92 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



[No. 2. 



by me, and its valuable effects exhibited, you will 

 be assured I read with some pain the many labo- 

 red communications so frequently given to the 

 public, of judicious methods of turning the corn- 

 stalk into manure, &c. The prodigious mass of 

 valuable food produced from a field is another con- 

 sideration that I am compelled to regard with 

 much interest. All will readily acknowledge that 

 at one stage the corn-stalk as a food lor animals, 

 exhibits highly nutritious qualities. Now to ar- 

 rest, or save as much of those in it as possible, is 

 one of the great arguments with me. in favor of 

 my mode of saving the corn crop; but I am as- 

 sured this is equally effected as regards the fod- 

 der and shuck. 



Alter housing my corn crop, as before stated, 

 [p. 635, Vol. II.] the first rainy day, if no more 

 pressing wet work is calling for attention, all 

 hands "go to shucking corn, and stripping off 

 blades." If I am in want of this last species of 

 forage for my plough horses, or mules, which by the 

 by is not often the case, as my gama grass hay and 

 oats cut. in the sheaf with which the cutting trough 

 is kept constantly replenished, supplies that want. 

 In shucking the individual throws the corn in one 

 direction, and lays the stalk with attention to reg- 

 ularity beside him, until he has an armfull, when 

 he takes them up carefully, and deposites them a 

 short distance from him, in regular order for put- 

 ting into the cutting box, where they are reduced, 

 frequently stalk, shuck, and blade, to pieces of 

 about an inch in length. 



At a convenient distance from this apartment, 

 three strong made hogsheads are placed, well 

 pitched on the outside, made expressly for the pur- 

 pose, with tops well fitted of light wood or straw, 

 and standing on a platform about three feet from 

 the ground, having at the bottom a large spigot 

 to let off their contents. Just before them a large 

 trough js placed, and which, with the steaming 

 apparatus standing between the two last, is in- 

 closed and covered with a shed. Into these hogs- 

 heads I throw a small quantity of boiling water, 

 and into the water a small quantity of corn or rye 

 meal, just sufficient, when the cask is filled up 

 with cool soft water, to produce the vinous fermen- 

 tation, as if going to distil. As soon as the liquid 

 has attained that state, I steam off a turn of the 

 cut stalks, shucks, &c, putting the last into the 

 trough, over which, by means of a portable trough, 

 such as distillers use, I permit the fermented li- 

 quid to flow and cover the cut stuff, which has 

 been well pressed down previously in the trough, 

 and held down by a moveable top. This done in 

 the evening, the forage becomes perfectly satura- 

 ted by morning with the liquid, at once one of the 

 most nutritious and palatable preparations for the 

 cow kind yet discovered. The cut stuff charged 

 with the wash, is deposited in the feeding troughs, 

 taken out of the trough in which they are satura- 

 ted, in baskets, which carries away no more of the 

 liquid than what is contained in it by absorption. 

 Every particle is consumed by the cattle, care be- 

 ing taken to serve them with the (bod as they con- 

 sume it. By a little arrangement I keep my 

 hogsheads so filled, that one is always ready for 

 use. My horses and mules consume this prepara- 

 tion with equal gout as the cattle. As a food for 

 my work oxen when laboring, it is, experience 

 convinces me, superior. It "sticks by the ribs" — 

 and plentifully given keeps them in fine plight. 



The apparent pleasure Avith which the animals 

 consume this preparation is observable. I know 

 of no food which they eat with more avidity — and 

 what I consider of much advancage to them, es- 

 pecially the cow kind, they soon fill themselves; 

 Satisfied that nature intended that the food of ani- 

 mals should include a variety, and that this being 

 a law of nature, this variety is necessary for the 

 highest state of animal health, I have added to 

 the stalks every vegetable substance that can be 

 subjected to the cutting box, usually given as 

 food, viz: straw of oats, rye, rice, wheat and hay, 

 pea vines, and sweet potato vines cured — and if 

 plenty, any vegetable roots that can be spared 

 from other animals — and in the season, a portion 

 of grass. I am fully satisfied that the gain in 

 keeping my cattle, which 1 obtain from cutting up 

 their food, is much more than an equivalent for 

 the time and labor bestowed — and that a still 

 greater equivalent is received from the steaming; 

 tor it. must be remembered, I convert into food a 

 mass of what could not otherwise be made so. 



My first essay was with the stalk alone, strip- 

 ped of blades and shuck. The result was about 

 the same as when the blades and shuck were per- 

 mitted to go to the trough. The effect produced 

 by this preparation, on milch cows, I have found 

 all that could be desired — and in addition to the 

 foregoing, with plenty of salt, it will be found to 

 produce in the animals a high degree of health. 



Now, sir, in answer to some of your excellent 

 correspondents, I will observe that I am compelled 

 to view my plan as the best, to convert the corn- 

 stalk into manure: and I view my gain on this 

 score, equally great. My cattle are well littered 

 with pine straw, or oak leaves. &c. The produc- 

 tion of my corn-stalks passing through the sto- 

 mach of animals, affords me the rich means of 

 converting them into the best of manure, to a pro- 

 digious amount. Here my gain over the plough- 

 ing-in system is, I think, decided and self-evident, 

 Plough in a ton of stalks, and let me carry out. of 

 my dungstead what another ton has enabled me 

 to produce, and the result will readily be antici- 

 pated. 



AGRICOLA. 



Alabama, March 30, 1835. 



For the Farmers' Register. 



THE PEA AND POTATO HARVEST, ON THE 

 PLAN OF MIXED CROPS. 



My last paper finished the saving of my corn 

 stalks, and their conversion into food for cattle, in 

 a way that I have found highly profitable. The 

 pea and potato vines remain to be disposed of. 

 As early as the pea will admit of curing by pul- 

 ling up. and exposing to the sun and wind, I pro- 

 ceed selecting weather that offers some apparent 

 security for a tew days of clear sky. I pull ihem 

 up, shaking as much earth from the roots as con- 

 veniently can be detached, raise the vines partly 

 from the ground, and turn them partially over, so 

 that they may stand up from the earth as much 

 as possible. In all the different peas I cultivate, 

 I find that my plan in saving this part of the crop, 

 enables me to secure every leaf almost green. I 

 do not fear a little shrinkage in the pea, more than 

 the corn, as the ultimate gain meets that charge. 

 After two days sun, and as many turnings over, 



