[121] 



On feeding Cows with steamed Wheat- Chaff, 

 By J. P. Smith. 



Burlington, 5th mo. {May) ISth, 1820. 



Esteemed Friend, 



The letter thou addressed to my father requesting 

 information of the plan we pursued last winter in feeding 

 our cows, he wishes me to answer, as I more particu- 

 larly attended to them. I will endeavour to relate the 

 mode as nearly as I can. The saving of ha^ by this 

 method of feeding has been considerable. 



In tiie latter part of the fall, we commenced threshing 

 our wheat with Hambly and Pitt's machine. The straw 

 being dry, a considerable part was cut up and blown 

 out with the chaff. We concluded it would answer a 

 good purpose to pickle this chaff and feed it out to the 

 cows, which was accordingly done. It was eaten, but not 

 with as much relish as we expected. We then con- 

 cluded that steaming it would probably be more advanta- 

 geous, (by softening and warming it) and pursued our plan 

 in the following manner. We had a light hogshead, (large 

 enough to contain chaff for two messes) which we filled 

 every night, and poured in three or four buckets of scald- 

 ing water. It remained in this state, with a cover to 

 confine the steam, till morning. We then took out 

 enough of the steamed chaff for one feeding, and threw 

 it into a mess-box with a small quantity of salt, and one 

 pint of ground rye and corn, to each cow, and mixed the 

 whole together. Of this mess we gave a half bushel 

 well heaped to each cow, the residue in the hogshead 

 we fed out, after the same manner, in the evening. At 



