On the Management of Breeding Cattle. 



515 



The official returns of the imports of linseed into the United 

 Kingdom show a large and yearly increase, as appears by the 

 following Table, viz. : — 



Year. 



Quarters 

 Imported. 



1841 363,461 



1842 307,700 



1843 470,539 



1844 616,947 



1845 656,793 



1846 506,141 



1847 439,512 



1848 799,650 



1849 626,495 



Year. 



Quarters 

 Imported. 



1850 608,984 



1851 630,471 



18.52 799,402 



1853 1,035,335 



1854 828,.513 



1855 756,950 



18.56 1,180,179 



1857 1,100,000 



In 1857 the supply was derived from the following sources : 

 VIZ. from Calcutta 90,000 quarters, Bombay 120,000, St. Peters- 

 burg 190,000 quarters. Archangel 60,000, Riga 75,000, Memel 

 and other places in the Baltic about 80,000 quarters ; the Black 

 Sea 410,000, Alexandria and various other ports 60,000 quarters. 

 It will, therefore, be observed that the largest portion of the 

 linseed is drawn from Russia, and a plentiful or an indifferent 

 harvest of linseed throughout that empire is felt by the con- 

 sumer of linseed-cakes here in a higher or lower range of prices 

 consequent thereon. lie also suffers from the inferiority of 

 quality caused by tlie admixture of seeds other than linseed, so 

 that he has to pay for an indifferent article at a higher price. 

 The 1,100,000 quarters of linseed imported in 1857 would 

 produce 137,500 tons of linseed-cake (worth at 10/. per ton 

 1,375,000/.) ; and this is in addition to the foreign cake annually 

 imported, amounting to about 100,000 tons. The total value of 

 linseed-cake consumed in this country may, therefore, be esti- 

 mated at about 2,000,000/. annually. The East Indian qualities 

 in general are tolerably even, seldom varying to any appreci- 

 able extent at the respective ports of shipment. They yield the 

 greatest quantity of oil, and after pressure the cake is no doubt 

 more nourishing and valuable than any other. But the bulk of 

 the supplies is furnished by other countries more subject to vai'ia- 

 tion of climate, and uniformity of quality In different seasons is 

 not obtainable. Inferiority in quality is usually accompanied by 

 adulteration, a variety of seeds being found mixed with the 

 linseed, such as wild rape [Brassica campestris), wild mustard 

 or charlock {Sinapis arvensis), seeds of Lolium perenne, of dodder 

 {Cuscuta epiliitum)y and of willow-weed and millet (^Panicnm 

 iniliaceum). The bulk of the linseed being imported from the 

 Black Sea, the standard of quality and price is chiefly regu- 

 lated by tlio importation from thence. In good seasons the 

 Black Sea linseed is bold and pure, with only a small ad- 



