202 



BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



[Jan. 



of oil-cake of which I have knowledge, as will appear from the 

 fallowing statement of its composition compared with linseed cake. 

 No. I. is the cake you sent me. No. II., analysis of cotton-seed 

 cake by Dr. C. T. Jackson. No. III., analysis of cotton-cake, by Dr. 

 Anderson at Edinburgh. No. IV., average of eight samples of Ameri- 

 can linseed cake. No. v.. Meadow grasses, Saxony, Dr. Wolff. 



The two points of interest before us are, the nutritive and the 

 manurial value of this cake. With reference to both, chemistry and 

 practical results agree in their conclusions. The great value of linseed- 

 cake, as an adjunct to hay for fat cattle and milch cows, has long been 

 recognized ; and is undeniably traceable in the main to three ingredi- 

 ents of the seeds of the oil-yielding plants. The value of food depends 

 upon the quantity of matters it contains which may be appropriated by 

 the animal which consumes the food. Now, it is proved that the fat of 

 animals is derivable from the starch, gum and sugar, and more directly 

 and easily from the oil of the food. These four substances are, then, 

 the fat-formers. The muscles, nerves, and tendons of animals, the 

 fibrine of their blood, and the curd of their milk, are almost identical 

 in composition, and strongly similar in many of their properties, with 

 matters found in all vegetables, but chiefly in such as form the most 

 concentrated food. These blood (and muscle) formers are character- 

 ized by containing about 154 per cent, of nitrogen ; and hence are 

 called nitrogenous substances. Since albumin (white of egg) is the 

 type of these bodies, they are often designated as albuminous bodies. 

 The bony framework of the animal owes its solidity to phosphate of 

 ime, and this substance must be furnished by the food. A perfect 

 food must supply the animal with these three classes of bodies, and in 



