Our Plants. 31 



per ton as a food and fertilizer is, therefore, oil meal 

 $57.64, corn meal $31.64, a difference of $26 a ton 

 in favor of oil meal. The English farmer who 

 knows and appreciates the value of oil cake is buy- 

 ing ninety per cent, of the total that is manufactured 

 in this country, paying freight on it to our seaboard, 

 and then across the Atlantic and into the interior. 

 Thousands of tons per month leave this country for 

 foreign ports. 



This is no speculation on my part ; oil cake or oil 

 meal is one of the very best of foods. Why it is so 

 slow in finding favor with American farmers, I can- 

 not say. As a food for fattening sheep or beef, corn 

 meal is no comparison. It produces the finest 

 flavored mutton, the tenderest beef with the great- 

 est amount of lean in proportion to the amount of fat, 

 and it makes meat instead of grease. A field of 

 turnips fed off to sheep with a ration of oil cake en- 

 riches the land for a whole rotation of crops. It 

 cannot obtain much from the roots, for they are 

 ninety per cent, water to start with. Any one who 

 has ever tasted English oil-cake-fed mutton will 

 agree with me that it is as much superior to corn- 

 fed mutton as is possible to imagine. 



Oil cake may seem expensive at $28 to $30 per 

 ton, but it is the cheapest fertilizer you can buy. 

 Cotton-seed meal is another by-product, although it 

 is not to be compared with oil cake as a food, be- 

 cause it is not relished as well by the stock, and if 

 fed in too large quantities sometimes produces in- 

 jurious effects. However, it is a good wholesome 



