34:4  Annual  Report  for  1909  of  the  Consulting  Chemist. 
“A”  was  sold  at  first  at  %l.  per  ton,  but  the  purchaser, 
noting  that  it  was  dark  coloured  and  very  “ husky,”  declined 
to  give  more  than  11.  per  ton  for  it.  On  analysis  it  was  found 
to  have  excessive  sand,  to  be  badly  decorticated,  and  altogether 
hardly  equal  to  undecorticated  cake. 
“ B ” was  also  very  badly  decoi'ticated,  and  contained  no 
less  than  25  per  cent,  of  husk  ; it  was  stated  to  be  of  American 
“ Refuge  ” brand. 
Peruvian  Decorticated  Cotton  Cake. 
Several  samples  of  this  make  of  cake  have  been  sent  ; the 
analyses  of  two  of  these  were  as  follows  : — 
A 
B 
Moisture  ...... 
9-14 
9-73 
Oil 
12-45 
17-08 
'Albuminous  compounds  . 
Soluble  carbohydrates,  f igestible  fibre, 
40-94 
38-25 
&c.  ...... 
26-34 
23-83 
Woody  fibre  ..... 
4-19 
4-13 
^Mineral  matter  (ash) 
6-94 
6-98 
100-00 
100-00 
'Containing  nitrogen 
6-55 
6-12 
“Including  sand.  .... 
none 
•10 
These  were  both  of  high  quality  as  regards  oil,  and  they 
were  also  pure.  “ A ” was  rather  hard,  but  a fresh-looking 
cake  ; while  “B”  had  a few  bits  of  wool  left  in  it.  but  was 
otherwise  good. 
Nails,  Pieces  of  Iron,  &c.,  in  Decorticated  Cotton  Cake. 
Two  cases  have,  during  the  year,  been  brought  to  my 
notice  in  which,  in  a delivery  of  decorticated  cotton  cake,  have 
been  found  nails,  pieces  of  metal,  &c.,  and  which  are  believed 
to  have  caused  injury  to  stock.  The  fiattened  appearance  of 
the  nails,  &c.,  show  that  they  have  in  most  cases  passed 
through  the  crushing  rollers,  and  hence  probably  came  with 
the  seed.  It  is  the  practice  of  seed  crushers  to  pass  their  seed, 
after  arrival  from  foreign  ports,  over  magnets  for  the  purpose 
of  removing  extraneous  materials  such  as  the  above  that  may 
get  accidentally  among  the  seed.  This  is  generally  successful, 
but  occasionally,  even  with  the  best  exercise  of  care,  some 
pieces ' of  metal  may  escape  removal  and  so  find  their  way 
through  the  rollers  and  ultimately  into  the  cake,  and,  if  not 
noticed,  may  undoubtedly  harm  stock.  The  difficulty  is,  of 
course,  to  prove  that  injury  to  stock  was  actually  caused  by 
