70 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Feb. 



COOKED FOOD FOB FATTENIDTO- 

 CATTLE. 



Mr. Samuel H. Clay, of Kentucky, has been 

 experimenting in feeding several lots of hogs, 

 changing them from raw to cooked and from 

 cooked to raw food, ground and unground. The 

 Valley Farmer furnishes us with the following 

 results : 



Mr. Clay's experiments show, that to make 

 pork on dry corn, one bushel gave, in one in- 

 stance, a gain of five pounds and ten ounces. 

 In changing the food, on the same animals, to 

 boiled corn, one bushel produced a gain of four- 

 teen pounds and seven ounces, and a bushel of | 

 corn ground and cooked, gave a gain of sixteen! 

 pounds and seven ounces ; while in another in- 

 stance, after a change from dry corn to cooked 

 meal, the gain upon one bushel was but a frac- 

 tion short of eighteen pounds. 



These experiments, then, show an average gain 

 of about three pounds, when the animals were 

 fed on cooked food, to a gain of one pound when 

 fed on dry corn. Or, to reduce the comparative 

 cost of the gain per pound, estimating the corn 

 at 28 cents per bushel, the following are the re- j 

 suits : When the hogs were fed on dry corn, the i 

 average gain cost a fraction over 44 cents perj 

 pound. The same animals, when fed on cooked j 

 meal, the gain cost a fraction over Li- cents a | 

 pound, or when fed on cooked corn, unground, | 

 the gain cost 1 cent and 9 mills per pound, leav- 

 ing but four mills, or less than half a cent, per ; 

 pound in favor of cooked unground, or allowing 

 but four mills per pound for grinding, exclusive j 

 of the greater time required to cook whole corn, 

 over that which is ground. But to come to the! 

 point more definitely, vre will reduce the price of j 

 the corn to 25 cents per bushel, (which is as low 

 as may now ever be expected, except, perhaps, 

 in some remote quarter,) and reduce the gain 

 from two-thirds to one-half, for the difference be- 

 tween cooked and uncooked food, which will be 

 equal to twelve and a half cents on each bushel 

 of corn fed out, and see how the question v.'ill 

 stand. 



With a properly constructed apparatus and 

 suitable feeding arrangements, one man can cook 

 and feed out 100 bushels of meal in a day. To 

 do this, his meal must be placed in bins so as to 

 be conducted into the steam-vat without hand- 

 ling, and his feed-troughs so arranged that the 

 slop Avill flow into them in the same manner, 

 without handling. But if corn is cooked with- 

 out shelling or grinding, two men -would be re- 

 quired to manage the same quantity. In the 

 first instance, then, there would be a saving of 

 50 bushels of corn, which, at 25 cents per bushel, 

 is $12,50, to be offset by the labor of one man, 

 one day, which, at $1,25 per day, leaves a profit 

 of $11,25 in favor of cooking. But, if the corn 

 be cooked whole, and requires to be fed out by 

 nand, allovving two hands, at the same cost per 

 day, there will still be a gain of $10. 



But to simplify the question still further : Is 

 it not cheaper to cook 100 bushels of corn than 

 it is to raise 50 bushels? But besides a saving 

 of one-half of the corn, by the process of cook- 

 ing, there are numerous other advantages to be 

 taken into account. The same weight is attained, 

 according to the experiment above quoted, in 

 one-third of the time, or we will reduce this also 



to one-half, avoiding the risk of accidents to an- 

 imals on the time gained, the care and attend- 

 ance in feeding, the advantages of weather in the 

 earlier and more favorable season for feeding, to- 

 gether with other incidental matters not enu- 

 merated. 



The conclusions, which are generally arrived 

 at, are predicated upon the idea that prevails in 

 regard to the cost of cooking food, according to 

 the primitive methods employed in the East in a 

 single kettle, or Mott's agricultural boiler. These 

 are adapted only to small operations, and, of 

 course, to depend on them, would incur consider- 

 able cost for labor, fuel, &c. But Ave should not 

 forget that this is a progressive age, and the in- 

 ventive powers of our countrymen are adequate 

 to any emergency of the times, or demands of 

 the age. Every one Avho is acquainted with dis- 

 tilling, knows that many hundred of bushels of 

 corn go through the destructive process, in one 

 of these establishments, in a single day ; and if 

 the same quantity was only to be prepared as 

 food for swine, with boilers constructed alone for 

 that purpose, the same work could be performed 

 with greater facility, and less labor. To provide 

 a boiler and steam-vat of a capacity suited to 

 extensive feeding, with the necessary fixtures, 

 would cost severa'. hundred, or perhaps a thous- 

 and dollars, but like many other branches of 

 business, we are convinced that the larger the 

 establishment, the more profitably it may be con- 

 ducted, and that, not only may the cost of the 

 fixtures soon be saved, but a large per centage 

 of the corn usually fed. 



We are perfectly satisfied from our own re- 

 peated experiments, which have been fully sus- 

 tained by those conducted by others, that with a 

 suitable establishment of capacity adapted to 

 the end in view, a great saving may be secured 

 by this method of preparing food for swine, and 

 we believe with scarcely less profit for beef cat- 

 tle. We Avish some philanthropic, enterprising 

 farmer Avould take the matter in hand, and make 

 an experiment on a dozen or more bullocks, 

 through a full course of fattening on steamed 

 food, both gram and hay, Avith an equal number 

 fed in the ordinary way. 



If grain is not to be cooked, we still contend, 

 as we ever have, that it should be well ground, 

 whether fed to hogs, cattle or horses, and to cat- 

 tle and horses it should always be given in com- 

 bination Avith the coarser food. 



For the New England Farmer, 

 WORCESTEK COUNTS. 



TKANSACT10N3 OF THE AVORCESTER AOraCULIURAL SOCIETY FOR 



THE Year 1S58. 



By the kindness of a friend, I have the favor 

 of this interesting annual. Accustomed as I have 

 been for forty years to look to the heart of the 

 Commonwealth for instruction in agriculture. I 

 ahvays glance my eye over the pages of their 

 Transactions Avith deep interest. The present 

 pamphlet contains much that is instructive and 

 interesting. Several reports are elaborate and 

 sensible, particularly on Milch Cows and AVork- 

 ing Cattle — objects for which the county has 

 long been famous. The number of fine milch 

 coAvs exhibited at the shoAv was much less than I 

 ahould have expected. There Avas aAvarded for 



