t 



THE SOUTHER N P L A N TEH. 



Ill 



Nos. j Bushels consumed. 



Gain in 20 days. 



Lbs. of Pork to 

 1 bu. Corn. 



Corn 

 per bushel. 



Cost of Pork per 

 pound. 



r> & 64 and 10 lbs. boiled meal. 

 3 & 4 6 and 28 lbs. dry corn. 



71 pounds. 

 44 pounds. 



17 lbs. 72-100. 

 G lbs. 77-100. 



28 cents, 

 do 



1 cent 5 mills. 

 4 cents 1 " 



It will be seen that during the twelve 

 days, when the hogs were first put up and 

 all fed together on cooked meal, that No. 

 5 gained twenty -five pounds, which on the 

 first trial after they were separated and fed 

 thirty days on dry corn, consumed 202^ 

 pounds, and gained but ten pounds ; this, 

 estimating the corn at 28 cents per bushel, 

 brings the meal at 10 cents and 1 mill per 

 pound ; and when changed again on the 

 second trial, to boiled meal, consumed but 

 117 pounds in twenty-six days, and gained 

 forty pounds, which, at the same rate per 

 bushel, reduces the gain to one cent and 

 four mills per pound. 



No. 4, in the first twelve days, fed on the 

 cooked meal, made a gain of thirty-six 

 pounds, or three pounds a day ; and when 

 separated and continued thirty days on 

 cooked meal, consumed but 135 pounds, 

 and gained fifty pounds, which brings the 

 cost of the meat too?iecent and three mills j 

 per pound ; but when changed to dry corn 

 cm the second trial, consumed 182 pounds ; 

 in twenty-six days, and gained but /mlbs.,1 

 which again increases the cost of the pork ' 

 gained to nine cents and one mill per lb. j 



In conclusion, Mr. Clay states : " 1 now 

 give my mode of preparing the food. Ij 

 have two large 60 gallon kettles, fixed 

 upon small furnaces, (Mott's agricultural ' 

 furnaces,) that when full hold but a small' 

 armful of wood. I put 50 pounds of meal 

 to a kettle, and then fill it with water; 

 when cooked this makes 405 pounds of 

 slop. I find that my cows and horses are j 

 very, fond of it, and improved finely on it. 

 I am of opinion it would be better to cookj 

 food for all kinds of stock." 



Mr. Clay did not take into the account 

 the quantity of w 7 ood consumed, as that 

 was chips and trash picked up on the farm. 



With an apparatus arranged upon aj 

 large scale, something as we proposed in! 

 our October number, the cooking, we be- 

 lieve, could be done much more economi- ; 

 cally, both as to fuel and labor. 



The experiment shows the advantages 

 of cooking food for hogs, even more con- 

 clusively than we had anticipated, or in ! 

 the articles we have frequently written on : 

 the subject, even claimed for it. 



The 



gain of the hogs 

 meal, is about three times 



to give the most 

 a matter for further 



fed on cooked 

 as great as the 

 gain of those fed on the dry corn, although 

 we think the difference in favor of the 

 cooked meal would have been still greater 

 had the hogs not received the start of 12 

 days feeding on cooked meal before the 

 experiment of putting them on dry coin 

 was commenced. 



Whether the slop fed in this instance 

 was reduced to that consistence calculated 

 favorable results, is still 

 experiment. Some- 

 j what less water might have given a great- 

 er gain ; for it will bj seen that the hogs 

 that were fed on the boiled corn, although 

 they eat more pounds, it was less expand- 

 ed in boiling than the cooked meal, and 

 the hogs gained considerably more in the 

 same time than those fed on the meal, 

 though they eat more corn. 



Farmers heretofore have failed to cook 

 the food for their stock under the impres- 

 sion that the saving would not be equal to 

 the trouble and expense of the operation. 

 Mr. Clay's experiment proves that one 

 oushel of corn fed in the form of cooked 

 meal, is about equal to three bushels of 

 corn fed dry, making a saving of more 

 than 60 bushels in 100 bushels of corn. 

 Now we believe that with a properly con- 

 structed steam vat, 100 bushels of corn in 

 the form of meal, can be cooked at a cost 

 not exceeding the market value of ten 

 bushels of corn. Nor is that all that may 

 be gained by this system of feeding* If 

 a hog fed on cooked meal can be made to 

 gain 50 lbs. in the same time that another 

 hog (equal in all respects) will gain 10 

 pounds when fed on dry corn, bringing it 

 to the maturity of 200 or 300 pounds in 

 the same time that one fed on dry corn 

 can be made to weigh 100 pounds — thus 

 avoiding the risk, trouble and expense of 

 more than half the lifetime of the animal — 

 then certainly every farmer should adopt 

 the system of cooking, without delay. 



Valley Farmer. 



If we all had windows in our breasts, 

 we would take good care to keep the blinds 

 down. 



