of lightweight seeds present and slight improvement as to 
the percentage of inert matter contained. This is also true of other 
ginned samples analyzed where the dockage in recleaning was from 
12 to 20 per cent which, in connection with the data given in the fore- 
going paragraphs, indicates that not only is much good seed lost in 
attempting to reclean ginned seed but the results are not satisfactory 
from the standpoint of the lightweight seeds and inert matter 
removed. 
The dockage in delinting and recleaning cottonseed is composed of 
linters, culled seed, and inert matter. Based on a number of experi- 
ments and extensive observations and investigations of commercial 
delinting and recleaning operations, it is found that where the seeds 
are delinted closely and recleaned efficiently the average products per 
ton are approximately as follows: 
Pounds. 
Linters 140 
Culled seed 80 
Inert matter 80 
Total dockage 300 
Recleaned and graded seed 1 . 700 
Total 2.000 
As shown, the total dockage or shrinkage is 300 pounds per ton or 
15 per cent. From a commercial point of view this shrinkage is of 
importance chiefly in so far as it affects the monetary value of a given 
lot of seeds. On this basis the net loss is not so great, being reduced 
by the market value of the linters and of the culled seed. When 140 
pounds of linters per ton is cut the linters are known commercially 
as No. 3 or mill-run which is a relatively low grade having a market 
value during normal times equal to 10 to 15 per cent of the price of 
middling short staple cotton. The culled seeds may be sold to cotton- 
seed oil mills at about 75 per cent of the current market price of 
cottonseed for oil manufacture. 
