194 THE AMERICAN FARMER. 



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placed a cask or cylinder, three feet in diameter and five feet long, without a bottom, but a 

 bar across the lower end, on which an upright revolving shaft will be set in the center, pro 

 vided with six arms, just long enough to turn inside. This shaft will pass through a like 

 cross-bar on the top, and extending above enough to receive a pulley of the proper size, to 

 revolve it some six hundred times per minuce. Now, a spout will extend from the elevated 

 feed bin to the top of this cylinder, with a slide to open or shut it; also a spout extending 

 from the meal or bran bin, so as to communicate in the same way with the cylinder, and a 

 water-pipe, also, furnished with stop-cock and movable cover, will be placed on top of the 

 cylinder. A belt will run from the engine to the pulley on top of this shaft. Now, when 

 ready to fill the steam box, this shaft will be set in motion the spout for cut feed will be 

 opened so as to discharge a definite quantity, the spout for meal opened to discharge the pro 

 portion desired, and the water, so as to let in twenty gallons for fifty bushels of feed. It 

 will be seen that the feed, and meal, and water, in passing through the cylinder, will come in 

 contact with these swift moving arms on the shaft, and be thoroughly mixed, and fall into 

 the steam box, ready for steaming. The feed should be pressed into the steam box, as more 

 will be steamed, and better. With this arrangement, one expert man may cut and steam feed 

 for one hundred head of cattle, and two men could easily care for two hundred. It will be 

 seen that, with proper system and machinery, the expense of cutting and steaming for 

 a large stock will be little more than in the ordinary way of feeding. This steam engine 

 may be used to grind the grain, cut and steam the feed, and do all the work requiring 

 stationary power on the farm. The engine should be placed as near the steam box and 

 straw cutter as it can be with safety. A double spark extinguisher must be placed over the 

 chimney to prevent fire.&quot; 



Results of Cooking Food. The same authority summarizes the results of cooking 

 food as follows : 



&quot; 1. It renders mouldy hay, straw, and cornstalks perfectly sweet and palatable. 

 Animals seem to relish straw taken from a stack, which has been wet and badly damaged for 

 ordinary use; and even in any condition, except dry rot, steaming will restore its sweetness. 

 When keeping a large stock, we have often purchased stacks of straw which would have 

 been worthless for feeding, in the ordinary way, and have been able to detect no difference, 

 after steaming, in the smell, or the relish with which it was eaten. 



2. It diffuses the odor of the bran, corn meal, oil meal, carrots, or whatever is mixed 

 with the food, through the whole mass; and thus it may be cheaply flavored to suit the 

 animal. 



3. It softens the tough fibre of the dry cornstalk, rye, straw, and other hard material, 

 rendering it almost like green, succulent food, and easily masticated and digested by the 

 animal. 



4. It renders beans and peas agreeable food to horses, as well as other animals, and 

 thus enables the feeder to combine more nitrogenous food in the diet of his animals. 



5. It enables the feeder to turn everything raised into food for his stock, without 

 lessening the value of his manure; indeed the manure made from steamed food decomposes 

 more readily, and is therefore more valuable than when used in a fresh state. Manure made 

 from steamed food is always ready for use, and is regarded by those who have used it as 

 much more valuable for the same bulk than that made from uncooked food. 



6. We have found it to cure incipient heaves in horses, and horses having a cough for 

 several months at pasture have been cured in two weeks on steamed feed. It has a remarka 

 ble effect upon horses with a sudden cold, and in constipation. Horses fed upon it seem 

 much less liable to disease; in fact in this respect it seems to have all the good qualities of 

 grass, the natural food of animals. 



