68 THE NUTRITIVE VALUE OF DIFFERENT OIL-CAKES, 



Recently, linseed-cake, for which there is a great demand in 

 the Midland Counties and in the North of England and Scot- 

 land, has been adulterated with bran and also with sawdust. By 

 distributing cake in water in the way just indicated, you can 

 easily recognise the particles of bran or sawdust, or any other 

 foreign matters. You can also ascertain whether there is much 

 foreign seed mixed with the linseed. In short, you can easily 

 examine whether the cake is made of pure seed or not. Like- 

 wise, you may ascertain whether, there is sand mixed with the 

 cake, for it will settle in the bottom of the tumbler or jug, and 

 readily, by its physical character, show itself to be sand. The 

 same examination applied to rape-cake will enable you to detect 

 whether it is mixed with mustard, either purposely or by accident. 

 Rape-cake is often made from seed which contains a good deal 

 of mustard, especially foreign rape-cake, which is often largely 

 mixed with mustard. This arises more especially from the fact 

 that on the Continent mustard and rape are often grown together ; 

 and when seed of that description is made into cake it produces 

 a very inferior quality of rape-cake, and when the mustard enters 

 into it in considerable quantities it may prove injurious to animals. 

 Rape-cake, containing too much mustard, when mixed with water, 

 produces the volatile oil of mustard, which is extremely injurious 

 to animals, but the pungent smell due to the production of the 

 volatile oil of mustard affords a useful indication to the farmer 

 of the presence of a large and probably injurious quantity of 

 mustard-seed. 



Before I speak of some other kinds of cake, besides linseed 

 and rape cake, I would particularly allude to the discussions 

 which have been carried on for several years respecting the value 

 of American and English cake. There are advocates in support 

 of the English as well as advocates for American cake. The 

 question is, which is right? Is American cake, as some say, 

 really more nutritious than English, or is English cake better 

 than American, and worth more money? I remember, a few 

 years ago, that it was the fashion to buy nothing but English 

 cake ; it fetched a higher price in the market, and perhaps for a 

 good reason there was a great demand for English cake, and it 

 was really of a very superior character. Within the last year or 

 two much more American cake has been imported, and it is of 

 much better quality than it was a few years ago. 



No doubt our American brethren on the other side of the 

 Atlantic became aware of the fact, that nothing injures good 

 cake so much as bad keeping, and hence they incurred consi- 

 derable expense in packing it. Instead of packing the cake in 

 bags, they put it in barrels, the consequence of which is, that it 

 arrives more fresh in this country, and since then the American 



