238 



would be if wintered continuously for consecutive years ou condensed food I am not able to 

 say, never having tested it. But looking to my own profit, as a dairyman, I propose here- 

 after to feed my cows when dry upon an exclusive meal diet, and also to feed more freely on 

 this article during the spring months. My practice has been to make the change from hay 

 to meal and vice versa suddenly, without gradation, and thus far it has been with safety ; yet 

 prudence might dictate a gradual change when returning to hay ; and also care insupplying 

 the animal with the necessary quantity of water for moistening the coarse food. If cows 

 could be watered in their stalls, whether fed on meal or hay, in cold weather, and their 

 stalls kept warm and clean, taking care to curry daily, there would be a great saving of food. 

 I would not wish to be understood as laying down the rule that a daily ration of three quarts 

 of meal is sufficient in all cases. Large cattle would require more and small ones less. He 

 who feeds meal exclusively should watch his animals closely, and variations should be made 

 according to circumstances. In very cold weather the animal requires more food, no matter 

 what its nature may be, than in warm, pleasant days. The practice of turuingout animals 

 in the cold and storms to become chilly, is neither humane nor economical. Eegularity in 

 the hour of feeding is also of great importance, whatever the food. It is a law of animal life 

 that the appetite conforms to habit, and that the digestion of food will be more perfect if taken 

 at stated intervals. Where food of any kind is kept constantly within reach of an animal, it 

 is tempted to eat more than nature requires, and much more than can be properly digested. 

 In feeding meal, whether alone or diluted with coarser food, it is absolutely imperative that 

 it should be ground as fine as for family use; and if from white corn, on an exclusive meal 

 diet, a small quantity of oil-meal or cotton-seed meal should be mixed with it. 



Department vs. Seedsivien. — Notwithstaudiug tke falsehoods of un- 

 principled seedsmen as to Department seeds, we must insist that the 

 closing remark of our correspondent does not properly apply to the ma- 

 jority of American seedsmen : 



They have all come up most satisfactorily. Having planted them under similar circum- 

 stances and same soil as those received from seedsmen, and so far as I can judge are infi- 

 nitely truer to name than those bought by me of , of ; or of 



, or of ; the latter, scarcely ten plants from a packet of cabbage (large 



flat Dutch) germinating, though all were planted at the same time, condition, and along- 

 side of each other, both in hot-bed and on open ground, the soil being well enriched with 

 fine old manure. I regret to say that so little dependence can be placed in our seedsmen 

 generally. 



German Wine Producers' Association.— The following is a let- 

 ter from the ijresident of the German Wine Producers' Association, 

 soliciting this Department to send delegates to the convention of this 

 association, to be held in the autumn of the present year at Colmar, 

 Germany: 



Carlsruhe, April I, lc75. 



United States Department of Agriculture, 



Washington, D. C. : • 



We take pleasure in inviting the honorable Department of Agriculture to send delegates 

 from the United States to the congress of German Wine Producers, to be held in the latter 

 part of September or the beginning of October of this year, inasmuch as subjects of inter- 

 national rather than strictly local character will here be discussed. 



The Oenological congresses at Munich, in 1872, (Annals of Oenology, vol. Ill, pp. 263 

 and 376,) at Vienna, in lti73, (Annals Oen. vol. V, p. 1,) and at Trier, in 1874, (Annals 

 Gen., voL V, p. 135,) have proven that the joint labors of the representatives of dif- 

 ferent nations thus assembled were likewise of greatest importance in our department of 

 science. 



We hope the more confidently to see your country represented, since the second congress 

 of the International Ampelographical Commission will be in session, either immediately be- 

 fore or after our convention, in connection with which we shall institute an exhibition of all 

 things appertaining to the culture of wine. 



Accompanying this you will please find a list of questions, which, with others that may 

 be hereafter offered, will be submitted for discussion in our convention ; the programme of 

 the exhibition will soon be sent you. As we desire to present to visitors a complete exposi- 

 tion of the scientifically practical attainments in our department, we would gladly receive 

 any suggestions, information, or contribution of implements used in wine-culture that you 

 may deem proper to make. 



Dr. a. BLANKEXHORN, 

 First President G. If. P. Association. 



