338 
WESTERN AGRICULTURE-CORN-COBS. 
Of fruits, the orange and the tig thrive remarka¬ 
bly within the State, and the former may be ex¬ 
ported, and with equal advantage to the planter as 
any other crop. The peach, the apricot, and nec¬ 
tarine produce largely, and of the finest quality, 
upon the uplands, when properly treated. The 
plum and the apple, the olive, the lemon, the lime, 
etc., may, with proper attention, be reared on such 
soils and in such localities as are suited to their 
habits and characteristics. The wild mulberry 
grows spontaneously in the forests of this State; 
and the Morus multicaulis, and varieties of the 
Italian, succeed admirably on the drier soils. This 
ensures success for the silk-worm on the uplands 
wherever introduced. The equable temperature and 
condensed nutritive foliage afforded by such locali¬ 
ties (and they sweep around a larger portion of the 
northern part of the State), will undoubtedly pro¬ 
duce healthy silk-worms, and as heavy, valuable 
cocoons as are yielded in any part of the world. 
Wm. G. Hewes, Esq., formerly from Boston, but 
for many years a resident of this city, has placed in 
my possession specimens of his first attempt in the 
production of the cocoon, which I have nowhere 
seen surpassed on this continent. 
These are a few among the many objects that 
should arrest the attention of the intelligent and en¬ 
terprising agriculturist before seeking them further 
South and West, and still more remote from the sea¬ 
board, where, for a coming century at least, he must 
look for the most profitable market for his pro¬ 
ducts. 
The false ambition for large plantations, and ope¬ 
rations and achievements beyond the legitimate 
means of the owner, has been and still continues 
to be, the bane of citizens of our new States. This 
policy may result in giving to the few, large landed 
estates, yet really less pecuniary income, than 
would result to the shrewd manager where a denser 
population existed, and more aggregate and active 
wealth circulated among the mass, the necessary 
result of a greater and more intense production. In 
looking over some of the plantations of this region, 
where large bodies of land are either wholly or par¬ 
tially unsubdued, and the remainder admits of much 
higher cultivation, one cannot but be forcibly im¬ 
pressed with the consideration, that the old maxim, 
divide and conquer , if applied to southern planta¬ 
tions generally, would have a much more pregnant 
and salutary bearing on the welfare of the human 
race, than w'as ever assigned to it by the ambitious 
Roman. A little Ifind well tilled , while vastly more 
beneficial to the State and the middle property- 
classes, is, perhaps, of equal or even greater advan¬ 
tage to the opulent, than the present system of over¬ 
grown and half cultivated estates. A division of 
labor, and a variety in the objects of agricultural 
pursuits, are equally essential to call into profitable 
action the various traits of human character, the at¬ 
tainment of the greatest good to the greatest number, 
and the full development of the vast agricultural re¬ 
sources of this great State. 
The foregoing embrace a few hints which maybe 
successfully and almost indefinitely extended by 
more experienced residents, for the "more effectual 
and profitable augmentation of the present and 
future products of Louisiana. R. L. Allen. 
New Orleans , May, 1847. 
WESTERN AGRICULTURE-CORN-COBS. 
I made a flying visit to our old friend Henry L. 
Ellsworth, of Patent Office memory, one day last 
month. He is now a resident of La Fayette, Indi¬ 
ana, where he is farming pretty largely on the Wea 
Prairie, about seven miles out, on which he has a 
thousand acres of Indian corn in one field. The 
uncommon high price of corn this summer, has 
been the moving cause of growing many an extra 
acre of it in the Wabash "Valley, where, if it ripens 
well, it will tell a pleasing tale, not only to the cul¬ 
tivators, but to the starving millions of Europe. 
Mr. Ellsworth is as full of enthusiasm as ever, 
and no less busy than he was in his office at Wash¬ 
ington. He is an owner and manager of a vast 
amount of land, which he is selling, leasing, and 
improving, and which, together with all the busi¬ 
ness operations that he is carrying on, keeps his 
office crowded with the multitudes who deal with 
him. Yet he finds time to be continually trying 
some experiment, or studying out some improve¬ 
ments for the benefit of the agricultural comma, 
nity. 
I saw six pigs in as many pens, just big enough 
to hold each occupant without exercise, which he 
was feeding on corn in the ear, corn ground, but fed 
raw, and corn-meal made into mush—two upon 
each kind. The pigs were all alike in age, breed, 
size, and weight, when commenced with, and after 
being fed a certain time with carefully-weighed 
quantities of food, they are re-weighed and weights 
noted, and then those which had been fed upon one 
kind, are changed to another and so on ; and when 
the experiment is finished, he assured me he 
would publish the table. The experiment thus far 
is very largely in favor of the mush, bidding fair to 
produce enough to pay toll and trouble for grinding, 
as well as for cooking, and leave a profit. The 
number of pounds of good thick mush, that one 
hundred pounds of meal, well-worked, will make, 
is astonishing to any one who has never thought 
much upon the subject. It will not fall much if 
any short of six hundred pounds. Mr. Ellsworth’s 
kettle holds just fourteen pounds of meal at a 
charge, and several accurate weighings give over 
eighty pounds when well cooked, and I saw myself 
that no more water was used than the meal would 
absorb. But it must be cooked—not merely scald¬ 
ed. A little salt is added, and occasionally a little 
sulphur. 
Mr. Ellsworth assured me that he had proved the 
mooted point of nutritive food in corn-cobs. He 
says, <{ hogs will live and thrive upon well ground 
cob-meal alone! At first they did not take hold. 
I then added a small quantity of meal of the grain, 
principally to make the mass ferment quicker, and 
then they eat the whole, and did well. I had great 
difficulty in getting the cobs ground. Millers are 
so well satisfied in their own minds that cobs are 
good for nothing, that they are not willing to let 
the experiment be tried whether they are nourish¬ 
ing or not. I am satisfied that twenty-five pounds 
of corn-meal added to one hundred pounds of cob- 
meal, is more valuable for feed for growing stock, 
than seventy-five pounds of corn-meal alone.” 
Such is the language of Mr. Ellsworth. Experi¬ 
ments of this kind should be further tried. One- 
fourth of the weight of a bushel of ears of corn, 
