Cattle Feeding Stuffs 343 



gallons of oil, weighing nearly 5 cwt. or twenty- 3. Dissolve another portion of the cake in boUing- 



five per cent, of the weight of the whole seed ; water, and test the solution with litmus paper, to ascer- 



the remaining seventy-five per cent, constitutes the tain whether acid or alkaline. 



"oil-cake." Formerly this residue was thrown aside 4- Powder a portion of the cake with a coarse file, 

 as useless ; now, however, the large demand for it at Take 120 grains of the powder, and add 4 ounces of 

 a remunerative price enables the oil crusher to sell water ; allow it to stand covered for four or five hours 

 his oil at a much lower price than would have paid in a wann place. If mustard seed is present to any 

 him formerly. In separating the oil from the more extent its smell will be detected. Note whether the 

 solid particles of the seed, it is frequently necessary to cake is mucilaginous, add more water, stir the mass- 

 put the mass two or three times through the mill ; freely. If there is much sand in the cake it will settle 

 during the third time heat is generally applied. Of at the bottom of the vessel; if bran, it will float on 

 course, the more completely this operation is performed the surface and may easily be detected by its structure ; 

 the less value is the cake for feeding pui-poses. In in the solution, the husks of any other seed used in th& 

 Holland some of the small millers jDurchase oil-cakes manufacture of the cake, will be found, and with the 

 from France and Flanders, break them dowi, and aid of a microscope may be identified, 

 work the mass into an impalpable paste with water at We need scarcely trouble our readers with the details- 

 a boiling point, it is well stirred, and again subjected of a quantitative analysis ; a large amount of apparatus- 

 to heavy pressure, . the products resulting being an in- is required, and considerable skill in manipulation, 

 ferior cake and an oil of the lowest quality. Besides, most of our agricultural societies have made 



Besides the cake manufactured in England, we im- arrangements with qualified analytical chemists for 

 ]5ort a large quantity from France, Germany, Holland, obtaining analysis at a low charge. We would, there- 

 Russia, America, and India. Practical men prefer fore, suggest that if, after making a qualitative 

 home-made cake, it is generally fresher than foreign analysis, a cake is suspected to be adulterated, it 

 cake, and of a much better flavour. Continental should be sent to a chemist for analysis. We think 

 cake is, as a rule, much harder, contains much less it is seldom necessary to have a complete analysis 

 oil, and is less digestible than English-made cake ; made, in nine cases out of ten a simple determination 

 besides, it not unfrequently gets damaged through bad of the amount of flesh-forming matters, the amount of 

 storage before reaching this countiy, becomes mouldy oil, and the ash is sufficient. Analysis alone is not 

 and unfitted for cattle food. From America we obtain sufficient for determining the value of a cake. A cake 

 oil-cake of first-rate quality. That which is imported may shew a good analysis and yet be a very inferior 

 in barrels cannot well be excelled as food for lambs, one. The physical condition of a cake is of as much 

 Possibly that imported in bags is little inferior ; when importance as its chemical condition. A cake may 

 it is shipped, however, in this country it seldom com- contain a large amount of flesh-forming matters, may 

 mands as high a price. be rich in oil, &c., and may be comparatively worth- 



A good linseed cake should be reddish coloured, less from the effects of damp and bad storage, 



neither too dark nor too light ; if dark, rapeseed may It is quite possible to adulterate a cake very largely,, 



be suspected ; or, if too light, poppy seed mixed with and yet that cake on analysis may prove to contain all 



it. When broken across, the smooth and shining that may be expected in the best varieties of oil-cake, 



coats of the seed should be visible. The cake should Certain oilseeds are rich in flesh-forming matters, 



not have a tendency to split into layers. When mixed but contain poisonous principles which are highly in- 



with water it ought to make a pleasant tasting jelly, jurious to animal life. These, if mixed with inferior 



thick, transparent, and free from any disagi-eeable linseed, will improve the analysis, but will greatly 



smell. When linseed cake has been kept for a length deteriorate the feeding value of the cake, 

 of time its mucilaginous properties, more or less, disap- The following is an average analysis of a good lin- 



pear. A good cake should become gelatinous on seedcake: — 

 being mixed with water. Per cent. 



The details of the qualitative analysis of an oil-cake jNIoisture 10.67 



are as follows : — Oil 12.87 



1. Burn 50 grains over a spirit lamp in a platinum i. Trotein compounds 28.12 



capsule, and note the amount and nature of the ash. Gum, mucilage, &c 27.01 



An ordinary cake will yield about 6 or 7 per cent, of Woody fibre 14. 1 1 



ash. This ash should not effen^esce very much on 2. Mineral matters 7-22 



the addition of hydrochloric acid. 



2. Take a small portion of the cake, boil it until it 100.00 



becomes quite a jelly ; allow it to stand until quite 



cold, then test for starch by adding alcohol and iodine ; i. Containing nitrogen 4. 50 



if the mixture becomes blue, then stai-ch is present, 2. Containin"- sand 1.40 



and as starch is seldom found in any extent in oil- 

 seed, it may safely be inferred that the cake has been The next analysis is that of a cake which was in -t 



adulterated, possibly with millers' offiil. vciy bad physical condition, almost rendering it unfit 



