1881.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
9 
farmers to discuss the use of apples as a food 
for stock, and the topic has been up in our 
Farmer’s Club this season. Hookertown may 
not be as good authority on apples as on some 
other crops, but still we have some good 
fruit growers, with level heads, who know 
better than to tarn their milch cows into 
the orchards to eat up the wind-falls, after 
a heavy storm. The discussions we have 
had brought out more experience in the use 
of apples than I had supposed. 
Dea. Smith said he had used them more or 
less in the abundant seasons for thirty years 
or over, and considered them among the 
most valuable rations produced upon the 
farm, taking into account the cost of produc¬ 
tion. In a well-established orchard, in full 
bearing, he thought the refuse apples, which 
were left after the barrelling for market was 
over, could be furnished for five cents a 
bushel. He thought they were worth a good 
deal more than that for feeding. He said he 
used them a good deal for feeding to his 
horses, at night and morning, beginning with 
a small quantity, and when the system was 
adjusted to them, giving a peck twice a day, 
in connection with Indian meal, provender, 
or unground oats, and the usual portion of 
hay. They kept in good flesh, had a glossy 
skin, and were in good condition for work 
on the farm, or for travel upon the road. 
Used, say in the proportion of one-third 
apples and two-thirds oats, he thought they 
were worth half the price of oats for horse 
feed. This would be from 20 to 25 cents a 
bushel. Since he had learned their value for 
horses and cattle, he had ceased to have any 
solicitude about a market for his apples. 
Mr. Wise from Shadtown dropped in at one 
of our meetings, and said he had used them 
with good results as a feed for milk cows, 
and for swine. He found store swine did 
very well in his orchard through the summer 
and fall, with little else besides grass, apples, 
and house slops. Then, when they were put 
up to fatten, he always cooked’ apples with 
the com meal, provender, and roots, and con¬ 
sidered them a very valuable ration, in con¬ 
nection with the other feed. They made 
good pork. He said he sold some milk, and 
thought apples were a particularly valuable 
feed in producing winter milk, for supplying 
the market, or for making winter butter, 
which was coming more and more into use in 
the neighborhood of our large towns and 
cities. With suitable facilities and feed, he 
thought about as nice butter Could be made 
in winter as in summer, and the price was 
always higher. Apples and roots were a good 
substitute for green pastures, and with a 
good supply of these, the flow of milk could 
be prolonged for several months, and, with 
some change of cows could be kept up 
through the winter. Of course, warm stables 
would be needed if milk production was to be 
continued during the winter. He began at 
first to feed apples to cows, in milk, in small 
quantities, and gradually increased them 
until they had three pecks, or a bushel a day, 
to each cow. The milk increased in quantity, 
and the cows gained in flesh. There was no 
danger of an overplus of apples where stock 
was kept. He said apples were quite as good 
for sheep as for cows. He had sometimes 
turned them into his orchard to clean up the 
refuse apples, and they always gained flesh 
with this addition to their diet. 
Esquire Spicer said he used apples for all 
stock, and found them very valuable for his 
poultry, especially in fall and winter. He 
was led to experiment with apples from the 
fact that his turkeys and hens were so ready 
to pick up his windfalls under the trees. 
They were good judges of fruit, and invari¬ 
ably took the mellow side of the mellow 
apples first. Their instinct, he thought, was 
a very good guide as to the feed they re¬ 
quired, and when apples were plenty, he used 
them either raw or cooked to fatten his tur¬ 
keys. If cooked with meal they make a good 
mush to feed warm, in the cold mornings. 
He always liked to have apples in the feed 
troughs of his hen-house in the winter. 
It will be seen from this discussion that 
the outcry, sometimes heard, about an over¬ 
stock of apples is pure moonshine. There is 
always use for more apples,and—more money. 
Hookertown , Ct., I Yours to command, 
Dec. 1,1880. j Timothy Bunker, Esq. 
The Cuzco, or Peruvian Corn. 
The first published account of the Cuzco 
Com, so far as we are aware, was given by 
the American Agriculturist in 1866, in an 
article by the Hon. E. G. Squier, formerly 
United States Commissioner to Pern, describ¬ 
ing its uses in its native country, and in a 
note by the late Bayard Taylor, who, by 
starting it in a hot-bed, on his farm in Penn¬ 
sylvania, succeeded in having a few ears set 
in September. That was the best success 
Mr. Squier heard of from the samples he sent 
out in 1865 ; in 1866 we sent it to a number 
of persons in the Northern States, and we 
did not learn that it even tasselled in the open 
ground. Last season the corn was experi¬ 
mented with in several localities. One cor¬ 
respondent, “ J. L. M,” Washington Co., Pa., 
writes that at various dates in April, he 
planted in all about 200 hills of this corn ; a 
portion of it was broken down by the wind, 
and about half of the remainder had from 
one to three ears to the plant. The stalks 
were about 14 feet high, and for the lower 
two feet 6 inches in circumference, with 
three to twelve sets of brace-roots. The 
lower part of the stalk was of a dark, and the 
upper part of a light chestnut color, with 
larger leaves of a darker green than the 
“ChesterCo. Mammoth.” Mr. M. succeeded 
in maturing a share of the ears by cutting 
early and ripening it under cover. He sends 
an average ear, some being twice the size, 
and others half as large as this, which is en 
Fig. 2, red ; 3, black ; 4, white cuzco corn. 
graved in figure 1, of the real size ; all were of 
this shape. Our correspondent thinks that 
after several years of acclimation he may 
secure a variety that will be of real value. 
Messrs. Squier and Taylor both speak of the 
excellence of the corn in its green state, a 
quality of which Mr. M. says nothing. In 
Peru there are black and yellow varieties, 
and it there has six, eight, and even a larger 
number of ears to the stalk. Indeed, the 
more we learn of this corn the more unlike 
Zea Mays it appears to be, and the German 
botanist who called it a distinct species from 
the seed only, may have made a good hit. 
When we consider that ordinaiy com has 
developed into varieties suited to localities 
all the way from the Equator to Hudson’s 
Bay, careful selection and culture may pro¬ 
duce something of value from this ; the first 
and most difficult step, getting ripe seed, is 
made; the residts encourage further trials. 
Water for Fowls in Winter.— 
Poultry sometimes suffer greatly in winter 
through having their water supply cut off by 
freezing. There is some difficulty in keeping 
them constantly supplied with water in 
severe weather, but it can be done if one ap¬ 
preciates the necessity. A method is here 
illustrated which has proved of great value. 
A cask (it need not be a tight one) is sawed 
in two, and one-half used as the covering to 
the water jug. An earthen jug is so fastened 
into the half-barrel by means of cross-pieces, 
that its mouth will come near the bottom of 
the tub, upon one side—a piece of a stave be¬ 
ing removed at that point. The space around 
the jug is filled with fermenting horse 
manure, when the “fountain” is ready for 
use. Fill the jug with water and cork it; 
then invert the tub, bringing the mouth of 
the jug over a basin as shown in the engrav¬ 
ing. When the cork is withdrawn the water 
will flow until the mouth of the jug is cover¬ 
ed ; it will then cease, and as the water is 
used, more will come from the jug, and so 
on, forming a continuous self-acting fountain. 
WINTER FOUNTAIN FOR FOWLS. 
Such a contrivance will keep the water from 
freezing, except in the coldest wintei 
weather. The jug should be emptied at night. 
