Annual Report of the Consulting Chemist for 1877. 247 
with cake which is made from properly screened linseed, when 
they have bought cakes as " pure," and in accordance with the 
forms of guarantee previously recommended by the Chemical 
Committee. The examination of oilcakes for their purity en- 
tails no great amount of analytical work ; and as members of 
the Royal Agricultural Society have the privilege of obtaining 
an opinion whether a cake is pure or not, in the course of a day 
or two and at the trifling expense of 5s. per sample, it is to be 
hoped that members of the Society will avail themselves of this 
privilege more frequently than hitherto. 
The quality of the samples of American decorticated cotton- 
cake analysed by me in the past season was satisfactory ; but 
some of the samples of ordinary or whole-seed cotton-cakes, 
received for examination in 1877, were not so good as they 
might have been, had the husks of the cotton-seeds been ground 
finer. 
Coarsely ground cotton-seed husks are rather indigestible, and 
apt to cause constipation of the bowels, not unfrequently followed 
by inflammation ; and hence it is desirable that all oil-crushers 
in producing cotton-cake should imitate the example of some 
makers, who reduce the cotton-seed husks to a finer condition 
than the majority of makers of English cotton-cake. 
In connection with feeding-stuffs, I may mention that occa- 
sionally a species of millet, or Sorghum seed, known in com- 
merce as Dari grain, is imported from Egypt into England, and 
sold at a more moderate price than that of feeding-barley. 
Dari grain is a good food for poultry, and, ground into meal, 
an excellent fattening meal for cattle. As will be seen by the 
subjoined analysis of a sample lately analysed for a member of 
the Society, Dari grain contains an appreciable amount of ready- 
made fat and a large proportion of starch, which is with ease 
transformed into fat in the animal economy ; but it is rather 
deficient in albuminoids, and for this reason Dari-meal should 
be given to stock in conjunction with cake, beans, or peas ; or, 
speaking generally, with food rich in albuminous compounds : — 
Composition of Dari grain. 
Moisture 11-31 
Oil 4-02 
'Albuminous compounds (flesh-forming matters) .. 10 '06 
Starch and di<iestihle fibre 68 "10 
Woody fibre (cellulose) 3 '65 
Mineral matter (ash) 2 '86 
100-00 
* Containing nitrogen 1-61 
