AMERICAN PROVISIONS IN ENGLAND, ETC. 
55 
But there it is almost the only manner. It is a 
notion deriveu from the Swedes, who first settled 
that region, and who, in their own country, tra- 
verse very narrow roads. Those who follow the 
practice, contend that a team will pull more thus 
hitched, than in any other way. But the contrary 
is the fact. 
As a contrast to this, in many parts of the south, 
you will see nothing but one-horse carts ; and 
frequently one-ox carts. These would look very 
curious to Yankee boys, especially, as the oxen 
are very small. 
^o-» 
AMERICAN PROVISIONS IN ENGLAND. 
Our export of provisions for Europe is con- 
fined almost exclusively to England. Notwith- 
standing the immense amount of wines, bran- 
dies, silks, and gew-gaws we receive from 
France, the toys and other worthless trumpery 
we get from Germany, and elsewhere, there is 
scarcely a pound of American provisions con- 
sumed by the German or the Gaul. The Anglo 
Saxon alone, takes a small portion of that im- 
mense surplus of the staff of life we produce in 
such boundless profusion. We think it far bet- 
ter that our population should divert a larger pro- 
portion of their labor to manufacturing the arti- 
cles we receive from abroad, and thus check the 
excessive production of provisions, which would 
consequently be principally consumed at home. 
But our "free and independent" legislatures 
think otherwise; and, leaving the more respon- 
sible duties of law making and national policy 
to them, we content ourselves with occasionally 
giving a few brief hints to our producers of ex- 
port articles, that they may receive some small 
returns for their laborious toil and exhausted 
lands. If they will delve on and impoverish 
their soil to feed hungry manufacturers abroad, 
instead of bringing them to our own shores, and 
protecting their labor, and feeding them here, 
we wish to afford them what little light we can 
to mitigate their losses — we will not be guilty of 
the mockery of calling it an augmentation of 
their profits. 
The negligence of American farmers in put- 
ting up provisions for market, whether at home 
or abroad, has, for a long period, been pro- 
verbial. They may do much better to feed 
American mouths, which have become accustom- 
ed to these preparations ; and the producer has 
the further advantage, that we must take them as 
furnished or starve ; while the proximity to our 
domestic market, prevents that excessive dete- 
rioration, before reaching the consumer, which 
they experience when sent abroad. We are so 
much accustomed to soft, rancid butter ; hard, 
strong cheese; lean, stringy beef; gristly, flabby 
pork, that it would seem to have become a vested 
right in our producers to furnish them to the ex- 
tent of the demand. This immunity of supply is 
trebly secured by constitutional right, the laws 
of the land, and immemorial usage, "whereof the 
memory of man runneth not to the contrary." 
Thus much for America. But when we send our 
commodities to Europe, they have to be tried by 
other tastes and customs. The predilections of 
Victoria's subjects will not permit cramming with 
stale, rancid, nor offensive provisions, and the re- 
sult is, that we receive but one half, and some- 
times not one third, the price we might have 
received for good articles. 
These remarks apply with more force, if pos- 
sible, to butter, than to beef, pork, bacon, and 
lard. Many specimens of American butter — the 
entire season's make — will command from the 
wholesale dealer in the New-York market, from 
] 8 to 22 cts. per pound ; while a large share of but- 
ter, equally good when taken from the churn, 
in consequence of subsequent mismanagement, 
will bring only 6 or 7 cts. ; and it sells for this 
paltry price, not for any edible qualities it pos- 
seses, but simply for grease. Our farmers, who 
like to furnish these wares for such prices, will 
find no obstacle in continuing the supply. 
VALUE OF CORN COBS. 
A friend, who had read an article in some 
paper, recommending corn cobs, ground or un- 
ground, as an excellent and valuable feed for 
stock, undertook to test the truth of the state- 
ment for himself. He had a large quantity on 
hand, and after providing himself with the pro- 
per vessel, (a half-hogshead tub,) he filled it 
with cobs, and then added a solution of salt in 
water. In this steep the cobs were suffered to 
remain, till they had imbibed a sufficiency of 
the fluid to make them soft. In this condition 
they were then fed out to the stock, at the rate 
of half a peck to a full-grown cow or ox, in the 
morning, and the same at night. He remarked 
that all his animals were extremely fond of the 
cobs ; that they consumed a much less quantity 
of hay and grain than before he commenced 
giving them this feed ; neither did they require 
salt in its natural state. He has also ground 
several bushels of cobs, and finds the meal an 
excellent article for making mush. 
I have used corn and cob meal, ground fine, 
with and without oats, for horses, the last 12 or 
14 years, and I think it an excellent feed. It 
keeps a horse loose in his bowels, his hair lies 
smooth, and it makes a great improvement in 
his looks. I also use the meal with wheat or 
oat chaff* to feed horses. When I first came to 
live in the neighborhood, I was ridiculed by the 
neighbors, who said my horses would all die 
before spring; but when spring came, they 
were fatter, and in far better condition than 
theirs. I found that they took my advice after 
this, and fed the same as myself, making a great 
saving in feed. A Subscriber. 
Goicanus, Dec. 20lli, 1849. 
Value of Ashes. — Thomas Hancock, nursery- 
man and farmer, Burlington, N. J., pays 124- cents 
per bushel, in Philadelphia, for leached ashes, 
and two and a half cents freight^ and then hauls 
them 2 to 3 miles, and applies them at the rate of 
160 bushels to the acre, upon sandy soil, and 
finds it a profitable application. 
Value of Guano. — The same person above- 
mentioned, sifted two quarts of guano upon a 
row, 40 rods long, and raked it in, and planted 
cabbage. Upon other rows, he put a good dress- 
