M BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



observation it has been entirely and thoroughly satisfactory. 

 The sheep have been kept in good store condition — it was not 

 his object to fat them, and he fed them only a small amount of 

 the meal, considering the number of animals and the character 

 of the pasture. Tlie sheep have browsed down the brush, so 

 that in the course of two or three years, I am quite sure that 

 very rough pasture will be reduced into a perfectly satisfactory 

 condition, for a rocky pasture, and with greater economy than 

 it could be done in any other way. He paid $45 a ton for the 

 cotton-seed meal, and fed them cheaper than he could with any 

 other substance that I know of — any other substance, I mean, 

 bought outside of the farm. He took a great deal of pains to 

 inquire the cost of refuse beans, damaged Indian corn, etc., and 

 found that cotton-seed meal, at $45 a ton, with the results it 

 produced, was a more economical food than any other substance. 

 I have known a great many instances where dairy farmers, 

 feeding for the production of milk, have used cotton-seed meal 

 with very great advantage and with very great satisfaction. 



And this result corresponds not only with practical experience, 

 but with the investigations and deductions of science. Cotton- 

 seed meal is classed by feeders with linseed meal, though chem- 

 ists and scientific dairymen claim for it a superiority. When 

 fed to milch cows it increases the quantity and improves the 

 quality of the milk. It is a rapid flesh-former, and the manure 

 of the yard where it is fed is of a superior quality. 



Prof. Voelcker, the distinguished chemist of the Royal Agricul- 

 tural Society, having given it a thorough and careful scientific 

 analysis and investigation, arrives at the following conclusions : 



1st. The proportion of oil in all the specimens is higher than 

 in the best linseed-cake, in which it is rarely more than 12 per 

 cent., and 10 per cent, may be taken as the average. As a sup- 

 plier of food, cotton-cake is therefore superior to linseed-cake. 



2d. The amount of oil in the several specimens differs to the 

 -extent of 5| per cent. — say from 13.50 to 19.19. 



3d. Decorticated cake contains a very high and much larger 

 percentage of flesh-forming matters than linseed-cake, and it is 

 therefore proper to give to young stock and milch cows. The 

 dung also is very valuable. 



4th. In comparison with linseed, there is less mucilage and 

 other respiratory matter in cotton-cake. This is compensated by 

 the larger amount of oil. 



