I. AGRICULTURE AND RURAL ECONOMY. 417 



cake is better than the majority of linseed cakes that are 

 manufactured in England and sold as genuine linseed cakes. 

 Pure English linseed cake, as regards quality, however, can 

 compete successfully with the best American barrel cake." 

 The general superiority of American cakes he attributes to 

 the practice of drying the cake, and sending it over to En- 

 gland in barrels instead of packing it in bags, whereby it is 

 prevented from damage by heat in the passage. Jour. Roy. 

 Agricult. Society ', 1873, 1. 



MEAT-FLOUR AS FOOD FOR PIGS. 



A comparatively new foddering material, known as meat- 

 flour, is attracting considerable attention at present among 

 German experimenters. This material is manufactured from 

 the meat which remains from the preparation of "Liebig's 

 Meat Extract." At Fray Bentos, in Uruguay, in South Amer- 

 ica, immense numbers of cattle are slaughtered annually for 

 the preparation of this meat extract. The muscular tissue 

 (the lean meat) is separated, cut in fine pieces, and treated for 

 some time with water at 140 Fahr., w T hich dissolves out a 

 portion of the organic and mineral substances. The broth 

 thus formed is boiled down until it is quite thick, and con- 

 tains 20 per cent, water, forming the meat extract. Of late, 

 attempts have been made to utilize the meat remaining from 

 this treatment over 90 per cent. which was formerly wast- 

 ed. It is dried and finely ground, and in this form contains 

 some 73 per cent, albuminoids and 12-^ per cent. fat. Since 

 the nitrogenous ingredients of the food, the albuminoids, 

 alone contribute to the formation of flesh and other nitroge- 

 nous parts of the animal body, and since these ingredients of 

 the food are the most costly, it is evident that a material so 

 rich in albuminoids as the meat-flour, if it could be success- 

 fully used as fodder, would be of great value for mixing with 

 fodder materials poor in nitrogen. How important it might 

 become as an article of commerce appears from the fact that 

 the Fray Bentos Company alone slaughters annually some 

 78,000 cattle, which would furnish 6,000,000 pounds of the 

 meat residue, containing 4,500,000 pounds albuminoids. 



The value of this meat-flour as food for swine has been test- 

 ed at several of the experiment stations, and by some prac- 

 tical farmers in Germany, and with results in the main quite 



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