VOb. XVI. NO. 34. 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL, 



187 



A Geriimn, by iiicans of stmly iiiul observation, 

 lied by a Iniiir couise of |)ractical e.\|i('rience ill 

 isbamlry, bas been able to ascertain tbe decree 



e.xlianstion in fertility, vvblcli soils ordinarily 

 lilergo, from tlie growth of coinnion o;rain crops, 

 -and bow nnicli tlieir fertility is increased by 

 veil quantities of manure, and by pasture — thus 

 acbin^ bow to maintain, or to increase, the fer- 

 ity cf the soil, and consequently its |iroilncls and 



prolits, from the resources of tbe farm. 

 Other men have been a.ssiduonsly engaged for 

 ars, in studying, and have satisfactorily ascer- 

 ned, the laws by which beat, air and water, are 

 jde to e.\ert tlieir best aj;ency in preparing the 

 }d, and accelerating the growth and maturity of 

 mts — and liavc published directions bow to de- 

 'e the highest advantage from these primary 

 ents of nutrition. 



And others have invented new and improved 

 pleinentsof machinery, calculated to relieve ag- 

 tultnral labor of half its toils. 

 A farmer in Ohio, raises fiiteen hundred biisli- 

 I of Swedish turnips on an acre of ground, 

 bugh to feed and fatten ten bullocks seventy- 

 'e days. A farmer in Massachusetts, by a new 

 ^de of managing bis corn crop, has realized a 

 U profit of $150, on little more than an acre of 

 (d, while his neighbors, in the same season and 

 ladjoiiiing fields, have not been remunerated, in 

 ir crop, for the expense of culture. A farmer 

 New York, bas proved by experiment, that by 

 lew process of making hay, be can save ten per 

 t. ill weight, something in labor, and other ten 



cent, in the quality of his forage. Another 

 iner ol my acquaintance, has cultivated twenty 

 es of Indian corn, and eight acres of beans the 

 sent season ; the former, estimated to average 

 ty bushels tbe acre, and the latter giving more 

 n an ordinary yield — without employing a 



igli, or a hand lioe, in the planting or culture, 

 he whole work having been performed with 



drill barrow and cultivator, implements of 

 dern introduction, thus economising from one- 

 f to two-thirds of the labor ordinarily bestowed. 

 These are all matters of recent record, but as 

 y ha|)pen to be printed, they very properly fall 

 ler the denomination of book farming. Uiit are 

 y, on this account, less true, or is the informa- 

 1 they contain less useful in your practice.' If 

 eighbor makes a palpable im))rovement, by 

 icli he doubles the value of li;s labor, you read- 

 avail yourselves of his discovery, though you 

 it by stealth. Tlirougli tbe means of agricnl- 

 il piiblicatioiis, the entire farming convnunity 

 id ill the relation to you of neighbors — you 

 oine acquainted with all their improvements, 



areenableil to profit by their skill ami science, 

 light detain yon for hours with details of ini- 

 vements in biishandry, which are essential and 

 1 accessible to the farmer. Hundreds of men 

 profound siMcnce, and thousands of the best 

 ctical farmers, in this and o'lier countries, are 

 aged in improving agriculture — in making two, 

 ;e and four blades of grass, and two, three and 

 r bushels of grain grow, where but one blade, 

 )ne bushel, grew before ; and they are tender- 



you the benefits of their labors, in the agri- 

 iiral works of the day. The accumulated ex- 

 ience, and tbe improvements of centuries, have 

 n registered, by the press, and their benefits 



tendered to all who will read and i>rotit by 

 n, almost without money and without pric3. 

 that will read may learn. « 



(To be continued.) 



THIO VIRGINIA CORN AND COK CRUSH- 

 ER AND GRINDER. 



We were called upon a few days since by. the 

 inventor of the above machine, INIr James C. 

 Baldwin, of Virginia, to witness its o[)eratioii, 

 and so far as we could form an opinion from a 

 single performance, we were gratified with it. It 

 very readily converted tlie corn and cob into a 

 substance nearly as fine as hnin. Tlie cob is so 

 completely crushed with the common mass as to 

 present but very few angular particles, and we 

 are compelled to say that we think the nKichiiie 

 worthy of the atieiuion of agriculturists genorally. 

 It would appear almost a work of su[)ererogatioii 

 to dwell upon the advantages to result from the 

 conversion of the cob into a substance which will 

 p"0ve not only edible but digestible, and particu- 

 larly as there have been mills for this purpoes in 

 existence for many years, and more or less ap- 

 proved of by farmers and planters of distinction. 

 A thing so obvious in itself, it would seem ought 

 not to require argument to enforce it; biiti-ucb is 

 the force of habit, and such the indomitable ten- 

 dency of prejudice, that even at this day the 

 utility of feeding the cob in this form is but par- 

 tially known and less adopted, and upon many 

 estates the cob.rof corn are only used as food for 

 the cow when other provender is scarce and dif- 

 ficult to be procured. Of its nutritive properiies 

 no one who has ever tasted it, while eating the 

 corn off it as roasting ears, will entertain the 

 least doubt; for i's sweet and highly sugary fla- 

 vor must have convinced him that it not only 

 contains the principle of nutrition, but possesses 

 it in an eminent degree ; but it may be said that 

 the sugary taste is not always the test of the ali- 

 mentary properties of a substance as it is often 

 met with in bodies decidedly poisonous; this is 

 most true ; but we affirm without tbe fear of con- 

 tradiction, that where we find it in a body known 

 to be perfectly innoxious, as is the corn cob, we 

 have a right to conclude that it does contain nu- 

 trition. Tbe question then, which we have to 

 determine is, which is the best method of feeding 

 with tbe cob.' The answer is at band — that in 

 which it is easiest iligested in the stomach of the 

 animal. But speculation aside: let ns resort to 

 the results of experiments, these being the safest 

 guides in a matter of this kind. 



P. .Minor, Esquire, in a very interesting paper 

 addressed to General Cocke, vice president of the 

 Agricultural Society of .Albemarle, gives the result 

 ol a minute experiment made to test the relative 

 nutritive strength of the cob and the corn by dis- 

 tillation. It was, says Mr Minor, carried on un- 

 der the eye of an experienced an intelligent distil- 

 ler, and was as follows: He took ten bushels of 

 the corn and cob, weighing 367 lbs. and ten bush- 

 els of pure corn meal, which weighed 400 lbs. 

 They were both brewed or mashed on the same 

 day and distilled separately, with great care and 

 accuracy. Tbe product of tbe puro corn was 18 

 gallons, and that of the mixture, or corn and cob, 

 was 13 gallons of spirit, each of the same degree 

 of proof. " Now," observes Mr Minor, " it is 

 generally agreed that the cob constitutes about 

 one-half of the bulk of corn ; in other words, we 

 give tvTo measures in the ears for one shelled, 

 and the cobs are either used for fuel, or thrown 

 away as of no value." If this were true, the 

 product of the mixture then, should have been 

 only 9 gallons, which is the half of what t'.e pure 

 corn produced. But 13 were obtained, four of 



which must have been, of course, extracted from 

 the cobs ; or if we estimate its nutritive power by 

 the qiianlily of spirit, it is clear, that whenever 

 we shell ten bushels of corn, anil throw away the 

 cobs, we throw away a portion of food, eipial to 

 the difTurence between 9 and 13, or nearly one- 

 half. 



" But besides the actual economy, there is 

 another advantage in this way of feeding corn, 

 which ought to engage the attention of every 

 farmer. It is notoriously true, that the unground 

 grain of corn is heating to the stomach of all ani- 

 mals, and of difficult digestion, producing colic, 

 and other inliammatory disorders, particularly in 

 horses, which tend greatly to shorten their lives. 

 They are deprived of the benefits derived from 

 the stimulus of distension, (so necessary to the 

 proper health of animals,) by being unable to eat 

 a sufficient bulk to produce it before they become 

 gorged. But when ground into meal, along with 

 the cobs, and mixed with cut hay or straw of any 

 kind, this tiecessary distension is produced with- 

 out any danger of disorders ariskig from eating 

 too much. It is now eight years since I have 

 been in the habit of feeding corn in this way, and 

 oiitofsi.<c to ten Iiqrses, which I have annually 

 kept in that time, there has been but one case of 

 sickness among them, which was a slight colic." 



.Mr Robert White, of Shrewsbury, New Jersey, 

 in a letter to Judge Biiel, remarks: 



" A pretty extensive feeder for the Philadel- 

 phia market once told me, that a bushel of meal 

 made of corn ami cobs was quite equal to a 

 bushel of meal made of corn and oats, that his 

 cattle throve as fast on the former, and that they 

 never stalled (cloyed)- on it." 



Mac'keuzie, an eminent Scotch authority, in 

 speaking of ground food asserts that it is nearly 

 a saving of one half to feed grain in that form.."' 



Our STAPbE.— The quantity of wheat and flour 

 arrived at the Hudson river, via the Erie canal, 

 during th* fourth week in November, was as fol- 

 low s : 



bbls. flour, bush. wheat. 

 76,694 38,706 

 For corresponding period 



i" 1836, 43,951 26,881 



Increase, 35,743 11,825 . 



or equal to 35,108 iibls. of flour. 



Ill ailditiiHi to the above, 9073 bairels of flour, 

 .ind 2964 bushels of svheat arrived at Schenecta- 

 dy, most of which came over tbe rail-road to tbe 

 Hudson, making the total quantity which arrived 

 at tide water in eight days, equal to 95,100 bbls. 

 of flour. The quantity of flour ami wheat which 

 bas arrived at tide water, via tbe canal and rail- 

 road, within the 15 days ending tbe 1st inst. has 

 been nearly equal to one hundred and ninety thou- 

 sand bbls. — Argus. 



The most aggravated wounds of domestic ani- 

 mals, are easily cured with a portion of tbe yalk 

 of eggs mixed in the spirit of turjieiitine of Flo- 

 rence. 



The part affected must be bathed several times 

 with the mixture each day, when a perfect cure 

 will be efl^'cted in 48 hours. 



Sm.tU fruit trees should be secured fiy stakes, 

 especially those that are low, else they will be 

 broken down by the snow. 



