224 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



this cake as a fertilizer, is to feed it to the cattle and carefully 

 apply the manure they furnish. In this way, whatever is not 

 economized in fat or flesh, will be available as manure." 



During three winters past I have used this article, and have also 

 made careful inquiries and observations regarding its use by others, 

 and I feel fully warranted in recommending it for cattle, and es- 

 pecially for milch cows, as the cheapest and best food in the market. 

 It is found to increase the flow of milk considerably beyond an 

 equal weight of Indian corn or any other grain, the animal at 

 the same time improving in condition. It is already used in the 

 State to some extent, but deserves to be more generally known. 

 The price at the present time at the manufactory in Providence, is 

 $26.50 per ton of 2,000 pounds, in quantities of a ton or over. At 

 our sea ports its cost may be a trifle over one and a half cents per 

 pound. Several instances have come to my knowledge where 

 complaint has been made either of injury to animals fed upon it, 

 or to the flavor of their milk, but none which attached to the arti- 

 cle prepared at Providence — nor to a good article prepared else- 

 where. Some cotton cake has been brought from the South or 

 West, which is of inferior quality, either from imperfection or 

 error in the manufacture, and some has been seriously injured by 

 dampness and consequent mouldiness. 



Cotton seed cake deserves regard not less for its fertilizing than 

 for its nutritive properties. From the results of careful research, 

 it appears that this article returns a large proportion of its cost in 

 the manure yielded from its consumption. 



Mr. Harris, editor of the Gcnessee Farmer, a friend and former 

 pupil of Mr. Lawes of Rothampstead, England, whose very careful 

 and extensive experimental researches are widely and flivorably 

 known, has furnished an instructive and suggestive article, in which 

 the comparative fertilizing properties of diflerent articles of food 

 are set forth, from which we quote as follows : 



"People talk of horse, or cow, or sheep, or hog, or hen manure, 

 as if these manures had a fixed value, irrespective of the food con- 

 sumed by these diflerent animals. 



The animal exercises very little influence on the manure. 



If the liquid and solid excrements were all saved, they would be 

 as valuable when obtained from a horse as from a hen, if the food 

 consumed was Ihe same. 



In England, where farmers purchase large quantities of food for 

 feeding to animals on the farm, this fact is beginning to be appreci-. 



