1875.] 
AMERICAN AGrRICULTURIST. 
255 
found agree essentially with the German market 
prices ot these products. 
Table 12, below, gives the results ot Dr. WolfE's 
calculations. Note well, that the last column gives 
only the relative value of each, and not the absolute 
or market value in any one place. Thus, taking 
ri/c as a basis, it in a certain amount of this, say 30 
lbs., the digestible albuminoids, tats, etc., are 
worth ?1.00, then the same weight of corn, (30 lbs.) 
is worth 9i cents, cotton-seed meal, $1.6S, and so 
of the other articles named. 
lo !(• in The digest- 
:b«;^ 
Table l*i. 
if c 1= ible organic 
sst^ 
\^ '??^ !§.«■' substance 
,^ =" ~ 
KINDS OF FODDER. 
'-'. -^^ S^ consists 0/ 
PfiKCENTAOE OF DIPFER- 
, C»=; -o^ «-S' 
»ss 
ENT 3UBSTASCKS, ANB 
RELATITE VALTTK. 
^S "-= S-S' . 
iS ,^ is s-s 
a 
III 
|S^< '■^ !=) i-<lK 
o.^' 
i>. 
Rye (Grain) 
83.9 9.4 74.5 9.9 
61. 
1.6 
$1.00 
83. 27.5 55.5 9. 
41.8 
4.7 
.81 
Wheat 'Grain).... 
S3.9 7.9 76. H.7 
63.1 
1.2 
1.07 
84.1 13.1 71. 8.4 
57.8 
4.8 
.94 
Peas 
gj. 10.7 73.6 22. 
49.9 
l.'i 
1.38 
Ship Stuff (St. Louis) ♦ 
85.9 IS.l 67.8 8.7 
57. 1 
2. 
.88 
"Wheat Bran 
81.5 29.6 51.9 10.9:57.6 
3.4 
.87 
Cotton-seed Cake i decor'd) 
82.2 26.5 55.7 2S.8|n. 
9.9 
1.68 
Mearlow Hav . Inferior) 
80.7 41.9 38.8 3.4 
:*4.9 
0.5 
.45 
Meadow Hay (average) — 
79.5 32.1 47.4 5.4 
41.1 
0.9 
.59 
76.3 22.8 53.5 9.2 
4;s.i 
1.2 
.78 
Red Clover Hay taverage). 
78.7 32.4 46.3 7. 
«.l 
1.2 
.65 
Pasture Gr;iS9 
18. 5.3 12.7 2.4 
9.9 
0.4 
Fodder Corn (green) 
Fodder Corn (arr> 
Wheat Straw (winter) 
16.7 5.8 10.9 0.8 
9.9 
0.2 
.12 
80.8 42.4 38.4 1.1 
;<7. 
0.3 
.84 
81.0 47 7 33.9 0.T32.8'0.4 
.29 
* Calculated from an Analysis by Prof. F. H. Storer. 
By comparing the above figures, our correspon- 
dents, and others, may judge of the relative amounts 
of nutritive ingredients in the different foods 
named, and of their r/cneral money value, taken by 
themselves, without reference to any special ob- 
ject in feeding, or what other materials they are to 
be mixed with. But, Mr. Buehi, for example, is 
feeding milch cows. If he feeds for butter chiefly, 
and has good hay, some of the best farmers in this 
region would tell him to use, along with the hay, 
corn-meal, and some oats, and, perhaps, cotton-seed 
meal. If he seUs milk, and wants large quantities 
without reference to any special quality, he would 
probably find it profitable to use bran of wheat or 
rye, with cotton-seed meals and some roots. 
Iflixiuff Value of Grain, Bran, Cotton-Seed, etc. 
The table, (tS), above, shows that there is little 
of digestible albuminoids in corn-stalks, straw, and 
inferior hay, C/, lb to 3', 2 lbs. in 100 lbs. of the fod- 
der, or only '/s to '/; as much as in fine quality hay). 
As previously explained, (AmrrU'an Agriculturist, 
May, 1875), to use these coarser foods economically, 
we must supply their lack of nitrogen or albumi- 
noids. It is very evident then, that the decorticated 
cotton-seed meal or cake, with its 29 per cent of 
digestible albuminoids, is worth more for mixing, 
than corn, wheat, oats, or ship stuil, which contain 
only S'/a to 11 per cent of this. The feeding values 
of cotton-seed meal, bran, oats, com, etc., are not 
exactly proportioned to their content of albumi- 
noids. But that they are approximately so, is 
abundantly shown by experience, by feeding ex- 
periments, and by careful scientific .investigation. 
I hope before long to describe experiments bear- 
ing directly on this subject. 
Fodfter Corn. 
This bids fair to be a dry season, and pasturage 
and hay may be short. One of the best substitutes 
for these is fodder corn. Practical men differ widely 
about the value of corn-stalks for fodder. Some 
attribute their poor success in its use to its " being 
60 watery, and containing so little nutritious sub- 
stance." That this cannot be wholly correct is shown 
by comparison with pasture grass in tb e table above. 
The corn contains on the average 16.7, and the grass 
18 per cent of organic substance, (first column) ; 
the remainder in each case being water, with a 
small quantity of ash, (mineral matters). The pro- 
portions of digestible substance are likewise nearly 
the same, 10.9 and 12.7 percent, while the amounts 
of carbo-hydrates and fats are almost identical. 
The gi'eat, and. in fact, the only e.^sential difference 
in the composition of the two is in the nitrogenous 
substance, (fourth column). The grass contains 
2.4 per cent of albuminoids, while the com contains 
only O.S per cent, just one-third as much. Grass is 
a natural and economical food for cattle. It fur- 
nishes albuminoids and carbo-hydrates in just about 
the proportions naturally adapted to the wants of 
the animal. But animals fed with corn-stalks only, 
would have to consume a very large quantity to 
obtain a sufficient supply of albuminoids, and these 
alone are not economical foods. To be made so, 
other materials rich in nitrogen, as young clover, 
beans, peas, or oil-cake, should be added. Corn- 
meal or ship stuff will also serve the same purpose, 
though less economically as regards food material. 
So says our theory, and I find whenever I inquire 
among our most successful piactical men, that this 
is confirmed by their experience. 1 hope soon to 
present some of the results of their experience on 
this point which have been promised, and will cer- 
tainly be very interesting. 
Ogden Farm Papers.— No. 65. 
BY QEOROB E. WAniNO. JR., 
As I am in no way responsible for making up the 
Agrirulturi-ft, and never know what it is to contain 
until it is actually sent to subscribers, I think it will 
not be out of place for me to call especial attention 
to the June number. It is sometimes s.aid that this 
paper is chiefly valuable as a stepping-stone to 
educate the public up to the point of desiring some- 
thing higher. This may be true in so far as it re- 
lates to the necessity for treating a great variety of 
topics, and to the limited space that prevents long 
disquisitions on abstruse points. Doubtless many 
are stimulated by what they see in these columns 
to pursue their investigations, whether scientific or 
practical, through other channels, where a limited 
number of readers find long essays on various agri- 
cultural subjects. At the same time, although I 
am in the constant receipt of a number of American 
and foreign agricultural publications, I cannot now 
recall a single issue of one of them which contains 
so much practical information, and so man}' valu- 
able suggestions, as this single number of the 
American Agriculturist for June, 1875. 
To begin with Prof. Atwater's paper, on page 
213, we have, in an article only two columns long, 
a concentration of nearly all that is pi-actieally use- 
ful ifi hundreds of pages of scientific dissertation. 
It is not to be understood by this that he has here 
described the various experiments by which certain 
results have been reached, or even alluded to the 
very interesting and instructive reasoning with 
which the accounts ot these experiments have been 
accompanied. What he has done has been simply 
to take the cardinal fact developed by these in- 
vestigations, strip it of all comment, and set it 
forth with the support of one of the most striking 
experiments by which it is demonstrated, in a form 
of real value to everj' farmer who owns an acre of 
grass, and who has the intelligence to understand 
a plain statement. We all know that a general im- 
pression exists that early-cut hay is more valuable 
than that which has been allowed to stand too long, 
and the best farmers make it a point, so far as pos- 
sible, to cut their grass and clover when ncarlj' in 
full blossom ; not one in ten thousand of these 
understands, except in a very general way, the rea- 
son iKhij it is better to do so, and many others, it 
they knew that reason, instead of having only a 
general impressiijn about it, would at once make 
their practice conform to the recommendation. 
No one can read Prof. Atwater's statement intel- 
ligently, without regarding the early cutting of hay 
as not only advisable, but absolutely essential to 
the most successful hay-making. 
The account of Mr. Crozier's experiment and ap- 
parent success in crossing the Southdown and the 
Cotswold is a step in the right direction. It may, 
of course, well be doubted whether he has yet suc- 
ceeded in establishing a true and persistent breed ; 
in fact, he evidently doubts it himself. It may 
'even be early to give a name to the new race ; and 
the portrait of one of the animals published, will 
probably be found in the end to be rather an in- 
teresting record of progress than an illustration of 
an established success. It is only five years since 
this cniss was made, and twenty years would be a 
ebort. time in which to eetablieh a peTMit«Dt new 
race, but if Mr. Crozier pursues his plan resolutely 
and intelligently, there is reason to hope that he 
will give to the country a new breed of sheep bet- 
ter adapted for many of our circumstances than 
any we have yet had. 
"Walks and Talks " is this month full of good 
sense and solid information, and Mr. Lawes' often- 
adduced experiments are made to serve an unusu- 
ally good purpose, as showing how constantly the 
profit of a given crop bears relation not only to the 
extent to which it is manured, but also to the kind 
of manuring it receives. If any one item can be 
said to be the keynote to profitable farming, it is 
just this : a realization of the value ot the right 
kinds of manure applied in the right proportions 
to certain crops. Concerning the controversy be- 
tween the author of these papers and Mr. George 
Geddes, I prefer to say Uttle ; as they are both of 
them men from whom I learn, rather than men 
between whom I should presume to decide. I have 
only to say, (since I am referred to in connection 
with the discussion), that I am still of the opinion 
that there is a loss of nitrogen, or at least a loss ot 
its most valuable form, constantly going on in the 
soU, and especially so in a cultivated soil, and that 
this loss is greater under summer-fallowing than 
under summer cultivation. In other words : that 
whenever the soil is plowed or stirred, so that the 
admission of air is facilitated, it sustains a loss in 
available nitrogen. That in many soils and in 
many circumstances this loss is more than com- 
pensated for by other effects of the oxygen which 
causes it, I do not doubt. In the present state of 
our knowledge on the subject, the question whether 
the gain more than counterbalances the loss, can 
only be decided by actual experiments with differ- 
ent soils. Probably summer-fallowing will be 
profitable in some cases and not so in others, and 
from the opposite views held by these disputants, 
both practical observing men, it is not unreasona- 
ble to think that it may be advantageous with .Mr. 
Harris and objectionable with Mr. Geddes. 
It is not often that we find in the same paper two 
articles that play into each other's hands, as do 
those of *' Storing Brewers' Grains," and " Curing 
Green Corn-Fodder " ; the principle that operates 
in both cases being essentially the same. The re- 
commendation with regard to brewers' grains is 
perhaps of somewhat limited application, but if the 
storage of corn-fodder in the manner described can 
be made as successful here as in the French experi- 
ments described, there is hardly a limit to its im- 
portance. The principle involved is not a new one, 
and, indeed, I described in these papers some years 
ago a similar custom prevailing in parts of Ger- 
many. Of course, in cold climates it will be neces- 
sary to make the protection against frost very com- 
plete, although doubtless the slight heat of fermen- 
tation will always have some effect in protecting 
the material. Throughout nearly the whole coun- 
try there is no crop that can at all compare, when 
we' consider both its value pound for pound, and 
the enormous yield that may be obtained from an 
acre, with corn-fodder. Whether the purpose be 
to make butter, or cheese, or beef, or to keep young 
stock in thrifty, growing condition, it is at once 
most palatable and nutritious, and by its aid we 
may keep a larger stock on a given area of land 
than would be possible with any other form of iood 
adapted to our climatic conditions. The statement 
in the article under consideration and in the ac- 
counts of the German practice, that fodder kept in 
this way retains its feeding value throughout the 
entire winter, seems to be fuUy sustained, and in 
my own branch of farming— the making of butter 
—it there were no other argument to recommend 
the system, it would be auflScient that it furnishes 
a succnlent green food throughout the wmter sea- 
son, of a sort that will ensure a large yield at reason- 
able cost, and will maintain almost a summer-color- 
ing of the product of the dairy at a tune when, with 
our ordinary forage, butter is almost as white as 
tallow. The appliances for storing corn-fodder, as 
described, are simple and inexpensive, consisting 
chiefly of a well-cemented, water-tight pit in the 
ground, well protected from rain and frost. Per- 
haps it would be well to, add to the directions given 
some provision for protecting the face of the heap 
