WESTERN AGRICULTURE—CORN-COBS. 
339 
nature never intended should be thrown away, and 
cobs upon large corn-farms in the West are lite- 
ally thrown away. They are neither used for food, 
fuel, feed, nor manure ; for the latter is considered 
a nuisance. 
After my visit to Mr. Ellsworth, I met with our 
old friend, Mr. Colt, of New Jersey, at the great 
Chicago Convention. Owing to the vast crowd of 
people and business, I did not have the opportunity 
that I wished to glean intelligence from so enter¬ 
prising a Jersey farmer as he is well known to be ; 
but as a matter of course, the things that pur minds 
most did dwell upon were discussed over the din¬ 
ner table, where I mentioned my conversation with 
Mr. Ellsworth, upon the subject of corn-cobs, and 
my belief that they would be highly advantageous 
to feed in small quantities to all kinds of stock, 
solely on account of the alkaline properties that 
many an ancient dame knows that they possess. 
For oft has she made cob-ley when pearlash was 
high ; and even if a little should be mixed in human 
food it would not injure it; and in the stomach of 
fattening hogs particularly, it would prove an excel¬ 
lent corrector of acidity. This idea was nothing 
new to so inquiring a mind as that of Mr. C., and 
he told me that he had tendered a donation of one 
hundred dollars to the American Institute for a com¬ 
plete analysis of corn-cobs, so as to prove whether 
there was any nutritive quality in them. 
But my opinion is, that if the hundred dollars 
were spent in actual experiments of feeding live 
stock with cob-meal, a much more satisfactory re¬ 
sult might be arrived at, than can possibly be done 
by any chemical analysis. If Mr. C. himself will 
undertake the matter, I am sure that he will prove 
some facts of vast importance to the corn-growers 
of the United States. Where cobs are to be had in 
vast quantities, if they were used as fuel and the 
ashes carefully saved, I have no doubt that they 
would be found more than twice as valuable as 
wood-ashes for any purpose. If cobs are not 
worth feeding to stock, and not of sufficient value 
as manure or fuel, to be worth saving, then I am 
greatly mistaken, and hope to have my mind en¬ 
lightened with the truth; and when that is done I 
shall not feel so grieved to see this bountiful pro¬ 
duct of nature lying knee-deep across the public 
highway in front of the door of many a hog and 
hommony farmer of the West. But enough about 
one of nature’s productions which the world es¬ 
timates as good for nothing. 
But there is another subject that was talked over 
by Mr. Ellsworth and myself which I hope to see 
discussed in your columns, and which will afford 
your Reviewer an ample text., and which I hope he 
will discuss with all the candor that his somewhat 
captious pen will allow him, and not ridicule the 
idea because it is a new one. It is packing flour 
and meal, and in fact, all dry substances usually 
packed in barrels for a foreign market, in square 
packages. A barrel of flour put up in a neatly made 
smooth chest , would be something new. The ad¬ 
vantages in form over that of the old one would be 
many, as we view the matter. Firstly, not one tree 
in a huridred will make barrel staves, that will make 
good sound boards. Secondly, they can be made 
cheaper than barrels. The boards can be sawed, 
planed, and sides and ends dove-tailed together- 
bottom and top cut to match in—all by machinery 
of the simplest forms and rapid in its operation. 
All but the top should be well nailed, and cut nails 
are cheaper than hoops. The top should be put on 
with wood-screws, which can be done with a very 
simple machine, and much quicker than the most 
expert workmen could head a barrel; the screws 
being made of a new form on purpose for this use. 
It may be found necessary to put a very light iron 
hoop around the ends when shipped on a long voy¬ 
age. Thirdly, the important advantage saved in 
stowage, in wagon, railroad-car, canal-boat, on 
shipboard, or in store. Fourthly, not one atom of 
leakage. Every one who has seen flour carried 
upon a railroad, is aware that a great many barrels 
which were made of timber not well seasoned, leak 
quite an item of the quantity to a starving man. 
The boxes not admitting leakage, if exposed to rain, 
would also save an item. Fifthly, these boxes in 
England, where deal-boards are sold by the pound, 
would always be worth more than cost, when emp¬ 
tied of their contents, either to work up or to be 
used as they are for household use; for, by adding 
a pair of butts, there is a good chest or cupboard; 
or they would always sell to dry goods or shoe- 
dealers for packing-boxes. Indeed, the lumber is so 
cheap in many of the grain-growing districts, that 
it would be found profitable to sell them after being 
emptied, in our cities. Sixthly, the absurd old 
fashion of selling 196 lbs. of flour in a package, 
would be done away with, and the boxes would 
always be of exact sizes, holding 50, 100, 200 lbs. 
&c., and sold by weight. And lastly , what are the 
objections ? Let them be fairly stated and they 
shall be fairly answered (a). But 1 am at the end 
of my sheet and yet not half to the end of my story, 
but it must be deferred. Solon Robinson. 
Crown Point , Indiana , July, 1847. 
(a) We do not agree with our correspondent in 
substituting boxes for barrels. 1. Economy of tim¬ 
ber is not yet an object in this country. 2. They 
cannot be made so cheap as barrels, as these last 
are extensively made by hand at 25 cents each ; and 
the introduction of the recently-invented barrel and 
stave-machines wiU probably materially further 
lessen the expense. 3. Stowage is no object, as 
cars, boats, and vessels already stow all the weight 
they can carry. 4. Leakage with good barrels 
amounts to nothing, and with poor boxes, would be 
fully equal to poor barrels. The thin timber used 
for the former is more quickly and certainly sea¬ 
soned than the latter. 5. Second-hand barrels are 
worth as much in proportion to their cost, as second¬ 
hand boxes after arriving at their destination. 6. 
If it is absurd to sell 196 lbs. of flour in a package, 
it maybe altered to packages of 50, 100, or 200 lbs. 
barrel-shaped, equally as if squared. 7. Boxes of 
the same capacity and weight as barrels are vastly 
weaker. 8. The breakage and waste in conse¬ 
quence, and the extra expense of the interminable 
rolling necessary from the mill to the bakery, would 
much increase expense of transportation. We can 
roll two barrels with more facility than one square 
box. 
Lime, improperly or prodigally applied, enriches 
the father, but impoverishes the son. 
