80 
southern cultivator. 
the average gain of the hogs in the separate pens under 
the various forms of feeding, and estimating the value of 
the corn at 28 cents per bushel, it brings the cost of the 
meat gained per pound as follows : Nos. 1 and 2, fed on 
boiled corn, at 1 cent and 9 mills per pound ; Nos. 3 and 
4, fed on cooked meal, at 1 cent and six mills per pound ; 
and Nos. 5 and 6, fed on dry, cost 4 cents and 8 mills per 
pound. 
At the end of thirty days, the hogs were changed and 
fed as follows : Nos. 5 and 6, that had been fed on dry 
corn, were changed and fed on cooked meal for twenty- 
six days; they consumed in that time six bushels, and 
gained together seventy-four pounds. Nos. 3 and 4, that 
had been fed on cooked meal, were now fed the same 
length of time (twenty-six days) on diy corn, and con- 
sumed six and a half bushels. No. 3 gained thirty-four 
pounds, and No. 4 gained ten pounds. Nos. 1 and 2 wjpre 
continued on boiled corn, with about the same result as 
on the first trial. Estimating the corn as above, the cost 
of the gain of Nos. 5 and 6, fed on boiled meal, was one 
and a half cents per pound. The gain of Nos, 3 and 4, 
fed on dry corn, cost four cents and one mill per pound. 
Taking the extremes in the experiment, it will be seen 
that No. 5, when fed on dry corn, consumed 202^ pounds 
and gained but ten pounds in thirty days, which brings 
the cost of the pork gained at ten cents and one mill per 
pound. The same animal, when put on boiled meal, in 
the second trial of twenty-six days, consumed but 117 
pounds and gained 40 pounds, which reduces the cost to 
one cent and four mills per pound. No. 4, when fed on 
cooked meal, reduced the cost to one cent and three mills 
per pound, and when changed to dry corn increased the 
cost to nine cents and one mill per pound. 
Recent trials in feeding dairy cows on steamed food, 
show equal advantage in the inerease of milk and condi- 
tion of cows over the ordinary method of feeding. — Volley 
Farmer. 
A 3IISCEI.I.ANEOUS LETTER. 
1. Cholera in Foiols — Charcoal as a Remedy. 2. Hog 
Hair to Manure Irish Potatoes. 3. A Cock with Four 
Spurs. 4. Seuppcrnong Metamorphosis. 5. Shelter for 
Stock. 
Editors Southern Cultivator — Sending you my dol 
lax for the next years subscription to the Cultivator, I will 
add a line or two on some other subjects. 
1. Cholera in Fowls. — Have you or any of your 
subscribers ever tried charcoal for this disease ?- A neigh - 
bor of mine, not long since, had two chickens attacked 
with the above epidemic, and in order to get them out of 
the way, so as not to impart the contagion to other fowls, 
she sent them off and put them in the coal pen, near the 
blacksmith’s shop. In a short time these two chickens, 
contrary to their owners’ expectation, recovered. Think- 
ing that it might have been owing to the charcoal my 
neighbor mentioned it to a friend others, who resoved to 
test the charcoal cure the first opportunity. Shortly after 
an opportunity presented itself for her to make the trial. 
One ofher Muscovy ducks was taken with the epidemic 
which produced the usual prostration. The lady took 
this fowl which could not stand up, washed off the gum- 
my stuff which usually issues from the mouth and eyes 
in such cases, and gave the duck powdered charcoal, 
mixed with dough. The fowl was so far gone that the 
dough had to be forced down its throat. In less than a 
day it had gotten well. I do not pronounce charcoal a 
good remedy for cholera in fowls, but recommend experi- 
ments to test its value in fowl pharmacopceia. I shall try 
it when I have an opportunity. | 
An old man told me, the other day, he thought cholera 
wa§ produced among poultry by their sv/allowing live 
insects, worms, or maggots, which continued to live in, 
the stomach after they had been swallowed; and gave as 
a proof, his having opened fowls that had died of this dis- 
ease, and having found “live things” in their craws. I 
cannot agree with my old friend, for my own post mortem 
examinations do not confirm his theory. Perhaps I was 
not careful enough in searching for the cause. Let this 
theory be farther examined into 
2. Hog Hair to Manure Irish Potatoes. — Any ma- 
nure that is better than cotton seed must be good indeed. 
Hog hair for manuring Irish potatoes is better than cotton 
seed. I tried this the past summer, manuring part of my 
potatoes, on the same bed in the garden, with cotton seed 
and part with hog hair. You could tell to the very row 
where the former ended, and the latter began. The rows 
that were manured with hog hair produced larger, aud 
greener vines, and more potatoes. As the seacon for 
killing hogs has just passed', let everyone who has Irish 
potatoes to plant collect the hair at once, before it is scat- 
tered and lost, and put it in a corner of the garden to use 
in the spring. I know a wealthy planter of whom his 
neighbors say that his negroes would as soon think 
of leaving one of the hogs at the killing place as to fail 
to collect the hair, and cany it to the garden. Of course 
hair is a good manure for field as well as for garden 
crops. 
3. A Cock with Four Spurs. — I have in my poultry 
yard a cock which is a curiosity that I never before saw 
or heard of. He has four distinct and perfectly formed 
spurs two on each leg, one immediately above the other 
These spurs touch each other at the base, but are en- 
tirely distinct. The lower ones are something over an 
inch long, and the upper ones are a little over three quar- 
ters of an inch. The cock is of the ordinary breed of 
chickens, perhaps a little crossed with Shanghai, and is 
not yet quite two years old. I must give him a “walk” 
to himself, with a few hens, and see if he will propagate 
his variety. 
4. Scuppernong Metamorphosis. — A neighbor ©f mine 
has a Scuppernong vine, which after bearing the veritable 
grape that it should have done for four or five years, this 
summer produced nothing but small, black, hard musca- 
dines instead of white fruit. There was no muscadine 
vine witnin a quarter of a mile of it, or I might think the 
colored grape was the offspring of illicit amours between 
the Scuppernong and the Muscadine. Perhaps they con- 
cealed love-letters in pollen, and made carrier pigeons of the 
bees. But then, if this theory be correct, why should the 
fruit be so black '? Why not a mulatto color 1 But per- 
haps, after all, this Scuppernong may be a “Southern vine 
with Northern principles ;” and, partaking of the Fremont 
furor, have indicated its perference by changing its color. 
It is to be hoped that another year it may be a white man 
again. If it does not, my neighbor, who has no use for 
traitors or turn- coats, will cut it down, and no longer 
suffer it to cumber Southern ground. 
In the same garden, a number of years ago was planted a 
“white blackbery” vine In a few years the fruit of this 
vine became black. I accounted foi this, however on the 
score there having been blackberry vines not far from the 
garden. But may there not be something in this soil of 
this garden which has a tendency to change white fruit 
to black I 
5. Shelter for Stock, — A farmer should have shelter 
for all of his stock except, perhaps, hogs. I have been 
reminded of this by seeing the manoeuvers of my calves 
during the present cold spell. My milk-woman and cow- 
boy have their fire morning and evening at the cow-pen 
in order tc tha w ihtir fingers when they consider them 
“friz.” No sooner is the fire made than the calves crowd 
around it, disputing and pushing for precedence, like a 
crowd of school boys. It would be very pleasant to them 
