Pure and Mixed Linseed- Cakes. 
«> 
That bad or inferior, and especially mouldy, cakes occasion- 
ally do serious mischief to stock is an undeniable fact, but the 
cause of the injury is still enveloped in much mystery. The 
subject has engaged the careful attention of the Chemical Com- 
mittee, at whose request I have undertaken to investigate the 
cause or causes of the injury to stock which feeding-cakes occa- 
sionally produce. 
The main object of the present paper is to lay before the 
readers of the Journal the results of my inquiries into the causes 
which render some kinds of feeding-cake either positively unfit 
as food for animals, or which account for the practical obser- 
vation that oilcake sometimes does more harm than good to 
sheep or cattle. At the same time I purpose to bring out some 
facts which I trust may afford to the breeder and feeder of stock 
some useful hints in warning him in time of the risks he runs 
in buying cheap mixed cakes, and of enabling him to distinguish 
pure and wholesome, from adulterated or inferior linseed- 
cakes. 
The nutritive value of feeding-cakes depends not merely upon 
their proximate composition, but likewise upon their physical 
condition. Like other perishable articles of food, linseed-cake, 
when kept in a damp or badly ventilated place, rapidly turns 
mouldy, and after some time becomes unfit for feeding purposes. 
I propose to discuss the subject under the following heads: — 
1. The composition and characters of pure linseed-cake, and 
the means of distinguishing genuine from inferior or adulterated 
cakes. 
2. Materials used in the manufacture of mixed or com- 
pound feeding-cakes, and the composition, structure, and pro- 
perties of various substances employed for adulterating linseed- 
cake. 
3. Composition and properties of inferior and adulterated 
mixed cakes. 
4. Remarks on the causes which render feeding-cakes either 
poisonous or more or less injurious and dangerous to the health 
of stock. 
I shall endeavour to confine my remarks to matters which 
have come under my personal notice, and not to relate the 
experience of others who have written on the adulteration of 
linseed-cake. 
B 2 
