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Vol. 2.
For The Progressive Farmer.
THE
MANURIAL PROPERTIES
OF COTTON SEED.
Walter, N. C, Nov. 14, 'S7.
In what does the manurial value of
cotton seed consist, is a perplexing
question to the average farmer.
Cotton-seed-oil-mill men tell us there
is no manurial value in the oil. Is this
so ? From what source is the oil sup
plied from the earth or the air ? If
from the earth, it must be essential to
plant growth, and if essential and we
extract it from the seed and do not
return it to the soil, is. there danger
after awhile of exhausting this oil
supply ? No oil no seed, no seed no
plant, no plant no cotton. "We would
like to see an analysis of the whole
cotton plant, in The Progressive
Farmer, with the meal and the seed
separate.
With many good wishes, yours truly,
J. H. Caldwell
We handed the above to Dr. H. B.
Battle, Acting Director of our Experi
ment Station, and the following is his
reply :
Raleigh, Nov. 21, 1887.
In answer to the above letter from
Mr. Caldwell, I think the following
points would cover the questions
asked :
1. What is the composition of cot
ton seed ?
2. What is the' composition and
whence comes the ingredients of the
oil extracted, and is it valuable as a
fertilizer ?
3. Wherein lies the fertilizing prop
erties of cotton seed ?
4. Can a farmer advantageously ex
change cotton seed for cotton seed,
meal ; if so, in what proportion can he
do so with profit to himself ? .
As the subject is such an important
one, and should receive more attention
than is now paid to it, I will write
more at length than I otherwise would
do.
1. What is the composition of the
seed f
Answer. In 100 lbs. cotton seed
there are on an average almost exactly
50 lbs. hulls, and 50 lbs. kernels ; or
in other words, in cotton seed one-half
is hulls and one-half is kernels. From
the 50 lbs. kernels, 36 lbs. (on an
average) of oil are extracted, leaving
16 lbs- cake, which when ground fur
nishes the meal. So in every 100 lbs.
seed sold there are 16 lbs. meal.
2. What is the composition, whence
comes the ingredients of the oil extracted,
and is it valuable as a fertilizer ?
Answer. Cotton seed oil is com
posed of the chemical elements, car
bon, hydrogen and oxygen combined
together in a very complicated ar
rangement. A different arrangement
of these same elements would form
ordinary sugar, a piece of cotton cloth
or a drink of whiskey. The water we
drink is made of the last two, hydro
gen and oxygen, and the carbon is
found in large quantities combined in
different ways in'both the atmosphere,
afld the soil. In fact all three of
these elements are found in abundance
both above and below the surface of
the ground.
The cotton plant has the power in
its growth of taking up these elements
through the pores of its leaves from
the air and through each little rootlet
from the soil, and of rearranging them
to form the fiber of the stalk and the
oil of the seed.
The carbon comes almost entirely
from the air. and the hydrogen and
oxygen (mainly in the form of water)
from both air ' and soil, and conse
quently neither one can be said to
have any fertilizing property either
alone or combined to form the oil.
3. Wherein lies the fertilizing prop
erties of the cotton seed ?
Answer. The meal is by far the
rnost valuable portion of the seed and
contains more fertilizing ingredients
than in all the other portions put to
gether. It is the valuable .(agricul
turally) concentrated portion of the
geed, from which all the comparative
ly valueless parts have been separated.
It contains more fertilizing properties
than the best commercial ammoniated
fertilizer, but as they are not combined
THE INDUSTRIAL AND EDUCATIONAL INTERESTS
in right proportion we must mix other
ingredients to give the proper content
oi phosphoric acid, ammonia and pot
ash.
An average of many analyses of
cotton seed meal made at the experi
ment station gives in 100 lbs. meal,
2.80 lbs. phosphoric acid ; 8 60 lbs.
ammonia and 1.61 lbs. potash. We
see, therefore, meal contains about
four times as much ammonia as a
commercial fertilizer, just equal in
in amount of potash, but deficient m
the amount of phosphoric acid.
The hull of the cotton seed contains
also, but in very small quantities, am
monia, potasn and phosphoric acid.
4. Can a farmer advantageously ex
change whole cotton seed for cotton seed
meal; if so, in what proportion can he do
so with profit to himself?
Answer. As the meal is by far the
most valuable as a fertilizer of any of
the ingredients of the cotton seed, a
farmer can well afford to throw aside
the comparatively valueless parts for
the sake of getting this meal, espec
ially if he gets more than he gives.
It is the custom of the oil mills to
give 1 ton of meal in exchange for 2.
tons of seed, and in some cases that
have come to my knowledge have pa id
the freight on the seed sent to them
Let us see if this is a fair exchange.
45.60 lbs. Phosphoric acid
121.20 " Ammonia
47-20 " Potash
If these ingredients are valued just
as commercial fertilizers are valued
now, and for example for phosphoric
acid 6 cents, for ammonia 16 cents,
and for potash 5 cents per pound. The
total would be $24.71.
On the other hand, 1 ton of cotton
seed meal contains:
56.00 lbs. Phosphoric acid
172.00 " Ammonia
32.20 " Potash
which when calculated as before gives
the valuation of $32.77.
So by the exchange the farmer
gives fertilizing ingredients amounting
to $24.71, and gets back ingredients
amounting- to $32.77, making $8.08
by the transaction. Of course it is
unnecessary to say that the oil mills
make a profit in saving the oil which
is of no value to the farmer, and using
the hulls which they burn under their
engines as fuel.
It must not be forgotten, however,
that when the exchange has been made
a large quantity of vegetable matter
(the hulls of the cotton seed) has been
lost to the soil, that is, if the whole
seed had been applied to the soil, in
stead of the cotton seed meal which is
gotten by the exchange.
As we saw, the hulls roughly speak
ing amount to one half by weight of
the whole cotton seed, so in the trans
action 1 ton of hulls is thereby lost.
This represents so much vegetable mat
ter which should go back to the soil,
when the meal is applied to the land
for the purpose of fertilizing it. This
vegetable matter may be supplied in
the form of leaf rakings, vegetable
mould or the like, and should not be
forgotten when the compost is being
made.
It is quite essential that this vegeta
ble matter should be applied to the
soil; for it not only supplies ingredi
ents valuable to the growing plant by
decomposition, but it by this very
change lightens up the soil also and
fits it for the better development of the
young sprout and the future stalk.
It may be that oil mills are all com
bined in ene vast monopoly, but if
they give back more fertilizing mate
rial than the farmer sends to them,
then I would strongly advise his ac
cepting the 'proposition, if he puts
back on the soil the meal and an
equivalent in vegetable matter to the
hulls which he loses.
H. B. Battle.
The little kingdom of Bavaria,
scarcelv larsrer than Massachusetts,
has twenty-six agricultural colleges,
besides more than 200 agricultural
associations. Saxony, with its dense
population of 2,000,000, packed in a
space scarcelv larsrer than two Ameri
can counties, has four higher colleges
and twenty agricultural schools.
OF OUR PEOPLE PARAMOUNT TO
RALEIGH, N. C, DECEMBER
GREEN MANURING.
Number 14.
It has been stated by a reliable
writer on the subject, that green clover
contains more manurial value than is
contained in an equal weight of stable
manure. He does not say dry clover
hay, but green weight, which is from
four to five times as much. This
statement is a surprising one, particu
larly when we consider that from fif
teen to twenty-five tons of clover can
be grown on an acre during the year,
in addition to the great mass of roots.
According to this statement an aver
age crop of clover contains manurial
value to at least fifty full cart loads of
best stable manure per acre.
It is considered unsafe to attempt
to grow clover at the South as a reno
vator, but we have a plant which is of
more value anjl is of easy and certain
growth. The field or cow pea has all
the good qualities of clover, wathout
the drawbacks. The writer followed
a crop of Irish potatoes with a crop of
field peas, which were planted about
the middle of June. This crop of
nine acres produced a heavy crop of
vines and a fair crop of peas. The
vines in green state weighed by meas
ured estimate about twenty-eight tons
per acre, which amounted on the nine
acres to two hundred and fifty tons.
The cost of the crop was $13.50, or
one dollar and a half per acre. In
what way can so much manure be put
on a field at so small a cost ? I em
ployed women and had picked six
thousand pounds of peas, which I
found valuable food for my cow and
Jersey calves. The picking cost
twenty-five cents per hundred pounds,
and as the peas are worth for food
seventy-five cents per hundred in the
pods the crop is worth thirty - dollars
more than the cost of picking. The
peas more than paid the cost of pro
duction, leaving the manurial value of
the vines clear profit.
The writer quoted from says : "The
green crop, whatever it may be, that
is raised to improve the land should
be mown down in summer and autumn,
and should be left upon the surface as
long as possible, to prevent evapora
tion, to disintegrate the soil, to retain
moisture, to be leached by rains and
dews, and finally to enrich the ground
by its total decomposition." This
plan, he contends, will make a crop
green for manuring, worth as much to
the land as twice as many tons of
barn-yard manure applied in the usual
way. In other words a crop of pea
vines on good land is equal to fifty
tons of stable manure per acre. A.
PORK FOR HOME USE.
It may, possibly pay best to have
large, fat porkers for market purposes,
to suit the needs of the packers of
pork, who want large, heavy pork,
but when it comes to the home supply,
we want our pork with but a small
portion of fat. There are some breeds
of pigs, noticeably so the small Eng
lish Yorkshires, which produce a very
large portion of fat, and, while they
may please the eye of most persons,
when in the living form, when killed
and dressed the large proportions of
fat makes the meat undesirable for
most palates. It does not pay to raise
pigs solely, or almost so, for lard.
With the exception of, perhaps, the
Berkshires, most of our well-known
breeds of pigs are, in their purity,
rather too much inclined to lay on fat
to make them desirable for home use,
and we have for a number of years
been experimenting to find out how to
produce just such porkers as would
best meet the requirements. While
the breeding has a great deal to do
with having good pork for home use,
the feeding plays a very important
part, and the quality of the pork de
pends in a great measure on proper
feeding. We do not like having the
porkers confined to small pens, even
though the pigs may fatten up more
quickly than if they have plenty of
exercise room, but let them have the
run of a good clover lot during the
summer and fall, ringing the pigs so
that they cannot destroy the sod, then
ALL OTHER CONSIDERATIONS OF
1, 1887.
supply them with grain in different
forms, daily, with plenty of fresh
water, at least once a day, as much as
they will drink. Hogs can be kept
in fair condition on plenty of clover
and water, but to make them improve
as they should, grain should be given.
A good summer feed is made by hav
ing corn and oats ground together, say
in proportion of one bushel of corn to
two of oats, then making a slop of
this. Our plan is to half fill a barrel
with this mixture and then the mass
(with cold water in summer and hot
water in winter), doing this in the
afternoon or evening, and then feed
ing it, diluted to the proper consist
ency, next morning, by which time it
will have soured sufficiently. It is
well to add a couple of handfuls of
salt as well as a half peck or so of bits
of charcoal. This charcoal can readily
be secured on the, farm, where wood
fires are used, by seiving the wood
ashes and using the bits of charcoal
which remain in the seive. Breeder's
Journal.
GOOD FARMING.
Capt. H. P. Jones, whose farm is
near this town, immediately on the
Enoe at the foot of the Occonneechee
mountain, raised this year on 10 or 12
acres, 100 barrels of good assorted
corn. The Captain wTorked only one
horse and one hand. This hand, be
sides the farm work, did the necessrry
work about the house, such as cutting
wood, milking three cows, attending
the stock, &c. He also raised four
stacks of oats and three stacks of hay.
From the product of three cows, Mrs.
Jones sent three or four children to
school, and paid their tuition. All
this crop was raised without any fer
tilizers. -We call this good farming
by a. good practical farmer. Hillsboro
Record.
DEMANDS OF THE NATIONAL
FARMERS' ALLIANCE UPON
CONGRESS.
Below we print in full the demands
made by the National Farmers' Alli
ance in convention at Shreveport.
They are sound to the core and show
in ringing language the more impor
tant purposes of this great body, and
the ends they propose to achieve.
This body was composed of farmers
representing all the Southern States,
and the resolutions appended were
passed unanimously,
Resolved, That we the National
Farmers' Alliance and Co-operative
Union of America, in convention as
sembled, advocate and endorse the fol
lowing principles as in accord with the
sentiments and demands of the tillers
of the soil:
1st. We demand, first, the recogni
tion, by incorporation, of trades,
unions, co-operative stores and such
thoer associations as may be organized
by the industrial classes to improve
their financial condition, or promote
their general welfare.
2d. We demand that the all public
lands be held in small bodies, not ex
ceeding three hundred and twenty
acres to each purchaser, for actual set
tlers, on easy terms of payment.
3d. That large bodies of land held
by private individuals or corporations,
shall be assessed for taxation, at such
rates as they are offered to purchasers,
on a credit of one, two and three years,
in bodies of one hundred and sixty
acres or less.
4th That whereas, large bodies of
our public lands, have been sold to
foreign capitalists, thus tending to the
establishment of a landed aristocracy
in this country, similar to that which
has reduced the people of Ireland, and
other monarchical Governments, to a
condition of abject serfdom; we de
mand the passage of laws forbidding
the ownership of lands, by aliens, whose
allegiance belongs to other nations,
and that the public domain be held as
the heritage of aur own people and our
children after us.
5th. That all lands forfeitable by
railroads or other corporations, imme
diately revert to the government and
be declared open for purchase by actual
STATE POLICY.
No. 41
settlers, on the same terms as other
public lands.
7 th. We demand that all fences be
removed, by force if necessary, from
public lands unlawfully fenced by cat
tle companies, syndicates, or any other
form or name of monopoly.
8th. We demand the extinguish
ment of the public debt of the United
States by operating the mints to their
fullest capacity, in coining silver and
gold: and the tendering of the same
without discrimination, to the public
creditors of the Nation, according to
contract. .
9th. We demand the substitution
of legal-tender treasury notes for the
issues of national banks ; that the
Congress of the United States shall
legulate the amount of such issue by
per capita circulation, that shall in
crease and keep pace with the growth
of the country's population, and the
expansion of her business interests.
We further demand the repeal of the
present National banking system.
10th. We demand that the depart
ment of agriculture be made one of
the departments. of State ; that it shall
be increased in scope and efficiency,
and in connection therewith, there
shall be established a bureau of labor
statistics.
11th. We demand the enactment of
laws to compel corporations to pay
their employees according to contract,
in lawful money for their services,
and the giving to mechanics and
laborers a first lien upon the products
of their labor to the extent of their
full wages.
12th. That the laws relating to the
suppression of the transmission of im
moral, profane or obscene literature
through the mails, be made more
stringent; and be extended so as to
suppress ,the transmission of such
literature by any public carrier.
13th. We demand that the U. S.
Government purchase, by right of
eminent domain, the telephone and
telegraph lines, and operate them as
adjuncts of the U. S. postal service.
14th. That in view of the fact that
the delegates to this body represent a
majority of the cotton producers of
the cotton belt of America, which belt
produces over two-thirds of the cotton
of the whole world, and in view of
the further fact that two-thirds of the,
cotton in the cotton belt is demanded,
and used for export to a foreign
power, which fixes the price on every
pound of our cotton; and in view of
the fact that the said power is debar
red from returning to this country a
single yard of manufactured cotton,
thereby making said power interested
in crowding down to the lowest figure
the price of cotton ; we hereby demand
that the U S. Government adopt a
speexly system of reduction of the im
port duty on manufactured cottons, in
such a way as to do justice to this,
the greatest of all classes of producers.
14th. We demand such a revision
of the tariff as will lay tte heaviest
burdens on the luxuries and the light
est on the necessaries of life ; and as
will reduce the incomes from imports
to a strictly revenue basis.
15th. That as a remedy against the
unjust accumulation and encroach
ment of capital, we demand a gradu
ated income tax.
16th. That as upon the intelligence
of the people depend the stability and
perpetuity of our own free govern
ment, we demand for the masses a
well . regulated system of industrial
and agricultural education.
17th. That we oppose the continued
influx of pauper labor from the mon
archies of Europe, whose anarchic
views and communistic doctrines are
breeding discontent, and disloyalty to
law, order, peace and good govern
ment; and by an overplus of worth
less labor, reducing our own laboring
classes to starvation, we therefore de
mand more stringent laws to prevent
this country being .further used as an
asylum for the communists and pau
pers of other countries.
18th. We demand that the consti
tutions, both State and National, bo so
amended as to provide for the election
of U. S. Senators by direct vote of
the people.
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