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60 



THE ILLINOIS FARMER. 



THE GRAZIER 



Fattening Animals. 



The following bints on the subject, from 

 the Albany Cultivator will be found of in- 

 terest: 



Substances in which the nutriment Is 

 much concentrated should be fed with care. 

 There is danger, especially when the animal 

 is first put to feed, that more may be eaten 

 at once liban the digestive organs can man- 

 age. Meal of Indian corn is highly nutri- 

 tive, and when properly fed, causes animals 

 to fatten faster than almost any other food. 

 They will not, however, bear to be exclu- 

 sively kept on this article for any length of 

 time. Meal made from the heaviest varie- 

 ties of corn, especially that grown in the 

 northern and eastern States, is quite too 

 strong food for cattle, sheep, or horses to be 

 full-fed upon. Hence one of the advantages 

 of having the cob ground with the corn, by 

 which the nutriment is diffused through a 

 greater bulk, lays lighter on the stomach, 

 and is more thoroughly digested. The ef- 

 fect of pure corn meal on animals, we sup- 

 pose to be similar to that sometimes pro- 

 duced on our own species by the use of fine 

 wheaten flour — the subject becomes dyspep- 

 tic, and is forced to use bread which has the 

 bran mixed with the flour. The mixture of 

 the cob with the corn answers the purpose 

 of bran — the health of the animal is pre- 

 served, and the process of digestion goes on 

 uninterruptedly . In fact, the advantages of 

 grinding the cob and corn together for feed- 

 ing cattle may be said to be well establish- 

 ed. For hogs, the benefit of the cob is not, 

 we think, so evident; those animals appear- 

 ing to be better adapted to taking their 

 nourishment in a more concentrated form 

 than those which ruminate or chew their cud 

 Yet food sufificiently bulky to effect the dis- 

 tension of the bowels is necessary for hogs. 



Hay or straVv cut into lengths so short as 

 to be readily mixed with meal, answers a 

 good purpose in rendering the meal easy of 

 digestion, and in enabling the animal to ex- 

 tract all the nutriment from it. 



The conclusion arrived at from the result 

 of a series experiments, instituted by the 

 Highland Society of Scotland a few years 

 ago, was, that the superiority of cooked over 

 uncooked food for cattle is but trifling, and 

 not sufficient to balance the cost; but for 

 hogs, the extra cost of preparation was re- 

 paid. 



The appetite and health of the animals 

 are promoted by giving a variety of food. 

 This fact has led to the preparations for fat- 



tening stock. For fattening h(^s we have 

 used, with advantages, the following mix- 

 tarea: 1. Two parts potatoes and two 

 parts pumpkins; boil together until they can 

 be easily mashed fine, then add one part 

 meal, stirring and mixing intimately togeth- 

 er. The heat of the potatoes and pumpkins 

 will scald or cook the meal, and when cold, 

 the mixture will be a stiflf pudding. 2. Two 

 parts of potatoes and two of ripe palatable 

 apples (either from corn, barley, or oats and 

 peas, allowing the same weights,) and mix 

 together vrhile the potatoes and apples are 

 hot 



Hogs are more fond of food when it is 

 slightly fermented (hot becoming pungently 

 sour,) and they appear to fatten faster if it 

 is given to them in this state. We have 

 never seen bogs fatten faster than when fed 

 on these mixtures, with occasionally a little 

 dairy slop, and we have always found the 

 pork solid and of good quality." 



-***- 



. . •• . From the Country Gentleman. 



How to destroy lice on Calies. 



It will often happen, in spite of one's best 

 efforts, that a calf will become lousy; soon 

 he will communicate the vermin to all in the 

 flock, and they will increase with astonish- 

 ing and alarming rapidity. It is not always 

 an easy matter to rid the youthful bo vines 

 of these pests, and many will contract divers 

 other ailments in consequence, which too 

 often prove fatal, Some of the books re- 

 commend one remedy and some another — 

 most of which either prove unsatisfactory or 

 troublesome in application. A simple, but 

 invariably • effectual remedy is used in this 

 section, which mav not be known to the ma- 

 jority of your cattle-breeding readers. It 

 is smoking them with tobacco — one of the 

 very few good purposes which the vile weed 

 may be made to subserve. We use a pipe 

 made after this fashion: the bowl is a round 

 piece of wood fifteen inches in length by 

 three and a half inches thick, with an inch 

 and a quarter hole, bored through it longi- 

 tudinally. A hollow mouth-piece should be 

 made to fit into the bowl, and also a pipe 

 somewhat sharpened at the point, to carry 

 off the smoke, each about six inches in 

 length. With the latter snugly fitted into 

 its place, fill up the bowl with the cheapest 

 smoking tobacco, put in a coal of fire at the 

 top, adjust the mout-piece, and you are pre- 

 pared to blew destruction to millions of lice. 

 The smoke is easily blown through the crea- 

 ture's hair to tbe skin; but to facilitate the 

 operation a thick blanket should be thrown 



.-L-: 



