01 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[ Jsliiuary, 



in red wood, aud plaster of Paris rabbit or 

 cat, painted in unnatural lines, have no places 

 On their mantles. In humble cafes are found 

 pictures which would be considered fit to hang 

 in some of the best restaurants of London 

 and New York. The' signs over shops show 

 a talent not possessed by our sign painters, 

 and many a ganjute has grapes and vine-leaves 

 jniinted over its door which merit a better 

 pl:v0e. — Louis. 



COOKING FEED FOR STOCK. 



We have received a copy of tlie report of 

 the last meeting of the jNIontgomery County 

 (O.) Farmers' Club, with a request that we 

 publisli the part relating to the above subject. 

 This was a paper read by Simon Emerick, 

 and consisted mainly of extracts from tlie 

 published opinions of various persons who had 

 tested the matter. It cannot fail to be inter- 

 esting to all farmers who have given this sub- 

 ject any attention, but who are still undecided 

 as to whether it will pay to cook food for 

 stock or not. The question was the same dis- 

 cussed by our Farmers' Club last winter— 

 " Does it pay to feed cooked food to stock ¥" 

 The one chief obstacle that men in business 

 have to contend with these stringent times is, 

 that there are no profits. This is no less true 

 with those commanding an extensive trade 

 and employing large capital than it is with 

 persons conducting a small business ; no less 

 true with tlie farmer than with the manu- 

 facturer. The complaint is well nigh uni- 

 versal that there is no margin in business or 

 trade. The cost of production of an article 

 seems to be about equal to the price obtained 

 for it, though often it does not bring so much 

 as that. Now, with a view to solve this 

 problem for myself, as a farmer I have been 

 induced to investigate whether cooking food 

 for stock would not yield the much sought for 

 profit. 



I take some statements from the evening 

 discussions of the New York State Fair, 

 1867— Subject : "Cooking food for domestic 

 animals." Hon. G. Geddes, of Syracuse, 

 New York, said that " there was no branch 

 of farming that was less understood, and 

 promised more advantages tliau the prepara- 

 tion of food. He had thoroughly proved years 

 ago that cooking food, whether ground or not, 

 doubled its value for animals." George A. 

 Moofe, of Erie county, said "he had fed two 

 hundred sheep on cooked food, and had fully 

 satisfied himself that the value of food was 

 tripled by cooking." Mr. E. AV. Stewart, 

 who had eleven years' experience in cooking 

 food for stock, said that "tlie cooking rendered 

 the food soft and in a condition to be eaten 

 even in the more perfect manner than by cut- 

 ting, and proved by experiment that two 

 bushels of steamed hay were equal to three of 

 unsteamed, and that steamed fodder was 

 similar in its character to fresh pasture, and 

 that horses diseased by coughs or heaves have 

 been cured by such food." 



Professor Mapes says— Transactions Ameri- 

 can Institute, 1864, page 373, "the experi- 

 ment often tried has proved that eighteen or 

 nineteen pounds of cooked corn are equal to 

 fifty pounds of raw corn for hog feed." Mr. 

 Mason, of New Jersey, says that "pork fed 

 on raw grain cost 12i cents per pound, and 

 that from cooked 4J cents; that cooked corn 

 stalks iuc as soft and almost as nutritious as 

 green stalks; that cattle can be fattened at 

 about half the expense upon cooked food as 

 upon uncooked." 



The American AgricuUurist for January, 

 1860, says: "Experiments made by C. M. 

 Clay, of Kentucky, showed that one bushel of 

 dry corn made 5 pounds 10 ozs. of pork ; of 

 boiled corn 14 pounds 7 ozs. , and boiled meal 

 16 to 18 pounds. 



The Practical Farmer (published in Phila- 

 delphia), in October, 1808, says: "We con- 

 sider the cooking of food for stock as no longer 

 an open question ; its economy has been 

 demonstrated by scores of our best practical 

 farmers." 

 I could add much more like this— enough, 



it would seem, to settle the question, but how 

 is it that so many farmers who have incurred 

 the expense of fitting up for cooking food for 

 their stock, have discontinued it ? I have 

 interviewed some of those farmers in this 

 way : Does it pay to cook food for stock ? 

 The answer generally is, " Yes." Well, why 

 don't you continue it ? " Oh, it is too much 

 trouble." Now, this disposition of the cook- 

 ing business won't do. If the above state- 

 ments are correct as to the gain by cooking 

 food for stock, it would certainly be too much 

 trouble to raise grain, and then throw fifty or 

 even twenty-five per cent, of it away, when 

 there is always a cash market for it. 



Mr. Dodds, of Bloomington, Ind., in re- 

 plying to my inquiries in the agricultural col- 

 umns of the Cincinnati Gazette on this subject, 

 states that he fed six steers last winter one 

 and a half bushels of boiled corn per day, and 

 they gained 1,810 pounds in three months. 

 The business of stall-feeding cattle for market 

 I am familiar with, and I do not hesitate to 

 say, that if farmers could obtain such results 

 as Mr. Dodds did, by cooking food, that would 

 be a good margin for profits. But as young 

 converts are proverbially zealous, this testi- 

 mony is insuflicient to put this question at 

 rest ; so, to obtain the experience of others, I 

 addressed numerous farmers, living in ten 

 different States, who have been engaged in 

 cooking or steaming food for their stock, 

 tliese questions : How long since you com- 

 menced feeding cooked food to your stock ? 

 Have you discontinued it ; if so, for what 

 reason V Have you made any tests to ascer- 

 tain the approximate gain by feeding cooked 

 food y 



In order to better understand and deter- 

 mine the proper value of the replies I re- 

 ceived, I will first give a summary of those 

 from parties who have but recently com- 

 menced the business. 



A gentleman of Fulton county, Indiana, 

 writes that "he commenced feeding steamed 

 food last January to his cattle, and continued 

 till he turned them out to pasture ; experts to 

 use it again this fall for both hogs and cattle ; 

 thinks that one cord of wood will steam one 

 hundred bushels of corn on the cob— steam 

 ten bushels of corn in one hour by renewing 

 the lire once ; has not made any test to ascer- 

 tain the relative value of steamed food, but 

 tliinks there is a saving of one-third by 

 steaming." 



Another gentleman, of Knox county, Ohio, 

 says that "he has been using steamed food the 

 past season ; has not discontinued it nor does 

 not expect to as long as he has anything to do 

 with stock feeding ; thinks that a practical 

 test would show a saving of one-third by feed- 

 ing steamed food." A party in Michigan 

 writes that " he has been using steamed food 

 for one year, and considers that fifty per cent, 

 is saved by its use ; has not made a practical 

 test." 



Another party in Indiana states that " he 

 has been steaming food a few months ; is con- 

 fident that it is healthier for stock, and that 

 one-third less grain is required. ' ' Another in 

 Pennsylvania writes that "the steaming of 

 food would result in great benefit to all farm- 

 ers who arc in the stock raising business." 



I might add extracts from other letters, but 

 the statements here given are a fair sample of 

 those who wrote me who have been but recent- 

 ly engaged in steaming food. Now, to proper- 

 ly estimate the value of these statements, it 

 is well to bear in mind that it is natural for 

 men to recommend that in which they think 

 they are more progressive than their neigh- 

 bors, and also that when a party purchases an 

 implement and takes an agency to sell it he 

 will recommend it as a matter of business. I 

 notice that some of the gentlemen who wrote 

 me are acting as agents to sell the machine 

 they arc using for cooking food.— P)-octicoZ 

 Partner. 



I FIND that six bushels of peas are equal to 

 ten bushels of corn for fattening my hogs, 

 and that peas yield a larger number of bushels 

 to the acre than corn.— Toronto Globe. 



LAYING OUT THE FARM. 



One great mistake farmers usually make is 

 in not giving sufficient thought and attention 

 to laying out the farm, and distributing the 

 crops and labor in the best possible manner. 

 There are few kinds of business which require 

 such careful forethought and study as planning 

 the year's crops on a farm in such a manner 

 as to distribute the labor throughout the 

 season as evenly as possible, and get the 

 largest returns for the land under cultivation, 

 and the money invested in labor. 



When we consider the variety of crops 

 which may be raised with profit on almost any 

 farm, the great number of causes which in- 

 fluence their growth, the nature and condi- 

 tion of the soil, the prospects of the markets, 

 the possibilities of double cropping, the rela- 

 tion of this year's crops to a rotation and the 

 distribution of labor, so as not to have more 

 at any one time than it is possible to do, and 

 yet to have enough at all times, the question 

 becomes interesting and at the same time 

 exceedingly complex— yet all these things 

 should be carefully considered, not only each 

 by itself, but in relation to each other, and 

 wlioever overlooks one of them is likely to 

 majvc serious blunders. He may sow his seed 

 on soil not in proper condition, and so fail of 

 a good crop, or he may raise a good crop and 

 have no market, or he may be so crowded 

 with work as not to be able to give it the 

 proper attention at the critical time. 



My manner of laying out a farm is this : In 

 a book I write the name of each field, and the 

 different crops for which the soil by its nature 

 and present condition (with the fertilizers 

 which I put on it) is beft adapted ; also the 

 time of sowing and harvesting, with the 

 amount of labor required and tlie times of 

 year it will be needed. I then compute, as 

 nearly as I am able from past experience and 

 the condition of the market, the probable 

 proceeds of each crop per acre, deducting cost 

 of seed and labor. This will show which of 

 all the crops for which each field is adapted 

 will give tlie largest probable returns. Having 

 gone through with each field in this way and 

 decided what crop or crops will give the 

 largest net returns, I next put them all to- 

 gether, and see how the labor is distributed, 

 and how much grain of each kind I am to 

 sow or plant. If I find too much labor re- 

 quired at any one season, I turn back to the 

 pages containing the fields with the conflicting 

 crops, and select the best crop which will 

 remedy the labor difticulty. 



Much can be gained in the way of economy 

 in form labor by using the best means and 

 implements. Fall plowing of wet lands and 

 surface draining when needed, greatly facili- 

 tate early work in the spring. New and im- 

 proved tools are also a great advantage in 

 doing work quickly and economically. Far- 

 mers often work year after year with old, 

 wornout tools, when the extra crops which 

 could be raised with new labor-saving imple- 

 ments in one year would pay for half a dozen 

 such tools. The neglect of cultivating hoed 

 crops, until the weeds get fairly rooted, not 

 only injures the crop, but adds greatly to the 

 labor of caring for it and destroying the weeds. 



Cultivation promotes earliness as well as 

 growtli, and partly supplies tlie place of 

 manure, and, in laying out the year's work, 

 every farmer should be careful not to put in 

 anythina which will have to be neglected. 

 Better till five acres well than plant ten acres 

 and leave the crops to fight it out with the 

 weeds. Plan your work carefully, making 

 due allowance for rainy weather and lost time; 

 cultivate thoroughly and manure well, and 

 you will be sure to get the largest possible re- 

 turns for your labor.— ^n Old Farmer in 

 Bural JVcio Yorker. 



The best time to cut scions is any time 

 during the winter, or in the month of March. 

 They°should be kept in good condition in 

 meadow moss, or with the ends stuck into 

 moist earth. We know of no way to keep 

 them so well as in moist meadow moss. 



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