160 



NEW ENGLAM) FAEJ^IER. 



April 



mitted to accumulate in quantity, when it has 

 a tendency to discolor and perhaps burn the 

 sugar. 



1 regret that want of space compels me to 

 so cursory a view of this subject, but 1 sup- 

 pose I must stop or the printer will bar me 

 out entirely. O. S. Buss. 



Georgia, Vt., Feb. 29, 1868. 



EXTKACTS AND REPLIES. 



COOKING CATTLE AND SWINE FEED. 



In the Weekly FAKMEiiof December 7th, under 

 the heading "Cooking Cattle Feed," are some 

 statements made at a meeting of the "Royal Ag- 

 ricultural Society of England," in which I was 

 much interested. It seems that our British breth- 

 ren use the English language somewhat differently 

 from ourselves. To say "chaff" for cut straw, 

 "cake" for oil cake, "Sweeps" for Swedish tur- 

 nips, "pulping roots" for mashing them, "malt 

 combs" for, I know not what, &c., nmst, I think, 

 sound rather strange to many American eai's. 

 What Mr. Laws intended to prove by saying that 

 one of the animals with which he experimented 

 was "white, with a black nose," I do not know. 

 Some of the statements made at this meeting I <lo 

 not full}' understand ; still I think it very evident 

 that they militate very strongly against cooking or 

 fermenting food for any kind of animals, espe- 

 cially those that chew the cud. In this I think 

 they are right. 



So far as my experience goes, pork from hogs 

 kept on uncooked and unferraented food is far su- 

 perior to that Irom hogs kept on cooked and fer- 

 mented food. If I could get no pork but this, I 

 should, so far as eating pork is concerned, turn 

 Jew at once. I have frequently bought pork ; but 

 have much more frequently obtained bad than 

 good. I do not indeed know how it had been fed, 

 but in most cases, I suppose, with cooked or fer- 

 mented food; as this is the most common practice. 

 I have, on the other hand, frequently eaten pork 

 which I knew for a certainty had been fed wholly 

 with uncooked and unfermentcd food, and always 

 found It good. Cooked food is apt to l)e given too 

 Lot ; and fermented food is apt to be fermented too 

 much. It may be said that these evils might be 

 avoided. Theoretically they might; practically 

 they never will be. The world always has con- 

 tained careless people, and doubtless always will. 



Dernj, N. H., Feb., I8G8. e, b. 



Remauks. — The dust or substance that separates 

 from malt in the process of drying or during its 

 preparation, is sometimes called "malt combs" 

 and at others malt-dust, and is used both as a 

 spring top-dressing of grass land and a feed for 

 cows and pigs. The question of color, particu- 

 larly that of white, has been consideraby dis- 

 cussed both among European and American cattle 

 breeders, and many have a prejudice against white. 

 Prof. Agassiz introduced the subject at a late 

 meeting of the Massachusetts Agricultural Society. 

 He said white rabbits had uniformly weak eyes. 

 He supposed the white color resulted from a bleach- 

 ing of those darker tints which are connected with 

 I he qualities of the blood, and therefore indicated 

 V certain feebleness of the system. A butcher of 

 Miirty-six years' experience in the business was 

 " ited who was very strongly prejudiced against 

 white cattle, and said they never dressed well. It 



was also stated that tumors near the roots of the 

 tail of a white horse are common, and that white 

 horses were subject to a disease known as "mela- 

 nosis," which seldom or ever attacked a black, 

 bay or red horse. With a knowledge of these facts 

 and theories, it is not at all strange that Mr. Laws 

 should allude to the peculiar color of hi , peculiarly 

 strange acting steer. 



BUNCH ON A steer's JAW. 



I hiive one pair of steers that are nicely matched. 

 One has a bunch growing on his under jaw aljout 

 as big as a hen's egg. I iirst noticed it only al)out 

 a week ago. It is soft, and appears to be growing 

 fast. How can I get rid of it with safety ? Will 

 it be safe to cut it out ? d. w. 



Eartland, Me., Feb. 25, 1868. 



Remarks. — Bunches upon the jaws of animals 

 are so various in character, and are the result of 

 so widely differing causes that it is unsafe to ad- 

 vise what to do without an examination of each in- 

 dividual case. We understand that these swellings 

 upon the jaws of cattle are sometimes produced, as 

 on the human face, by a decayed, broken or dis- 

 ordered tooth ; sometimes they are librous tumors 

 or a kind of wart under the skin, but not conueet- 

 ed with the bone ; and often they result from an 

 internal disease in the bone, or from some external 

 injury to it. It is an old adage, that to know the 

 disease is half the cure. If, in this case, the 

 bunch is caused by a bad tooth, it should be ex- 

 tracted ; if it is what the books call an encysted [in 

 a sack] tumor or wart, it can readily be removed 

 by cutting down upon it and taking out the cyst 

 or sack ; if it is the result of a blow or other ex- 

 ternal injury, bathing in cold or warm water may 

 be beneficial ; if it is caused by a disease in the 

 bone, a surgical operation, to which we alluded in 

 the Farmer of Feb. 29, may be advisa])le. It 

 would be well, we think, if all country physicians 

 would qualify themselves to advise and assist in 

 diseases of animals. 



beans for sheep. 



I have a quantity of poor l)eans. Are they good 

 to feed to sheep ? A neighbor says they will make 

 the ewes lose their lambs. Is it so ? A. s. 



Tunbridgc, Vt., Feb. 25, 1868. 



Remarks. — Similar inquiries were made of us 

 a few years ago in relation to oats. We then re- 

 plied that oats, corn, beans or any other food in 

 which nutritive matter was highly concentrated 

 was liable to injure sheep or anj' other animal if 

 injudiciously fed. Even cold water, if drank in- 

 judiciously, may injure or kill a thirsty man. Ac- 

 cording to the chemists, there is a little over one 

 pound of nitrogen in 100 pounds of hay, and in 

 100 pounds of beans nearly four pounds of nitro- 

 gen. According to a table in Randall's Sheep 

 Husbandry, the theoretical nutritive value of 23 

 pounds of beans is equal to 318 pounds of carrots, 

 or 70 pounds of Indian corn ; while from the prac- 

 tical experiments of one man in Europe, the value 

 of 54 pounds of beans appeared to be equal to 250 

 pounds of carrots, or 52 pounds of Indian com. 



