412 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



JT1.\' 8, J 835. 



BNGLISII FARMING. 



Drill IlnsBANDRT — Bone Manure — Flesh 

 COLORFD Clover — Pig-sties. — IJagshot Park 

 Fiirm is, as usual, beautifully cultivated, and most 

 Bcientifically and economirally managed by Mr 

 Burness. No one who does not understand the 

 East Lothian farminj; can fidly appreciate the 

 merits of the system pursued here. All the croj)s 

 are drilled ; and by the force of bone manure, which 

 is drilled in along with the seeds, good crops are 

 raised on the poorest sand. Mr Burness sows the 

 Trifolium incarnatum on his wheat stubbles, cov- 

 ering the seed with the harrow, but on no account 

 stirring the ground deeper than three inches, and 

 finds a good crop of clover, either for grazing or 

 cutting in the following May. The plants were 

 now from one foot to eighteen inches in height, 

 and in full bloom. This clover was also sown by 

 Mr Hill, a Northumbrian farmer, in the neighbor- 

 hood of Mr Donald, and it seems to be consider- 

 ed a valuable addition to our British clovers. It 

 is strictly an annual, and will on no account live 

 through a second winter. In Mr Burness's par- 

 lor, we saw the picture of an ox of the Sussex 

 breed, five years old, fed on the farm without the 

 aid of oil-cake, which weighed 240 stone of 8 lbs. 

 contained 30 stone of fat, and sold for £60. The 

 painting of this ox was by Mr Steers of High 

 Wycombe. In the farmery are some new sheds 

 for fattening cattle on the plan described by Mr 

 Nowall of Dumfries, in our Encyclopajdia of 

 Cottage, Farm and Villa Architecture. In the 

 breeding jjigsties, Mr Burness has introduced a 

 contrivance for preventing ttie mother from crush- 

 ing her sucking pigs against the wall. It is sim- 

 ply a shelf carried round the interior of the sty, 

 about nine inches wide, and raised about nine in- 

 ches from the ground. This shelf prevents the 

 sow from pressing herself against the wall when 

 lying down, and leaves space sufficient between her 

 and it for the pigs to pass. The dry, poor, sandy 

 soil of Bagsliot Farm is particularly calculated for 

 being benefitted by bone manure ; and Mr Burness 

 consequently buys manj'. The price he jiays for 

 thom is 20d. a heaped bushel : when ground they 

 lose about a tenth of their bulk, and the price for 

 a bushel of dust not heaped is 2s. The bones, 

 after being ground, are mixed with equal parts of 

 turf ashes or sandy soil, and the mixture is laid in 

 heaps for a fortnight to for nent, before being 

 spread upon the soil. The fermentation which 

 takes place is most powerful, and, if permitted, it 

 would continue for a great length of time ; but a 

 fortnight which is found absolutely necessary is also 

 found quite sufficient to render the com[)OSt fit fi>r 

 agricultural purposes. Thisnecessity of fermenting 

 bone dust, before spreading it on the soil, should 

 not be forgotten by gardeners, when using it in 

 the composition of vine borders (see Mr Forrest's 

 practice, detailed in vol. 502,) or as a general ma- 

 nure. Perhaps bones ground, and mixed with 

 soil, might be found an excellent substitute for tan. 

 Mr Burness has invented a machine for drilling 

 bone dust along with corn, or turnip or other 

 secda. It may be made to sow six or eight rows 

 at a time, and the distance between the rows can 

 be varied at pleasure. This drill may be had of 

 Messrs Cottam and Hallen. In feeding both cat- 

 tle and sheep, oil-cake is frequently given here. 

 Mr Burness finds that it does not affect the flavor 

 of beef or mutton in the slighteat degree ; but that 



it totally changes the character cf the fat of pigs. 

 — Loudon's Magazine. 



[From the Farmer's Register.] 



ON SAvnvGcoRsr stai>ks, and prbparikg 



THUm AS FOOD FOR CATTI.E. 



In my paper of the 26th March I referred to 

 another on the subject of the plan of saving a corn 

 crop adopted by me, in such a manner as to reap 

 from every part of the refuse a great benefit in 

 the way of feeding my cattle. The ajipropriation 

 of the stalk particularly, in this way, so as to make 

 it yield the greatest benefit that could be obtained 

 from it, consistent with producing and saving the 

 cro|) of grain, early arrested my attention, from 

 reading a variety of communications for years back 

 on the subject of the nutritive qualities contain- 

 ed in the stalk at particular periods — as also some 

 experiments made in feeding with them. In the 

 prosecution of this object, I was urged by suc- 

 ceeding in saving a corn crop in the manner point- 

 ed out by that valuable agriculturist. Judge 

 Buel, and which plan I had seen practised on the 

 South Branch of Potomac, before reading it. I 

 make this cominunication to you, sir, the more es- 

 pecially, as I have read in your highly valuable 

 periodical, the "Register," some communications 

 on managing the corn-stalk to advantage, and be- 

 lieving that I am considerably ahead in an econo- 

 mical use of it. Since the plan has been adopted 

 by me, and its valuable efl^ects exhibited, you will 

 be assured I read with some pain the many labor- 

 ed communications so frequently given to the 

 public of judicious methods of turning the corn- 

 stalk into manure, &c. The |)rodigious mass of 

 valuable Ibod produced from a field is another 

 consideration that I am compelled to regard with 

 much interest. All will readily acknowledge that 

 at one stage the corn stalk as a food for animals, 

 exhibits highly nutritious qualities. Now to ar- 

 rest, or save as much of those in it as possible, is 

 one of the great arguments with me, in favor of 

 my mode of saving the corn crop ; but I am as- 

 sured this is equally effected as regards the fod- 

 der and shuck, [husks.] 



After housing my corn crop, as before stated, 

 [p. 635, vol. ii.] the first rainy day, if no more 

 pressing wet work is calling for attention, all hands 

 " go to shucking (husking) corn, and stripping oft" 

 blades." If I am in want of this last species of 

 forage for my plough horses, or mules, which by 

 the by is not often the case, as my gama grass hay 

 and oats cut in the sheaf with which the cutting 

 trough is kept constantly replenished, suiiplies that 

 want. In shucking the individual throws the corn 

 in one direction, and lays the stalk with attention 

 to regularity beside him, until he has an armfull, 

 when he takes them up carefully, and deposits 

 them a short distance from him, in regular order 

 for putting into the cutting box, when they are re- 

 duced, frequently stalk, shuck, and blade, to pie- 

 ces of about an inch in length. 



At a convenient distance from this apartment, 

 three strong made hogsheads are placed, well 

 pitched on the outside, made expressly for the 

 purpose, with tops well fitted of light wood or 

 straw, and standing on a platform about three feet 

 from the ground, having at the bottom a large 

 spigot to let off their contents. Just before them 

 a large trough is placed, and which with thesteam- 

 ing apparatus standing between the two last, is in- 

 closed and covered with a shed. Into these hogs- 

 lieads I Ihrpw a small quantity of boiling water, 



and into the water a small quantity of corn or rye 

 meal, just sufficient, when the cask is filled up 

 with cool soft water, to produce the vinous fer- 

 mentation, as if going to distil. As soon as the 

 liquid has attained that state, I steam off a turn of 

 the cut stalks, shucks, &c., putting the last into the 

 trough, over which, by means of a portable trough 

 such as distillers use, I permit the fermented li- 

 quid to flow and cover the cut stuff, which has 

 been well pressed down previously in the trough, 

 and held down by a moveable top. This done in 

 the evening, the forage becomes perfectly satura- 

 ted by morning with the liquid, at once one of the 

 most nutritious and palatable preparations for the 

 cow kind yet discovered. The cut stuff charged 

 with the wash, is deposited in the feeding troughs 

 taken out of the trough in which they are satura- 

 ted, in baskets, which carries away no more of the 

 liquid than what is contained in it by absorption. 

 Every particle is consumed by the cattle, care be- 

 ing taken to serve them with the food as they con- 

 sume it. By a little arrangement I keep my hogs- 

 heads so filled, that one is always ready for use. 

 My horses and mules consume this preparation 

 with equal gout as the cattle. As a food for my 

 work o.xen when laboring, it is, experience convin- 

 ces me, superior. It " sticks by the ribs" — and 

 plentifully given keejjs them in fine plight. The 

 apparent pleasure with which the animals consume 

 this preparation is observable. I know of no food 

 which they eat with more avidity — and what I 

 consider of much advantage to them, especially 

 the cow kind, they soon fill themselves. Satisfied 

 that nature intended that the food of animals 

 should include a variety, and that this being a law 

 of nature, this variety is necessary for the highest 

 state of animal health, I have added to the stalks 

 every vegetable substance that can be subjected to 

 the cutting box, usually given as food, viz: straw j 

 of oats, rye, rice, wheat and hay, pea vines, and < 

 sweet potato vines cured — and if plenty, any veg- 

 etable roots that can be spared from other ani- 

 mals — and in the season, a portion of grass. I 

 am fully satisfied that the gain in keeping my cat- 

 tle, which 1 obtain from cutting up their food, is 

 much more than equivalent for the time and labor 

 bestowed — and that a still greater equivalent is re- 

 ceived from the steaming ; for it must be remem- 

 bered, I convert into food a mass of what could 

 not otherwise be made so. 



My first essay was with the stalk alone, strip- 

 ped of blades and shuck. The result was about 

 the same as when the blades and shuck were per- 

 mitted to go to the trough. The effect produced 

 by this preparation, on milch cows, I have found , 

 all that could be desired — and in addition to the j 

 foregoing, with plenty of salt, it will be found ' 

 to produce in the animals a high degree of health. 



Now, sir, in answer to some of your excellent 

 correspondents, I will observe that I am compel- 

 led to view my plan as the best to convert the 

 corn stalk into manure: and I view my gain on 

 this score, equally great. My cattle are well lit- 

 tered with pine straw, or oak leaves, &c. The pro- 

 duction of my corn-stalks passing through the sto- 

 mach of animals, affords me the rich means of 

 converting them into the faest of manure, to a pro- 

 digious amount. Here my gain over the plough- 

 ing-in system is, I tliink, decided and self-evident. 

 Plough in a ton of stalks, and let me carry out of 

 my dungstead what another ton has enabled me 

 to produce, and the result will readily be anticipa' 

 ted. AGRICOI.A. 



Mabama, March 30, 1835. 



