THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



COTTON-SEED CAKE AS AN ARTICLE OF FOOD FOR CATTLE. 



The introductioa of a new vegetable substance as an 

 article of food, is at all times of sufficient iniportauce to 

 claim the attention of thegrazier. Thismustbeespecially 

 so after such a season of scnrcity as has been expe- 

 rienced throughout the last winter and spring ; amount- 

 ing, as it did, to actual famine in many parts of Scot- 

 land and Ireland, and the north of England. It is 

 therefore satisfactory to bring before our readers the 

 results of analyses and experiments made on the ar- 

 ticle of Cotton-Seed Cake, a production of the southern 

 states of the American union, and which is now offered 

 to the British grazier in such a form as can hardly fail to 

 render it a valuable acquisition to the present cata- 

 logue of grazing substances. 



The first importations of cotton-seed cake were of a 

 very crude and inferior description. The seed itself was 

 composed of a hard husk, containing an oily kernel, 

 the latter being the only useful portion. The cake 

 was formed, like that from linseed or rapeseed, by 

 first bruising, and tlien pressing the seed, for the pur- 

 pose of extracting the oil. Whilst the export of the 

 cake was yet . in its infancy, this was the only 

 form in which it came over. But when the analyses 

 and experiments of the English chemists became known 

 in America, the planters found that by improving 

 the preparation a good market would be opened for it. 

 They so listened to the suggestions of the importers in 

 this country, and set about devising methods for the 

 decortication of, or the separation of the bark from the 

 seed, which would render it much more acceptable, 

 because more valuable to the grazier. This, of course, 

 could be more effectually done on the spot where it 

 was grown ; and the planters are now sending decor- 

 ticated cotton-seedcake in three forms — namely, 1st, 

 thick cake; 2nd, thin cake; and, 3rd, meal ; the 

 latter being the thick cake ground up, and put into 

 casks, or flour barrels. 



So long ago as 1850 Professor Anderson, of Edin- 

 bugh, instituted a series of analyses and experiments 

 on cotton-seed cake, the results of which were very sa- 

 tisfactory. Having obtained a supply of seed from the 

 United States, he had it crushed and manufactured 

 into cake at a mill near Edinburgh. He first of all 

 tested its palatableness by placing it before cattle, 

 sheep, and pigs, and finding that all of them de- 

 voured it with eagerness, he entered upon the follow- 

 ing course of experiments :— He selected eight bullocks 

 that had been at turnips and straw all the winter, and 

 in March he put four of them on cotton-seed cake at 

 the rate of 6 lbs. per day eacli, and the other four on 

 a mixture of 2ilbs. of linseed cake, 2ilbs. of bean 

 meal, and lib. of treacle, with chaff and a little salt. 

 Both lots were allowed besides, as much of turnips and 

 straw as they could eat. They were kept at this food 

 six weeks, when the cotton-cake being finished, the 

 two lots were sold to the butcher, the best two of those 



fed on the cotton cake having gained the prize at the 

 district cattle sliow. 



This favourable, though rather vague result, induced 

 Dr, Anderson to proceed further the next season. He 

 therefore selected six beasts that had, like the former, 

 been fed on turnips and straw up to the 10th 

 January. Two of these he then put on an allow- 

 ance of 41bs. of linseed cake, two on 41bs. of cotton 

 cake, and the remaining two on 41bs. of bean meal — 

 all having, as before, turnips and straw ad libitum. 

 On the 10th of April they were slaughtered, when the 

 following was the result upon their being weighed. It 

 is necessary to state that none of them were what is 

 called " fat ;" but the cotton-seed cake being finished, 

 it was thought best to kill them all, in order to de- 

 termine the result of the experiment. This will ac- 

 count for the actual weight, when dead, being less than 

 that by measurement on the 10th April, it being a 

 common occurrence that cattle not in a ripe condition 

 do not weigh out, when dead, to the measurement 

 when alive. 



The cake used in these experiments had the husk re- 

 maining in it, which renders the result more remarka- 

 ble. And although, owing to the different aptitude of 

 cattle to accumulate flesh and fat, such experiments 

 cannot be considered absolutely decisive, the above are 

 sufficiently so to show the superiority of cotton- seed 

 cake over linseed cake, the two beasts fed on the former 

 having gained 251 pounds in the three months in beef 

 and tallow, whilst the latter gained only 147 pounds in 

 the same time. The following is Professor Anderson's 

 analysis of six substances, including those on which the 

 cattle were fattened : — 



With such results as the above with tho ordinary 



