:so 



FARMERS' REGISTER, 



[No. 6 



r..;de to produce as much, and perhaps as good silk, on 

 >e native mulberry, as on the Chinese ; though there 

 c still enough of superior advantages in the latter 

 nd, in other respects. 



'd) The prolongation of the time before the worms 



".rin to spin, whether caused by scant feeding, want 



' warmth, or any thing else, is doubtless attended by 



- in more respects than the mere additional food 



re by required, and the labor of giving it. The 



!ih and vigor of the insects must suffer, and the 



i.fity of silk finally produced by each will be less. 



omparison of his cocoons which were not formed 



'■">ve the worms were 40 days old, with those of his 



ghbor, which were begun at 25 days old, would 



•obably have shown the superiority of the latter. 



'") We fear that the attempt at three, or even two 



jps of cocoons in a year, will not succeed, except to 



■" great injury and destruction of our correspondent's 



jUP'^ mulberry trees. At least, we would advise his 



lalving, at first, but a small experiment of double or 



pie crops ; and the second or third feedings to be 



inned to a certain portion of his trees, so that the 



ree of injury may be observed, and properly esti- 



ted. 



From the Farmer and Gardener. 

 COB-MEAL AND COB-MILLS. 



V friend and correspondent in Ohio has request- 

 some information as to the value of cobs 

 ..ound with the corn, and the cheapest and best 

 mil! for grindinij; fhem together. 



That a very great saving is effected in feeding 

 animals by grinding their food does not admit of a 

 doubt; and the explanation of the (act, as given 

 by Raspail and Dutrochet, is perfectly satisfactory. 

 It is also certain that when nutritive matter is pro- 

 per!}' divided and incorporated with some sub- 

 stance suitable for the action and distention of the 

 stomach, that a much less quantity will suffice, 

 and the animal be in equally good condition. 



It is on this principle that the English custom 

 of substituting cut straw lor hay in feeding with 

 grain, a saving of one-half of the expense being 

 made by feeding with cut straw and ground grain, 

 over feeding with hay and unjiround grain, accord- 

 ing to the old mode. Neither the straw, or the 

 cob contain any great amount of nutriment in 

 themselves, but they assist the digestive functions, 

 and render the accompanying nutriment more 

 available. The cob however has much the ad- 

 vantage of straw in every respect; and experience 

 shows that those lose much who waste this impor- 

 tant part of the corn crop. 



Some interesting experiments have been record- 

 ed, in the N. E. Farmer, on the subject ot fattening 

 animals on corn and cob-meal. The Rev. Mr. 

 Perley in describing his method of using the food 

 gays:— 



"I have for several years practised having my 

 corn and cobs ground together; breaking the cobs 

 fine by pounding, and grinding one peck of corn 

 with a bushel of the cobs. Meal made of this 

 composition, I scalded, and made about as thick 

 as common hasty pudding, or mixed about one 

 peck of the meal with about three pecks of boiled 



potatoes, thickened to the consistency of pudding.. 

 There were no hogs in the neighborhood grew sO' 

 fast, or were fit to kill sooner in autumn." 



In the Massachusetts Agricultural Repository is. 

 a communication from Mr. Rice of Shrewsbury,, 

 in which he says: 



"The very best provender I have ever used for 

 fattening cattle, is corn and cobs, ground together.. 

 The reason I consider the cob useful is, it swells- 

 in the creature, and keeps him in good order; in no 

 one instance since I have led with this meal, have 

 my cattle been out of order by being cloyed, or 

 scouring; they are at all times regular; but when 1 

 formerly fed with clear Indian, or oats and Indian, 

 these difRculiies frequently occurred, and they 

 would lose as much in two or three days, as they 

 would gain in a week. The second year that I 

 made use of this kind of provender, I thought! 

 would try an experiment, by feeding one ox with 

 corn and oats ground, the other with corn and 

 cobs, having one yoke oxen so equally matched 

 that no one who viewed them, appeared satisfied 

 which was best. The cob is computed to make a 

 little more than one-third, therefore I mixed the 

 other with one-third oats, which was my former 

 mode. I gave each ox an equal quantity at a 

 time, except that the one which had corn and oats 

 some days became dainty, and would not eat his 

 allowance; while the one fed with cob-meal kept 

 on his regular course. When taken to market 

 and slaughtered, the oxen weighed 28 hundred 

 and a half, the one fed on corn and oats had 162 

 lbs. of tallow, and weighed about half a hundred 

 more. The one fed on cob-meal had 163 lbs. of 

 tallow, and the butcher pronounced his meat half 

 a dollar in the hundred better than that of the 

 other." 



In the third vol. of the Philadelphia Society for 

 promoting Afjricuiture, i.? an excellent paper by 

 Dr. Mease, in which the utility of giinding the 

 cobs with the corn is clearly shown, both from 

 analogy and actual experiment. And we believe 

 that wherever it has been tried, or wherever the 

 means of grinding can be had, it has been ap- 

 proved, and will be found of great value. 



So far as we are acquainted, cobs after being 

 broken, are Ground in the common millstones with 

 the corn. The same machinery used for grinding 

 plaster of Paris or gypsum, has been fouiid effica- 

 cious for grinding cob-meal ; the plaster cracker 

 reducing the cob sufficiently for the action of the 

 stones. Mr. Buckminster, speaking of machinery 

 for this purpose, says, — "lor making cob-meal we 

 placed in our mill a pair of large stones, cut the 

 eye of the runner 12 inches at top, and 14 or 15 

 inches at bottom, and bosomed it out large, as we 

 term ir. In this manner it answers every purpose 

 fbriirinding and cracking corn in the ear." 



The cast iron bark mill has been used for crack- 

 ins cobs to some extent, and where a mill is con- 

 venient to grind the cobs and corn after cracking, 

 would answer a good purpose; and we can see no 

 reason why one constructed on the same principle, 

 and like those worked by a horse or water power, 

 might not be constructed to reduce the cobs and 

 corn sufficiently fine to answer instead of the ordi- 

 nary process of grinding. It must be remember- 

 ed, however, that the goodness of cob meal must 

 always in a great measure be dependent on its 

 fineness. Where it is an object to provide a mill 

 of this kind, any farmer who has a horse-power 



