548 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



[September 



labour being superseded by steam-power, 

 might not a considerable amount of produce, 

 now consumed by working stock, be availa- 

 ble to the sustenance of man ? These are 

 questions of great importance, and deserving 

 the consideration of all classes of the com- 

 munity — to the landowner, in maintaining 

 the revenue from his estates : to the tenant 

 farmer, in increasing his profit ; to the la- 

 bourer in husbandry, in increasing the com- 

 forts of life; and to all other classes of so- 

 ciety, in the cheapening the production of 

 the fruits of the soil. All classes of society 

 are more or less directly interested in the 

 promotion of the application of steam-power 

 to the tillage and other operations of agri- 

 culture* 



In conclusion, the writer has to remark 

 that he has not been actuated in giving pub- 

 licity to the foregoing suggestions from any 

 expectation of any particular benefit to him- 

 self ; but a conviction of the feasibility of 

 his suggestions, at a cost of power and 

 means, much less than any hitherto brought 

 before the public, and the great national in- 

 terest of so important a matter, have prompt- 

 ed him to publish, through the medium of 

 the columns of a serial of such widely-ex- 

 tended circulation as the Farmer's Magazine, 

 in the hope that by doing it may induce 

 others more competent to the task than him- 

 self to stimulate the attention of the inge- 

 nious and enterprising to bring to perfection 

 an object which, notwithstanding its great 

 national importance, has hitherto made such 

 slow progress. It is matter to excite wonder, 

 in this age of invention and improvement in 

 every other department of the industry of 

 • the nation, that to that of the very first im- 

 portance, steam-power should still remain so 

 imperfect in application, especially when the 

 advantages to be derived thereform are so 

 obvious, and so important to all classes of 

 society. Should any reader, into whose 

 hands this paper may come, desire any fur- 

 ther information or explanation on the sub- 

 jects treated of, the writer will be most hap- 

 py, on application to the under-written ad- 

 dress, to afford any that he may possess or 

 can obtain. 



51, Newgate Street, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 

 August 1, 1859. 



The Keeping of Cattle: How to Save 

 Most in the Operation. 



Mr. Alderman Mechi, of Tiptree Hall, Eng- 

 land, who has for some time filled so large a 

 place in the public eye, at least in that of the 

 agriculturists, has adopted and earnestly re- 

 commends for the keeping of farm stock, when 

 confined or shut up, a peculiar form of floor, 

 which has been variously named the "board- 

 ed," "spaced" or "sparred" floor, along with 

 certain appurtenances to be named. The plan 

 he credits to a certain Mr. Huxtable ; but a 

 writer in the Stock Journal declares that it 

 Was known to be in use in the west of England 

 some thirty-five years ago, before the time of 

 Mr. II., and that he has seen it in use for hogs 

 in our Western States. 



Mr. Mechi has first of all prepared below 

 each of his floors, a vault that will contain the 

 droppings of the animals on it, together with 

 needful absorbents, as muck or charcoal, until 

 the proper time for removing the manure. He 

 makes his floors for cattle, of 3x4 inch bars, 

 with 1-} inch intervals; for calves, 2x3, with 

 If inch spaces ; for grown sheep and hogs, 

 1^x3, with 1\ inch spaces; and less for lambs 

 and pigs. The wood he employs is hard and 

 well-seasoned, and the strips run lengthwise of 

 the stall. It has been suggested that the ma- 

 nure being removed twice in each winter, a 

 total depth below the floor of about four feet 

 would be needed for the vault, the floor for 

 convenience to be a foot or more above ground ; 

 and that, in case of the droppings freezing 

 between the strips, a hoe with a wide blade for 

 cleaning on the strips, and a narrow one for 

 working between them, would be desirable. 



It is claimed that spaced floors are sufficient- 

 ly clean without litter, and, indeed, that with 

 any kind of litter they are more damp and un- 

 comfortable. For warmth, reliance is placed 

 in excluding currents of air from below, mak- 

 ing the vault tight on all sides. As it is the 

 animal that furnishes the heat to be desired, 

 and heated air rises, a colder body of air in 

 the vault will rest there, and not rise about the 

 animal. To economize heat still more, Mr. 

 Mechi stalls his oxen or cows in pairs. The 

 ardent advocates of the new plan estimate 

 that, by means of the saving secured in feed 

 and in litter, twenty -jive per cent, more stock 

 can be wintered well on the same stores now 

 consumed ; some say even fifty per cent. more. 



The advantages as summed .up in the Stock 

 Journal are these: 1st, One-fourth more stock 

 wintered; 2d, With this increase of animals, 

 and the same feed, forty to fifty per cent, of 

 effective manure ; 3d, A great saving of labor 

 in cleaning the stalls ; 4th, From the increase 

 of manure, twenty-five per cent, more of farm 

 produce; 5tb, and finally, All these gains 

 equivalent to a corresponding increase of land 

 or of working capital. 

 Having thus presented the plan of spaced 



