400 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Sept. 



SALT FOR STOCK. 



AT.T as a feed for 

 stock is object- 

 ed to by a writer 

 in the Western 

 Rural, princi- 

 pally on the 

 ground that it 

 IS an antiseptic, 

 md therefore 



^r^S 



Let us inquire into the 

 validity of these objec- 

 tions. An antiseptic; is' 

 soTething that counteracts putre- 

 faction. Are digestion and pu- 

 trrfaction the same or even simi- 

 ilar processes ? Is it necessary that food should 

 putrefy ip. order to its digestion? The gastric 

 juice, by which digestion is effected, is a strong 

 antiseptic. It arrests at once the process of 

 putrefaction even after it has commenced. 

 Hence an antiseptic does not necessarily retard 

 digestion, and this objection fails. 



Bat "salt is a mineral, and therefore poison- 

 ous." We think the writer must be a student 

 of quack medicine venders, who recommend 

 their medicines on the ground that thi-y con- 

 tain no minerals, and are therefore not injuri- 

 ous to animal life. Are not minerals always 

 found in the animal fluids and tissues ? Does 

 not healthy gastric fluid alwavs contain h}dro- 

 chlori • acid ? Is not soda a constituent of the 

 bile ? Is not iron found in the blood ? Is not 

 a large amount of lime worked up in forming 

 the bones ? 



The hydrochloric acid in the gastric juice, 

 and the soda in the bile, are derived from the 

 salt taken with the food. So, the lime and the 

 iron are takt-n in wiih the food. 'Ihe orga s 

 of digestion have the faculty of sepirating 

 these mineral substances fiom the organized 

 vegetable and animal substances which they 

 convert into nutriment, of appropriating !^o 

 much of them as is required to the various 

 uses of the body, and of ejecting the remain- 

 der by the pores of the skin, by the kidneys 

 and the intestines. Only about four parts in a 

 thousand of soda are contained in the blood, 



whatever quantity is taken into the stomach. 

 Only so much lime as is needed to repair the 

 waste in the bones is retained. Nature finds 

 minerals necessary in constructing the body 

 and in carrying on the animal processes, and 

 not only so, but she has a wonderful power of 

 eliminating and throwing off such as are not 

 wanted in the system. 



The argument that salt is not needed be- 

 cause it is a mineral is therefore without foun- 

 dation. Salt undoubtedly aids digestion, and 

 contributes to the healthy performance cf the 

 animal functions, and a regular and bountiful 

 supply of it is not only useful, but very grati- 

 fying to all our domestic animals, and more 

 especially at that season of the year when 

 their food is most juicy and succulent. 



Since wri ing the foregoing we have read an 

 article upon this subject in the Rural New 

 Yorker, by J. Weldon, a stock rai>er of Rock- 

 ford, 111., who gives several in tances in his 

 own experience of the beneficial effects of salt 

 and of the injurious results of withholding it, 

 from which we copy the following: — 



Enrly in the autumn of 1842, I resolved to go to 

 Chic:^go for salt and other supplies, but repeated 

 hiiidrant'es prevented — so that my cattle werewiih- 

 ont rhe needed salt till Ni)vernber, and thouiih the 

 feed had been abundant my stoik was in no better 

 plight than they usually w- re when I turned them 

 to grass. Then commenced the long winter of 

 continued snows, and when my cattle could gpt 

 their living < n the willow.s, and in the slougus, ail 

 that remained of several of my best cows and 

 some two year olds, were their hides. My esti- 

 mate was that, had I fed but one more barrel of 

 salt to my stock of cattle (which was quite consid- 

 erable fur those times,) during August, Septemtier, 

 and October, 1842, my available assets in May, 

 1843, would have Ueen increased hundreds of dol- 

 lars. 



HOW TO HAVE GOOD MEADOWS. 



Mr. Plate of Bradfoid Co.. Penn , in a let- 

 ter to the Ameiican Institute Farmers' Club, 

 gives Lis experience, as follows : — 



My land is ailapted to all kin'ls of grain, and to 

 timothy and rtd chjver. My p actice is, when I 

 sow a piece to gra^s, not to jilougli it again in less 

 than eight y eai .s, and I trt queiuly let u lie a much 

 I'liiger lime. I liave a ni' atlmv now wiiicii lias 

 been luowid lor sixteen successive years, and it 

 was uevi r better thju now. In tact, my meiidows, 

 under the right treatmait, gr.)W better as they grow 

 olde--. 



I do it by returning to a meadoio all the manure 

 (he hay made that tras taken fiuni it, and sowing a 

 bu-hi I of g>psuin per acre, each year. In ihat 

 way the yi^ld of grass is heavier and tin. r and 

 tictn r as the sod tliickrns. I use manure only tor 

 tnp-dressing the meidows; in that way, I get 

 doul>lc pi ice for it. It produces as much worth of 

 giMss as it would in grain, and also rc;'rotluccs it- 

 self again in the turf. My turf when ready for 

 ploughing under is a solid body of grass routs 



