314 



THE FLAX CROP. 



prepared only to a comparatively limited extent, and 

 meets with such a ready sale as to insure its consumption 

 before the large proportion of oil left in the cake has time 

 to become rancid, or any of the changes noticeable in the 

 foreign cakes have time to manifest themselves. The 

 foreign cakes, on the contrary, having to pass through 

 several hands before they reach this market, frequently 

 attain a considerable age before they meet with a sale, 

 and the oil, having been exposed to a considerable tem- 

 perature at the time of pressing, is certain to become 

 more or less acted upon by the oxygen of the air, and 

 consequently rancid. In addition to this constant cause 

 of the bad flavour or smell met with in foreign samples, 

 they are too often kept badly stored, in damp and ill- 

 ventilated places, before shipment; the long sea voyage 

 frequently causes them to heat, and sets up an incipient 

 fermentation, all of which tell considerably against their 

 general quality and value. 



The following tabulated series of analyses by Mr. Way, 1 

 oi a large number of samples of foreign as well as home- 

 made cakes, shows the difference that exists in their more 

 important constituents those, in fact, by which the 

 value of the compounds is usually calculated : 



TABLE I. ANALYSES OF FRENCH OIL- CAKE. 



Roy. Agri. Soc. Jour., vol. x. p. 479. 



