UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
DEPARTMENT BULLETIN No. 1219. 
Washington, D.C. T April, 1924 
DELINTING AND RECLEANING COTTONSEED FOR PLANTING PURPOSES. 
By J. E. Barr, Investigator in Marketing Seeds, Bureau of Agricultural Economics. 
CONTENTS. 
Page. 
Therateofdelinting 2 
Seeds cut by delinter saws 3 
Appearance of deliuted seed 4 
Effect of delinting on germination 4 
Effect of delinting on the planting capacity 6 
Weight per bushel of delinted seed 7 
Delinting a prerequisit e for recleaning 10 
\^ Page. 
Loss of goMseedsin recleaning 12 
Dockagein delinting and recleaning 14 
Cost of delinting and recleaning 16 
Agricultural possibilities of delinted and re- 
cleaned seed 17 
Summary of conclusions 18 
The practice of delinting and recleaning cottonseed for planting 
purposes is coming into more general use. Increasing interest is being 
manifested by large cottonseed growers and dealers in the commercial 
possibilities and agricultural advantages of one or both of these opera- 
tions. Investigations show that each of the two processes possesses 
certain definite advantages but is of greatest value or is most effective 
Then performed in conjunction with the other. That is, cottonseed 
which has been delinted is still further improved for planting purposes 
by subsequent recleaning, and recleaning is much more effective if 
the seeds previously have been delinted. 
These investigations include a series of tests and experiments 
conducted for the purpose of determining the effect of delinting at 
varying rates of cut on the percentage of the seeds injured by the 
delinter saws, the appearance of the seeds, germination, planting 
capacity, and weight per bushel or volume of 30 pounds in terms of a 
bushel. The delinted seeds used in making the tests were taken 
from an average lot of the Express variety grown from selected seed 
in Mississippi County, Ark., in 1921. Similar tests with delinted 
seed of the Cleveland variety, as far as they have been made, bear 
out the conclusions drawn from those made with the Express, but 
because of the incompleteness of the data the detailed results are 
omitted from this discussion. 
Xotf..— Credit is due the large number of cottonseed dealers and growers, experiment-station repre- 
sentative.-, and machinery manufacturers who have cooperated freely with the writer in obtaining the 
data presented in this bulletin. 
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