A small quantity was fed to stock; a somewhat larger quantity was composted with stable manure and used for fertilizer; but the greater part was left to rot or was even dumped into the streams which ran the gins.

Since the discovery of the value of cottonseed products, the industry has grown rapidly.

The oil is now used in cooking, is mixed with olive oil, is sold pure for salad oil, and is an important constituent of oleomargarine, lard substitutes, and soap, to name only a few of the uses to which it is put.

The cake, or meal from which the oil has been pressed, is rich in nitrogen and is therefore valuable as fertilizer; it is also a standard food for cattle, and tentative experiments with it have even been made as a food for human beings.

The hulls have also considerable value as cattle food, and from them are obtained annually nearly a million bales of "linters," that is, short fibers of cotton which escaped the gin.