i6 



The Purchase of Feeding Stuffs. 



heat forming (carbohydrate) substance is supplied in large 

 measure by the straw and other bulky material with which 

 cakes are always fed. Mixed or compound cakes often con- 

 tain starch and also some sugar, their ingredients comprising 

 grain, maize, etc., and a certain amount of spice. 



Cakes, if pure and well made, are extremely digestible 

 as much as 80 to 90 per cent, ot the nutrient material in 

 them being often digested by cattle and sheep. The 

 manurial residues of cakes made from oil seeds are of higher 

 value than those of any other foods, although the residues 

 of malt dust, dried grains, beans, and peas are not greatly 

 inferior. 



Linseed Cake. — This is the residue in the process of extracting 

 the oil from linseed or flax-seed. The quality and character of 

 the cake varies with the following conditions : — (1) The kind 

 of linseed used; (2) The manner in which the seed has been 

 screened and freed from its impurities ; (3) The amount of 

 pressure that has been employed in the extraction of the oil 

 and the compression of the residue into cake. 



Of recent years the introduction of heating processes, and, 

 more especially, the employment of chemical agents for the 

 purpose of extracting the oil, have resulted in placing upon 

 the market cakes which are very hard in consistency, close 

 in texture, and poor in oil. 



In purchasing this cake, farmers should insist upon having 

 the consignment invoiced to them as " Pure Linseed Cake," 

 or simply as " Linseed Cake." 



They should not be content with such phraseology as " 95 

 per cent, pure," " made from 95 per cent, linseed " or " made 

 from seed pure as imported." When a cake is invoiced as 

 "Linseed Cake," the vendor is bound under the Fertilisers and 

 Feeding Stuffs Act to supply a cake made from linseed alone 

 and without admixture of other seed or substance. The term 

 " Oil Cake " is very misleading, and may apply to a cake 

 made from almost anything. 



The chief kinds of linseed cake are English or Home Cakes, 

 American, and Russian or Baltic. Home-made cakes are 

 usually fairly soft, and of late years they have been much 

 freer from impurity than formerly, especially when sold under 



