6o* 
THE  RURAL  NEW-YORKER. 
Sept.  1? 
farmers  along-  the  line  of  the  Georgia  Southern  & 
Florida  Railroad  concluded  to  try  the  cultivation  of 
tobacco.  About  200  acres  were  planted  at  Cyclone, 
Valdosta,  Tifton,  Adel,  Vienna  and  other  points  along 
the  line,  in  plots  ranging  from  one  to  fifty  acres. 
Although  the  first  of  the  season  was  unfavorable  to  a 
good  stand  and  the  planters  were  new  to  the  business, 
the  crop  has  been  a  good  one  and  the  quality  of  the 
leaf  fine.  Both  cigar  leaf  and  plug  varieties  were 
planted,  and  both  were  good. 
The  cigar  leaf  was  from  Cuban  seed,  making  not 
only  fine  wrappers  but  good  fillers.  The  yield  was 
from  700  to  1,000  pounds  per  acre,  which,  at  the  aver¬ 
age  price  of  last  year  (31  cents  per  pound),  would 
amount  to  from  $217  to  $310  per  acre.  The  cost  of 
production  is  estimated  at  $50  per  acre,  which  would 
leave  a  net  profit  of  from  $107  to  $200  per  acre.  The 
plug  tobacco  gave  about  the  same  yield,  although  at 
Tifton  there  were  raised  on  10  acres  12,000  pounds. 
Taking  the  yield  at  an  average  of  700  pounds  per  acre, 
and  the  price  at  20  cents  per  pound  (which  is  low  for 
the  quality),  we  have  a  gross  income  of  $140  per  acre. 
The  cost  of  production  is  estimated  at  $35  per  acre, 
which  would  leave  a  net  profit  of  $105  per  acre.  This 
is  a  better  showing  than  many  of  the  old  tobacco- 
producing  States  make,  as  their  average  yield  is  from 
400  to  500  pounds  per  acre.  When  our  planters  have 
more  experience  I  am  satisfied  that  our  section  will 
make  a  still  better  showing.  Some  of  this  tobacco 
was  grown  upon  land  which  was  in  the  forest  last 
February,  and  all  of  it  upon  land  which  can  be  bought 
for  from  $5  to  $10  per  acre. 
These  facts  and  figures  show  that  South  Georgia 
offers  advantages  to  tobacco  growers  which  are 
equaled  by  few  if  any  other  sections.  In  the  first 
place  the  soil  and  climate  are  favorable  to  the  produc¬ 
tion  of  both  cigar  leaf  and  plug  tobacco,  so  that  the 
grower  has  the  advantage  of  cultivating  whatever 
variety  will  bring  him  the  greatest  profit.  In  the 
second  place,  the  land  is  so  low  in  price  that  a  man  of 
moderate  means  can  engage  in  planting.  The  success¬ 
ful  experiments  of  this  year  have  awakehed  a  decided 
interest  in  tobacco  culture  among  the  farmers  along 
the  line  of  the  Georgia  Southern  road,  and  the  proba¬ 
bility  is  that  several  thousand  acres  will  be  planted 
along  the  line  next  year.  w.  L.  GUES8NKR. 
[A  R.  N.-Y.  representative  this  summer  visited  the 
section  Mr.  Glessner  speaks  of,  and  fully  indorses  his 
statements.  The  tobacco  alluded  to  was  a  wonder  of 
even  and  luxuriant  growth  on  June  11,  and  the  pos¬ 
sibilities  of  the  whole  section  for  fruit  growing  and 
general  agriculture  (except  cotton-growing !)  greatly 
impressed  the  visitor.  Much  of  interest  in  this  con¬ 
nection  is  in  preparation  for  our  readers. — Eds.] 
The  Manufacture  of  Cotton-Seed 
Oil. 
Development  of  a  Neglected  Industry. 
The  manufacture  of  cotton-seed  oil,  with  its  by-pro¬ 
ducts  of  hulls,  meal  and  lint,  all  of  which  not  many 
years  ago  were  thrown  away,  is  an  industry  of  which 
little  is  known  by  Northern  farmers  except  so  far  as 
they  make  use  of  the  meal  for  feeding.  It  is  practi¬ 
cally  a  new  business,  if  we  may  call  that  new  which  is 
only  less  than  20  years  old.  I  think  I  was  the  first  to 
use  the  meal  as  a  food  for  dairy  cows,  which  I  did  in 
1870,  when  a  New  York  firm  induced  me  to  try  a  bag 
and  report  on  it.  The  meal  was  then  shipped  to  Eng¬ 
land,  and  one  ship  was  loading  800  tons  of  it  at  the 
dock  from  which  the  bag  sent  me  was  taken.  I  tried 
it  with  such  favorable  results  that  1  purchased  a  ton 
of  it  at  $18  for  use  in  my  dairy.  It  is  unnecessary  to 
say  anything  now  in  respect  to  the  great  value  of  this 
meal  for  the  use  of  the  butter  maker,  experience  hav¬ 
ing  proved  that  it  is  the  most  valuable  food  of  the 
kind,  with  perhaps  the  exception  of  the  palm-nut 
meal,  which  I  also  tried  soon  afterward,  and  which  I 
am  sure  is  easily  the  best  of  all  the  oil  meals  for  but¬ 
ter-making. 
I  recently  visited  an  oil  mill  in  South  Carolina,  and 
was  interested  in  observing  the  process  of  extracting 
the  oil,  and  of  turning  to  account  every  part  of  the  seed. 
The  mill  is  a  small  one,  working  up  only  seven  tons  of 
the  seed  daily.  The  seed  is  first  received  as  it  comes  from 
an  adjacent  gin  house,  and  is  covered  with  short  lint, 
which  adheres  so  closely  as  to  be  difficult  to  remove 
completely.  The  lint  of  the  seed  is  attached  to  it  much 
in  the  same  way  as  that  of  the  silk  weed,  or  of  those 
other  seeds  of  the  same  character  having  what  is 
called  a  pappus  adhering  to  them.  In  the  process  of 
ginning  the  cotton  this  fiber  is  torn  off  by  a  number 
of  fine  saws  arranged  on  a  roll,  and  a  short  fiber  is 
still  left  on  the  seed,  which  is  removed  at  the  oil  mills 
preparatory  to  the  grinding  of  the  seed  into  meal,  for 
the  extraction  of  the  oil. 
The  Process  of  Manufacture. 
The  seed  is  first  run  through  a  sort  of  carding  ap¬ 
paratus  which  removes  the  short  lint,  and  gathers  it 
into  a  soft,  fluffy  roll,  which  is  worked  up  for  various 
uses,  one  of  which  is  for  making  cheap  hats.  The  seed 
then  runs  by  means  of  a  screw  carrier  into  a  breaker 
or  huller,  by  which  the  hulls  are  separated  from  the 
kernels.  The  hulls  are  sold  for  feeding  cattle,  horses, 
and  mules,  and  at  the  price  of  $1.20  per  ton  are  a  cheap 
and  excellent  food.  They  fatten  the  animals  very 
quickly,  and  the  scrub  cows  of  the  South  thus  fed  cer¬ 
tainly  look  sleek  and  very  much  better  than  their 
Northern  sisters  which  are  fed  on  straw  and  hay.  There 
is  a  quick  sale  for  them,  and  a  friend  living  in  South 
Carolina,  but  who  hails  from  New  Jersey,  and  knows 
well  what  good  feeding  is.  said  they  were  the  best  feed 
for  the  money  he  ever  used.  His  cows,  one  a  Jersey, 
and  the  other  a  scrub,  or  native,  were  in  the  best  pos¬ 
sible  condition,  the  scrub  being  only  a  $15  animal. 
The  meal  is  carried  by  the  conveyor  to  a  receptable 
near  the  oil  press,  where  it  is  heated  by  steam  to  about 
the  ordinary  boiling  point,  and  the  oil  is  thus  ren¬ 
dered  more  fluid  and  easily  pressed  out.  The  meal 
is  measured  out  into  a  shallow  box,  in  which  is  placed 
a  cloth,  which  is  turned  over  the  meal,  and  by  some 
light  pressure  the  latter  is  formed  into  a  cake.  This 
is  taken  up  by  a  thin  metal  shovel  and  transferred  to 
the  press,  where  a  number  are  arranged  between  per¬ 
forated  irop  plates  in  a  powerful  press  operated  by 
steam  hydraulic  pressure  of  2,800  pounds  to  the  square 
inch.  As  soon  as  the  power  is  applied,  the  hot  oil 
flows  rapidly,  and,  as  the  workmen  pass  by,  they  take 
a  drink  of  the  oil,  having  acquired  a  liking  for  it. 
Recently  some  physicians  have  advised  consumptive 
patients  to  take  this  oil  as  it  comes  from  the  press,  as 
a  remedy  for  their  complaint,  and  it  is  said  that  many 
cures  have  resulted  from  the  treatment.  The  oil  is 
very  agreeable,  to  say  the  least,  and  is  no  doubt 
digestible  and  nutritious.  This  should  be  a  recom¬ 
mendation  for  the  use  of  the  meal  for  cows,  at  least 
so  far  as  the  oil  is  concerned. 
The  Proceeds  from  a  Crop  of  Seed. 
The  oil  runs  into  a  receptacle  from  which  it  is  put 
into  barrels  for  sale.  The  present  price  of  the  raw  oil 
is  25  cents  a  gallon.  One  ton  of  the  seed  yields  40 
gallons  of  oil.  The  cake  left  from  the  press  comes  out 
in  the  form  of  flat  cakes  less  than  an  inch  in  thick¬ 
ness,  and  quite  hard.  It  contains  about  six  per  cent 
of  oil,  and  600  pounds  are  made  from  a  ton  of  seed. 
The  hulls  from  a  ton  of  seed  amount  to  1,000  pounds, 
and  the  lint  saved  is  worth  60  cents.  The  price  of  the 
seed  is $12  per  ton,  and  the  total  produce  is  thus  $17.80. 
This  leaves  the  sum  of  $4.80  per  ton,  equal  to  a  daily 
income  of  $33.60  for  the  mill  of  this  capacity.  This 
will  afford  a  comfortable  profit,  but  nothing  too  much 
for  the  amount  of  capital  invested.  The  most  bitter 
complaints  are  made  of  the  oil  trust  which  exercises  a 
grinding  monopoly  in  the  business  in  many  ways,  as 
by  selling  oil  to  itself,  and  thus  fixing  the  price  to 
suit  its  own  convenience,  regulate  the  market  for  its 
own  profit,  and  squeeze  the  utmost  out  of  its  com¬ 
petitors  and  the  public.  The  meal  is  sold  for  $21 
per  ton  at  the  mill,  and  the  cotton  growers  get  $13  for 
the  seed.  This  is  equivalent  to  1^  cent  a  pound  for 
the  cotton,  counting  900  pounds  of  seed  for  a  bale  of 
450  pounds  of  cotton. 
Cotton-Seed  Meal  as  a  Fertilizer. 
The  use  of  the  meal,  however,  is  fast  being  monopo¬ 
lized  for  the  manufacture  of  fertilizers.  It  supplies 
the  nitrogen  required  to  mix  with  the  superphosphate 
that  is  used  for  the  fertilization  of  the  cotton  crops. 
Unfortunately  the  Southern  farmers  do  not  feed  the 
meal  and  make  the  manure  that  would  afford  this 
requisite  supply  of  nitrogen,  but  use  the  food  so  valu¬ 
able  for  animals  for  the  feeding  of  their  crops.  This 
is  a  costly  mistake,  but  it  exists,  and  is  to  be  met  and 
encountered  as  at  present  unavoidable.  The  cotton  oil 
mills  are  therefore  now  entering  into  the  fertilizer 
business,  and  purchasing  the  phosphates  and  mixing 
with  a  due  proportion  of  the  meal  to  give  the  needed 
proportion  of  nitrogen.  The  meal  quickly  decomposes 
and  yields  available  ammonia.  Of  course  the  valuable 
fat  and  other  carbohydrates  of  the  meal  which  are  so 
useful  for  feeding,  are  lost ;  but  the  farmers  are  con¬ 
tent  to  throw  these  away,  and  yet  pay  for  them.  It 
is  an  example  of  the  wasteful  system  of  the  Southern 
agriculture,  that  is  so  apparent  in  several  ways  to  a 
Northern  farmer  used  to  study  all  the  economies  of 
his  business,  and  is  an  instance  of  what  might  be  done 
in  the  South  were  the  economy  of  means,  materials 
and  resources  fully  applied.  The  money  loss  is  con¬ 
siderable.  The  meal  contains  about  seven  per  cent  of 
nitrogen.  This  should  be  worth  the  price  paid  for  the 
seed,  viz.  $21  per  ton;  but  it  is  worth  for  feeding  still 
more  for  the  fat  and  other  carbohydrates,  the  esti¬ 
mated  feeding  value  of  the  meal  being  $46  the  ton,  as 
compared  with  $22  for  corn  meal.  The  difference  is 
completely  lost,  as  the  carbonaceous  elements  are  of 
no  fertilizing  value  whatever. 
In  time  Southern  farming  will  undergo  a  change, 
and  the  small  end  of  the  wedge  that  will  disrupt  the 
present  system  is  now  inserted  as  the  low  price  of 
cotton,  and  will  be  driven  home  by  the  resulting  finan¬ 
cial  distress  which  is  seemingly  impending  for  some 
time  to  come.  The  only  relief  from  this  is  a  change 
from  entire  cotton  growing  to  a  diversified  system  in 
which  the  feeding  of  the  many  valuable  foods  produced 
in  the  South  shall  be  the  main  element,  and  the  pro¬ 
duction  of  manure  the  result.  Grass,  clover,  grains, 
cattle,  sheep,  swine,  horses,  mules,  fruits,  vegetables, 
dairy  products  (for  which  the  winters  arc  most  favor¬ 
able)  must  displace  cotton  as  the  staple  product,  make 
it  the  money  crop,  the  most  valuable  still,  but  only 
secondary  to  the  food  crops.  The  South  has  every 
element  of  untold  wealth  in  its  soil  and  climate  but 
two — the  knowledge  and  energy  needed  to  gather 
in  all  the  rest.  h.  stewart. 
[Every  query  must  be  accompanied  by  the  name  and  address  of  the 
writer  to  Insure  attention.  Before  asking  a  question,  please  see  If  It  Is 
not  answered  In  our  advertising  columns.  Ask  only  a  few  questions 
at  one  time.  Put  questions  on  a  separate  piece  of  paper.] 
Is  Watery  Food  Objectionable  ? 
This  note  appeared  in  a  recent  issue  of  The  R.  N.-Y. 
It  brings  up  the  question  as  to  whether  cattle  fed  on 
ensilage  are  more  susceptible  to  cold  than  those  fed  on 
dry  grain.  It  has  been  submitted  to  a  number  of  per¬ 
sons  for  discussion : 
The  objection,  or  apology,  Is  often  made,  by  professors  as  well  as 
farmers,  that  ensilage,  being  a  watery  food,  is  not  the  best  for  cold 
weather.  This  appears  to  me  to  be  a  prejudice  founded  entirely  upon 
theory.  In  some  respects,  other  feeds  might  be  better;  but  I  cannot 
believe  that  the  amount  of  water  contained  in  it  is  an  objection;  for 
the  animal  economy  seems  to  require  an  additional  quantity.  If  you 
feed  dry  feed,  a  cow  will  require,  say  10  gallons  of  water  per  day.  If 
she  eats  five  gallons  and  drinks  five  gallons,  why  does  she  require 
warmer  stables  than  If  she  drinks  the  whole  10  gallons  ?  Because  the 
feed  Is  water-soaked,  the  stock  that  eats  it  Is  not  necessarily  so.  Un¬ 
necessary  water  Is  sent  off  through  the  flood-gate,  and  not  through  the 
skin  of  the  animal,  to  be  evaporated  by  animal  heat,  as  would  seem  to 
be  the  implication  of  the  advocates  of  this  theory.  In  fact,  does  not 
our  stock  fed  upon  ensilage  stand  the  cold  as  well  as  those  fed  upon 
dry  feed  ? 
We  see  no  reason  why  ensilage-fed  animals  should  be 
more  susceptible  to  cold  than  those  fed  on  dry  food, 
any  more  than  animals  given  water  to  drink  would  be 
more  susceptible  to  cold  than  those  that  received  none. 
We  cannot  see  that  the  question  of  food  should  be  con¬ 
sidered  in  connection  with  the  shelter  given  to  the 
animals.  Comfortable  quarters  are  always  desirable, 
no  matter  what  the  food  may  be,  and  cold,  damp 
quarters  naturally  demand  more  animal  heat  and  con¬ 
sequently  draw  on  the  milk  or  butter  or  beef  produc¬ 
tion  of  the  animal  more  than  do  warm,  dry  and  com¬ 
fortable  quarters.  smiths  *  powkll. 
No  Marked  Difference  Either  Way. 
The  general  opinion  of  men  who  have  fed  ensilage 
for  many  years,  whom  I  have  questioned  regarding 
this  matter,  seems  to  be  that  there  is  not  a  marked 
difference.  In  only  one  carefully  conducted  experi¬ 
ment  here,  at  Cornell  University,  have  I  been  able  to 
note  the  difference  in  food  consumption,  growth  and 
general  condition  of  similar  animals  placed  side  by 
side  and  under  like  conditions,  with  the  exception 
that  one  lot  was  fed  a  ration  of  ensilage,  while  the 
other  lot  was  fed  wholly  on  dry  feed.  The  animals 
experimented  upon  were  10  months  old,  grade  Shrop¬ 
shire  lambs,  five  in  each  lot.  The  growth  of  the  two 
lots  during  the  whole  period  of  feeding  from  Novem¬ 
ber  to  April,  was  so  nearly  alike  that  the  difference 
cannot  be  taken  into  account  when  comparing  the  two 
rations.  By  comparing  the  rations  of  the  two  lots  for 
one  month,  from  February  8  to  March  8,  I  find  that 
the  ensilage-fed  lot  consumed  91  pounds  of  hay,  251 
pounds  of  ensilage  and  drank  459  pounds  of  water ; 
while  the  lot  fed  on  dry  feed  consumed  151  pounds  of 
hay  and  drank  570  pounds  of  water.  By  adding  the 
amount  of  water  in  the  ensilage,  about  190  pounds,  to 
the  water  drank  by  the  ensilage-fed  lot,  we  find  that 
this  lot  had  in  food  and  water  653  pounds  of  water  for 
the  month,  as  against  570  pounds  for  the  lot  fed  on  dry 
feed.  Very  little  difference  at  any  time  was  noted  in 
the  general  condition  of  the  two  lots. 
Undoubtedly  there  are  cases  where  animals  are  fed 
ensilage  so  deficient  in  heat-producing  elements  and 
containing  so  large  a  proportion  of  water  that  the  ani¬ 
mals  are  unable  to  eat  a  sufficient  quantity  to  get  the 
necessary  amount  of  heat-producing  elements.  I  have 
before  me  analyses  giving  the  following  percentages 
of  water : 
Blue  grass,  five  inches  high .  82.53 
Clover  in  full  bloom,  average  of  four  analyses .  81.50 
Average  of  20  analyses  of  corn  ensilage .  77.00 
These  ought  to  show  that  ensilage  corn,  if  not  sowed 
too  thickly,  and  properly  cultivated  and  ripened, 
would  make  ensilage  not  deficient  in  heat-producing 
elements. 
There  has  been  no  marked  difference  observed  one 
way  or  the  other  in  the  University  herd  of  about  20 
