THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



wide, and twenty-five feet high in ihe walls. It 

 consists of three stories. The basement is de- 

 voted to the stock and the storage of vegetables 

 in winter, the second and third to hay and grain. 

 The main entrance for produce is in the third 

 story, which, from the barn being on the side of 

 a hill, is nearly level with the ground. A floor 

 runs lengthwise through the barn on this story, 

 and the hay and the other articles are pitched 

 downward into the bays on each side. The 

 barn is capable of containing two hundred tons 

 of hay, and it is so disposed that scarcely any 

 of it has to be raised higher than the wagon 

 from which it is thrown. Only two hands are 

 necessary to unload — one to pitch ofT, and one 

 to keep the mow level, thus saving a great 

 amount of labor, compared with what is required 

 in barns of common construction. 



The apartments for the cattle are complete. 

 The walls, which are of very solid stone-work, 

 are plastered, and though cool in summer, we 

 should suppose they would be so warm in winter 

 that no frost would be found there ; windows in 

 each side permit free ventilation. The fodder is 

 thrown into racks for the stock from the " feed- 

 ing floor" in the second story. In front of the 

 racks are mangers to catch any straw that drop 

 from the racks, as the fodder is pulled out by the 

 animals. An open space is left between the 

 racks and mangers, which allows the animals 

 ready access to fresh air, prevents the hay in the 

 racks from being made unpalateable by their 

 breath, and gives room also to slip in boxes, 

 when it is wished to feed with slops or roots. 

 The man who had charge of the stock said he 

 could feed and take care of a hundred animals 

 in this barn, with less labor than he could ma- 

 nage twenty in any other barn he ever saw. 

 The cattle stand on a platform with a gentle 

 slope, which renders it easier to keep them clean 

 and dry. The cows are tied with chains around 

 the neck, and are always milked in their stalls, 

 summer and winter. They are milked exactly 

 at fixed times. So punctual are the attendants 

 to this, that a clock is kept in the apartment and 

 the herdsman told us at what moment the cows 

 would be in their places. 



The barn yard is so contrived that none of the 

 manure is wasted. It is kept littered with straw 

 and such waste matters as can be procured, and 

 the manure from the stalls is made into compost 

 with that in the yard, mixed with muck, and is 

 not used until it has become fine by decompo- 

 sition. — Cultivator. 



WHITE AND YELLOW INDIAN CORN MEAL. 



The following observations in relation to In- 

 dian corn meal were communicated to the Jour- 

 nal of Commerce by a physician in the city of 

 New York : 



Yellow corn and white corn are not the same 



in quality, although they are identical in kind, 

 and may grow in the same field. The nutritive 

 qualities of the yellow corn surpasses that of 

 the white, and that is a good reason why the 

 common sense of the people, or their ordinary 

 experience, assigns to it a preference, indepen- 

 dently of its mere looks. 



The investigations, or vegetable chemistry 

 have revealed to us many important and inte- 

 resting facts. By the aid of analysis, it has 

 been ascertained that butter, in a pure state, is 

 combined in all, or nearly all grapes, seeds and 

 grains. Out of one hundred weight of yellow 

 Indian corn meal, for instance, a good chemist 

 can extract from eight to ten pounds of butter. 

 Out of the same weight of white Indian meal, 

 six or eight per cent, of butter can be made, 

 thus proving it to be in that proportion, so much 

 the less nutritious. Of the nutritious quality of 

 Indian meal, any one can satisfy himself by at- 

 tending to the usual process of cooking it. — 

 When it is boiled thick, as in making mush, if 

 a crust adheres to the side of the vessel, on cool- 

 ing, it is apt to peal off, of itself, owing to this 

 fatty material in it. 



It has furthermore been proved, that the but- 

 ter, obtained from the cream of milk, is not ani- 

 mal secretion, but that it previously existed in 

 the pure and original state, in the hay or food of 

 the cow; and a skilful chemist can make more 

 butter out of a hundred weight of hay, than a 

 j cow can, as the cow must appropriate a consi- 

 ! derable share of it for the uses and necessities 

 | of her organization. Give a cow a hundred 

 pounds of hay, and she will render back eight 

 pounds of butter, but an expert chemist can re- 

 alize twelve or thirteen pounds out of it. 



In the choice of the various articles of food, 

 to suit our taste on particular occasions — to cor- 

 respond to the multiplied emergencies of life — 

 the adaptations of the multifarious sorts and 

 qualities of food, display infinite wisdom and 

 goodness. In sickness, in health, in toil, while 

 our means abound, and when they are scanty, 

 we demand different kinds of food, and different 

 varieties of the same kind, to satisfy our real 

 and Imaginary wants. Of the grain stuffs, rice 

 contains the least fatty material, and Indian corn 

 the most, and ranging between these two ex- 

 tremes, we have wheat, oats, rye, barley, &c, 

 all different, and yet all of them capable of being 

 applied to the respective conditions which are 

 suited to them. 



It is on account of the fatty nature of Indian 

 corn meal that it is such a strong kind of food, 

 and that persons unaccustomed to it cannot at 

 first endure it. The nations which feed chiefly 

 on rice, are not near so robust as those which 

 use Indian corn, as the blacks of the south mostly 

 do. Persons unaccustomed to this kind of food, 

 therefore, will do best to commence with the 

 white Indian meal, in preference to the yellow, 



