NATURE AND VALUE OF FOOD. 61 



evil from this cause that when it can be done we recommend 

 that the cake should be ground and used as meal. 



Very much the larger portion of the cotton-cake used in this 

 country is undecorticated, the English make nearly entirely so. 

 When made from clean seed it is a wholesome food, although 

 much less nutritious than the decorticated cake. The following 

 is an analysis by Dr. Vcelcker : 



Water 10-53 



Oil 6-10 



Albuminous compounds (flesh forming)^ 22*62 



Gums, mucilage, &c 26*48 



Indigestible fibre ~ 26*96 



Mineral matters 7*31 



100*00 

 * Containing nitrogen 3*62 per cent. 



A comparison of the two analyses proves that decorticated 

 oake is nearly twice as valuable, although seldom costing above 

 one-third more. Hence, at present rates, we think it decidedly 

 the cheaper food. Another point in its ^favour is being so much 

 more digestible. Common cotton-cake cannot be safely used 

 for young stock ; it is likely to cause indigestion and stoppage. 

 Good cake should be yellow, but much darker than the decorti- 

 cated cake, and speckled with black shell. It is, however, easily 

 distinguished from a very worthless article made by pressing the 

 refuse from decorticated cake with a small portion of common 

 seed. A good deal of such rubbish has been sold at different times, 

 and especially in early days, and several fatal cases have followed 

 its use. The late Dr. Ycelcker described the death of a bullock 

 belonging to a Mr. John Fryer, of Chatteris, which was fed upon 

 such cakes with mangolds, barley-meal, and clover hay. The post- 

 mortem showed the paunch enormously distended with food, 

 the lower stomach quite empty, the duodenum for twenty-four 

 inches in length entirely blocked up with two or more pounds of 

 the irregular-shaped concave and comminuted husks, which were 

 found to be identical with the husks in the cake. No wonder 

 such was the result, for the cake contained more than half its 

 weight of husks. A slight acquaintance with the appearance of 

 cotton cake will enable the farmer to distinguish good, bad, and 

 indifferent. Although we have never suffered from the use of 



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