300 



Concentrated Feeding-stuffs. [July, 



dition, and free from mould. With regard to the first point, 

 the seed may not have been efficiently hulled, or the hulls 

 may have been removed, ground up, and subsequently added 

 to the meal, and the whole pressed into cake. Any appre- 

 ciable quantity of coarse husks in the cake can be readily 

 detected with the naked eye, but when the husks are present 

 in a thoroughly disintegrated condition, their detection is 

 only possible by chemical and microscopical examination. 

 Cakes of this description exhibit a low percentage of oil (5 or 

 6 per cent., instead of about 10 per cent.), and a high per- 

 centage of fibre (10 to 12 per cent., instead of about 7 per 

 cent.). Such cakes are intermediate in value between decorti- 

 cated and undecorticated cotton cakes, and it is doubtful if 

 sellers are justified in applying the description "decorticated " 

 to some of the cakes now sold under that name. In view of 

 the uncertainty attaching to the meaning of the term "decorti- 

 cated " in this connection, purchasers of decorticated cotton 

 cake should insist on a written statement from the seller as 

 to the amount of fibre it contains. 



The hard button-like pieces sometimes found in decorticated 

 cotton cake are extremely objectionable. To produce a softer 

 cake some manufacturers have lately adopted the plan of 

 grinding up the cake and re-pressing it into shape, while in 

 other cases it is put on the market in a ground condition, and 

 is often known as "yellow meal." As impurities are not so 

 easily detected in the meal as in the cake, it should be bought 

 with greater caution. If the cake is only moderately hard, 

 and can be passed conveniently through the breaker, it mav 

 be crushed and left exposed to the atmosphere for a few 

 days, when it becomes softer and mOre suitable for stock. 

 When exposed to the air in this way decorticated cotton cake 

 becomes darker in colour, and it may also be noted that 

 freshly-made cakes are much brighter than old cakes. 



Undecorticated Cotton Cake. — Two classes of this cake are 

 in common use, these being termed for convenience 

 "Egyptian Cotton Cake" and "Bombay Cotton Cake." The 

 chiel difference between them lies in the greater proportion 

 of woolly fibrous matter in the Bombay cakes. For this 

 reason greater caution is necessary in using them than in the 

 case of Egyptian cakes. Bombay cakes are, moreover, 



