Oil-Cake JMamifacture. 



1S9 



with other causes, to raise the price of our 

 animal food. The practice reduced to plain 

 figures may be stated as follows : — Pure cake 

 at £\2 per ton is sufficiently nutritive that 

 I to 3 lb. per diem is ample for ordinary 

 bullocks ; but of the common variety, 

 thoroughly adulterated up to the middle-man's 

 standard, 8 or even 10 or 12 lb. will be re- 

 quired. If we, therefore, pay ^d per ton 

 for common cake, and give the extra quantity, 

 we then certainly pay not less than £,\Z for 

 what can be better and even more safely 

 effected for ;C\2, as it must be remembered 

 that adulteration not unfrequently means 

 poison^ as recent events in some of our 

 valuable herds have fully proved. 



Among the brands of genuine linseed cake 

 with which we are acquainted, that C.S., 

 manufactured by Messrs C. Simons & Son, 

 Boston, Lincolnshire, is worth notice. Being 

 on a visit to the quaint old shipping town, 

 we availed ourselves of a privileged inspection 

 of the works of that firm during the past week, 

 and here we saw sufficient to confirm our 

 ideas of the justice of our remarks on the im- 

 portance of good cake. Messrs Simons have 

 recently erected new and complete premises, 

 which are intended to meet the requirements 

 of their extensive trade, secured entirely by 

 turning out only good and serviceable oil-cake. 



Our readers will be interested in the fol- 

 lowing items. A large brick building having 

 walls 2 feet 3 inches thick, is raised to the 

 height of four stories, three of which are de- 

 voted to the storage of whole seed and oil. 

 The area covered by this building will be 

 better estimated when we shew that nearly 

 14,000 qr. of seed can be accommodated, with 

 upwards of 400 tons of oil in proper tanks, 

 and 800 tons of manufactured cake. 



The machinery consists of four pairs of 

 crushing stones, and twelve mills ; there are 

 twenty-four hydraulic presses, besides other 

 necessary adjuncts, and these are set in 

 motion by a magnificent stationary engine of 

 50-horse, nominal, all of which are in excel- 

 ent order and efficiency, and the result of a 



liberal . expenditure of some thousands ot 

 pounds. 



The unloading of vessels in the river is 

 accomplished in a most complete and peculiar 

 mode. As the mill stands some distance 

 from the river bank, and separated from it by 

 a public highway, a covered gangway has 

 been thrown across from the top storey, the 

 other end being in communication with a large 

 tall iron tower on the bank. Foreign vessels 

 with carijjoes of seed are brought to anchor in 

 Boston Deeps, and there discharged into 

 sloops, which are brought up the river and 

 moored at the foot of the iron tower. A 

 "Jacob's Ladder," or a wide leathern belt, 

 having metallic cups on it throughout its 

 entire length, and running in a square tube, is 

 lowered into the hold, and motion communi- 

 cated to it by means of a shaft from the mill. 

 In this manner the seed is raised in the 

 tower, and by a succession of endless belts 

 conveyed along the gangway to the interior 

 of the mill — certainly more than 100 yards — 

 without the aid of a single person, and at the 

 rate of 100 qr. per hour. 



Of the value and efficiency of such means 

 in the manufacture of oil-cake we cannot say 

 too much. It is one of the means whereby 

 firms may acquire credit and renown, for only 

 by the steady and continued offering of good 

 articles can a sound and perfect trade be 

 secured. Let our agricultural friends investi- 

 gate these matters more for themselves, and 

 we are certain they will unite with us in the 

 conclusion that a good article is worth a good 

 price, and an inferior article at any price is 

 neither cheap nor profitable for making good 

 beef and mutton. 



In other articles than in oil-cake the same 

 principle applies. By far too little advantage 

 is taken of the skill of the chemist by farmers. 

 For the sake of what they consider a saving 

 of a few shillings in manurial substances, in 

 seeds, &c., they often lose untold pounds. 



As a commentary on the foregoing the 

 reader is referred to the first article in the 

 present number. 



