172 A PRACTICAL TREATISE 



buried : we therefore conceive that this species of manure is 

 more appropriate for the preservation of good soils in a state 

 of fertility, than to the improvement of those which are im- 

 poverished. This probahly will in a great measure account 

 for the comparative rarity of the practice on extensive farms 

 containing tracts of poor land, the cultivation of which is 

 chiefly dependent upon the fold; while, on those of a richer 

 description, it may be fairly questioned whether the dung 

 made from a large green crop, when fed off, or soiled, may 

 not be equally beneticial in its effects upon the soil as if 

 ploughed down, besides the superior profit thus gained by its 

 support of the stock. 



CHAPTER Xni. 



MISCELLANEOUS MANURES CONTINUED. OIL CAKE — RAPE — 



AND MALT DUST. 



OiL-CAKE, though a term generally applied to the pressed 

 seed of flax, as well as that of rape, is, however, essentially 

 different, for the linseed-cake is rarely applied to any other 

 purpose than that of feeding cattle, while rape-cake is used 

 solely as manure. When received from the oil-mills, where 

 the seed is crushed, the cakes of rape are commonly abont 

 4 lbs. weight, and contain a small portion of oil, from which 

 their fertilizing quality is chiefly derived; the remainder con- 

 sisting of husk and bran. Those of linseed are of a richer and 

 more nutritive substance, and consequently bear a much higher 

 price. There is, therefore, not only a material difference in 

 their value, and the uses to which they are applied, but also 

 in their quality; for some mills are constructed with such 

 power, as to leave little else than the husk of the seed, and in 

 some cases foreign oil-cake has been re-crushed in the mills 

 of this country, by which their value is very much decreased. 

 They are in this state very hard, and there is such considerable 

 difficulty in breaking them, that, when not reduced by a re- 

 gular crushing machine, they must be pounded with heavy 

 iron hammers or mallets; though some farmers attach a stone 

 to their thrashing-mill for the purpose of grinding it to dust. 



