AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER. 



PUBLISHED BY JOSEPH BRECK & CO., NO. 62 NORTH MARKET STREET, (AoRicnirnnAL Wabshod»».)— ALLEN PUTNAM, EDITOR. 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, APRIL 5, 1843. 



CNO. 40. 



N. E. FARMER, 



[ALYSES or INDIAN CORN, RUTA BA- 

 GA AND POTATOES. 



Phe Baltimore Farmer copies from our paper 

 Dana's communication, and remarlis upon it as 

 lows : 



' The letter of Professor Dana, which we have 

 )ied into our paper today, is one of deep inle- 

 t to every agriculturist ; first, brcause it con- 

 ns an analysis of Corn, made by him — than 

 om no one is more competent to make it on ac- 

 hate principles — and secondly, because, as far as 

 are awnre, it i^ the first that has hen made 

 this <;rain, which, of all others, is of the most 

 Dortance to the farming interests of our country, 

 it constitutes fully nine-tenths of all the bread- 

 g consumed by thorn. Every one knows, and 

 1 long known, that the flour made of it is most 

 olesome and nutritious ; but very few indeed 

 re aware before, that every hundred pounds of 

 al contain upwards of 89 pounds of nutritive 

 tter calculated to impart body and strength to 

 flesh, muscles and fat, and that upwards of 88 

 inds of that consist of those principles of nutri- 

 1, of which fat is formed ; nor were they previ- 

 ;ly aware, that the principles which contribute 

 the formation of the flesh, existed in so minute 

 roportion as but a little over one and a quarter 

 cent. 



These are important facts — facts which, if prop- 

 i improved, may lead to results of deep moment 

 1 pecuniary point of view in the feeding of 

 :k. 



3y the same analysis, it will be seen that ruta 



a possesses but 14 per cent, of nutritive matter, 



potatoes 20.41 ; so that every bushel of pota- 



!, in the fattening or keep of stock, is nearly the 



ivalent of two bushels of ruta baga ; that one 



hel of corn is worth as much as 6 5-14ths of 



: baga, or 3 ll-2Gths bushels of potatoes, in the 



ling of stock, so far as the creation of Jicsh and 



are concerned. These conclusions, however, 



think are subject to some qualifications, upon 



score of the value of distention, as we are of 



lion that it is as important to keep the stomach 



intestines of an animal in a state of healthful 



on, as it is that that which he may eat shall con- 



the properties of nutrition ; and from the high- 



oncentrated state of nutritious matter in Indian 



n, it would, perhaps, be unsafe to give it in such 



ntity, at a time, as to fill those organs just nam- 



If this suggestion be well founded, then, some- 



ig is to be conceded, as of value, to the greater 



which a quantity of ruta baga or potatoes, 



taining the nutrititive matter of any given quan- 



of Indian corn may possess ; hence it would, 



efore, not be exactly accurate, to say, that the 



live value of corn, and the roots named, were 



lisproportionate, as would appear from the anal- 



rbis analysis presents one other curious fact — 

 3 this — that whiie the corn gives over 88 per 

 t. of the fat-forming principles, and the potato 



only a little over 24 per cent. ; that in the flesh- 

 forming principles, the potato greatly c.vcecds the 

 corn, the former yielding 2.07, whereas the latter 

 only gives 1.20 — and strange as it may seem, the 

 ruta baga, which contains but Vi per cent, of fat- 

 forming principles, is within a fraction ol being as 

 rich in the elements if the flesh. forming princi- 

 ples, as is corn ; their relative proporlions being as 

 1.20 to 1. 



In contemplating and reflecting upon these facts 

 the inquisitive, observing mind will a.'^k those ques- 

 tions. As the ffsh. that is the Iran, of animals, is 

 the seat of the muscles, arteries, veins, bones, &c. 

 is it consistent with an enlightened view of animal 

 economy, to feed i/oi/jig' animals upon such substan- 1 

 ces as are calculated to produce such a state of 

 obesity, as might prevent the regular expansion and 

 vigorous growth of the enumerated pans ? Would 

 it not be better, by adopting a cnmpnuiid system of 

 feeding, that is, by mixing a limited quantity of 

 meal with a large body of roots, to counteract the 

 tendency of too much grain lo create fat? Would 

 it not be best in the early stage of latteiiing stock, 

 to feed on roots, and thus encourage the increase 

 and enlargement of flesh f Would it not be con- 

 ducive to the increase of size, if young animals, in 

 a growing state, were fed upon such substances as 

 promote the growth of /fs/t rather than /n( ? In 

 reflecting upon these questions, and the natural 

 conclusions to which they lead the mind, our mem- 

 ory recurs to a remark we heard made many years 

 since, by a shrewd Yankee farmer. He was con- 

 versing upon the subject of hog raising, and ob- 

 served, that he always liked his pigs to work for 

 their living, until they were ten or twelve months 

 old, — that he had always found that the exercise 

 they had to encounter, in procuring a living out of 

 the woods, or on a marsh, was conducive to the 

 groioth of their frames, and that he could always 

 make pigs, thus raised, weigh more than those of 

 the same age and breed, kept in the pen ; that 

 when the period for fattening came, there was 

 something to fill up. Upon our asking him, wheth- 

 er during the grazing months he did not give them 

 any grain, he replied that he did ; but not sufficient 

 to encourage fat — that his chief object was in 

 grain-feeding at that time, to render them docile 

 and fond of their home, and merely gave them 

 grain enough to keep their -hides a little silky. 

 This was the practice of a plain farmer, who with- 

 out knowing any thing of the constituent proper- 

 ties of corn, had sagacity enough, from his own 

 keen-sighted observation of effects, to found a sys- 

 tem of feeding which would do no discredit to tiie 

 profoundest philologist and most skillful chemist, 

 and would seem to favor the views indicated by 

 our questions. 



We have thrown out these views in the hope, 

 that the imporfance of the interests involved, may 

 elicit the attention of gentlemen whose attainments 

 qualify them to throw light upon ihe subject, and 

 in that spirit would ask such gentlemen to favor us 

 with communications thereon." 



PREPARATION OF CORN. 



We publish with pleasure the following commu- 

 nication from a practical farmer, upon the prepara- 

 tion of seed corn. His mode strikes us as being 

 admirable in its design. The tar upon the surface 

 of the corn, causes the copperas in its undissolved 

 state, to adhere to it, and is there more firmly 

 bound by the articles used as a dryer. — Jhncr. Far. 



Seed Corn. — The following method of prepar- 

 ing corn for seed, has been pursued by the subscri- 

 ber, with uniform success, for several years, to pre- 

 vent its destruction after being planted, by fowls, 

 birds, or even hogs. 



Take I bushel shelled corn in a basket, ind im- 

 nierse it in water, so hot as scarcely to endure the 

 hand in it — the cprn to remain in the water until 

 thoroughly warmed: rinse out the basket with the 

 corn to drain ; have then ready some suitable ves- 

 sel in which to pour it, and put thereon a pint of 

 tar, well warmed, stirring it immediately, until 

 each grain is coated with the tar, which will easily 

 be accomplished while the whole is warm, (and 

 this is the whole design in warming them) — then 

 have 1-2 lb. of copperas ground or finely pulveriz- 

 ed, thrown upon the tarred corn and well stirred ; 

 then dry the whole by mixing slacked lime, ashes, 

 plaster, or gypsum therewith, when it is ready to 

 plant. 



This coating of tar, copperas and lime, &c. is 

 exceedingly unpleasant to the taste, which is the 

 cause of its being free from depredation, and its 

 unpleasantness will not be afl^ected by the moisture 

 of the ground. 



I I have kept what has been left afler planting 

 [ for 2 or 3 weeks, and then used it for replanting, 

 and it would vegetate well, but not so quickly. 



I have also thrown what has been left from 

 planting, of this prepared corn, where pigs and 

 fowls h?d free access to it, without their eating a 

 grain. It looks very dark and unsightly in appear- 

 ance, but it nevertheless comes up and grows well. 

 JAMES C. ATLEE. 



It is easier to conceal wealth than poverty. 



NECESSITY OF A CHANGE OF CROPS. 

 Messrs. Editors — In a conversation the other day 

 with an intelligent friend, I stated the remarkable 

 fact, that if an animal were to be confined to one 

 particular diet for a certain number of days, sick- 

 ness, and eventually death, must be the conse- 

 quence ; when he immediately applied the ration- 

 ale of the fact to a subject at once so highly inte- 

 resting and natural, that I cannot help recording 

 it. "Then," said he, " this shows at once the ne- 

 cessity of a change of food to the crop; or which 

 is the same thing, a chan:.'e of crop to the soil — a 

 rotation of crops, as it is called." Now in this 

 little remark, a volume is thrown open to our peru- 

 sal, and by studying it, I believe we may derive 

 information and advantages at present unknown 

 and unappreciated ; and in return for the many 

 useful hints and very pleasant ideas that I am con- 

 tinually reaping and garnering up from the perusal 

 of your paper, I ofl^er the above, in grateful ac- 

 I knowledgment. — Farmers'' Cabinet. 



