109 
SOUTHERN 
about nine montlis old, at which time the cow will gener- 
ally wean her calf off. 
This plan of weaning calves is adopted throughout 
nearly the whole of the Southern country, as our planters 
prefer beef to veal as a general thing. Often it happens 
that the calves do not come out of the woods until they | 
are some months old. But since the planters have began 
to improve their stock, they have began to pay more j 
attention to toe calves and many have adopted a plan to | 
raise them by hand. j 
In rearing the calf by hand, we must use every precau- j 
tion to keep iliem as near the natural condition as possible, , 
as the first year of the animal’s existence is a period ofj 
most luxuri;m.t growth, so, also, it should be the period ofj 
luxuriant feeding, as the most liberal feeding is most amply j 
repaid ; so is the slightest neglect the cause ofirreparable ! 
loss. 
We let the calf suck the dam for a day or two, after 
which milk into a bucket two or three quarts of milk, and 
after getting the calf backed into a corner, stride across it, 
inserting the fore finger of the right hand into it’s moutn 
— having, it possible, an assistant to hold the bucket for a 
few days— a.id pressing the head down with the left hand 
into it ; after a few day’s commence teaching the animal 
to hold its head down into the bucket without your finger | 
in his mcurh ; when, by perseverance and abstinence ; 
from nourishment it can soon be made to drink by itself, | 
and thus you give it skimmed milk mixed with new milk j 
and afterwards all skimmed milk, without any more trou- 
ble than placing the pail or vessed before the calt. If the 
calf is allowed too much milk for several months, it is in- 
jurious to the future development of the young. It does not 
distend the stomach properly, nor call into use its ruminat- 
ing habits. Calves thus brought up sometimes prove i 
light bellied, indifferent feeders and decidedly inferior j 
animals. j 
The calf is sometimes fed on milk at one degree of j 
temperature, and at another time on another certain de- j 
gree of temperature, varying in degrees of heat as often j 
as fed, and as often fed irregularly, and, I might say, rather | 
sparingly for three or four months, and then turned out to ! 
shirk tor itself. In this way the food must be poor, and it 
requires a greater quantity to support the solid parts of 
the body, thereby distending the capacity of the stomach 
and intestines, as the poorer the food the less the chyle to 
support the animal system, the remainder passing off in 
the excrements, at the same time contracting and stinting { 
the lacteal vessels, which convey the chyle from the mis- 
sentery to the thoracic duct. 
The chyle is a white juice in the stomach consisting of 
the finer and more nutritious parts of the food which is 
received into the lacteal vessels and serves to form the 
blood. 
Kence my conclusion, that the poorer the calf is kept 
the more the lacteal and arteiial vessels will be contracted 
and stinted, and the more the stomach and intestines will 
be distended, and, should the plan be persevered in, the 
fine points and just proportions never will nor never can 
be fully or finely developed ; no matter how wellthey may 
be kept after; although some may, by great care, be 
brought to a positive state ; but, as u general rule, it stints 
them forever. 
Again, when a calf is fed too bountifully, as is the case 
with many a; the present day, all the vessels become ex- 
tended to such a degree that the reverse cannot but be ex- 
pected; that is the vessels that carry nutrition to the solid 
pavts of the body will be so much more e.xtended than the 
intestines, that when they come to be fed as all planters 
would vrish to feed their stock, after one year of age, on 
.good fodder or hay only, the stomach and intestines be- 
come insufficient to furnish the v/ants of the lacteals, so 
that the sy mpathy of the organs will not be preserved— 
:i LT IV ATQR. 
so essential and requisite for their future advancement and 
prosperity. D 
Si'uih Carolina, Feb., JS57. 
(IIINE.SE pirGAil c am: — EETTE i: FKOU DR. 
Kobt. Battey. 
Editors Souther.v Cultiv.vtor — T he general interest 
now felt (over the entire country) in the Chinese Sugar 
Cane, and the experiments made with it by myself and 
others, has so encumbered me with letters ofinquiry that 
1 find it a serious tax upon me to reply to questions so 
often repeated. May I ask the use of a small portion of 
your space that I may speak to all at one sitting '? If there 
be any of my correspondents who are not readers of the 
Southern CuUivator, 1 trust they will at once avail them- 
selves of its benefits. 
1st. Of the precise dimensions of the mill used by Mr. 
Pet.'^.rs, I cannot speak definitely. I would select for my- 
self rollers of cast iron 18 inches in diameter and 24 inches 
in height, and of the latter dimension 4 inches should be 
devoted to the cogs and 20 inches (roughly turned off in 
the lathe) for the pressing surfaces, which should not be 
smooth, or the cane will slip and greatly retard the press- 
ing. Such a mill will harvests acres satisfactorily. 
2nd. The mill must extract 50 per cent, of the entire 
weight of the cane, or it is notieconomically adjusted. If 
it be put up in the best style, and the power is ample, 60 
per cent, is not too high a figure for the best cane. The 
mill should so perfectly accomplish its work that the ba- 
gass shall be a refuse product — so far as syrup is in ques- 
tion — after having passed the mill. It will be so broken 
and contused that it cannnot be returned to the mill with 
any advantage, and pressing it after tlie manner adopted 
for the extraction of cider would be a most unprofitable 
expenditure of time. 
3rd. “The leaves or blades” should be removed before 
pressing, and indeed before cutting the cane from its root. 
This should not be done “carefully,” as suggested by a 
correspondent, for this, in the strict acceptation of the 
term, would involve needless waste of valuable time. The 
fodder should be stripped off rapidly and tied into bundles 
as usual with corn for the reasons : first, that it is a valu- 
able part of the crop ; secondly, if left upon the cane it 
would retard the pressing and contaminate the juice with 
an additional quantity of objectionable vegetable matter. 
4th. Let me say by way of explanation to my Northern 
friends ; syrup is, with us, the juice of die cane boiled 
down to the consistence of molasses, while the latter ar- 
ticle is the drippings from granulated sugar. The first 
is a primary ,aud the latter a secondary product. The 
consistence is materially the same. 
5th. To those who desire a statement of the number of 
barrels of juice and syrup estimated for an acre, I would 
say ; measure your barrel in gallons, and by the simple 
j rules of arithmetic, divide my figures by yours, and you 
have the estimate. I give my figures in gallons as being 
more definite and more easily comprehended. 
[ 6ih. In reply to many inquiries for seed of reliable qual- 
ity, 1 would say : that I have no seed beyond a very 
' small parcel which I have grown for my own experi- 
I ments. I will, however, cheerfully assist those who de- 
sire in referring them, so far as I can,, to reliable sources 
for their supplies. Parties who have such seed for sale 
would do well to let the faetbe known through your adver- 
tising columns. Bob.'-ifit B.\ttev. 
Rnmc, Oa., 18.57. 
CoR.v Fodder . — Editors Sontiiern Culttvalm — I tried 
; sowing the corn thick in the drill, for fodder, last yeaix 
and like it very much. It makes a very heavy yield, 
and much finer forage tlian the move matured blades. I 
expect to make my fodder in that way next year. 
Yours, &c.; ' G. W. W. 
, Fair Viev:^ La.., 1 857. 
