22 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Jan. 



to restore the deficiency. Noav if the rod is adjust- 

 ed in the manner I have described, it will draw it 

 from the cloud and conduct it silently and insensi- 

 bly to its destined spot. If not, it will prevent ob- 

 structions to its i)assage, and these will cause the 

 fluid to explode, thereby causing damage to life and 

 property. The rod should never be painted, be- 

 cause the fluid only passes over the surface of the 

 rod, the oily matter being a perfect non-conductor. 



These few, simple directions are not expensive, 

 but I think I have never seen them in print. It is 

 true, we know but little of that subtile fluid, espec- 

 ially in its natural state, where it works silently and 

 unseen, exerting, probably, in the hands of the Au- 

 thor of Nature, some important object. 



Its powerful agency works unseen on the inti- 

 mate relations of the parts and properties of bodies, 

 effecting changes in their constitution and charac- 

 ter, so wonderfully minute, thorough and universal, 

 that it might almost be considered as the chief 

 agent of nature, the prime minister of Omnipotence. 



The science of electricity has jn'oved, in many in- 

 stances, the key by which we have entered into the 

 innermost recesses of nature, and discovered the se- 

 cret of many of her operations. It has, in a great 

 measure, lifted the hitherto impenetrable veil that 

 has concealed the many mysterious workings in the 

 material world, and has opened a field for thought, 

 and inquiry, as boundless as it is inviting. 



Westbor'o', 1855. w. s. 



Fur the New England Farmer. 



RELATIVE VALUE OF OATS AND 

 CARROTS. 



Mr. Editor : — In reply to one of your corres- 

 pondents, who makes inquiry respecting the rela- 

 tive values of oats and carrots, for feeding horses, 

 sheep, &c., I would state the following, gathered 

 from a reHable source. 



Oats are remarkable for the amount of gluten 

 and fat they contain, being superior in respect to 

 the former, and but little inferior in respect to the 

 latter, to Indian corn, as will appear from the fol- 

 lowing numbers : — 



Scotch oat meal. Indian corn meal. 



Water 14 14 



Gluten 18 12 



Fat 6 8 



Starch, &c 62 66 



100 100 



There is a difi"erence, in different kinds of oats, 

 in regard to the amount of gluten they contam. 

 Scotch oats — the kind taken into the present ac- 

 count — contain more gluten than the American. 

 The gluten and fat which the oats contain render 

 them exceedingly nutritious for beast as well as for 

 man. 



They are used more extensively in the British 

 Isles, and especially in Scotland, than in this coun- 

 try, or, indeed, in any other, as far as is known. 

 They admit of cultivation in higher latitudes than 

 wheat — oats growing as flir north as 65°, while 

 wheat ceases at 60°, in Europe. 



Carrots contain a much larger amount of water, 

 and a much smaller amount of dry food, than oats, 

 the relative proportion being 83 pounds of water 

 and 17 of dry food, in every hundred pounds. By 

 the above table you will see that oats contain more 

 dry food and less water, the proportion being 86 

 pounds of dry food and 14 of water in every 100 

 pounds. 



The gluten, starch and sugar of carrots are held in 

 solution by the water they contain, and this ren- 

 ders them more easy of digestion, but less substan- 

 tial and strengthening. Carrots are often fed out 

 to horses when not at hard work, but when a long 

 journey is to be performed, or a piece of hard work 

 to be done, oats are preferable. 



Many choose corn for working animals. It con- 

 tains less of the nutritious gluten, but more of the 

 bulky and porous starch, than oats. Starch is wha 

 the rice-eating Hindoos and the potato-eating Irish 

 distend their "fair -round beUies" with. Corn con- 

 tains more oily matter than oats, and this is what 

 gives it its peculiar fattening properties, and ren- 

 ders it an appropriate article of food for swine that 

 are contending for premiums, or the earliest ac- 

 quaintance M'ith the butcher's knife. Carrots are 

 undoubtedly a wholesome and nutritious article of 

 food for sheep, and might be used for this purpose 

 to a much greater extent than they are, but they 

 are not so nutritious as oats. In this connection I 

 would say a word in reference to wheat as an arti- 

 cle of food. 



Few persons, I imagine, know how little of the 

 nutritious element, which this grain possesses, they 

 obtain, in the ordinary way in which it is jjrepared. 

 The proportion of gluten contained in the whole 

 grain is 12 per cent.; bran, 14 to 18 per cent.; fine 

 flour, 10 per cent. From these numbers, it is 

 seen that meal made from the whole grain contains 

 2 per cent., and that from the l^ran, from 4 to 8 

 per cent, more gluten than fine flour. And where 

 there is more gluten, there is more nourishment, as 

 M'e have said before. And furthermore, experiment 

 shows that bread made of the meal of the whole 

 grain is more salutary. Such being the facts, the 

 wonder is that we persist in eating fine flour bread, 

 and in thinking the finer flour is, the better it is. 

 Common sense teaches that here is not only an op- 

 portunity, but an actual need of reform. 



Concord, JVov. olh. J. B. R. 



DEATH OF PROF. J. F. W. JOHNSTON. 



This gentleman, distinguished and widely known 

 in Great Britain and America through his Agricul- 

 tural writings, died at his home in Durham, in his 

 60th year, on the 18th of Sept. 



His writings are voluminous and replete with in- 

 struction. His principal work, "Lectures on the 

 application of Chemistry and Geology to ./Igriciil- 

 ture," first published in 1844, and since gone 

 through several editions both in Great Britain and 

 this country, is a systematized entyclopjedia of Agri- 

 cultural science. For a number of years he was 

 chemist to the Agricultural Chemistr}^ Association 

 of Scotland, and to the Highland Agricultural So- 

 ciety, and very many important papers issued from 

 his "laboratory. Mr. Johnston visited this country 

 in 1849, at the invitation of the N. Y. State Agri- 

 cultural Society, and delivered the address at their 

 State Fair — visiting also Canada and New Bruns- 

 wick. On his return he published a report upon 

 the Agricultm-e of New Brunswick, and his "Notes 

 on America." Prof. Johnston's works show in 

 general great care and judgment in the selection 

 and weight given to facts employed and statements 

 made, but in these two, a painful want of this char- 

 acteristic was observed. His recent work entitled 

 Chemistry of Common Life," is a very valuable 

 and interesting book — its science is sound, and ap- 



