134r 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
[April, 
Among the Farmers.—No. 27. 
BY ONE Or THEM. 
Corn assd Cob Meal. 
Well do I remember, as a youngster of nine to 
eleven,how I delighted to be perched upon Old Gray, 
between and upon sundry bogs of corn and rye, 
or wheat, and started off for the mill. I could fish 
until the grist was grouud, and no boy ever had, 
in his own view, a choicer lot of lines and hooks. 
The country mill of to-day is much like that of my 
boyhood; the miller is just as chatty, and just as 
dusty, and the farmers just as stupidly bring their 
corn on the ear. I had supposed that the custom 
was dying out; but no—hundreds of thousands of 
bushels are ground every year, and are likely to be. 
I asked the miller, “ How is it that you grind corn 
on the ear ? Do the farmers really think the cob is 
worth anything as feed?”—“No,” said he, “they 
know it is not. I grind thousands of bushels, because 
they bring it here, but they never buy any, if there 
is any other feed they can buy.”—“ What is their 
notion ? ”—“ They know that there is not as much 
good in a hundred bushels of cobs as in a pint of 
meal, and they have the cobs ground from sheer 
laziness.”—That reason never occurred to me be¬ 
fore. We use no power shellers in this part of the 
country, and it is no small job to shell by hand. 
The fact that the cattle and horses eat the cob meal, 
is patent; that it does them no good, is not so clear. 
Indolence catches at the idea that they would not 
eat it were there not some good in it, and so, as it 
is much easier, and as it has been customary to 
grind cob and corn together, the mills arc made to 
do it, and the millers really forced, against their 
own good sense, and against their will, to grind 
them. I have no doubt it is true that corn and cob- 
meal fed pure—that is, simply “ wet up,”—is less 
likely to do harm than pure Indian meal; but fed 
as it ought to be, it is certainly less likely to do 
good—which is more important. I think Indian 
meal never ought to be fed to cows, or any rumi¬ 
nants, unless in the form of a thin gruel, which farm¬ 
ers call “slops,” or upon cut hay, straw, or chaff. 
Now rye straw is somewhat nutritious, and really 
of some benefit to the beasts, whereas the digestion 
of corn-cobs, which the animals are forced to go 
through with, is a tax upon their systems that 
results only in harm, except in so far as the 
mechanical distension of the stomach offers a 
similar advantage to that secured by feeding meal 
upon 6traw or hay. I saw at the mill a very 
Light and Handy Bag-Holder. 
It was made of a crooked branch, U shaped, into 
which three or four sharp hooks were driven on the 
inner side, to hold the top of the bag; the whole 
being supported upon three straight light legs. 
Almost any old orchard will furnish branches out 
of which similar pieces of wood might be cut and 
shaped. Such things are very handy, now and 
then, and upon large farms it is well enough to 
have a plenty of them, but on such a farm as mine 
they are in the way. I have “tinkered up” many 
a handy contrivance, which never was used half a 
dozen times, and which, for years, was either under 
foot, or taking up valuable space somewhere, until 
it was made into kindling-wood. Two little hooks, 
set in one side of the fanning mill, to hang the 
edge of the bag on, is the most convenient bag- 
holder for people who need one so little as we do. 
Stealing Poultry—Marking. 
Nothing is more exasperating than the loss by 
theft of one’s choice poultry. We are not particu¬ 
larly liable to have pigs and sheep stolen, and it is 
still more rare to hear of a young “beef critter” 
being found missing from some mountain pasture. 
I can sympathize with those farmers of the South, 
who have not only poultry, but pigs, no matter 
how choice, made oil with, and do not blame them 
for making no more efforts to introduce choice 
stock, especially when the well-bred stock are more 
easily caught than others. This is certaiuly true of 
some kinds of poultry. All the Asiatics, Dorkings, 
Plymouth Rocks, and the French fowls, are more 
easily caught than other breeds. Hainburgs, Leg¬ 
horns, Games, and some other kinds, are scary 
and noisy—thus they alarm the dog and the owner. 
A friend of mine, on Long Island, has had his 
choicest Brahmas twice selected out carefully by 
thieves, breaking up his breeding pens, and putting 
him, of course, to heavy loss and much perplexity. 
It is very difficult to trace such a theft, for only the 
owner knows his own birds, and they can not be 
described so that another person can readiiy recog¬ 
nize them—unless, indeed, by some cutting of the 
web of the toes, they may be marked. I suggested 
to him dyeing the fowls of each breeding pen. 
Some of the brilliant aniline colors, pinks, and 
purples, might be used, and no one would dare to 
take such fowls. They would not only be marked 
birds, but each single feather would be a tell-tale, 
whether dropped along the highway, or found any¬ 
where else, on or off the fowl. So obvious would 
be the danger, that no thief would be bold enough 
to take the risk. These dyes are perfectly inno¬ 
cent, easily applied, and can not be removed until 
the fowls moult. 
Blood and Breeding. 
Changes in form in domestic animals are brought 
about with more or less rapidity through circum¬ 
stances under the control of the breeder. Struc¬ 
ture, established by generations of careful breeding, 
with certain objects in view, is characteristic of any 
fixed breed or type of animals. The moment the sur¬ 
roundings change, and the system of breeding, (that 
is, selection of breeding animals), which has formed 
or maintained certain structural peculiarities, is 
given up, the progeny change back (revert) or take 
on changes adapted to their new conditions of life. 
An interesting, though by no means unusual or 
surprising fact, has lately been brought to my 
notice, showing how rapidly this return to the 
feral, or wild condition, changes structure. A gen¬ 
tleman of this vicinity sent to Virginia a pair of 
carefully bred Berkshires, with remarkably short 
faces, and otherwise of approved shapes—broad 
and level, with well developed hams and shoulders ; 
low set, with small offal, fine-haired, etc. The 
progeny of this excellent pair have since been bred 
together, a portion of them being kept confined, 
the others allowed to run at large in the woods, and 
take their chances with the “ Razor-backs ” to the 
“manner born.” The result is,that those bred in con¬ 
finement, and, so to speak, luxury , have still short 
faces, and other characteristics of well-bred Berk¬ 
shires ; while the others of the later generations, 
though just as pure as to blood, have changed 
greatly ; fallen off in size somewhat, have straight- 
er and longer snouts, are getting slab-sided, and 
gradually approximating the half-wild type. 
Another fact seems to be proved, which rather 
surprised me, and yet should not. It is, that even 
these partly reverted Berkshires do not hold their 
own in the woods with the natives. That they are 
not so prolific, and do not make so much pork, and 
even the pork is not superior, unless the pigs are 
taken up and fed a little while before killing. 
The delicacy of Virginia mast-fed hams is well 
known ; their excellence arises from two or three 
distinct causes. One of these is the health of the 
pigs; another is the fact that, during much of the 
year, it is, “ root, hog, or die ! ” and then, when the 
woods are full of chestnuts, chinquapins, acorns, 
and other mast, they pick up a living very easily, 
and fatten up a little—enough to make their flesh 
juicy and tender before killing time; and another 
cause, undoubtedly, is that this food is sweet, 
wholesome, and both it and they far removed from 
their ordure. If it be really true that for this wild 
life, the native hog is the most economical pro¬ 
ducer of pork, and that the pork is of the best 
quality, it is time that we knew it, and it would 
pay somebody to undertake the demonstration. 
Pigs in tlie California Droutli. 
An old friend, for some years a resident of Santa 
Barbara Co., Cal., writes me, that before the close 
of the terrible drouth, which for more than a year 
afflicted that region, most of his pigs had suc¬ 
cumbed, the few which survived were valued, of 
course, for the particular quality of being able to 
live on “ faith and a promise,” without much, if 
any, more substantial provender. My friend wishes 
to know which breed of swine will thrive best on 
this diet. What kind of pigs live on the least food, 
and on coarse food. I believe that, as a rule, the 
wild, or half-wild pigs can bear hunger best, yet 
when they get a chance, they eat voraciously, but 
do not fatten. The most improved breeds, the 
small Yorkshires, for instance, live on the least 
amount of food, and if they get a surplus—that is, 
more than enough to sustain life—they lay it up 
against a hungry day, in the form of fat, so that, 
other things being equal, it seems clear that such 
pigs will prove the most economical wdiere long 
drouths are to be guarded against. The small 
Yorkshires, and the best strains of Essex pigs, 
are always fat with the commonest feeding and 
care ; hence, always prepared for a drouth. I do 
not believe the “Landpikes” would stand starva¬ 
tion commons half so long, and am sure that the 
half-bred, or half improved cross-bred breeds, like 
Chester-Whites, Durocs, Poland-Chiuas, would not, 
for they require more food, and are neither accus¬ 
tomed to occasional protracted abstinence, nor will 
they keep fat upon ordinary non-fattening food. 
Irish Butter. 
Our village doctor Was for many years a surgeon 
in the navy, and he tells me that all navy men, and 
officers of the merchant service also, who have 
occasion to lay in stores for use in hot latitudes, 
select Irish butter, and that this, bought with only 
the ordinary judgment of the mess caterer, will 
keep sweet and flavorous around the world. The 
best butter they can buy in the Philadelphia market, 
will keep but a little while at sea, while the dollar- 
a-pound butter of the famous Jersey dairies, will 
hardly keep sweet ten days in warm weather. We 
have enough Irish dairymaids in this country to test 
the matter pretty thoroughly, and find out if it is 
in the making, in the grass, or in the kine. The 
cream of different breeds of cows makes butter, 
which varies in keeping quality, as much as it does 
in color—and I am by no means sure-that the paler 
kinds of butter do not uniformly prove of the best 
keeping qualities. There is, in my mind, a great 
distinction between pale butter and butter which 
has lost its color. The cream of a pure Jersey, or 
even Guernsey, herd, may be “whipped to death ” in 
the churning, and the butter “come ” colorless and 
sickly-looking—whereas the same cream, properly 
churned,might produce beautiful yellow butter. The 
pale tint is certainly not the natural color of the 
butter. The best keeping butter in the New York 
market, has more or less color, according to the 
time of the year, but it has a fair color, and is never, 
perhaps, very pale. I would not say that the paler 
butter is, the longer it is likely to keep, but I think 
that the highest colored butter, whether the color 
be natural or artificial, is not nearly so likely to 
keep as well as the paler kinds. No doubt salt has 
much to do with the keeping of butter, and our 
dairy people can not be too careful in this respect. 
It is perhaps a question whether the purest salt is 
the best. Certainly an ounce of saltpeter to the 
pound of salt, ground together, and used just as 
pure salt would be, not only has no bad effect, but 
undoubtedly imparts a keeping quality superior to 
pure salt, [which we do not admit.— Ed.] Sugar 
is a well known and powerful antiseptic, and has 
been used for keeping butter with good effect, the 
quantity being not sufficient to impart perceptible 
flavor, say one or two ounces to the pound of salt. 
I find that packers of summer butter, which is in¬ 
tended for winter use, put about one ounce of salt 
to the pound of butter. We never salt so heavily 
in making for our own use, as we do not enjoy 
butter made with more than half the -above 
named quantity Last summer we employed 
An Irish Dairymaid, 
at least a young woman newlv-arrived, who had 
been bred to the work of the cow-byre and dairy. 
She made excellent butter, following the usual 
course, except that she worked the butter only 
once, first working out the buttermilk, washing a 
little, and then working in what she called dissolved 
salt —that is, fine salt mingled with water, which of 
course dissolved a good part of it. This salt and 
brine was, to a great extent, taken up by the but¬ 
ter, and the water, subsequently, but during the 
