THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



Hfundreth Gibbs, the Hon. W. G. Cavendish was 

 unanimously elected a Steward of Live Stock. 



It was arranged that Professor Voelcker, Consulting 

 Chemist to the Society, would deliver a lecture on 

 " Oilcalce" to the members at the Society's house, on 

 "Wednesday, the 13th inst., at half-past 12. 



A communication was read from Mr. J. C. Morton, 

 inclosing a detailed prospectus, received from Mr. 

 Vanden Bosch, of Wilhelminadorp, near Goes, Holland, 

 of an international competitive trial of Steam Ploughs 

 and Reaping Machines to be held on his farm, when 

 liberal prizes are offered in order to secure a vigorous 

 competition. 



The Council then adjourned. 



The Weekly Council was held on Wednesday, June 

 13th, Present : Lord Walsingham, President, in the 

 chair ; Sir J. Johnson, Bart., M.P. ; Sir E. C. Kerri- 

 son, Bart., M.P. ; the Hon. Colonel Hood, the Hon. A. 

 Leslie Melville, Mr. Raymond Barker, Mr. Corbet, Mr. 

 Dent Dent, M.P. ; Mr. Frere, Mr. Brandreth Gibbs, 

 Mr. Fisher Hobbs, Mr. Holland, M.P. ; Mr. W. Hut- 

 ton, Mr. Kingsford, Mr. Lee, Mr. Majendie, Mr. Pain, 

 Prof. Simonds, Prof. Voelcker, Mr. G. H. Vernon, Mr. 

 Weiss, Mr. H. White, Prof. Wilson, &c., kc. 



The following lecture on Oilcake was then delivered 

 by Prof. Voelcker, consulting chemist to the Society : — 



My Lords and Gentlemen, — With your permission I 

 shall endeavour to treat the subject of my lecture in as prac- 

 tical a mauDcr as I cau, divested as much as possible of all 

 scieatific expressions and of language which is not generally 

 intelligible. You will allow me likewise to begin at once with 

 the subject, without any further introduction, respecting the 

 quantity of cake annually imported into England, and its great 

 importance to the feeder, or introducing similar topics. It is 

 not my object, in giving a practical turn to the lecture to-day, 

 to record any experiments of my own, or in any way to pre- 

 sume to teach the feeder of stock in what way he best ex- 

 pends his money in the purchase of food, but I shall endeavour 

 Bimply to give to the practical man some indications whereby 

 I hope he will be enabled to form for himself a trustworthy 

 opinion respecting the relative value of different cakes, and 

 likewise, what is perhaps of more importance to him, to intro- 

 duce some remarks which will enable him to distinguish a 

 good from a bad cake; and, in conclusion, shall allude briefly 

 to the various substances with which oilcakes are at the pre- 

 sent time often largely adulterated. Let me, in the first place, 

 briefly point out to you some peculiarities in the composition of 

 oilcakes. A reference to their composition is necessaiy to the 

 understanding of the remarks which will follow. I would then 

 observe, that what characterizes oilcakes, distinguishing them 

 from all other articles of food pre-eminently, is the large 

 amount of oil that is left in the cakes, obtained by expression 

 of the od-seeds. If you glance at the diagrams (see tables at 

 the end, A, B, C), you will find that they contain a consider- 

 able quantity of oil-from 6 to 12 per cent.; and, in some 

 instances, as m the decorticated cotton cake, even 16 ppr cent 

 of oil. 1 may observe at once, tjiat the value of oilcake, in a 

 very great measure, depends upon the amount of oil which is 

 left in the cake. And I may further say, that the tendency of 

 the manufacturer at the present day is to produce an inferior 

 description of cake, inasmuch as improved machinery enables 

 him to squeeze out more oil than formerly, and thus to render 

 the refuse less fattening, less valuable to the feeder of stock 

 I am very much inclined to believe that the oil is by far the 

 most valuable constituent of all oilcakes. I am aware that it 

 was the fashion not many years ago to measure the feeding 

 properties, aud even the fattening quahtiea of articles of food" 

 by the amount of nitrogenous or flesh-forming matter • but 

 these vie Rs are not supported by any practical experiments, 

 uor indeed by our common day experience, that we have re- 

 specting not only human but cattle food. We pay more for 

 food rich in starch, mucilage, and matters capable of producing 

 lat, than wc pay for foorl which, like bean-mea), is extremely 

 rich in nitrogenous matter, but whlel. does not produre go 

 much butclKr B meat. It is a matter of much importance to 

 the farmer to know how much he gets back for the monev he 



expends in the purchase of food ? I have uo hesitation in 

 saying, that more money is made by the purchase of food rich 

 in oil, starch, or Bugar, than in the purchase of food which 

 contains an excess of nitrogenous matters. Still, we ought not 

 to leave unnoticed, that the flesh-forming matters are very 

 important indeed, aud that oilcakes are peculiarly rich in them. 

 In one sense they are perhaps most essential — perhaps even 

 more essentially necessary than the other constituents of food 

 which produce fat, or are employed in the animal economy to 

 keep up the animal heat. They are more important in this 

 sense : whereas the animal organism has the power to make 

 fat from gum, sugar, mucilage, and even from young cellulose 

 or young vegetable fibre, it has not the power of making a 

 particle of flesh. Unless, therefore, food is given to animals 

 which contains ready-made flesh, an animal cannot grow : the 

 other constituents of food remain unavailable. It is in this 

 sense that the nitrogenous matters of food are extremely 

 valuable. But in a purely practical sense they are not so 

 valuable as the oil, starch, or sugar of food, because by spend- 

 ing a certain amount of money in food we do not get so great 

 a return in the shape of butcher's meat by purchasing these flesh- 

 forming matters as by purchasing feeding substances, rich in oil 

 or starch. However, in speaking of the relative value of the 

 various constituents, especially the oily and the flesh-forming 

 constituents, we are not to overlook, that the quantity of nitro- 

 genous matter which is not applied for the formation of flesh 

 passes through the animal, and is obtained again in the dung, 

 with the exception of a small quantity that escapes by evapo- 

 ration through the skin, or through the lungs. A certain 

 quantity of nitrogenous food evaporates through the skin, or 

 with the respiration ; but by far the largest proportion — accord- 

 ing to some experimenters nine-twentieths of the flesh-forming 

 or nitrogenous matters of food — are found again in the dung ; 

 according to others the amount is seven-eighths. But, speak- 

 ing in round numbers, I think we are not far wrong in saying, 

 that we may fairly expect three-fourths of the nitrogenized 

 matters of oilcake back again in the manure ; aud perhaps we 

 are safe likewise in asserting, that fully one-half of the money 

 value of rape aud the best cotton cake is obtained back again 

 in the manure. So we must not put down these constituents, 

 which are called nitrogenous, as useless, because they alone 

 do not produce much butcher's meat ; nor must we estimate 

 the value of oilcake entirely by the increase in the life-weight 

 of cattle fed upon the cake ; but also, and chiefly, I believe, 

 by the increased value of the manure, which is produced 

 through the instrumentality of oilcake. In the third place, I 

 briefly direct attention to the inorganic matters, or ash of oil- 

 cakes. These inorganic matters may be called bone mate- 

 rials ; for the ash of oilcakes is particularly rich in phosphate 

 of lime, or the material of which the greater part of the bone 

 is composed. Now the large proportion of oil, next the 

 large proportion of flesh-forming matters, and thirdly, a con- 

 siderable proportion of bone material, are characteristics that 

 confer a particular value upon oilcake, either directly as food, or 

 indirectly as useful material for increasing the value of farm- 

 yard manure. For, let me observe, that oily matters and sub- 

 stances that make butcher's meat are the most valuable con- 

 stituents in all feeding materials, and therefore'also in an oil- 

 cake. On the other hand, the flesh-forming constituents and 

 the bone- forming materials — in other words, the nitrogen and 

 the phosphates of the cake — are the two most valuable ferti- 

 lizing constituents. We have thus iu oilcakes in a concentrated 

 state materials that produce butcher's meat, aud at the same 

 time yield the most valuable fertilizing constituents. There 

 is no other description of food which unites these useful pro- 

 perties. Having briefly alluded to the various uses to which 

 oilcakes are applied in the animal economy, and spoken of 

 their relative advantages, let me, in the next place, direct your 

 attention to some of the more important descriptions of oil- 

 cake. I shall endeavour to confine myself to an hour in the 

 delivery of this lecture, and must tlierefore leave unnoticed 

 many descriptions of cake that occur occasionally in trade, and 

 some of which you will find placed on the table. You have 

 here, for instance, a specimen of the camelina or gold of pleasure 

 cake, which is not so valuable as linseed or rapecake, but may 

 still be usefully employed. There is also a specimen of the 

 sesamum cake — a useful rake, which occasionally can be had 

 at a cheap rate. And there are the sun-flower seed cake 

 and cocco-nut cake. 'I'here are also several other specimens on 

 the table, and many others that I left at home, which I shall 



