THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



653 



of bushels of corn go through the destruc- 

 tive process, in one of these establish- 

 ments in a single day; and if the same 

 quantity was only to be prepared as food 

 for swine, with boilers constructed alone 

 for that purpose, the same work could be 

 performed with greater facility, and less 

 labour. To provide a boiler and steam 

 vat of a capacity suited to extensive feed- 

 ing, with the necessary fixtures, would 

 cost several hundred, or perhaps a thou- 

 sand dollars, but like many other branches 

 of business, we are convinced that the 

 larger the establishment, the more profita- 

 bly it may be conducted, and that, not 

 only may the cost of the fixtures soon be 

 saved, but a large per centage of the 

 corn usually fed. We have before given 

 a very excellent plan for the construction 

 of suitable steaming works, adapted to ex- 

 tensive feeding. Since then a new and 

 valuable steam boiler and furnace before 

 referred to by us and suited to moderate 

 operations, has been invented and is now 

 manufactured and sold by Hedges & Free„ 

 of Cincinnati, Ohio, and which is illustra- 

 ted in the present Volum.e of the Valley 

 Farmer, page 21. 



We are perfectly satisfied from our own 

 repeated experiments, which have been 

 fully sustained by those conducted by 

 others, that with a suitable estai)lishment 

 of capacity adapted to the end in view, a 

 gre^it saving may be secured by this 

 method of preparing food for swine, and 

 we believe with scarcely less profit for 

 beef cattle. We wish some philanthropic, 

 enterprising farmer, would take the nriat- 

 ter in hand, and make an experiment on 

 a dozen or more bullocks, through a full 

 course of fattening, on steamed food, both 

 grain and hay, with an equal number fed 

 in the ordinary way. 



If grain is not to be cooked, we still 

 contend, as we ever have, that it should 

 be well ground, whether fed to hogs, cat- 

 tle, or horses, and to cattle and horses it 

 should always be given in combination 

 with the coarser food. 



Waterproofs. — For hats, boil 8 lbs. of 

 shellac, 3 lbs of frankincense, and 1 lb. of 

 borax, in sufficient water. To waterproof 

 cloth for sportsmen, dip it in a solution of 

 acetate of lead, with a gum and solution of 

 alum (both solutions of the same strength.) 

 For modus operandi, see Phar. Jour. 



From the Working Farmer. 



Water— Its Importance in Vegetation. 



This fi^eneml vehicle in nature, by the help 

 of wliich all the gases resulting from decom- 

 position are collected and carried to the roots 

 of plants ; the excretory gases of all animals 

 find their way through the delicate pores of 

 the skin ; and by its presence as a lubricator, 

 all matter is rendered in degree mobile, as may 

 be required, without a corresponding amount 

 of chafing or friction. It becomes the cleanser 

 of the atmosphere as in the falling of dew, and 

 the solvent of the more staple inorganic con- 

 stituents of the soil, carrying these into plant- 

 life and exuding itself in a pure condition 

 from the surface of leaves, ready to re-perform 

 its voyage of usefulness. It holds many inor- 

 ganic substances and compounds without in- 

 crease of its own bulk ; during summer, when 

 the scorching rays of the sun might otherwise 

 destroy plants, the curious property of water 

 during evaporation of taking up and rendering 

 latent large amounts of heat, prevents the dis- 

 organization of leaves and tissues by thus re- 

 ducing their temperature. The all-pervading 

 moisture of the atmosphere is carried into 

 soils, and there deposited on the surfaces of 

 particles colder than itself, presenting infi- 

 nitesimal fibres through which nature's gases 

 may percolate, and by the presence of which 

 their effects on inorganic matter are many times 

 multiplied; for to its presence is due that 

 change of condition in inorganic nature which 

 defies the scrutiny of tlie chemist and the phi- 

 losopher, and without which organic life could 

 not progress. 



The leader of Ilovey's Journal of Horticid- 

 fiire for June, is as follows : — [En. 



" Water," says Loudon, " whether as a 

 source of nutriment, or a medium of effecting 

 various other objects, is one of the most im- 

 portant agents in cultivation." It is, perhaps, 

 quite unnecessary that we should make this 

 quotation from so eminent a writer as Mr. 

 Loudon, who undoubtedly has said only what 

 others have said before him, as the basis of our 

 remarks, or that we should suppose any culti- 

 vator, who knows anything about vegetation, 

 would have any other idea in regard to the im- 

 portance of water in the growth and^ulture of 

 trees and plants, than that contained in the 

 above extract. Without water, all vegetation 

 would cease at once. The simplest individual 

 undersitands this. No plant could perform its 

 necessary functions for any length of time, un- 

 less we except the cacta) and some other pecu- 

 liar tribes ; and hence its use and value are, to 

 a certain degree, appreciated and acknowledg- 

 ed by all. But it is only in degree — for very 

 few even among intelligent cultivators really 

 know how great an agent it really is, and a 

 still less number who understand the princi- 

 ple of its application, or the requisite know- 

 ledge to attain the best results from its use. 



