1861 



THE ILLIE-OIS FARMEE. 



47 



licking it down as if they liked it, after eating a 

 mouthful or two, they will look up and say, in 

 the langufige of one of my little nephews, when 

 he had eaten so much that his stomach loathed 

 it: '_' M-i, I don't like your pie." There can be 

 nothing said in favor of cob meal as food, only 

 that it distends the stomach. 



Just tgke.a piece of corn-cob and examine it 

 closely, by cutting it to small, thin pieces with a 

 knife, and you will find small thin, plates, or 

 scales of scilicate of potash, which the mill- 

 stones will not grind, unless they are very sharp, 

 and which are almost as hard and sharp on their 

 edges as pieces of glass. When cob meal is fed 

 to fowls of any kind, they will reject or "spit 

 out" all these flint-like pieces, unless they are 

 Te^y hungry. Horses or oxen do not like it, and 

 they only eat it for the sake of the corn meal. 

 The-^e thin, hiird plafes will not digest in their 

 stomachs, and unless their bowels are very loose, 

 when these substances are passing in the odure, 

 through the rectum of the animal, they scratch 

 it, and cut it to such an extent as to Cfiuse de- 

 rangement of the animal system, and even 

 death. 



" BuS" says Mr. Objector, "how do you know 

 all this ?" When a person dies suddenly, and 

 arse' ic is found in his stomach, how do we know 

 that his death was caused by poisoning ? When 

 a dog is fed a ball of dough filled with glass, 

 pounded fine, f.nd he dies suddenly, and we find 

 upon examination, that his intestines are all cut 

 through, how do we know that the glass killed 

 him ? So, when animals that have been accus- 

 tomed to eat cob meal, lie down and die unex- 

 pectedly, an! we find their intestines all cut 

 through in place?, what good reason have we for 

 thinking that cob meal caused their death ? 



A few years ago, a neighbor of mine who was 

 accustomed to feed much meal of corn ground in 

 the ear, told me that one of his fat oxen seemed 

 ill, and would not eat well, and he discovered 

 that " every time he voided excrement, it would 

 be covered- in places with blood." He omitted 

 cob meal and the ox soon recovered. Of course, 

 he immediately abandoned the feeding of cob 

 meal. In another part of this county a farmer 

 was fattening a yoke of good oxen, by feeding 

 tbem the meal of Indian corn, ground in the ear; 

 they were fed about a half bushel per day apiece. 

 One was taken ill very suddenly, and refused to 

 eat, and before the cause could be determined, 

 he was dead. A post mortem examination dis- 

 closed to the owner that the rectum ot the ox 

 was scratched and cut through in places, by the 

 hard scales found in the corn cob, and had be- 

 come so much inflamed as to prevent the passage 

 of the odure. In a few days the other ox was 

 afi'ected in the same manner, and died in the 

 same way as the first |one. A post mortem ex- 

 amination disclosed the SBme appearances which 

 were brought to light in the examination of the 

 first one. The verdict was, that the death of toe 

 oxen was caused by thejmechanical action of the 

 hard substances — thin plates — which are found 

 m corn-cobs, which wounded the rectum as they 

 ^ere passing through it, thus producing inflam- 

 mation, and stopping the passage of the oduer. 

 A near neighbor of mine lost a very yaluable 

 liorse, which died yery suddenly. I inquired if 



they were able to satisfy their minds as to the 

 cause of his death ? I was told that after a poet 

 mortem examination, the unanimous decision 

 was, that "his death was caused by the mechan- 

 ical injury which his intestines received from 

 eating meal of corn ground in the ear." 



Now, these are facts which cannot be refuted, 

 and I have received them, tot tenth handed, but 

 from the mouths of the o\^ners cf the animals 

 alluded to. My own experience is decidedly 

 against feeding corncobs iu any form, or to any 

 animals, and I do not know of a good farmer in 

 this region who does not coincide with me on 

 this subject, although most of us were formerly 

 accustomed to feed corn-cob meal. The cobs of 

 old corn are very much worse than those of new 

 corn, because the little, hard scales in the cobs 

 of the new are not so hard as they become a'^tcr 

 being dried for six or ten months. 



My own practice with corn-cobs has been, for 

 a number of years, to put them around sroall 

 fruit trees, or on knolls in my fields, where the 

 soil is of a stubborn character, aud rather thin. 

 Many farmers cast them into the highway, or in 

 some other place where they are in the way, or 

 where they do not benefit the farm. But they 

 are an excellent material for mulching young 

 trees, and the more we can get on, or mingle 

 would be inconvenient to "wait a little longer." 



When the manure and frame are both fixed, a 

 half inch of soil should be -thrown over the ma- 

 nure unper the sash to absorb the grrss gases 

 that would el*e be too strong. For a few days 

 after, the heat will be too violent, but when the 

 thermometer indicates a temperature of 90°, op- 

 erations Esay begin; but the usual aim is 70°. 

 When the bed shows signs of getting below this, 

 linings of stable manure must be applied round 

 the frames, one and a half feet thick, and if 

 boards, shutters, mats, or any similar material 

 can be spread over these linings, the heat will 

 be maintained much longer. 



Having secured the hot-bed, dahlias, annuals, 

 cucumbers, tomatoes, pepper?, egg-plants, and 

 other interesting things can be started, by which 

 we can get several weeks ahead of our neighbors 

 in the enjoyment of vegetable luxuries, and 

 when done with the bed in May, it will be 

 the very place for gloxinias achimenes, and many 

 other beautiful house plants which delight in a 

 warm, moist heat. 



*9* 



Cruess. 



I love a maid, a mystic maid. 



Whose form no eyes but mine can see; 

 She comes in light, she comes In shade, 



And beautiful in both is she. 

 He shape in dreams I oft behold, 



And oft she whispers i my ear 

 Such words as, when to ot ers told. 



Awake the sigh or wrii:g the tear : 

 Then gu ss, guess, who she, 

 The lady of my love may be, 



I find the lustre of her brow 



Come o'er me in my darlcest ways ; 

 And feel as if her voice, e'ien now, 



AVere echoing far ofif my lays. 

 There is no scene of joy or woe. 



But she doth gild with influence bright; 

 And shed o'er all so rich a glow. 



As makes e'en tears se m full of light." 

 Then guess, guess, w ho she. 

 The lady of my love may be. 



