the slots, and the bale is thus built up endwise. In the Bessonette system pressure is applied from end to end of the bale at two points along the outside circumference, while in the Lowry system pressure is applied only to the end of the bale. The bale turned out by the Lowry press, in its earlier history, like that of the Bessonette press,

reached a weight of 500 pounds, but with this press also there has been a gradual tendency toward the lighter-weight package, until at this time the average weight of the bale of its new pattern is but 250 pounds. The bale is of uniform size, 18 inches in diameter and 36 inches in length, and possesses a density of about 45 pounds cubic foot, against 22.5 pounds attained in the compressed square

per

bale.

It is interesting to note that this press is being advantageously employed for baling hay and other fibrous commodities. There have been also more or less successful experiments in ginning cotton with the device, converting the press into a roller-gin. Its successful cotton-packing history may be said to be confined to the past three

The Seed. If a very immature boll be cut transversely, the cut section will show that it is divided by longitudinal walls into three to five divisions, and the seed will be shown attached to the inner angle of each division. The seed retain this attachment until they have nearly reached their mature size and the growth of lint has begun on them, when their attachments begin to be absorbed and by the increased growth of the lint the seed are forced to the centre of the cavity. The development of the fibre commences at the end of the seed farthest from its attachment, and gradually spreads over the seed as the process of growth continues. The first appearance of the cotton fibre occurs a considerable time before the seed has attained its full growth, and commences by the development of cells from the surface of the seed. These cells seem to have their origin in the second layer of cellular tissue and force themselves through the epidermal layer, which seems to be gradually absorbed. The length of the fibre varies considerably on different parts of the seed, being longest at the crown and shortest at the base. Each boll contains from 32 to 36 `seed.

The seed are almost hidden by the tuft of white fibre which covers the surface. They are irregularly egg-shaped, from 6 to 9 mm. long and 4 to 5 mm. broad. The thick seed-coat is filled with the coiled embryo, which is sprinkled with brownish resinglands easily seen with the naked eye. The cells composing the embryo are filled with drops of fat and other matter. The seed contain about 20 per cent. of oil, which for hundreds of years was wasted, for the seeds proper were thrown away after stripping off the fibre. It is only within the present century that they were considered of any value except for planting.

The quantity of seed produced is determined by multiplying

* Report on Cotton-ginning, June, 1902. XII. Census.

the number of pounds of lint cotton by 2, it being an authenticated fact that seed cotton on an average "thirds itself" at the gin.

That

is, one-third of the seed cotton's weight before it is ginned is lint cotton, and the remaining two-thirds seed.

The types of cotton grown in the United States produce two kinds

of seed, viz.: black seed, from sea-island cotton the limited growth of which is confined chiefly to the islands and shores of South Carolina and Georgia to Florida, from which the staple is easily removed; and green seed, from upland cotton, to which the staple firmly adheres, making reginning necessary, and which constitutes more than 99 per cent. of the total cotton crop.

CHAPTER II.

THE COTTONSEED INDUSTRY.

Historical. Statistical.

If there is one aspect more than any other that characterizes modern commercial and industrial development, particularly as we know it in the United States, it is the utilization of substances which in a primitive stage of the development of any industry were looked upon as worthless. They were secondary products incurred in the manufacture of the main commodity, for which the industrial acumen of the age found no use; or if a use were known, the prejudices and conservatism of society allowed them to languish in the shadow of a similar commodity already strongly intrenched.

Nature never plays the part of a spendthrift. In the pursuit of her strong underlying purpose, she provides, not primarily for man, but for the sustenance of the offspring. All the food-products of the vegetable kingdom, from which man draws upon so lavishly, are simply concentrated food in compact form for the nourishment of the future seedling. This material, in most cases, is the part of the plant most desired by man for food. The value of most seed for sustaining human life was early recognized, but the rate at which they have been utilized for this purpose has been dependent upon the simplicity of the technical process necessary for their elaboration, and the demand for them as a marketable commodity in whatever shape the essential ingredient occurred.

The cotton-plant has been cultivated for its seed-hair from the earliest time and throughout a wide geographical area, but it was only in 1783 that the attention of men of modern times was first directed to the fact that the seed, for which the fibre exists as an instrument for its protection and dissemination, contained a useful oil. It appears that in 1783 it was represented in London that oil

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