THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



33 



ment of the time having also instituted an experiment 

 in proof. 



We have now plenty of grain in a semi-malted state, 

 and in that state would no doubt make admirable food ; 

 but the best practice is to grind it into meal, and apply 

 it as the best judgment may dictate. In either state 

 it constitutes a wholesome and highly nutritious food for 

 all stock. If the grain is too soft or too damp to grind 

 kindly, it will be desirable to purchase some dry barley 

 to mix with it. There is an abundance of dry foreign 

 barley to be purchased in every market. It is thin and 

 coarse skinned, but it will aid greatly in reducing the 

 whole bulk into meal. I have no personal experience 

 of the value of Indian corn (maize) as a mixture for in- 

 ferior wheats and barleys for this purpose, but I imagine 

 it would be found an admirable addition, and promote 

 the satisfactory reduction of the whole into meal. The 

 chief design of this mixture of dry and damp together 

 for the purpose of grinding is to prevent the choking of 

 the mill stones, and enable them to utter meal from soft 

 grain which they could not otherwise do. 



Much has been written respecting the value of steeped 

 grain for stock. It is undoubtedly a very valuable 

 article of food in this state, and in a season like this 

 may be much resorted to ; for in many instances it will 

 be found that the grain will be too soft for profitable 

 grinding, even when very sparingly mixed with hard 

 grain. My impression is that in such a case resort 

 should be had to steaming, as likely to make it the best 

 food for general stock. Steaming soft or damp or 

 tainted grain will sweeten it, and make it palatable for 

 all kinds of stock ; but steeping will, in many cases, 

 make it more tainted, so much so that none but poor 

 piggy, the general receiver, will partake of it. It is not 



necessary that it undergoes a long process of steaming : 

 a comparatively slight column of steam, thoroughly 

 passed through a mass of grain, would soon deprive it 

 of all taint, and also add something to its nutritive 

 value. Another way to deprive grain of all taint is to 

 pass clear water through it till it is removed : it may 

 then be given to any kind of stock. 



I said in my last paper, that wheat must not be given 

 to general stock in its ffi-ain state without preparation by 

 steam or steepinjr (wronglji printed green state), be- 

 cause it will swell in the stomach and become indigestible. 

 Cattle and sheep would unquestionably thrive best upon 

 it when given to them as meal, but it may advantage- 

 ously be given in its prepared state, as above. Horses 

 would thrive best by having the steeped or steamed 

 grain given to them. Pigs would feed fastest upon it 

 as meal, but in either way they will do exceedingly well 

 upon it. As to the quantity to be given to each animal 

 much will depend upon its state and condition. A fat- 

 ting ox might have a stone a day, at two meals, morn- 

 ing and night. A horse might have a peck of steeped 

 or steamed grain, but not more than eight or ten pounds 

 of meal per day. A sheep might have a pint of grain 

 or three-quarters of a pound of meal. A pig ad 

 libitum or thereabouts, but not to waste it. Young 

 stock of every kind would thrive well upon it, but they 

 must bccarefuUy supplied according to their age and 

 condition. It is always good management to commence 

 with moderate rations, and increase them as the stock 

 progresses, which every judicious farmer will soon per- 

 ceive : his judgment will then be his guide. In this way 

 I trust that much benefit may be derived by every 

 stock-master, and some compensation ensured for a 

 truly bad harvest. 



RIVER-DRAINAGE. 



There is not an engineering question of the day more 

 ripe for practical discussion than the trunk-drainage of 

 our great valleys. The past season has borne ample 

 testimony to this, for during the whole of the summer, 

 as well as spring and autumn, our large rivers and their 

 tributaries have kept low-lying districts literally in a 

 bottom-sea of noxious water ; thus subjecting the in- 

 habitants, with their cattle, to consequences more 

 easily imagined than described. 



The topic of river-drainage is a national one, and in 

 offering a few observations upon it we shall confine our- 

 selves as much as possible to the leading principles in- 

 volved in the work, in order to give within the limits at 

 our disposal a passing view of its magnitude and im- 

 portance. 



It is the unretarded velocity of a river that indicates 

 no less the purity than the quantity of water it dis- 

 charges in a given time, and also that shows the health 

 of the country drained. If it flows rapidly, it may be 

 shallow, but the quantity of water removed will be 

 large; while it will be clear — technically, ^" a crystal 

 stream," and the air pure and salubrious on both its 



banks. If, however, it is a series of stagnant pools 

 slowly emptying themselves into one another, the re- 

 verse of this will be experienced; for then, granting 

 that there is an equal quantity of water — in other words, 

 an equal area of land drained — the river will be deep, 

 the water impure, the air of the country through which 

 it passes pestilential, and the country itself badly 

 drained ; the climate and produce (animal and vegeta- 

 ble) being unfavourable to the health of its inhabitants. 

 This is what all travellers find, who explore foreign 

 countries; and it is just what we ourselves experience 

 at home. 



From these data it will readily be seen that in the 

 practical consideration of river-drainage, velocity is the 

 first problem that demands solution. Nothing short of 

 this will serve the purpose eff"ectually . Rushing over weirs 

 and mill-dams, through canal-sluices, and under water- 

 wheels, will not answer ; for we all know the conse- 

 quence when a stinking pool is stirred up, and this is 

 just what water-wheels, sluices, and mill-dams accom- 

 plish — the liberation of gases generated in the semi- 

 stagnant pools between them. From their source to 



