BULLETIN No. 90b 
7 
the free nitrogen of the air in their growth, points to leguminous 
plants as deserving of new and more important relations to agricul¬ 
tural econom}^. The free nitrogen used by them is a clear gain; it 
is used in the formation of protein compounds, which, whether fed 
to animals for nutrition and afterwards returned, in part, in the 
manure to the soil, or turned under or allowed to decay on the soil 
where it grew, is capable of being utilized by other plants for making 
their growth. The unusually large amount of fats in the soja bean 
is also worthy of special consideration. 
5. Peanut Plant: Vines, Nuts, Kernels, and Hulls. —Here is shown 
the chemical composition of peanut-vines, kernels, and the hulls of 
the kernels. The peanut is a leguminous plant, and like the rest of 
this family uses the nitrogen of the air in its growth. The compo¬ 
sition of the vines or tops indicate them to be a good cattle food, 
and, in fact, they are used quite largely in this State for feed. A 
digestion experiment will soon be made with them to ascertain 
their feeding value. The kernels are high in their content of both 
protein and fats. The oil of the peanut kernel is clear, light colored 
with a slightly yellowish tint. The proportion of hulls to kernels in 
the separation made for the analyses were: hulls, 28.8 per cent.; 
kernels, 71.2 per cent. The kernels show a very large percentage of 
oil, which combined with the high proportion of weight as com¬ 
pared with the hulls, would show the peanut to be a valuable oil- 
producing plant. Taking 22 pounds as a bushel of peanuts (whole 
fruit) and 35.01 as the percentage of oil in them, one bushel would 
contain 7.7 pounds ot oil, considerably more than a bushel of 
cotton seed. 
6. Cotton-seed and Products and Cotton Stalks. —It is seen that 
raw and roasted cotton-seed, on the water-free substance, differ but 
little in composition, and it would seem that the seed have not been 
changed in composition by roasting so far as the ordinary fodder 
analysis will show. 
The raw and roasted seed analyzed were portions of the same lot. 
Meal from roasted cotton-seed is the kernel separated from the hulls 
after roasting. It runs high in both protein and fats. The cotton 
stalks were taken from the field just after the cotton was picked, and 
include the burrs and what few leaves were remaining at that time. 
Their feeding value as indicated by analysis is worthy of note. Cot¬ 
ton-seed hulls and meal are too common to require explanation. 
The meal will be observed to be an extremely nutritious food. 
The market value of cotton-seed has increased very rapidly of 
late years During a portion of last season they sold in this 
market for 33 cents per bushel. This is due in part to the extended 
use of cotton-seed oil. One bushel, weighing 30 pounds and con¬ 
taining 19.38 per cent, of oil, contains 5.8 pounds of oil. 
