60 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



or objections arising from bulk, and difficulty of reducing 

 the cob to a sufficiently fine powder. It is not probable that 

 cob-meal can be perfectly digested unless comminution is 

 carried to an extreme point, and therefore the finer the cobs 

 are gi'ound, the higher the value, and the less the liability of 

 gastric disturbance. It is certain we do not give sufficient 

 attention to the matter of grinding any of the grains fed to 

 our animals. They should be ground as fine as possible in 

 order that they may be easy of digestion, and in order that 

 the nutritive substances may be fully utilized. There is a 

 positive loss in feeding out coarsely-ground grains of any 

 kind, and, in grinding the cob with the corn, give special 

 attention to the work of comminution. The corn in the ear 

 should be thoroughly dry before it is carried to mill, and 

 there will be less difficulty in reducing it to a fine powder. 



Investigation has also shown that a bushel of our sound 

 New-England corn, ground with the cobs, affords equal 

 nutritive value with the ordinary Southern and Western 

 varieties of whole corn-meal. The variety of corn grown at 

 my farm, and which has been made the subject of experi- 

 ment, has eight rows of plump large kernels, with a small 

 cob. The proportion of corn to cob, when thoroughly sea- 

 soned, is as ten to two by weight, a bushel of ears weighing 

 thirty-four pounds and a half. In one hundred pounds of 

 the cob-meal there are eighty-three pounds of ground kernel^ 

 and seventeen pounds of cob, — five-sixths corn, one-sixth 

 cob. 



Probably different results would be reached by the use of 

 <;oi 3 with a large and heavy cob and light kernel. Such, in 

 mj view, should not 'be raised in New England; for it is 

 wasteful and unprofitable farming. The cob, I learn from 

 analysis, is a great robber of potash from our soils; and 

 therefore we must not produce any more than is possible, if 

 it is to be regarded as a waste product. The ash of the cob 

 in the analysis of Lakeside Farm corn was not specially 

 alluded to ; only the percentage was given. In viewing this 

 subject, some curious speculations occur to us. The average 

 amount found in the ash of cobs is about seven pounds and 

 a half of the carbonate in the hundred; which is twice as 

 much as is found in the ash of the willow, the richest of all 

 woods in potash. If it were practicable to procure and 



