688 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[November 



*o make wheat, corn, roots, and other vege- 

 tables grow, upon which man and beast sub- 

 sist. He should be a reader of agricultural 

 books and periodicals, a careful observer of 

 nature, a close thinker, a correct reasoner, 

 so as to be able to draw correct conclusions. 

 In making experiments, he should do it at 

 first on a small scale, and according to his 

 means, and repeat them a sufficient number 

 of times to establish their certainty. But, 

 then, there would be less need of his mak- 

 ing experiments, if he read more and under- 

 stood better the experiments of others. 

 Books should be "the man of his counsel 

 and the lamp to his feet to guide him in the 

 path of duty," because books contain the 

 experiments and the experience of others. 

 Still he should not believe in the truth of 

 every statement which he finds in agricul- 

 tural books and papers, especially in the 

 latter, because many of the writers in the 

 agricultural papers are uneducated men, 

 honest and truthful, but they do not know 

 the whole truth, and are liable to make 

 wrong statements. For instance, in the use 

 of salt, quicklime, potash, &c, for agricul- 

 tural purposes, great caution is necessary, 

 however strongly they may be recommended ) 

 because, when improperly used, or in wrong- 

 quantities, they are very destructive to vege 

 tation. It is chiefly owing to "the mistakes 

 which have been made in the use of these 

 and such like articles, that so many preju- 

 dices exist against book knowledge. 



Practical agriculture is founded on science, 

 experiment and experience; in other words, 

 it is practical knowledge applied to farming, 

 whether that knowledge be derived from 

 books containing the result of other men's 

 experience, or from our own thoughts, study 

 and experience. At any rate, it is not 

 visionary or theoretical, but practical. It 

 consists in applying the well-known and 

 well-established principles in the science of 

 agriculture to the cultivation and improve- 

 ment of the soil, in rendering it more pro- 

 ductive and better fitted for the support and 

 accommodation of man and beast. We 

 have many practical farmers who do not 

 pretend to be very scientific, or much given 

 to experiment, but whose practice works to 

 a charm. They read and think and judge 

 for themselves, and apply in practice what- 

 ever appears to be right and reasonable. 

 They are not only practical, but progressive 

 farmers. They are continually learning 

 more and more, and doing better, every 



year. They go on from one degree of im- 

 provement to another, so that you may 

 know them by their good fruits, as well as 



by their good works. 



John Goldsbtjry. 



From the Country Gentleman and Cultivator. 



Cooked and Uncooked Food for Swine, 

 and how much Pork a Bushel of Corn 

 will Make. 



Several articles have appeared in the 

 Country Gentleman, during the past year, 

 on the above questions. These same ques- 

 tions were propounded years ago, and men 

 then, as they do now^ gave their opinions 

 and the results of their experiments, and 

 they differed widely then, aud so they do 

 now, and these questions are still open for 

 discussion, and probably will so remain for a 

 long time to come. 



Ask any number of farmers which would 

 fatten swine the fastest, cooked ruta bagas 

 and a given amount of barley meal, or raw 

 grated bagas and the same amount of meal, 

 probably nine-tenths of them would say 

 those fed on the cooked bagas w r ould fatten 

 the fastest. 



A few years since the result of such an 

 experiment was reported in the Irish Farm- 

 er's Gazette: 



"Eight hogs were selected and divided 

 into two lots as evenly as could be, and put 

 up to fatten on the 27th of November. Each 

 lot was fed regularly three times a day, hav- 

 ing each 12 pounds of bran and barley 

 meal, the only difference being that one lot 

 had steamed ruta bagas, and the other 

 pulped (grated) raw ruta bagas. The ex- 

 periment was continued thirty-nine days; 

 the lot having cooked food eat 468 pounds 

 of bran, &c., and 10,920 pounds of ruta 

 bagas, and increased 103 pounds, while the 

 lot having uncooked food eat 468 pounds 

 of bran, &c, and only 5,460 pounds of ruta 

 bagas, and gained 110 pounds. It will be 

 seen that the lot w r ith cooked food eat twice 

 as much ruta bagas as the lot having un- 

 cooked, and at the same time did not gain 

 as much in weight by seven pounds." 



The foregoing is certainly a very xmlooked 

 for result — an entire loss of 5,460 pounds of 

 bagas, and the expense of cooking, and the 

 less gain in weight of hogs by seven 

 pounds. 



Some may ask if there is a loss in cooking 

 bagas and other roots, is it not better to cook 

 the meal fed to swine. The late Mr. Col- 



