144 STILL-SLOPS. SWILL-MILK. 



pit, and transplanted early, will also come in here to 

 advantage, and clover will very soon follow them ; 

 oats, millet, and green Indian-corn, as the season ad- 

 vances: and, a little later still, perhaps, the Chinese 

 sugar-cane, which should not be cut till headed out. 

 These plants, in addition to other cultivated grasses, will 

 furnish an unfailing succession of succulent and tender 

 fodder; while the addition of a little Indian, linseed, 

 or cotton-seed meal will be found economical. 



In the vicinity of large towns and cities, where the 

 object is too often to feed for the largest quantity, 

 without reference to quality, an article known as dis- 

 tillers' swill, or still-slop, is extensively used. This, if 

 properly fed in limited quantities, in combination Avith 

 other and more bulky food, may be a valuable article 

 for the dairyman ; but, if given, as it too often is, with- 

 out the addition of other kinds of food, it soon affects 

 the health and constitution of the animals fed on it. 

 This swill contains a considerable quantity of water, 

 some nitrogenous compounds, and some inorganic mat- 

 ter, in the shape of phosphates and alkaline salts found 

 in the different kinds of grain of which it is made up, 

 as Indian corn, wheat, barley, rye, &c. Where this 

 forms the principal food of milch cows, the milk is of a 

 very poor quality blue in color, and requiring the 

 addition of coloring substances to make it salable. It 

 contains, often, less than one per cent, of butter, and 

 seldom over one and three tenths or one and a half per 

 cent., while good, salable milk ought to contain from 

 three to five per cent. It will not coagulate, it is said, 

 in less than five or six hours, while good milk will 

 invariably coagulate in one hour or less, under the 

 same conditions. Its effect on the system of young 

 children is therefore very destructive, causing diseases 

 of various kinds, and, if continued, certain death. 



