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1863. 



THE ILLINOIS FARMElfe. 



83 



juice. But it was questionable policy giving to an 

 animal, and especially a ruminant animal, cooked 

 food, for thus they might, to a considerable extent, 

 supercede mastication ; if so, they would super- 

 cede insalivation, and thus interfere with one df 

 the chief processes of nature. The addition of sali- 

 va was first to convert the amylaceous parts of the 

 food, or starch, into sugar and gummy matter. A 

 further provision was made in the ruminant ani- 

 mal for stirring up, if he might so express it, the 

 food, and a chemical change took place in its char- 

 acter before it passed into the true digestive stoni- 

 ach. There was a re-mastication and a re-insali- 

 Tation ; and, inasmuch as the secretions coming 

 from the rumen, first coat of the complex stomach, 

 were very analogous to those with which the food 

 was mixed in the mouth, it not only remained 

 mixed with saliva a much longer time, but was 

 mixed with a much greater quantity of that or a 

 like substance. If, then, by the use of cooked 

 food they dispensed with part of the operations of 

 nature, and sent the food quicker into the intes- 

 tinal canal, they would dispense with process of 

 remastication and re-insalivation ; and he could 

 imderstand why, although a large increase might 

 take place in bulk, the animal might become bad. 

 The digestive process depends materially upon the 

 condition of the food ; it is even possible, by giv- 

 ing cooked food, or food which was physical- 

 ly in the same condition with regard to fine- 

 ness and moisture, to render animals non-rumina- 

 tive which are naturally ruminants ; that is to say 

 we may give them food that would be retained for 

 a short time in the rumen, pass quickly into the 

 true digestive stomach and become subject to the 

 action of the true digestion without undergoing 

 re-mastication. We would thus interfere at once 

 with the law of nature : if we cooked food at all, 

 we ought not before cooking to reduce it too fine. 

 If the stra^ be cut into lengths of from four to six 

 inches, a cooking process may be set up so as to 

 convert the amylaceous parts into sugar, without 

 interfering with the functions of the rumen ; 

 but such food would be re-masticated. Upon the 

 whole, he was certainly not in favor of the so-call- 

 ed system of cooking food, either for the preser- 

 vation of the health of the animal, or for the pro- 

 motion of the process of digestion. 



The above we cut from the Wisconsin Farmer, 

 whose editor has recently returned from England. 

 There where labor and coal are both cheap, and 

 food dear, we should find cooked food popular if 

 anywhere, but it would appear not to be so, how 

 much less, then should it be approved here where 

 food is cheap and labor and fuel dear. We give 

 the article, not so much for its value to our far- 

 mers, but to answer several inquiries from our 

 readers. — Ed. 



-»•»- 



Hogs in the Apple Orchard — Nobody sends 

 such apples to market as my neighbor, John Jacobs. 

 He always has apples to sell and gets the highest 

 prices. Polks prefer fair, large apples ; and such 

 are always packed in Jacob's barrels. You might 

 search them with a candle and not find a knotty 

 truit or a worm hole. Such Rhode Island Green- 

 ings and Roxbury Russets I have never met with 



in the old States. They are as handsome as any- 

 thing in the virgin soils of the West. 



I was going by Jacob's orchard last summer, and 

 I had the curiosity to call and examine for myself. 

 Says I, " Neighbor, what is there in your soil that 

 makes such smooth, large apples? They are a 

 third bigger than anything I can get, and my trees 

 look as well as yours." 



" The secret is not in the soil," John replied, 

 with a twinkle of his eye, " but on it. Do you see 

 those grunters there ? My pork brings me fifty 

 cents a pound, eight in flesh and the balance in 

 fruit. I began to pasture my orchard ten years ago 

 with hogs, and since that time I have had no trou- 

 ble with wormy fruit. Apples, as a general thing, 

 don't fall from the tree unless something is the mat- 

 ter with them. The apple-worm and curculio lay 

 their eggs in the fruit, and the apples drop early. 

 The pigs devour the apples, and by September 

 every unsound apple is gone and I have nothing 

 but fair fruit left. The crop of insects for the next 

 year is destroyed by the pigs. They root around 

 under the trees, keep the soil loose, manure the 

 land some, and work over what manure I spread. 

 The apples help the pigs, and the pigs help the 

 apples." 



I saw John's secret at once, and have profited 

 by it. I never had so few insects as this spring, 

 and I have given the pigs credit for it. In turn- 

 ing the orchard into a pasture put in pigs — not 

 landpikes with snouts like levers. You might lose 

 trees as well as insects in that case. But well bred 

 animals, with judicious snouts, will root in a sub- 

 dued and Christian-like manner. — American Agri- 

 culturist. 



The Horse Market. 



Hitherto but little attention has been paid to 

 breeding horses for special purposes in this coun- 

 try, as in England. The reason for this probably 

 is that our American horses are used alternately 

 for all the different kinds of work — the plow, the 

 cart, the saddle and the road, as occasion may re- 

 quire, and they do each about equally well. In this 

 country, and especially in New England, the de- 

 mand seems to be for horses of all work, and while 

 this is the case they will be bred to suit the wants 

 of purchasers. 



The Morgan horses of Vermont or New Hamp- 

 shire are peculiarly adapted to supply the demand, 

 as they are equally useful upon the farm, under the 

 saddle, or for fast or slow driving upon the road, 

 and do that work best that they have been most 

 carefully trained to. They are very strong for their 

 inches, hardy and nervous, and smart in the per- 

 formance of any work put upon them, while thejrj 

 are of medium size, very tractable and docile. Fi 

 these qualities they have become famous all ovi 

 this country, and command a high and remune: 

 tive price in any market. In New England th^i^ 

 are but very few horses that cannot be traced, on 

 one side or the other, back to the famous Justin 

 Morgan. They are now bred to some extent in 

 Pennsylvania, Ohio and Virginia. Vermel espe- 

 cially has realized great profits from the produc- 

 tion of these horses, and they are sent into all the 

 Western States and California for breeding and 

 other purposes, where they occupy an enviable po- 

 sition among all other breeds or familiearaof these 

 noble animals. 



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