PREPARATION OF OIL-CAKE. 313 



is mostly operated upon, the small quantity of seed grown 

 in this country being either consumed directly for feeding 

 purposes, or used as seed, for which a good market price 

 is always obtained. 



Besides the " cake" made in this country, a large quan- 

 tity is annually imported from the Continent and from 

 America ; France, Holland, Belgium, Italy, Germany, 

 and the Baltic ports furnishing the chief supplies, and 

 giving the particular designation by which the " cake " 

 is known in the markets. All these various oil-cakes are 

 liable to differ both in- their commercial and in their real 

 feeding values. The English, though made from foreign- 

 grown seed, is generally preferred by buyers and feeders 

 of stock, and is always quoted at a higher price in the 

 market. The percentage composition of the different 

 samples, as is shown by the following tabulated series of 

 analyses, is subject to considerable variation the home- 

 made averaging a smaller proportion of nitrogen com- 

 pounds, and a larger proportion of oil, than either of the 

 others. This difference alone is not, however, sufficient 

 to account for the preference it commands in the market. 

 Independently of its chemical constituents, it possesses 

 other advantages. The flavour, both as regards taste and 

 smell, of home-made cake is generally sweeter and more 

 agreeable to stock, and for this reason is more highly ap- 

 preciated than cakes possessing a more or less rancid taste 

 or smell. It is not difficult to account for this superiority. 

 On the Continent the linseed is exposed to a greater 

 pressure than in England, and the extraction of the oil 

 is commonly aided by means of an increased temperature. 

 This, though not uncommon in England, is never carried 

 sufficiently high to affect the flavour of the substance. 

 It is always carefully regulated, and both the products 

 the oil and the cake testify, by their superior quality, 

 to the policy of the practice. Again, home-made cake is 



VOL. II. 53 



