THE TECHNOLOGIST. 



[Mat 1, 1865. 



composition and nutritive value of 

 Palm-nut Kernel Meal. 



Moisture .... 



Fatty matters . 



* Albuminous compounds ) 



(flesh -forming matters) ( 



Mucilage, starch, sugar,) 



and digestible fibre . J 



Woody fibre (cellulose) . 



Mineral matters (ash) 



* Containing nitrogen 



No. 1 



No. 2. 



No. 3. 



No. 4. 



No. 5. 



7-02 

 1995 



17-01 



33-76 



18-70 

 3-56 



No. 6. 



7-21 

 22-79 



15-56 



3624 



14-90 

 3-30 



7-49 

 26-57 



15-75 



37-89 



3-40 

 3-90 



6-91 

 26 50 



14-93 



31-20 



1613 

 4-33 



6-69 

 23-92 



15-25 



40-62 



10-40 

 3-12 



7-52 

 22-68 



16-75 



32-14 



17-49 



342 



100-00 

 2-52 



100-00 

 2-39 



100-00 

 2-44 



100-00 

 2-68 



100-00 



2-72 



100-00 

 2-49 



This is a very large percentage of the most valuable of all food-con- 

 stituents in an economical point of view. If it be borne in mind that 

 one part of ready-made fat or oil is equivalent to two and a half parts of 

 starch, and that good wheat or barley seldom contains more than 60 to 

 65 per cent, of heat and analogous heat- and fat-producing constituents, 

 the superiority of palm-meal as a fattening food will clearly be recognised. 



Taking 24 per cent, as the average proportion of fat, and multiplying 

 this by 2^, we obtain 60 per cent, as the starch-equivalent for the fat in 

 palm-kernel meal. Add to this, 35 per cent, in round numbers of other 

 heat- and fat-giving matter, such as sugar, gum, mucilage, &c, and we 

 shall get that which is equivalent to 95 per cent, of fat-producers against 

 65 in wheat or barley. 



Neither is this meal deficient in flesh-forming matters ; and although, 

 for young growing stock, the admixture in an equal proportion of beans, 

 peas, or other leguminous food rich in nitrogenous matters is advisable 

 for fattening stock, the 15 or 16 per cent, of flesh-forming matter 

 occurring in palm-meal are quite sufficient for carrying on the fattening 

 process successfully. 



At the present time, palm-nut meal 'sells at 6Z. a ton, in quantities 

 of two tons and upwards, delivered at Liverpool, or at 6/. 17s. per ton 

 or upwards delivered by rail in London, and is produced in England, 

 as far as I know, only by Messrs. Alexander Smith and Co., Kent Street 

 Oil Mills, Liverpool. Palm-kernels appeared also to be crushed at 

 Hamburg, from whence the residue left in the presses is occasionally 

 imported into England, in the shape of cake and of meal. All the 

 samples of foreign palm-kernel meal and cake which I had occasion to 

 analyse, I found greatly inferior to the Liverpool meal, as will appear 

 from the following analysis, showing the 



