After the oil has been expressed, the remaining farinaceous part of the seeds is squeezed together into large masses, called oil-cake which is given as food to oxen.
It must be remarked that the water in which flax has been macerated becomes thereby poisonous to cattle; and, on this account, the practice of steeping it in any running stream or common pond was prohibited by an act of Parliament, passed in the reign of Henry the Eighth.
CLASS VI.—HEXANDRIA.
MONOGYNIA.
98. The PINE (Bromelia ananas) is a rich and highly fragrant fruit, of large size, and yellow colour, with protuberances on its surface; and crowned by a tuft of strong and pointed leaves, edged with sharp spines.
This, the best and finest flavoured of all known fruits, was originally imported into England from South America, about the year 1690. In that country and the West Indies it has long been cultivated in the open ground; and, from free access to a congenial atmosphere, it attains there a much finer flavour than is possible in a forced state, in the hot-houses of Great Britain.
Pines are planted in earth; and the pots which contain them are immersed in beds of bark, after it has been used by the tanners. About the month of April the young fruit begins to advance, but the usual season for ripening does not commence till July, and the fruit is in greatest perfection from the middle of August to the end of September. The ripening of pines is discoverable by the fragrant odour which they emit, and by their protuberances yielding to pressure with the hand; and their flavour speedily dissipates if left uncut longer than three or four days after they are fully ripe. When brought to table, their leafy crowns should be reserved for planting. These, if placed in pots, and plunged in the bark-bed, or in a hot-bed, and covered, for some time, with glass, will in two years bear fruit.
There are several varieties of pine, of which the following are among the principal.