The cotton crop of the United States for 1917 amounted to about 11,000,000 bales of 500 pounds each.  When the Great War broke out and no cotton could be exported to Germany and little to England the South was in despair, for cotton went down to five or six cents a pound.  The national Government, regardless of states’ rights, was called upon for aid and everybody was besought to “buy a bale.”  Those who responded to this patriotic appeal were well rewarded, for cotton rose as the war went on and sold at twenty-nine cents a pound.

[ILLUSTRATION:  PRODUCTS AND USES OF COTTONSEED]

But the chemist has added some $150,000,000 a year to the value of the crop by discovering ways of utilizing the cottonseed that used to be thrown away or burned as fuel.  The genealogical table of the progeny of the cottonseed herewith printed will give some idea of their variety.  If you will examine a cottonseed you will see first that there is a fine fuzz of cotton fiber sticking to it.  These linters can be removed by machinery and used for any purpose where length of fiber is not essential.  For instance, they may be nitrated as described in previous articles and used for making smokeless powder or celluloid.

On cutting open the seed you will observe that it consists of an oily, mealy kernel encased in a thin brown hull.  The hulls, amounting to 700 or 900 pounds in a ton of seed, were formerly burned.  Now, however, they bring from $4 to $10 a ton because they can be ground up into cattle-feed or paper stock or used as fertilizer.

The kernel of the cottonseed on being pressed yields a yellow oil and leaves a mealy cake.  This last, mixed with the hulls, makes a good fodder for fattening cattle.  Also, adding twenty-five per cent. of the refined cottonseed meal to our war bread made it more nutritious and no less palatable.  Cottonseed meal contains about forty per cent. of protein and is therefore a highly concentrated and very valuable feeding stuff.  Before the war we were exporting nearly half a million tons of cottonseed meal to Europe, chiefly to Germany and Denmark, where it is used for dairy cows.  The British yeoman, his country’s pride, has not yet been won over to the use of any such newfangled fodder and consequently the British manufacturer could not compete with his continental rivals in the seed-crushing business, for he could not dispose of his meal-cake by-product as did they.

[Illustration:  Photo by Press Illustrating Service

Cottonseed Oil As It Is Squeezed From The Seed By The Presses]

[Illustration:  Photo by Press Illustrating Service

Cottonseed Oil As It Comes From The Compressors Flowing Out Of The
Faucets

When cold it is firm and white like lard]