The Purchase of Feeding Stuffs. 19 



unless given in small quantities, and in a finely ground 

 condition. 



It is most economically employed for dairy stock or 

 fattening cattle, and as a rule should be accompanied by about 

 an equal weight of some starchy food like maize or barley. 

 When fed in this way experiments have shown that this 

 food may be usefully employed both for fat stock and dairy 

 cows. It is generally held to be superior to linseed cake 

 where first rate samples of butter are required ; it renders 

 the butter firm and easily manipulated, and imparts good 

 keeping qualities, and a high melting point. The very high 

 quality of the manure made from this cake is a point that 

 experienced farmers do not overlook. This cake is largely 

 used in certain parts of the country, notably in Scotland ; 

 whereas in others it is rarely seen. 



The chief points to be observed in purchasing decorticated 

 cotton cake are: (1) to see that the cake is made wholly 

 from decorticated seed ; (2) to see that it is in suitable 

 condition, 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 

 appreciable 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 percentage of fibre (18 to 20 per cent., instead of 

 about 5 per cent.). Such cakes are practically little, if any, 

 better than undecorticated cotton cake. 



The hard button-like pieces sometimes found in decorti- 

 cated cotton cake are extremely objectionable. To produce 

 a softer cake some manufacturers have lately adopted the 

 plan of grinding up the cake and repressing 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 easy of detection in the meal as in the 

 cake, it should be bought with greater caution. If the 



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