COTTONSEED AND ITS PRODUCTS. Cot tonseed-Oil.—Cotton, which is described in the article bearing that title, when it is picked consists of the seeds, and the lint or fibre adher ing to and covering the seeds. The seeds con stitute rather more than two-thirds of this product, so that a crop of 9,000.000 bales of cotton would yield about -4.300,000 tons of cot ton-seed. It constitutes a very valuable part of the product, and is used for manufactur ing cottonseed-oil. for feeding animals, and for fertilizer. The cottonseed, after the removal of the fibre, yields, upon pressure, a large amount of yellow oil, with a bland, nut-like taste. Even before the invention of the cotton-gin in 1794, the utilization of cottonseed was attempted, and in 1770 samples of the oil were exhibited by the :\loravians in Ikthlehem, Pa. Previous to that time the seed had been allowed to rot on the ground by many of the planters, while others more intelligent had utilized it as food for cattle, sheep, and horses. Others dug furrow-trenches, and buried it in the MAN'S on 'Willa the next crop of cotton would be planted. Some fed it raw to their stock, while others boiled it to make it possibly more palatable. In 1820 a patent was granted for a process for extracting the oil, but the construction of the mills was so slow that at the end of fifty years only twenty-six cottonseed-mills had been erected. ln 1861 31r. Edward Atkinson stated that if the cotton-plant produced no cotton it would still be well worth cultivating on account of the valuable products that can be extracted from the seed. This was fully realized toward the close of the nineteenth century, and the value of the cotton seed began to be more generally appreeiated. Though much of it is still retained on the planta tions as a fertilizing material, the amount manu factured in the United States was, in 1898, 5,594, G03 tons, in 18911 4,45(1,000 tons, and in 1900 4.472,103 tons. The annual product is valued at $33,000,000.
In addition to the oil extracted from thecotton seed, it yields the following by-products: Lint ers, or short bits of lint that adhere to the seed in the ordinary process of ginning, and are stripped by a specially construeted gin. These short fibres are used for the manufacture of bat ting and wadding. Hullg, the outer casings of the seed, which make a valuable eattle-food, whose properties are discussed below. (ti/ cake, the material left after the oil is expressed out of the nut. This is also used as a eattle-food or
as a fertilizer. Sludge, which settles at the bot tom of the oil-tanks, and is used in the making of soap, stearin. etc.
The process of manufacture is briefly as fol lows: The seed is shoveled from the ears into conveyors, which are spiral screens revolving in troughs with perforated bottoms through which any loose soil, sand, and stones are shaken. This process of cleaning is continued in a separator, where by means of different sized screens all dirt and impurities are removed. A strong magnet is also used to draw out hits of nails and other iron. The seed being sifted and cleansed, it is now passed through the linter, a specially constructed gill for removing these short fibres. The lint is ginned twice, the second process removing the shorter fibres. so that two brands or qualities are thus obtained. The next process is to crack the hulls in a machine between revolving blades and oil: It may be expressed directly from the cold Meats, this process making a high-grade oil: or the meats may first be heated in cookers. These cookers are steam-heated metal pans, covered with non-heat-eonducting material and holding 700 pounds. The seeds are cooked from one-quarter to three-quarters of an hour, according to their condition as determined by the judgment of the operator. too little or too much cooking giving a smaller yield of oil. The cooked meats are dropped into a camel's-hair sheet, spread out on a steel plate. Wrapped in this sheet the meats are subjected to pressure. which is gradually in creased till it readies 3500 pounds per square inch. this pressure, a dark, murky oil flows out in streams and is received in reservoirs beneath the presses, whence it is pumped into settling-tanks. The cakes are now taken from their wrappings of camel's-hair. cooled, and dried. They are then cracked and ground into meal, which is shipped directly in sacks or pressed again into cakes. After the crude oil has settled it is drawn off and refined by treating it to a 10 or 15 per cent. solution of eaustie soda and then allowed again to settle. As it settles the muci laginous, albuminous, coloring matters and other impurities sink to the bottom. leaving a clear yellow oil, which may be still further filtered and purified if desired. The white oil of commerce is produced by shaking up the oil with a 2 or 3 per cent. mixture of fullers' earth and then allowing it to settle.