IX.] OILCAKES i8i 



melting-point of the butter made from their milk. 

 In buying undecorticated cotton cake, care should be 

 taken to see that it has not got heated or become 

 mouldy — the smell and taste give fair evidence in this 

 direction ; of course an analysis is of great importance, 

 to see that it contains no undue proportion of husk. 

 The same precautions must be taken over undecorti- 

 cated cake, of which many very inferior samples are 

 made containing an excess of husk, sometimes ground 

 to a powder to disguise it ; an excess of cotton fibre also 

 occurs, and is undesirable. 



Linseed cake is the most highly esteemed of all the 

 feeding stuffs ; it is always relished by stock and never 

 disturbs their health in any way, though if fed in large 

 quantities to milch cows it is apt to render the butter 

 too soft and oily. Linseed cake is particularly valued 

 by graziers at the end of the fattening process, because 

 nothing else will confer the sleek, shining appearance 

 and kindly feel of the skin which comes to an animal 

 " finished " on linseed cake. Linseed cake should be 

 analysed and examined for purity; it should show no 

 reaction when tested for starch, which would only be 

 present as an impurity due to the seeds of weeds, for 

 linseed itself contains no starch. Very hard cakes also 

 are undesirable, because they are low in oil. There 

 is evidence, however, that the very high content 

 in oil which is often attained — 12 per cent, or over — is 

 rather an expensive luxury, for just as good results can 

 be obtained with poorer cakes supplemented by a 

 corresponding amount of carbohydrate. 



Soya-bean cake is so recent an introduction that 

 little can yet be said of its specific actions or character, 

 but it appears to be an extremely valuable food for all 

 classes of stock. Gluten meal and gluten feed are 

 residues obtained in the manufacture of various maize 



