SOUTHEKN CULTIVATOR. 
11 
has been abundantly proved in Scotland, for working men 
also. 
Buckwheat is less nutritious than the other grains which 
we have noticed. Its flour has from 6 to 10 per cent, of 
nitrogenous compounds, about 50 per cent, of starch, and 
from 5 to 8 per cent, of sugar and gum. In speaking of 
buckwheat or of oats, we of course mean without 
husks. ^ 
B ice was formerly supposed to contain little nitrogen; 
but recent examinations have shown that there is a con- 
siderable portion, some 6 or 8 per cent., of a substance 
like gluten. The per centage of fatty matter and of sugar 
is quite small, but that of starch much larger than any 
grain yet mentioned, being between 80 and 90 per cent.; 
usually about 82 per cent. 
Indian corn is the last of the gi'ains that we shall notice. 
This contains about 60 per cent, of starch, nearly the 
same as in oats. The proportion of oil and gum is large 
— about 10 per cent; this explains the fettening properties 
of Indian meal, so well known to practical men. There 
is, besides, a good portion of sugar. The nitrogenous 
substances are also considerable in quantity — some 12 or 
16 per cent. All these statements are from the prize essay 
of IMr. J. H. Salisbury, published by the New York State 
Agricultural Society. They show that the results of 
European chemists have probably been obtained by the 
examination of varieties inferior to ours ; they have not 
placed Indian corn much above the level of buckwheat or 
rice, whereas, from the above, it is seen to be “ in most re- 
spects superior to any other grian.” 
Sweet corn differs from all other varieties, containing 
only about 18 per cent, of starch. Amount of sugar is of 
course very large ; the nitrogenous substances amount to 
the very large proportion of 20 per cent.; of gum, to 13 
or 14, and of oil, to about 11. This, from the above 
results, is one of the most nourishing crops grown. If 
it can be made to yield as much per acre as the hardier 
varieties, it is well worth a trial on a large scale. — Prof. 
Neicton. 
TB^: BEST KIND OE MULES. 
At this time when the best class of mules will sell at 
S300 per pair, the following from the Farm and Shop, 
published at Indianapolis, may be read with profit: 
The mule is the great field laborer in the commanding 
staples of the South— cotton, sugar and rice— and as he is 
one of the annual exports of Tennessee, and as he will 
continue to be so, he is destined to hold even a higher 
position than heretofore among the live stock of the State. 
Mules of excessive heavy bone, or improper pampering, 
are generally lazy, or soon become so by labor, and be- 
-come very slow; their driver may force them on, but in a 
few steps they take their slow natural steps again. Such 
mules are therefore almost worthless, and should not be 
bred if it can be avoided. The most perfect are not to be 
expected from the excessively large, coarse- boned jacks, 
or excessive high feeding, but from the laws of nature 
carried out to the greatest perfection by skilful breeding 
and feeding. 
An error has existed for many years, and still exists, 
concerning the size of mules. Size has been made a 
measure of value in the mule, almost regardless of form 
and spirit, and so it has been in their sire, the jack. 
I have been employing mule teams for twenty-five years 
in the cultivation of cotton in Mississippi, and my team 
now numbers one hundred. In this time, I have used 
every variety of the mule (except the most inferior kind) 
that has ever been grown. 
Af the commencment of planting operations, I adopted 
the prevalent error, that size was the measure of value, and 
pursued it for many years, much to my prejudice. By 
long trial, and by comparing the relative performances 
and lastingness of the large team which I have used, aided 
by observation and reflection, I am fully satisfied that the 
medium sized mule, full of spirit and action, with a neat 
firm leg and a round body, with his leavers set right for 
easy motion, his head and ears up, ready to move at the 
word, is the animal of most value of this kind. 
The laws of nature cannot be violated with impunity. 
The jack when grown within scope of these laws, is a 
small animal. The mule a medium between the jack and 
horse. Both the jack and mule by a hot-bed growth may 
be forced to be large animals. But in this forcing process, 
now more extensively pursued by Kentucky than any 
other State, what has been gained, and what lost? 
They have gained large bone, coarse animals of large 
size, and at an early age full of defects, and soon ready to 
decay, because subject to disease, and large consumers of 
food. 
They lost symmetry, spirit, action, lasting endurance, 
and permanent value. 
The error that I especially aim at, is the abandonment 
of almost everything else for size. The best combination 
of the requisite qualities in the mule is not found in the 
production of a hot-bed policy, which by constant feeding 
with everything that will hasten growth, brings out a 
large, coarse, forced, overgrown, awkward animal, who 
decays as fast as he has grown. When he is designed for 
the valleys of the Southern rivers, where his service is ac- 
tive and his rations not very select, he wants more game, 
more spirit and action, more symmetry, and not too much 
size. Hence, our Tennessee mules, the produce of spirit- 
ed jacks are really more valuable to the Southern planters 
than the produce of Kentucky under her present system. 
This, no doubt, to some extent, is the fault of the pur- 
chasers South, who have not generally discovered their 
error. They demand large sizes, and pay in proportion 
to size; and this in part explainsthe policy of Kentucky. 
My opinion is, that size in a mule is nothing after they 
reach fifteen hands high, and that many under that height 
come up to the standard value, fitted for cotton planta- 
tions. 
When compared to the blood horse, the mule is unfit 
for the saddle, pleasure, carriage, or any harness requiring 
rapid motion. His sire is an animal of slothful tendencies, 
of slow motion generally, and hence the necessity of im- 
proving this quality in the jack. Give him spirit and ac- 
tion, and stamina rather than great height. One conforms 
to the laws of nature, and the other violates them. 
The Spanish and Maltese jacks have spirit generally, 
and for that reason are valuable as a cross ; but they came 
to us without stamina, and with a contracted chest. 
These faulst must be remedied by proper crossing, before 
they will produce the mule best suited for us. 
What I have learned upon this subject is not from hear- 
say. 1 have purchased and grown all the mules which I 
have driven for 25 years in Missis.sippi. I have had an 
opportunity of knowing what they have done, and these 
opinions are the result of experience. This knowledge 
would have been of service to me in the commencement 
of my business, and I communicate it for the benefit of 
those who may adopt my opinion hereafter. 
Mark Cockerill. 
Nashville, Penn., 1854. 
The Shanghai Fowl. — This most gigantic of all fowls 
is at length universally admitted to be a native of that part 
of the Celestial Empire, called Shanghai, but owing to the 
circumstance of Cochin China having been the place 
whence it was imported into England first, the name of 
Cochin China has attached itself to the variety with a 
familiarity somewhat improper, it must be allowed. — 
Pnrga&m on Poultry. 
