236 OIL-CAKE. 



cans or English quarts) are produced, at the lowest 

 computation, from 100 lbs. of oil-cake. 



These figures, which were obtained, not by think- 

 ing at a desk, but from the results of practical ex- 

 periments, speak loudly enough, as may be presumed, 

 in favor of the great advantages which the German 

 farmer may derive, both in the stable and the field, 

 from the employment of oil-cake, and more particu- 

 larly now, when it can be obtained at prices that 

 render it the cheapest material for fodder and ma- 

 tt are. 



2. Employment of Oil-Cake. 



When used by itself for manuring the land, twelve 

 to sixteen hundred-weight of rape-meal are allowed 

 in Saxony to the acre ; and more is given to a heavy 

 than to a light soil, because the decomposition of the 

 cake proceeds more slowly in the former than in the 

 latter. The fertilizing effect on the soil produced by 

 this dressing is of course seen to be more persistent 

 in heavy than in light land.* In many places no 

 operation whatever has been perceived from oil-cake 

 in very binding soils ; but experiments that have 

 been provsecuted for several years on the University 

 farm in Tharand show, in opposition to this expe- 

 rience, that it acts very satisfactorily, even in the 



* This arises, of course, from the great power of the clay to retain 

 the valuable portions of this efficacious manure ; and this expression 

 here is one of the unsought for proofs of the value of the recent im- 

 portant discovery of the retentive character of chay. — J. E. T. 



