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tiplied by sixteen, I question whether it would not amount 

 to infinitely more than is grown on the whole continent 

 of Europe. We, however, receive the supply; but of what 

 does that supply consist ? The seeds of hemp, and of many 

 other plants which are grown solely for the purpose, be- 

 sides the seeds of many wild plants that infest the fields, are 

 crushed to obtain the oil. The stones of fruit, nuts of forest - 

 trees, and ground-nuts,* yield an abundance of oil, which, in 

 the form of cake, are largely exported from various quarters 

 And whither are they sent if not to England, the great mart of 

 the world ? Let a cake be taken from every cargo that reaches 

 our ports during a given period and examined, and I expect 

 that scarcely two will be found alike. Now, if they were all 

 made of linseed, they would of course, in some measure, corre- 

 spond. But I much doubt whether even the presence of linseed 

 could be discovered at all in some of them. Samples of cake 

 have been sent to me for examination, and I have seen some 

 tested in which the refuse of linseed was not perceptible, 

 but enough of filthy sediment instead, at the bottom of the 

 vessels. A few months since I paid a visit to one of the first 

 cprn-markets in this county, with the view of obtaining inform- 

 ation respecting the quantity of oil-cake consumed in that 

 neighbourhood. I was astonished at the enormous amount^, 

 which was calculated to exceed the absolute rental of the land. 

 Some of the leading agriculturists assured me that their own 

 consumption exceeded fifty tons each a-year ; that numbers con- 

 sumed much more, even from one to two hundred tons. Wliile 

 conversing upon this subject, I was politely challenged by a 

 merchant to inspect a sample of oil-cake which he had brought 

 that day for sale, and to detect, if I could, anything besides 

 linseed. " For," said he, "the maker with whom I deal has all 

 his linseed sifted, so that no other ingredient may be incorpo- 

 rated with it." He placed in my hands, in the presence of a 

 third person, one of the best prepared cakes that I had ever 

 seen ; but on breaking it, innumerable seeds of the sinapinus 



* The ground-nut is becoming also a valuable article of commerce, and this, 

 with other nuts mentioned, yields a rich supply of oil and oil-cake for the use 

 of cattle. (Sir Powell Buxton's ' Slave Trade and Remedy,' page 322.) Large 

 quantities are also made in India. 



