^- 



206 



TUE GENESEE FAUlSrEK. 



n 

 ^ 



Trial commenced 15th Dec, 1851. The cattle being kept pretty regularly at hard work 

 durino- the whole eight weeks of the experiment. They were allowed nothing but hay. 

 The followiri': table will show the final results of the experiments : 



It is seen that in every one of the experiments there is a greater increase of animal 

 from the cut than from the uncut hay ; the difference in the quantity of milk is small, 

 but in favor of the cut food. It is, in our opinion, to be regretted that the same animal 

 was not kept on the same food during the whole length of the experiment, and not have 

 chano-ed them every two weeks ; for in such a short period it is very doubtful if the 

 scales will at all indicate correctly the actual gain in fat or flesh of the animal. There 

 is no doubt, however, but what the experiments were conducted with great care and 

 accuracy, and the results are so uniform as to confirm the opinion of those who think it 

 good economy to cut even good hay. Mr. Hawes makes the following remarks in his 

 statement to the committee : 



" A oi-eat advantage in cutting liay at least for working stock, was very obvious during the whole 

 of this experiment; before the ox feeding on uncut liay liad gotten one half througli with liis allow- 

 ance, the ox which liad cut feed had eaten up what was given him and was laying down taking his 

 rest ;' and this, at noon when but little time is allowed for eating and rest, must be an advantage of 

 no small importance." 



Mr. W. S. Lincoln says : 



" Some time before commencing this experiment, I was feeding to my stock what would be called 

 poor stock hay, with an allowance of roots. I commenced cutting this hay for all my stock, young 

 and old, (16 head,) occupying me about an hour and a half daily. Almost simultaneously witli feed- 

 iu'j- the cut hay was an increase of milk, very perceptible as it was milked in the pail. From day to 

 day the milk increased so, from the stock I have described, as to require the substitution of six quart 

 for four quart pans, which had been previously used. I think I am within bounds in saying tlie 

 increase was over a pint daily per cow, occasioned, to the best of my knowledge, solely by the use of 

 cut hay." 



The fii-st premium was awarded to Mr. Lincoln, and the second to Mr. Hawes. 



SOOT AS A FERTILIZER. 



A STATEMENT hos lately been extensively circulated by the agricultural press, resi)ecting 

 a recent discovery by Dr. Penny, in Scotland, who found a very large quantity of pot- 

 ash in som'3 soot taken from a hlast ii'on-furnace flue, amounting to about 50 per cent, 

 of carbonate and sulphate of potash ; and it is thought that this kind of soot will soon 

 be extensively used for the manufacture of these important and expensive salts. The 

 mineral theory advocates, or those who assert that the only elements that are needed by 

 plants are those of a mineral nature — such as potash, soda, phosphate of lime, silicates, 

 or the ash constituents of the plants to be grown, — and that the crops on a field increase 

 or diminish as these are withheld or supplied, independently of organic matter, have 



