10 Composition and Nutritive Value of Cotton-cake. 



I have endeavoured, approximately, to determine the proportion 

 of shells in the first cake. As the shells are reduced to powder 

 only with great difficulty, whereas the kernel powders readily 

 enough, the proportion of the former may be ascertained with 

 tolerable accuracy by carefully grinding the cake in a stone 

 mortar, and sifting off the hard shells. Proceeding in this way, 

 I found in No. 1, 58*42 per cent, of shells. This is a great 

 deal more than the average amount of seed-shells in cotton-cake 

 made of the whole seed. It appears to me, therefore, not un- 

 likely that this cake contained an additional quantity of shells 

 beyond that which cotton-seed in its raw state naturally furnishes. 

 In the manufacture of decorticated cake large quantities of shells 

 must be obtained, and it is not unlikely that these shells, with 

 the addition of a little good cake, are pressed into an inferior 

 cake. No. 2 and No. 3 were cakes made in England ; they are 

 better cakes than No. 1. 



4. OIL-MEAL. 



It has been already mentioned that, on account of the difficulty 

 which the consumer experiences in crushing the thick cake, the 

 manufacturers of this article break up the cake into a coarse 

 powder. This is afterwards kiln-dried, and brought into com- 

 merce under the name of patent kiln-dried oil-meal. Two speci- 

 mens of such oil-meal gave on analysis the following results : 



Composition of Patent Kiln-dried Oil-meal. 



No. 1. No. 2. 



Moisture 9'40 10'21 



Oil 17-39 19-71 



* Albuminous compounds (flesh-forming matters) . . 43*81 40*25 



Gum, mucilage, sugar, and digestible fibre (heat-1 -,-, 01 I.QQ 



producing substances) J 1 



Indigestible woody fibre 10'44 5'84 



Inorganic matters (ash) 7'75 7*61 



100*00 100-00 

 * Containing nitrogen 7'01 6*44 



Oil-meal, if genuine, it thus appears, is identical in composi- 

 tion with the best decorticated cotton-cake. 



No. 2, it will be seen, contained nearly 20 per cent, of oil, 

 which is more than I ever found before in any kind of oil-cake. 



The process of kiln-drying is resorted to for the purpose of 

 preserving the meal in good condition. It imparts to the cake a 

 peculiar and by no means unpleasant flavour, which is said to 

 be much liked by cattle. 



On the whole, oil-meal, when genuine, and of as good a quality 

 as the two specimens analysed by me, presents a handy form of 



