342 
Cotton-Seed  Oil  Indvstry. 
j  Am.  Jour.  Pliarm^ 
(      July,  1881. 
the  cotton  adhering  to  it  by  means  of  gins  and  cut  up  fine  in  a  revolv- 
ing cylinder  containing  24  cylindrical  knives  and  4  back  knives,  and 
the  kernels  are  separated  from  the  hulls,  which  make  very  good  food 
for  cattle,  selling  at  $7  a  ton.  The  seed  is  now  pressed  between  roll- 
ers like  tliose  of  a  sugar  mill,  tlie  oil  running  freely  fro>ro  it ;  put  in 
woolen  bags  and  placed  between  horse-hair  mats,  backed  with  leather- 
having  a  fluted  surface  inside  to  facilitate  the  escape  of  the  oil  under 
the  hydraulic  pressure  amounting  to  169  tons.  The  bags  remain  in 
the  press  17  minutes,  the  solid  ''oil  cake ''of  commerce  remaining 
behind.  The  crude  oil  is  pumped  into  the  oil  room-  and  either  barreled 
for  shipment  or  it  is  refined  by  treatment  with  from  7  to  15  per  cent, 
of  caustic  soda,  the  oil  being  stirred  at  the  same  time  by  means  of 
paddles,  or  by  means  of  air  forced  through  holes  of  a  long  iron  pipe 
contained  in  tlie  kettle.  A  dark  brown  substance  known  as  ''  soap- 
stock  "  is  deposited  and  the  refined  oil,  amounting  to  about  82  per 
cent,  of  the  crude  oil,  is  drawn  oif  into  large  tanks  where  it  is  kept 
stored  until  ready  for  barreling  and  shipping.  The  soap-stock  i& 
warmed  so  as  to  separate  what  oil  remains  in  it,  and  is  then  sold  at  If 
cent  a  pound,  or  used  by  the  mill  itself  in  the  manufacture  of  soap  - 
sometimes  dyes  are  made  from  it. 
The  average  yield  of  a  ton  of  seed  is 
35  gallons  of  crude  oil  at  30  cents  per  gallon,    .  ..  $10  50' 
22  lbs.  of  cotton  at  8  cents,  .  .  .  1  76 
750  lbs.  of  cake  at  $20  per  ton,  .  .  .7  20' 
Total  yield  for  a  ton  of  cotton-seed,        .  .        $19  46 
About  410,000  tons  of  seed  reach  the  mills  annually,  producing,  for 
the  entire  South,  $7,772,140 — about  3  per  cent,  of  the  value  of  the 
cotton  crop. 
The  cotton-seed  cake  is  of  a  rich  golden  color,  quite  dry,  and  has  a 
sweet,  nutty,  oleaginous  taste.  It  is  shipped  in  sacks  containing  200 
lbs.  each,  its  principal  u.ses  being  for  stock  feeding  and  fertilizing  pur- 
poses. When  ground  to  the  fineness  of  corn  meal  it  is  known  as  "  cot- 
ton-seed meal."  Most  of  it  is  shipped  to  Great  Britain,  where  it  is- 
extensively  employed  in  fattening  stock,  it  yielding  a  larger  propor- 
tion of  meat  to  the  pound  than  any  other  animal  food.  It  is  also  a 
good  milk  producer. 
The  oil  is  used  in  the  manufacture  of  soap,  by  painters  and  for 
lubricating  purposes ;  its  great  use,  however,  is  as  a  substitute  or  adul- 
terant for  olive  oil,  whose  place  it  is  rapidly  supplying,  and  frona 
