1864. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



175 



the stock to be particularly lean and weak, we may 

 be sure the heaps of manure under the eavesdrop- 

 pings of the barn are as lean and weak as the poor 

 animals shivering around them. 



In extended chemical examinations of different 

 kinds of excrement during the past winter, several 

 incidental points which are deemed of much im- 

 portance, have attracted attention. I will at this 

 time bring to notice but one of them, and that 

 relates to the proper preparation of food for ani- 

 mals. In quite all the parcels of excrement sub- 

 mitted to analysis, the evidence of imperfect diges- 

 tion and'assimilation is palpably manifest. Corn, 

 oats and timothy hay have been found in large 

 quantities, entirely unchanged in their passage 

 through, the stomach and alimentary canal of 

 horses and horn cattle. It will be safe to say, 

 that, under the prevailing method of feeding, ful- 

 ly twenty per cent, of the hay and grain is lost, 

 the nitrogenous and carbonaceous elements being 

 rejected without assimilation. The vital processes, 

 unaided by any preparation or softening of food 

 before consumption, seem incapable of perfectly 

 dissolving and changing it when deposited in the 

 stomach. The silica in the husks of oats, and 

 stalks of grasses, probably retard these processes, 

 and hence we see how important it is that food 

 should be steamed, or otherwise cooked, before 

 being fed to animals. Oats and corn should cer- 

 tainly be finely ground, and if, in addition, facili- 

 ties for scalding or steaming are provided, much 

 gain will thereby result to the farmer. 



J. R. Nichols. 



Ill Milk Street, April, 1864. 



EARLY SEED CORN". 



We often see advertisements of early seed corn 

 of different varieties, which are not always to be 

 relied upon to the extent stated. When a partic- 

 ular variety of corn is introduced into any locali- 

 ty, it may come two, three or even four weeks 

 earlier than other kinds which have been cultiva- 

 ted in the same region ; but if the seed raised 

 from it in successive years is planted, it will grad- 

 ually lose its early quality and become as late as 

 any other ; and for a very simple reason: because 

 it has adapted itself to the climate in which it is 

 raised. Plants have many of the characteristics 

 of animals, and among them is that of adaptation, 

 or the power of acclimation. Animals often un- 

 dergo an entire change in the course of a few 

 generations, on being removed from their own ap- 

 propriate regions, and so do plants. The early 

 corn is usually brought from a more northern lat- 

 itude where the season for its growth is short and 

 where it is compelled, as it were, to ripen early in 

 order to escape the frosts, being planted late for 

 the same reason. Our late corn, if taken into 

 Canada, would, in the course of a few years be- 

 come early corn, just as early corn brought from 

 ' the far North becomes late after several seasons' 

 planting. 



The only way to have early corn every season, 

 is to obtain the seed each year from a more north- 

 ern region — the farther north the better. Anion* 

 all the varieties that have been tried, many of 

 which are highly extolled, I do not know of any 

 that is more desirable for table use as green coin 

 than the old-fashioned sweet corn. If farmers and 

 gardeners will take the trouble to send to Canada 

 for a supply of seed (and they can do this very 



easily and cheaply, by uniting together and hav- 

 ing it forwarded by express from some seedsman 

 or gardener in Montreal,) they may then be rea- 

 sonably sure of having an early luxury. But the 

 same course should be taken every year, as other- 

 wise each year this crop will lag a little behind 

 until it becomes as late as any. — Maize, in N. Y. 

 Observer. 



RAISING TURKEYS. 



In your journal I noticed an inquiry for the best 

 plan to raise turkeys. Permit me to give between 

 sixty and seventy years of my experience. 



To take a fair start procure black turkeys, and 

 teach them to be gentle before they commence 

 laying. As soon as they begin to lay, take away 

 their eggs — let their nest egg be a hen's egg. 

 When they have laid out their litter destroy the 

 nest, feed them well, and in ten days or less, they 

 will generally commence laying again. Turn those 

 they have laid once or twice a week. When they 

 have the second lot, and want to set, let them 

 have what eggs they can well cover, and put the 

 balance of the first litter under a hen at the same 

 time, or as near as may be, so that they will hatch 

 nearly together. Take the young chicks from the 

 hen and put them all with the old turkey, she will 

 brood them all. 



My first and only feed is curd from sour coagu- 

 lated milk, scalded, turned on a seive, or a board 

 will answer, and the whey drained. I do not use 

 any salt or pepper. I keep them in the stable, or 

 on the barn floor, a day or two, and then let them 

 out if the weather is favorable. Put them up 

 every night early, until they are two or three 

 weeks old. By this time they have formed a hab- 

 it of coming home, and the grasshoppers and in- 

 sects have become so large they mostly supply 

 their appetites. See that they come up every 

 night, and feed them well in the morning. 



By my plan they are about three weeks later, 

 but will go a-head and make up lost time. I 

 would not let them set as soon as they have laid 

 the first litter, if I could have a cart load of eggs 

 given me. — Cor. Plural New Yorker. 



VENTILATORS FOR BARNS. 



Messrs. Luther Tucker & Son: — I am le- 

 minded by the figure of a ventilator for the use of 

 barns, in your paper of Feb. 4th, that I am in- 

 debted to your "Annual Register of Rural Af- 

 fairs*' of 1862, for my first idea of this plan, which 

 I have already found of sufficient advantage to pay 

 for the "Register" for the next forty years at 

 least. 



I have a barn which, with the L attached, is 

 over one hundred and twenty feet long. Until 

 within two years it had no ventilation from the 

 roof, though I had long been aware of its necessi- 

 ty both for the benefit of the stock and the hay 

 stored therein. Having one cupola on an adjoin- 

 ing barn, I was unwilling to incur the expense of 

 building another, as a very ordinary cupola with 

 blinds will cost fifty dollars in stock and labor. 

 On seeing your plan for ventilators I was much 

 struck with its simplicity and apparent efficiency, 

 and immediately had four made, three for the 

 main barn, twenty-two inches square on the in- 

 side, and one for the L, sixteen inches. As soon 

 as they were put up, the improvement in the air 

 of the barn was immediately noticeable ; the raft- 



