50 



GENESEE FARMER. 



April, 1845 



this report are interesting, and will be condensed 

 for the Farmer. 



The expense of maintaining the poor in England 

 and Wales last year, was £4,982,096. 



The fanners of Holland sent to Lonion, in the 

 month of Febniary, 478 oxen and cows, and 581 

 pheep. Cattle sold at £14 to £20; sheep at 

 32s to 43s per head. Advices from Dutch ports 

 say that 7,000 head of cattle are fattening for the 

 game market. 



The news by the late arrival, is important to the 

 agricultural and commercial interests of this country. 

 The duty on lard and lard oil is soon to be remov- 

 ed. This will operate greatly to the advantage of 

 the corn-growing regions at the west; and indirect- 

 ly, by withdrawing competition, to the benefit of N. 

 Y. farmers. 



In the House of Commons, Sir Robert Peel's 

 financial resolution passed by 208 majority. No 

 doubt is entertained that the Premier will be able to 

 carry out his scheme for a reduction of excises and 

 duties. 



The following table exhibits the probable efTect of 

 these reductions and abolitions of duty on the pro- 

 d'.ice of the revenue : 



Estimated loss on sugar £1,300,000 



Duty on cotton repealed 680,000 



Duty on 430 articles in tariff 320,000 



Export dutv on coal 118,000 



Auction duty 250,000 



Glass 642,000 



Total, £3,310,000 



The whole duty is to be taken off cotton, but 

 none from tobacco. 



On the 4th of March, Canadian flour was quoted 

 at 26s a 27s: and U. S. 27s a 28s free. In bond, i. 

 e. duty unpaid, 16s a 17s. 



The session of parliament was opened on the 4th 

 of February. The prominent points of the Queen's 

 speech were a suggestion for an increase of the na- 

 val estimates, for the purpose of .creating a steam 

 fleet; another for enlarged educational provisions in 

 Ireland; and a recommendation to continue the in- 

 come tax, with a view to reductions on other taxes. 



Sir Robert Peel announced in the House of Com- 

 mons, on the first night of the session, that the 

 commissioners to arrange a new plan for the sup- 

 pression of the slave trade, were, the Duke de Brog- 

 lie, on the part of France, and Dr. Lushington on 

 the part of England. Sir Robert said that no meth- 

 od could be effectual unless supported by public o- 

 pinion; and as public opinion in France was against 

 the right of search, it must of necessity be abandoned. 



So John Bull backs out at last on the " right of 

 search," which was more than half the matter in 

 dispute in his war of 1812, with the United States. 



The wheat growers in western New York and the 

 new states, are soon to encounter powerful compet- 

 itors in the persons of Russian serfs, and the facili- 

 ties of Russian railways, wielded, as they are soon 

 to be, by science and unlimited poiver. 



Delay of No. 3 of Colman's Work. — Owing 

 to indisposition, Mr. Colman had not prepared the 

 manuscript of No. 3 of his work, to be published 

 during the month of March, as was expected ; but 

 if his health allowed, he was to send it by the packet 

 of the 4th of March. So that in all of the month 

 of April, Nos. 3 and 4 will no doubt appear. His 

 agent at Rochester has been thus advised. 



GRINDING AND CRUSHING GRAINS. 



In answer to our correspondent, on the subject of 

 the advantages of grinding gram for feeding ani- 

 mals, and especially with relation to grinding Indian 

 corn with the cob, we will give our opinion, deduced 

 from some experience, and such reasoning on the 

 subject as strikes us as applicable. 



With respect to the advantages of grinding all 

 grains before feeding, there can hardly be a doubt. 

 If lor the purpose of fattening, the sooner it can be 

 performed, the sooner the return of the outlay, and 

 sa^«ng in time and labor ; and it is almost self-evi- 

 dent, that all assistance we can render the digestive 

 process of the stomach, either by rendering the food 

 fine and properly divided, and even cooking it, (for 

 to that point it must come in the stomach before it 

 can digest,) is aiding the aniinal economj' in the pro- 

 cess of assimilating it into fat and muscle ; and 

 when we take into consideration that no human or 

 animal stomach can digest any one species of the 

 grains until it is crushed and broken, and the imper- 

 fect manner in which neat cattle and hogs perform 

 that office, there cannot be indulged a rational doubt 

 but that the grinding of grain for feeding must prove 

 advantageous. 



With respect to the virtue of grinding the cob 

 with the grain, its advantages are at present rather 

 a matter of speculation than of well-tested ex- 

 periment. That the cob possesses some nutritious 

 matter there can be no doubt ; but whether in a 

 greater degree than the same number of pounds of 

 hay, is yet problematical. There is no vegetable 

 matter within our knowledge that will produce the 

 same quantity of potash in burning, from the same 

 quantity of material ; and it consequently must be 

 something more than '• mere pine saw-dust," and 

 contain some of the vegetable products, sugar, gum, 

 fcc, which are the constituents of nutriment in the 

 great mass of the vegetable kingdom. Grain and 

 potatoes contain starch and gluten, and bagas, beets, 

 and other esculents and grasses, sugar and gum, or 

 mucilage, as the principal ingredients of the nutri- 

 tious principle. 



To feed cattle and horses, when ground with the 

 cob, it has its advantages in lightening the food and 

 distending the stomach, on the principle of using 

 chopped hay or s<raw with meal, to avoid founder, 

 cholic, and hoven, or bloat ; and in that view is un- 

 doubtedly beneficial, independent of _ its nutritious 

 qualities. 



In fattening hogs, a process that cannot be over 

 expedited, as they are not a dyspeptic creature, and 

 laugh to scorn the idea of founder or the belly-ache, 

 and having a digestive apparatus that cannot be 

 overcharged with richness of food— it is re;isonable 

 to conclude, that the entire grain, well ground, cook- 

 ed, and fermented, is the most proper aliment forgo- 

 ing the " whole hog " system of fattening that 

 " sweet and interesting animal." 



The principle is analogous to the story of the old 

 farmer, who, when asked how he made his hogs go 

 fat, replied, that he "used meal and saw-dust ;" but 

 added, " the less saw-dust the better." 



Cutting hay and straiv we consider a very econo- 

 mical process, at least to those v/ho have but small 

 quantities, or who live in reach of a market. Hay cut 

 and wetted, with or without meal or mill stuffs,and oc- 

 casionally salted, combines the advantages of a great 

 saving in quantity when fed in boxes or troughs, as- 

 sists the ruminating or chewing process, and avoids 

 the necessity__of the animals drinking,. particulai'Iy in 



