282 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



Dec. 



7 meas. 

 10 " 



STEAMER. -COOKING FOOD FOR STOOK. 



The following remarks in reference to the plan of 

 steamer above represented, and cooking food gen- 

 erally, are taken from the American Agriculturist : 



"If food is to be cooked, on a small scale, boiling 

 may be cheapest; if on a large scale; steaming is 

 not only cheapest, but infinitely more compaet; for 

 the former would require a very large, or several fur- 

 naces, for different sets of kettles, whereas, the latter 

 may be done with one small furnace, steamer, and 

 pipe, as shown in the cut, with any reasonable num- 

 ber of vats or tubs surrounding, in which to steam 

 the food. In order to do this, the steam pipe must be 

 made moveable, with a screw, flexible, or be composed 

 of some material that when the food is cooked in one 

 tub, the pipe can be turned and inserted into another. 

 We have seen no less than five tubs, holding 150 

 gallons each, surrounding a small steamer, all of 

 which could be filled with food and cooked within 

 twenty- four hours. Three tubs, however, are usualy 

 sufficient for a large stock, in which the food of the 

 first may be cooking, that in the second cooling, 

 while that in the third is being fed out. A single 

 person may be able to oversee, and efficiently manage 

 all these operations. 



The furnace, steamer, and tub, are so plainly de- 

 lineated in the above cut, that they need no explana- 

 tion. In cooking potatoes and other roots, the tub 

 should have a false bottom (as represented,) perforated 

 with numerous small holes, and set resting on blocks 

 from 3 to 4 inches above the true bottom. The 

 steam-pipe should enter the tub nearest to the true 

 bottom. The steam is thus introduced between the 

 two bottoms, quickly rises upward, and is evenly dif- 

 fused through the whole of the food. While the 

 cooking process is going on, the top of the tub should. 

 be kept down as tight as possible, so as to prevent 

 the escape of any steam. In cooking grain or meal, 

 the false bottom must be taken out and the tub filled 

 with water, as the steam heats the water and brings 

 it to a boiling point as readily as a blaze or hot coals 

 around a kettle. 



Steaming is said to do its work more thoroughly 

 than boiling, as it is so insinuating, it easily enters 

 and bursts all the minute globules in the grain and 

 vegetables. Be this as it may, certain it is, that 

 either process renders the food more digestible, and 

 easier assimilated by the absorbing vessels, and there- 

 fore more economical. 



The following table in the Edinburgh Journal of 

 Agriculture, shows very nearly the increase of bulk 

 of different kinds of grain boiled to bursting: 



4 meas. of oats increased to 



4 " barley " 



4 " Indian corn increased to 13 " 



4 " wheat " 10 " 



4 " rye '• 15 " 



4 ,; beans " 8g " 



4 " buck wheat or bran 14 " 



Boiled food, especially in winter, is 

 much more nutritious, if fed as nearly 

 blood warm as possible. If quite cold, 

 or above all, if in the least degree fro- 

 zen, we doubt wether it is so beneficial 

 as if uncooked — grain and meal we 

 are certain are not; for animals will eat 

 the raw, cold, more greedily than they 

 will the cooked. Stock fed upon cook- 

 ed food will eat more of it than if un- 

 cooked, and lie quicker to rest. Of 

 course all this is better for them, as they will thrive 

 faster, look finer, and do more work. It is particu- 

 larly beneficial to give hard-working horses or oxen, 

 just as much wholesome cooked food, as they can eat, 

 soon after coming in at night. Toiling all day in 

 the open air, man apreciates and knows well the ben- 

 efit of a warm, hearty supper. Let him remember, 

 then, that a warm mess and abundance of it, is equal- 

 ly beneficial to the animals which a kind Providence 

 has given him as efficient aids in his arduous labor. 

 If southern planters also would give their mules 

 cooked instead of raw food, at noon and night, we 

 are persuaded it would put aa end to the colic, so 

 often destructive among them. Cooking would also 

 considerably economize the food." 



SALT FOR SWINE. 



Eds. Gen. Farmer: — I notice that some of your 

 correspondents doubt the propriety of giving salt to 

 hogs — some going so far as to imagine that it will 

 kill them. This does not accord with my expe- 

 rience. My hogs get salt in their slop while pigs, 

 salt once a week while grazing on clover during the 

 season previous to fattening in the fall, and after 

 they are put up to feed, salt twice a week till driven 

 off. None of them die or are made sick by it. On 

 the contrary, I notice that they eat corn for a while, 

 then go and take a little salt, then a little water, and 

 back to the corn again. 



If hogs are not accustomed to the use of salt it 

 will make them vomit once or twice at first, but this 

 does them no harm. Salt them regularly, a dessert 

 spoonfull to the hog twice a week, and a table spoon- 

 full or two of wood ashes, unleached, and they will 

 more than pay for the trouble and expense. L. M. 

 Bourbon Co., Ky., Oct., 1849. 



Galls from Harness or Saddle. — "A Volun- 

 teer" tells the New England Farmer that the follow- 

 ing remedy was found to be invaluable in the fatigue- 

 ing marches in Mexico: 



White lead, finely pulverized, is the most effective 

 application. Rubbed on dry, or made into a paste 

 with milk, and applied a few times: it will also pre- 

 vent white hairs growing on galled places. 



To Cure Bloating or Hoven in Cattle. — A 

 table spoonful of spirits of hartshorn, for an ox or 

 cow, or a teaspoonful for a sheep, will afford instan- 

 taneous relief. It should be diluted with water or 

 milk. It acts by decomposing the gas generated in 

 the stomach, which is the cause of the disease. 



