INDIAN CORN. 545 



epirit. If so, llie experiment must, be satis- [ straw of any kind, this necessary distension is 

 fiictony-, and tiie conclusiou 1 have drawn ' produced, without any danger of disorders 

 from it undeniable. | arising from eating too much. It is now 



But besides the actual economy, there is ciglit years since I liave been in the habit of 



anotiior advantage in this way of feeding corn, 

 ■wiiich ought to engage ihe attention ot every 

 fanner. It is notoriously true that the un- 

 ground grain of corn is healing to the stom- 

 ach of all animals, and of dillicult digestion, 

 producing colic and other inHanitnatory dis- 

 orders, particularly in horses, which tend 

 greatly to shorten their lives. They are de- 



f)rived of tiie benelits derived from the stimu- 

 us of distension, (so necessary to the proper 

 health of all animals,) by being unable to eat 

 a sutTuient bulk to j)roduce it before they 

 become gorged. But when gi'ound into meal 

 along with the cobs, and mixed with cut hay or 



feeding corn in this way, and out of six to 

 ten horses which I have annually kept in 

 that time, there has been but one case of 

 sickness among them, which was a slight 

 colic. Indeed, since I have lived ui this 

 country, which is now eleven years, there 

 has been but one death among that descrip- 

 tion of stock on my planUition, and that oc- 

 curred to a mare with a young foal, in a dis- 

 tant clover-field without having been fed for 

 many weeks, and which took two or lb"ee 

 days before it was known. This uncommon 

 health of my horses I attribute in a great de- 

 gree to the use of ground food. 



Judge Buel, referring to and quoting this statement of Mr. Minor, remarked : 

 " The cobs of corn undoubtedly contain much nutriment." " We have," said he, 

 "besides [this proof from Mr. Minor], abundant testimony in the practice of 

 eminent farmers, of the utility of feeding cob meal to animals, always mixed, 

 we believe, with the meal of corn or oats;" and he published a note from Mr. 

 Robert White, of Shrewsbury, N. J., who says, " A pretty extensive feeder in the 

 Philadelphia market once told me that a bushel of meal made of corn and cobs 

 was quite equal to a bushel of meal made of corn and oats ; that his cattle throve 

 as fast on the former, and that they were stalled (cloyed) on it." 



Does the reader require again to be reminded of tite pertinency of these ques- 

 tions in their relation to \\i?, substantial interests as a cultivator ? We should 

 trust not. Does he not see at once that on the ground of right to voice and in- 

 fluence in the public councils in proportion to his contributions to the common 

 stock of national wealth, the very offal of his corn crop gives him a title to 

 Weight in Congress equal to any other classes ? We all know that while the re- 

 sults of mercantile and manufacturing and mining industry can be ascertained 

 to a fraction, because those who follow it have the good sense to keep exact ac- 

 counts, (and are always prepared and prompt to expose any attempt by men in 

 authority to do them injustice ;) in agricultural affairs, on the contrary, all is 

 carelessness and guess work. Alas ! farmers seem born to be chiseled on every 

 score. And now, without farther digression, we proceed to 



The Analysis of Indian Corn— And, first, as to the ash of the cob, we find in 

 our old American Farmer, 17th December, 1819, a writer under the signature J. 

 M., and whom we cannot now identify, who says : " It may not be amiss to add, 

 respecting the corn cob, that when burnt it will be found to yield a product of 

 almost pure potash."* 



Another correspondent of the same period says : 



"Corn Cobs Compared with Pumpkins. — I have acquired a little smattering of chemis- 

 try and have analyzed the cobs of com, and the small yellow pumpkin; the results are that 

 com cobs contain one-twentieth of their nutritive matter, and pumpkins one twenty-fifth of 

 their weight of matter, nutritive to animals. If my analysis be accurate, it will then appear 

 that farmers generally are in the liabit of throwing away an article (cobs) preferable as food 

 for stock to common turnips, and nearly equal to Swedish turnips," [meaning, doubtless, 

 weight for weight.] 



500,000,000 bushels of Indian corn will furnish, according to the exact proof 

 supplied by Mr. Colt, 7,000,000,000 pounds, the one-twentieth of which gives 



* 100 parts of the ashes of the foUowiug aubstancea contain— wheat ttraw 92, oat straw 24-5, clover 

 straw ifi 6, of potash. 

 (1115; 



