412 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



[July 212, 



coMnxnzncATioKS. 



TO THE EDITOR OF THE NEW ENGLAND FARMEH. 



A COMPARATIVE VIEW OF THE PROFIT, tc. OF VARIOUS VEGETABLES. 



Mddksex county, Mass. July 1825. 

 Mr Fessenden — I wi^h you to publish the following table in your useful paper, hoping it mny indoce some of your correspondents who have 

 leisure and talents to publish a more full and correct one. The prices of many of the articles are put at what 1 thought they were actuallv 

 worth, compared with corn at C6| to give to cattle as fodder in the country. Beets and carrots are put higher than corn, according to the n(i- 

 tritive raatter, because they contain a greater proportion of sugar than soluble mailer. ' With great respect, yours, B, C, 



J816 Justin Ely, Esq. West Springfield, raised 



1820 Mr Gardner Whiting, Charlestown, " 



1823 Col. Jos. Valentine, Hopkioton, » 



1821 Mr Wm. Mears, Marblehead, " 



1820 Fayson Williams, Esq. Fitchburg, " 



1824 Messrs. T. and 11. Little, Newbury, " 



1821 E. H. Derby, Esq. Salem, " 

 1820 Ebn. Thrasher, Salem, " 

 1823 Messrs. T. and H. LiUle, Newbury, " 

 1823 Messrs. T. and H. Little, » " 



1822 Mr Adams Knighi, " " 



1823 Mr Silas Pearson, " " 

 1822 James Whitton, Esq. Lee, «' 

 1817 Hon. John Welles, Dorchester, " 



FOR THE NEW F,NG(,AND FARMER. 



ON COOKING MEAL FOR HOGS, 



Bristol County, July 1825. 

 It is stated by a Maryland Farmer,(see New England 

 Farmer, vol. ill. p. 267,) that it saves "one half the 

 corn to feed hogs with meal cooked iiitogood sliffm'ash 

 rather than to give them corn." Perhaps it v.ould be 

 a still greater saving not to coot the meal. I have 

 4ately heard good practical farmers observe that hogj 

 will iaX faster on meal mil/tout its being cooked than on 

 that which is cooked. They mix the meal with cold 

 water at the time of feeding them. They say that a 

 hog that has eaten meal that has been swelled, much 

 sooner becomes hungry and restless than one which has 

 eaten raw meal and has it swell in him. As it is of 

 Considerable importance to ascertain which is the best 

 mode of giving meal to hogs, I hope a number by ac- 

 tual experiments, (say feeding hogs with raw meal, and 

 cooked meal allernalely, for a number of monlhs, weigh- 

 ing them at the end of each month) will put the mat- 

 .Jer beyond all doubt. I). G. 



Remarks by the Editor. — The following is an 

 extract from the article by a Maryland farmer, 

 alluded to by our correspondent relative to the 

 comparative value of raw corn and boiled meal, 

 or mush, for feeding hogs : — " 1 U.wc bad since 

 the 1st of December an actual experiment going 

 •on between raw corn and meal made into good 

 thick mush. Two |>ip,3 of about 100 weiglit each, 

 have been eating 7 lbs. each cf raw corn |ier 21 

 hours ; and two others of nearly the sume size 

 have had exactly 7 lbs of mc:\\ made iulo good 

 mush between then. This 7 lbs. of meal cooked 

 into the stale of good sliff musli, weighs from 28 

 (o 33 pounds. 1 weighed my pigs a.-curately at 

 the hegining, and weighed jigain two days since to 

 ro.irk the progress. The two eating M pounds 

 01 "orfi nr'i' fl.iy h.til tiir.reii=cd ,17 jjqijp'Is in IS 



days. The two ealing 7 pounds of cooked meal 

 per day had increased 24 pounds in the same 

 lime." 



By this experiment it should s'eem that ]4lbs. 

 of raw corn a day given to t(vo pigs for IG days, 

 amoooting in all to 224lbs. produced ]7U>s of 

 pork- But 7lbs. of meal, conked, or made into 

 mush given to two pigs for 16 days amounting 

 to 1121bs. produced 24lbs. of pork. In other 

 words each pound of raw corn gave on an aver- 

 age, 1 j of an ounce, nearly, of pnrk. But each 

 pound of meal alter having been cooked, or 

 made into mush, gave on an average 3| ounces 

 nearly, of pork. Thus it should seem that a 

 pound of cooked meal not only produced almost 

 lliree limes the quantity of pork that was given 

 by a pound of raw corn, but the cooked meal 

 possesses another advantage over Ihe raw corn 

 in its enabling the farmer to f ilten his porl: much 

 quicker than it can be effected by raw corn. 



In page 274 of Ihe current volume of the 

 New England Farmer is given Ihe details of an- 

 other experiment, (or it may be the same 

 experiment related in part above protracted 

 during 34 days in all, including l!ie before raen- 

 tioced 16 days) in which the results appear to 

 be quite as much in favour of the cooked meal, 

 as in llial just recited. But the question as .slat- 

 ed l)v our correspondent lias no relation lo raw 

 corn, b;il to raw mciil and cooked or boiled meal; 

 and we would join him in expressing a wish that 

 the merits of eacli mav be ascertained by a num- 

 ber of cx|)erimenls. We would premise how- 

 ever that all philosophers who have written on 

 Ibis branch of domestic economy, so far as our 

 observation has extended, have given Ihe pre- 

 ference as regards nutriment to steamed or boil- 

 ed food for cattle and swine, as well as for the 

 human species. t One pound of Indian meal 



^ 3;e N. l"- I'armer, toI. 1. pages 22, 23, 30, 31. 



properly mixed with water and well boiled will 

 give about three pounds of solid pudding ; and 

 We have good authority, and the appearance at 

 least of sound philosophy, for supposing that h 

 pound of good solid Indian pudding will afford 

 full as much nourishment to man or bea^f as n 

 pound of raw meal, either dry or made into 

 dough. Philosophers tell us tlial water by boil- 

 ing it with meal, of grain or other farinareons 

 substances, is converted into so/ic? food. Starch 

 boiled in water with a little sulphuric acid foil 

 of vitriol] not only increases Ihe starch in weight 

 but is changed into sugar. And this change is 

 caused by the fixation of water, and its onion 

 with the starch in a solid stale. lib. of Indian 

 meal made into dough might give as much nour- 

 ishment lo a hog as a pound of thick mush, nr 

 boiled pudding, and it may be more. But a 

 pound of Indian meal properly boiled with a due 

 quantity of water will give at least -Jllis. of mush. 

 Perhaps the " practical larmers" (mentioned a- 

 bove by our correspondent D. G.) who say thai 

 " a hog that has eaten meal that has been 

 ss/elled, much sooner becomes hungry and rest- 

 less than one that has eaten raw meal, and hag 

 it swell in him," may not draw correct inferences 

 from that circumstance. The cause may be 

 that boiled or swollen meal digests with more 

 facility than raw meal; and though the swiae 

 which are fed with rnn meal may be hungry 

 sooner. Ihey mi\\ alio fill f lister than those which 

 are fed with boiled meal. Dry hard old corn 

 without benig cracked or broken would prob- 

 ably ^^ stick by ilicribi'' of a hog lunger than raw 

 Indian meal, or mush, but »vouid not fallen him 

 so fast. We are told that souie of the wretched 

 Datives of certain provinces of South America 

 appease hunger by sivallowing a kind of fat 

 earth ; and we have no doubt but a solid break- 

 fast of soil v;ilh a few gravel stones by way of 

 dessert wouid go fartiier in assuaging hunger, 



