Flesh-formers 26 Oil 12 Gum, mucilage, sugar, &c. 34 Woody fibre 6 ONE TON OF LINSEED CAKE, AT £11, CONTAINS:-- lbs. Flesh-forming principles 582·4 Oil 268·8 Gum, sugar, and other fat-formers 761·6 Woody fibre 74·4 ------- 1,687·2 Total amount of fat-formers, calculated as starch 1,508·0 Add flesh-formers 582·4 ------- Total amount of nutriment 2,090·4 These comparisons are very instructive and important. We learn from them that we pay £11 for 2,000 lbs. of nutriment, when we purchase a ton of linseed-cake, whereas, when we invest 30s. in a ton of straw, we receive 1,000 lbs. of digestible aliment. It cannot be said that I have strained any points in favour of the straw; on the contrary, I believe that when that article is cut in proper season and well harvested, its composition will be found far superior to that detailed in the comparative analysis. It must be borne in mind, too, that I take no account of the 30 per cent. of the so-called indigestible woody fibre which straw contains, and which, I believe, is partly assimilable under ordinary circumstances, and could be rendered nearly altogether digestible by proper treatment; on the other hand, I have assumed that the woody fibre of the oil-cake is completely digestible, although I believe it is in reality less so than the fibre of straw.