274 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



[March 25, 



EXPERIMENTS. 

 To ascertain, the comparative advantages of pre- 

 paring and using by various processes,, and in 

 different forms, several kitids of grain, fyc.for 

 food for hogs, cattle, <5'C. Communicdted to the 

 Trustees of the Maryluid .figricnltural Society, 

 and by them ordered to be published in the Avicr- 

 ican Farmer. 



INDIAN CORN. 

 Five ounces of corn, (avoir(lii|)ois) just shell- 

 ed from the enr, were [lul into 1 l-i pounds of 

 boiling water, and boiled (or ten iiours. As the 

 boiling eviijinr.ited tlie water, tlia vessel wa? til- 

 led iiji with 1-2 a pound of cold water as often 

 as appeared necessary'. Six pounds two ounces 

 of w.iter were used; and when the boilin? vi'as 

 done, there were eighl ounces of liquor, five of 

 which were thick and rich, drained iVom the 

 corn. Tlius drained, and brought to the state 

 of hominy tolerably well cooked, the mess was 

 found to wei^h 15 ounces. 



This experiment was made witli two views ; 

 first to find what would be the increase of weight 



FLAX SEED. 



Five ounces of flax seed were next placed 

 on (he coals in one pound ten ounces of wafer — 

 and twelve ounces more water were added — 

 This mess was very easily excited, and the oil 

 boiled over more than once. What v as saved 

 mud's a very rich looking mess of twenty-live 

 ounces But nothing need be said in favour o( 

 flax seed jelly — those who have used it, place 

 it even before corn meal for fattening beeves. 

 WHEAT SHORTS. 



Five ounces of good wheat shorts were cook- 

 ed ill one pound ten ounces ai water, with the 

 addition of eight ounces more during the boil- 

 iig. When done the mess looked iilce a rich 

 loblolly, and weighed thirty one ounces. 



In all these experimenis, that the increase of 

 both bulk and weifi^ht was caused and made hy 

 the water, aided by the agency of heat, there 

 can be no doubt. And when it is considered 

 that water is the greatest ingredient in the 

 richest made soups ; and is the chief agrnt in 

 the growth not only of herbs and plan!*, hut of 



— and 2ly, whether the process of boiling would '■ the huge oaks of the foreet, why may it not in 

 not produce every desirable cflect, witliout the an jibsorbed and solid stale conduce to the 

 trouble and expense of having the corn ground (jrowth and increase of a hog 

 into meal. 



CORN MEAL. 



Five ounces of unsifted corn meal ivere mix- 

 ed with one pound ten ounces of scaldin? water. 

 Before it had boiled long, fearing it might burn, 

 one pound ten ourices more of water were add- 

 ed. The meal was well cooked in one hour : 

 but the mess being thinner than was wished, 

 the boiling was continued tor sonic time, to e- 

 vaporate the water — but the meal appeared to 

 hold the water by a powerful attraction, and 

 parted with it very slowly. When (he process 

 was slopped, (he niixliirr wais thianer !bap mush 

 or hasty pudiling; bat ralhcr (bicker than g£«iel, 

 and tva«' in an exceltent state to give to a sow 

 suckling a farrow of pigs. The mess was again 

 put into the scales, and (lie live ounces <d' meal 

 were now louod lo weigh over (liirly ounces.— 



The roea'may be cooked with one fiflh of the 

 fuel, necessary to cook the corn. 

 " LADY PEAS. 



Five ounces of lady peas were next cooiied. 

 The mess wlien thoroughly done and drained, 

 weighed fifteen ounces; but they yielded no rich 

 liquor, and ap[)eared like a very inferior food 

 to the boiled corn. 



RYE. 



Five ounces of rye were put into one pound 

 ten ounces of boiling water, and the boiling was 

 continued lor five hours, in (he course of which 

 one pound more of water was added. The mess 

 was now thoroughly done, and was enveloped 

 in a rich looking gelatinous substance, of which 

 only 1 wo ounces would drain off. This mess, 

 which had every appearance of rich, nourishina' 

 food, weighed twenly three ounces, beside the 

 two ounces of jelly. 



RYE SHORTS. 

 Five oiinces rye shorts were mingled with 

 one pound (en ounces of boiling water. They 

 were boiled very gently ("or 2^ hours; in the 

 Qourse o(' which time fourteen ounces more of 

 water were added. It was now a thick rich gru- 

 el, and ap[)arently in a nice state for a mens for 

 a milch cow. In this state it wciglied forty 

 ounces. 



CORN (.RUSHED— (to ascertain tie yield.) 

 A tub, of iive bushels of corn in the ear was 

 -helled, ail 1 yielded (wo an-J an half bushels and 

 one (juarl. — The cobs Were then [louiTded and 

 agiiin mi\(d nith the corn. In this stale Ihe 

 whole was 'j-i-ound, and reduced lo a line chop. 

 It now yielded by measure 4| bushels, wanting 

 one quart. 



If the eighty-one quarts of corn had been 

 ground into tolerable meal, they would h.ive 

 yielded by measure one hundred and five quarts 

 of meal — and with the cobs added did make one | 

 hundred'and forty-three quarts of fine chop, ll 

 regret (hat the different items of this experi- 1 

 men! were not weighed as well as measured. j 



FATTENING HOGS. j 



On the first day of December, JS21, four 

 shoats of (he same breed, nearly of the saraesize, I 

 and as much alike in every respect as could be 

 selected from a herd of ninety odd hogs, were 

 made choice of; each carefully weighed, and 

 |)laced in a separate stye, where their food could 

 be exactly regulated. They weighed beltveen 

 81 pounds and 100. The two, whose vvcigbls 

 together made 185 pounds, ^were led on one 

 gMllon of shelled Indian corn, weighing seven 

 pounds, to each, for every 21 hours, r.rid ns much 

 water as they wanted. — This quantity of food 

 was a plenty for them ; wenervilly they about 

 consumed it. Some live or six different days 

 between the 1st of December and the Hh Jan- 

 uary, the time the experiment was going on, 

 they did not quite eat their wh(de allowance. 



To the two shoats, whose weights logelber 

 made llo pounds, seven pounds of good Inilian 

 corn meal, by measure ten pints, were made 

 ink) good mush, or hasly pudding, and divided 

 between them for every 24 hours. That is, 

 these two had allowed them exactly half the 

 weight of meal, which the others had of raw 

 corn. The seven pounds of meal were daily mix- 

 ed with scalding water, and then vvell boiled ; 

 the whole process of cooking was done on an 

 average in 1 1-2 hours. They were all (e>\ 

 twice n day. and at (he same time. The even- 

 ing feed of' the shoals fed on mush was general- 



ly warm— the morning feed having slood all 

 night, ,vas always cold. The seven pounds, or 

 ten [lints, of meal, when cooked, weighed an 

 average of jO pounds, and measured an aver- 

 age of three gallons. There was a ditTer- 

 ence of nine pounds in the weight ol>lhe latter 

 pair — the smallest had the least appetite, and his 

 allowance of 15 pounds of mush ivasjust as much 

 as he a|ipeared to want, or would eat up clear; 

 (he other was greedy and always sharp sel, dis- 

 palched his mess quicli,ly, and wauled more. 



Before the experiment had progressed a fort- 

 night, there was a very perceptible differencn 

 in (he appearance of these pigs. Those fed on 

 the mush assumed a more thrifty, healthy, fresh 

 appearance, particularly of (heir hair, and ihn 

 difi'erence became more striking as ihe experi- 

 ment advanced. 



Ou ihe 4lh January, 1825, ivhile preparations 

 were making i't>r killing and dressing, they were 

 again carefully weighed on (he hoof. One of 

 those, whose daily alloivance had been seven 

 poiinils of corn each, had increased 20 poun.ds in 

 (be 31 days ; the other, who had had an equal 

 allowance ofcorn had increased only five pound'. 

 I could not account for this diilcrence by any 

 tiling I could discover either before or alter kil- 

 ling ; the a|ipetiles of these (wo were much 

 more alike than of (be odicrs — and llieir health 

 was apparently equally good. 



Of the pair fed on mush, nhose daily allou-- 

 Hiice had been 3 1-2 pounds of meal each, the 

 gitedy one had gained 23 pounds and the other 

 21 pounds. 



These are -.iil the material fads in these ex- 

 poriments, except llnit a very small portion of 

 salt was put into each mess of mush — and there 

 is no miracle in them. The hogs allowed 3 1-2 

 pounds of meal each, gaineil less than 3-4 of a 

 pound d.iily, and this suredy (hey miglil have 

 gained from the meal ; but they gained more 

 than those led on double that quanlKy of coin. 

 The saving of one half the immense quantilyuf 

 corn consumed in raising and fattening bogs in 

 Maryland, vvould he well worth the oiler of a 

 premium lo have ihcse experiments accurnlely 

 repeated and tested by ditJerent persons. 



From Uls ^imtrican Farmer. 



COTTON SHOE THREAD. 

 Shoemakers will long deny and at last reluct- 

 antly acknowledge, (hat coiion-tiiread is heller 

 for shoes than (lax ; but a shoe wearer and shoe 

 buyer knows the tact, and wishes lo communi- 

 cate it to the sons of Si. Crispin and to (he pub- 

 lic. Cotton thread is slow lo ret, swells and dis* 

 tends by moisture more (ban (lax, ar,d hence ihe 

 seams of shoes, well closed by the (crmer, never 

 rip. Shoes thus made are worth 10 or 12 per 

 cent more than if made with flax ; but lo the , 

 workmen Ihe use of cotlon is less agreeable, re- 

 quiring more care lo prevent the breaking of the 

 thread and some skill in att. idling the bristle. — 

 Anil riiflicully standing in the way of old habits, 

 is insurmountable by conmion minds ; hence Ihe 

 necessity of good bristles, some little trouble in 

 roughening them with a knile (o make (hem ad- 

 here, tmd less carelessness in sewing, will long 

 be formidable barriers in the way of this im- 

 provement. Shoe makers stand in the predica- 

 ment of Peter Pindar's razor seller. Makers 

 <ind buyers have separate and discordant intej- 

 ests. Masons and bricklayers, according to pra- 



