234 



THE SOUTHERN PLANtEE. 



four o'clock, P. M., they are again messed, as in 

 the morning; if less roots are given, more bran is 

 added, to the amount of four quarts per mess. 



Our winter milch cows are watered in the stall, 

 morning and evening all they will drink ; for this 

 purpose, water is brought into the stalls by aque- 

 ducts, which much facilitates the labor of watering. 

 The cows watered in stall are only turned out when 

 the weather is pleasant and warm, and then not for 

 much length of time ; for, we deem it a great ob- 

 ject to keep them warm ; and to facilitate this, our 

 stables occupy the basement of our barns, which 

 are made of stone, neatly laid, and plastered and 

 whitewashed inside, to make them sweet, light and 

 clean. Twice per week our cows receive, just be- 

 fore watering, two table spoonfuls of fine salt per 

 head, in winter, and a little more when on grass. 



We feed cabbage, turnips, &c. freely, and to pre- 

 vent the taste in the milk and butter, we put one 

 quart of boiling water to ten quarts of new milk, 

 when it is set for cream. We have learned that in se- 

 ven or eight hours from the time of feeding the above 

 articles, milk will taste badly, consequently care is 

 taken to inform the dairy woman whenever these 

 articles are fed. The water thus applied, renders 

 the milk and butter perfectly sweet and good. 



In summer we seldom milk but twice each day, 

 at five o'clock, A. M. and half past six, P. M. In 

 all points mentioned we are very regular and pre- 

 cise, for which we have clocks in our stables. 



2. Of rearing calves. All calves intended to be 

 raised are weaned at four weeks old, and fed by 

 hand, except bulls, or some special breeders, which 

 we generally put on a poor cow for the season — 

 when commencing to feed by hand, we only give 

 about four quarts of new milk for the first four 

 days ; for the second four days, we add half morn- 

 ing's milk to night's, or vice versa: at eight days 

 feed milk twenty-four hours old, continuing this 

 through the season, increasing the quantity to six 

 quarts, and taking the milk even when skimmed 

 at the ordinary time, finding they do better than 

 not to have it at all. By degrees a little bran is 

 added to the milk, in order to learn them to eat it. 

 When learned, they are fed about one pint each, 

 per day, together with roots and hay at pleasure. 

 They at all times have free access to water, which 

 is brought to their stall by aqueduct. Calves fed 

 on milk need water. 



3. Of the feeding of fattening hogs. At present 

 we do not keep them ; when we did do so, their food 

 was all cooked, except their swill from the dairy 

 and kitchen. They were regularly fed three times 

 each day, giving them on an average about eight 

 quarts of corn per head, per day; that is, for the 

 last four weeks before slaughter, in which time no 

 swill or roots are fed: the object of this is, to 

 harden the pork; perhaps it would not be very 

 profitable to feed in this way for market. The 

 whole period of fattening was about three months ; 

 the first eight weeks potatoes, pumpkins, squashes, 

 &c., &c, are cooked and put with the cooked 

 meal ; the meal being cooked by itself requires a 

 longer time to cook; they are fed of this mixture 

 all they will eat three times each day. Our hogs 

 ased to average about 500 lbs. for a drove of fifty 

 or more — they have averaged as high as 600. It is 

 the decided opinion of some of our best herdsmen, 

 that, since all we can have of a hog is carcass, the 

 sooner this is obtained, the better; of course we 

 t eed all they will eat of fattening material as above 

 from birth till slaughter. Others think they will 

 arrive at about the same size by common food for 



store hogs. But one thing our experience justifies, 

 and that is, that a pig may be made to attain three 

 times the heft in the first six months of its exist- 

 ence by rich and plentiful feed, that it will by the 

 common method. 



Yours truly, G. B. A. 



To D. H. Hatton, Nansemond county, Va. 



From the Journal of Agriculture. 



IS AMMONIA THE SOLVENT OP SILEX IN THE 

 SOIL? 



BY LEVI BARTLETT, WARNER, N. H. 



Mr. Harris, in his review of " Theories Ex- 

 amined and Explained," advances the idea that 

 it is ammonia, and not potash and soda, that is 

 the agent for rendering soluble the silica — a 

 substance so necessary for giving stamina or 

 stiffness to the straw of wheat, stems of corn 

 and other cereals. 



In the October number of the Genesee Far- 

 mer he says: "We know that the amount of 

 ammonia brought to an acre of land each year, 

 by rain and snow, is much more than a crop 

 of wheat ever contains; but where is the evi- 

 dence that in the growth of the plant there is 

 not a destruction of ammonia? Mr. Lawes 

 contends that there is such a destruction, and 

 demonstrated it by his experiments; that, in 

 fact for every pound of ammonia organized in 

 the wheat plant, there is at least five pounds of 

 ammonia used by the plant in the performance 

 of its functions. Mr. Lawes did not clearly 

 perceive how and for what purpose this destruc- 

 tion took place, but was, nevertheless, convinced 

 of the fact. Recently the experiments of Prof. 

 Way render it exceedingly probable that am- 

 monia is used as the solvent and vehicle for 

 carrying silicic acid to the plant, and evaporat- 

 ing when the silica is deposited; just as water 

 is known to do in depositing the elements of 

 plants. Chemists have always had a difficulty 

 in accounting for the manner in which silica 

 was conveyed to the plant; the theory being 

 that it was as a soluble salt of potash or soda ; 

 and the patent of Professor Liebig was for ma- 

 nufacturing this soluble silicate of potash, &c; 

 but from the fact that this patented manure 

 has failed to increase the wheat crop, not only 

 in England, but in Germany, under the imme- 

 diate superintendence of Liebig himself, it is 

 more than probable that silica is not taken up 

 as a silicate of potash. Admit the opinion of 

 Professor Way, and we can account for the 

 benefit of summer fallow on heavy soils — for 

 the manner in which silica is deposited — and 

 for the fact, that in the growth of wheat there 

 is an immense destruction of ammonia, as there 



