Purchased Food, and of its Residue as Manure. 229 
position of decorticated with that of undecorticated cotton-cake, 
it will be noticed that the former contains on an average 14 per 
rent, of oil, 40i per cent, of albuminous substances, and only 
' l per cent, of indigestible woody fibre, whilst undecorticated 
Dtton-cake contains only 6 per cent, of oil, 22^ per cent, of 
dbuminous matters, and as much as 21 per cent, of indigestible 
fibre. There is thus a great difference in the apparent feeding 
properties of the two kinds of cake. Moreover, the estimated 
money-value of the manuring matters produced by the con- 
sumption of a ton of decorticated cotton-cake amounts to 6/. 10s., 
whilst the estimated manure-value of the undecorticated cake is 
only 3/. I85. *6d. per ton ; the difference in the manuring-value 
done of the two cakes thus amounts to 21. 12s. 6d. We might 
therefore expect that decorticated cotton-cake would be sold at 
I much higher price than undecorticated ; but the actual market- 
price of the former is 10/. per ton, and of the latter 8/. per ton. 
The difference in the manure-value alone of the two kinds of 
cake thus is greater than the difference in the price at which 
the two are sold at present, while the much higher feeding value 
of decorticated cake is not represented in the market price. The 
explanation of this apparent anomaly is in part found in the 
circumstance that decorticated cotton-cake is too rich in albumi- 
mous substances to suit the constitution of herbivorous animals, 
and in consequence is too indigestible to be given to stock in 
the same way in which linseed-cake is usually administered. 
Most agriculturists have as yet to learn how to make the most 
■of this species of cake, which is produced only to a limited extent, 
and not so largely employed for feeding purposes as undecorticated 
cotton-cake. Want of experience in the economical use of decor- 
ticated cotton-cake no doubt accounts, at least partially, for the 
ifact that it is sold at present below its real value. 
The hard husks of cotton-seed have no intrinsic feeding-value, 
but when reduced to a coarse powder, in the act of crushing the 
seed for oil, they act as a useful diluent of the extremely rich 
and too indigestible kernels ; and hence the practical feeding- 
value of cake made from whole seed has been found greater than 
might be supposed, in comparison with the theoretical value 
of decorticated cotton-cake. Moreover, the hard woody shells 
of cotton-seed possess an economical value, in virtue of the 
astringent principle they contain, which renders whole-seed 
or English cotton-cake very useful to cattle out on pastures 
'at periods of the year when they are apt to become affected by 
scour, as well as to stock fed upon an abundance of succulent food, 
which has a tendency to keep the bowels in too loose a state. 
In such cases English cotton-cake acts medicinally as a cor- 
rective, and this useful property gives a certain value to the 
