AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
275 
were sent to this country, which, valued at £20 
each, gives a total of £4,000,000. It is scarcely 
necessary to point out the benefits this pastoral 
property confers on us. Australia furnishes 
double the quantity of wool imported from other 
parts of the globe ; and should there be a dimi¬ 
nution in the supply, the operation of one of 
the most important branches of manufacture 
will be checked, and the comforts of the public 
considerably abridged.— The Land of Promise. 
—-—« • *——- 
GREEN FODDER. 
The late Col. Pickering, in an address before 
the Essex Co. Agricultural Society, once said: 
“Every farmer knows how eagerly cattle de¬ 
vour the entire plant of the Indian corn in its 
green state; and land in good condition will pro¬ 
duce heavy crops of it. Some years ago, just 
when the ears were in the milk, I cut close to 
the ground the plants growing on a measured 
space, equal as I judged, to the average product 
of the whole piece; and found that, at the same 
rate, an acre would yield twelve tons of green 
fodder; probably a richer and more nourishing 
food than any other known to the husbandman. 
And this quantity was the growth of less than 
four months. 
“ It has appeared to me that the sort called 
sweet corn yields stocks of richer juice than the 
common yellow corn. It is also more disposed 
to multiply suckers—an additional recommen¬ 
dation to it when planted to be cut in a green 
state for horses and cattle, and especially for 
milk cows; and at the time for planting may be 
so regulated as to furnish supplies of food just 
when the pastures usually fail. I am inclined 
to doubt whether any other green food will af¬ 
ford butter of equal quality.” 
Col. Pickering was wont to speak modestly, 
when others regarded him as good authority. 
Many things which appeared to him years ago, 
as important agricultural truths, have since 
proved such, and among others this of planting 
corn for green fodder. In connection with Col. 
Pickering’s remarks that the time of planting 
may be regulated as to furnish supplies of food 
just when the pastures fail, we would inquire 
inasmuch as corn-stalks and leaves, well cured, 
are an excellent winter food for cattle, whether 
the time of planting could not be regulated 
with some reference to the prospective wants 
of the succeeding winter. We accord most 
heartily with the sentiment of an excellent ar¬ 
ticle in a former number of this paper, by our 
worthy predecessor, in which it was shown that 
the farmer should have the general plan of the 
summer’s campaign made out beforehand, should 
study in the winter, lay his plans for the season, 
and then carry them out in the summer. We 
suppose, however, there are exceptions to be 
made. The clover on a particular field may 
have failed; or it may have become apparent 
in time for sowing corn, that the hay crop is 
going to be short. The farmer therefore will 
find it convenient with regard to certain fields, 
not to have his mind unalterably made up till 
as late as the end of June. To what extent 
corn fodder is destined to take the place of hay, 
we are not certain. That it affords an excellent 
fall feed for dairy purposes there is no doubt; 
and it is clearly ascertained that it may, on 
some farms at least, be profitably grown for 
winter fodder. Much of course depends on the 
character of the farm, and something we sup¬ 
pose may depend upon the season; we see no 
reason why, in case of the prospect being dark 
at the end of June for fall and winter food, the 
farmer who has land fit for the purpose, should 
not thrust in a few acres for corn-fodder, when 
otherwise he would not, to be fed out green in 
early autumn or to be cured for winter, as the 
case may seem to require. 
The merchant turns quickly in an emergen¬ 
cy. To a limited extent, very limited we con¬ 
fess, and yet not so limited as to be unimpor¬ 
tant, the farmer, for aught we can see, may do 
the same. We advise farmers to look at this 
matter.— Connecticut Valley Farmer. 
VALUE OF WHEAT BRAN. 
M. Mouries has presented to the Academy of 
Science a memoir on the proximate principles 
contained in wheat bran, and on the part they 
play in bread-making and in animal nutrition. 
Bran contains starch, azotised matter, and a 
colored pellicle which is considered to be ligne¬ 
ous. Flour from which the bran has not been 
separated is known to furnish a sort of bread 
which many physicians prescribe in cases of 
habitual constipation, and where there is a ten¬ 
dency to congestions on the brain. It is also 
known, on the authority of Mejendie, that dogs 
live when fed on brown bread, whilst they die 
when fed exclusively on white bread. What is 
the reason of this difference ? What part does 
bran play in alimentation. It cannot be solely 
owing to the nitrogen of its proximate princi¬ 
ples ; for the relative quantity of the former is 
small compared with that found in the fine 
flour. M. Mouries has discovered that the in¬ 
ternal surface of bran contains several azotised 
principles, the characters and species of which 
are still to be determined. But these principles 
combined dissolve in tepid water, and, like dias¬ 
tase,* possess the remarkable property of lique¬ 
fying starch, converting it into dextrine and su¬ 
gar ; it is therefore principally by inducing a 
sort of fermentation that bran acts in a peculiar 
manner in bread making, and afterwards in di¬ 
gestion. Let a certain quantity of common 
starch, heated to between 104° and 113° Fahr., 
be divided into two parts. Let water in which 
bran has been steeped when the water was tepid 
be added to the first portion, and an equal quan¬ 
tity of distilled water to the second, it will be 
found that the greater part of the first half of 
the starch, that to which the bran water was 
added, will dissolve, whilst the second half will 
not undergo any change. Water containing 
iodine will color the first portion purple, and the 
second blue. One thousand grains of starch in 
15,000 grains of water, mixed with 1000 grains 
of water in which 200 grains of bran had been 
steeped when tepid, became liquified in 20 min¬ 
utes at the temperature of 104°. After two 
hours, the solid residue was 151.3 grains; and 
the water when evaporated left 850 grains of 
dextrine and sugar. The active matter of bran- 
water differs from that of barley or of diastase, 
inasmuch as its action is destroyed when it is 
precipitated by alcohol; whereas that of dias¬ 
tase is not. Moreover, to produce the same 
effect on the former, a temperature of 167° is 
sufficient; whereas the latter requires from 208° 
to 212°. The effect of bran in bread is in con¬ 
formity with the preceding; for 130 parts by 
weight of this bread, supposed to be dry, 
pounded with 520 parts of water, readily di¬ 
vides, and at the expiration of three hours, in 
a temperature of 104°, the mixture assumes a 
milky appearance and may be filtered. The 
following are the proportions of soluble and in¬ 
soluble matter contained in the brown bread: 
Soluble matter dried at 212°.59.35 
Insoluble matter.09.75 
One hundred and thirty parts of white bread, 
supposed to be dry, pounded with 520 parts of 
water, only form, after long trituration, at a 
temperature of 104°, a half solid mass, repre¬ 
sented as follows: 
Soluble matter.9.03 
Insoluble matter.120.25 
It appears that the action of the bran on the 
fine flour commences when the paste is being 
formed, increases whilst the bread is being 
baked, and is only completed in the stomach. 
The experiments of M. Mouries, therefore, ex¬ 
plain the difference between brown and white 
bread by the action of the bran on the starch, 
the bran being present in the brown bread, and 
absent in the white^ bread.— Comptes Jiendus, 
Nov. 21. 
* The substance contained in malt which converts starch 
into dextrine and grape sugar. It is said that one pint of 
diastase will convert into sugar 2000 parts of starch. 
THE DOVE-HOUSE PIGEON. 
The prolificacy of pigeons has often been 
commented on, and as all the early hatched 
young birds would breed the same year, they 
would necessarily multiply very fast; but then 
pigeons have a great many enemies, which keep 
down any great increase. 
Much, too, has been said of the quantity of 
food they consume; but this subject I consider 
is greatly overrated. I will content myself by 
giving one instance of an experiment which I 
tried. When at school, I was permitted to 
keep one pair of pigeons ; these were common 
ones; I kept them in a rabbit-hutch, the breed¬ 
ing-place divided by a shelf to make two nests, 
and they reared a pair of young ones every five 
or six weeks. While I had them they were 
fed on tares, which I purchased retail; they al¬ 
ways had food and water by them, and cost me, 
one week with the other, three halfpence per 
week; they were very fat, and the young grew 
well. I cannot say if pigeons at liberty would 
be equally moderate in their demands, but I 
fancy exercise sharpens their appetites. Dove¬ 
cots are common in many parts of the country; 
they are built of various sizes, shapes, and 
materials; brick or stone are the best materials, 
not being so liable to harbor vermin and in¬ 
sects as wood; it must be inaccessible to cats, 
rats, &c., and kept clean; and as I have shown 
pigeons occupy two nests at the time with 
young and eggs, the pigeons should never ex¬ 
ceed the number of nests, or much quarrelling 
and consequent loss ensue; far better to have 
double the number of nests than pigeons. 
Every winter the pigeons should be all caught, 
by closing the dove-house at night, and the re¬ 
quisite number of pairs let out, being careful to 
allow a few hens rather than cocks in excess, 
for an old cock is always a nuisance; better to 
have half-a-dozen old hens than one old cock, 
and cocks are generally in excess, because the 
hens are weaker and more liable to get killed; 
and though a hen may find no mate in the dove¬ 
cot it is very probable she may pick up and 
bring home some disconsolate bachelor. The 
cocks and hens may be distinguished, pretty 
certainly, by a practised eye ; the cocks have a 
bolder look, and are fuller about the cheeks; 
the hens look more feminine, and narrower 
across the base of the beak, and more depressed 
before the eye. Young birds, too, are’ prefer¬ 
able to the old; old cocks often being very quar¬ 
relsome ; but this frequently arises from want 
of hens. 
Almost all the common pigeons are prolific; 
it is generally in the high-bred and high-fed 
fancy pigeons, where, perhaps, for many gener¬ 
ations no fresh blood has been introduced, that 
they fail to rear their young; their color has 
no effect on then breeding capabilities; those 
that are not related, and whose parents were 
not related, will be the hardiest and most proli¬ 
fic. From one to four years old is considered 
their most productive age; hens wear out sooner 
than cocks. I had a cock that bred well at 
twelve years old, and a neighbor had one which 
bred well when twenty years old. 
Although naturalists assign the origin of our 
tame pigeons to the Blue Rock Pigeon, or Rock 
Dove, I think the chequered Dove-House Pigeon 
the more probable ancestor. Not only is this 
pigeon more extensively diffused, but it is very 
constant to its home; they have been known to 
return to their former abode the distance of 
eighty miles. They are not so shy as the Rock, 
and are very easily tamed, and if properly 
treated will readily take up their abode where 
desired ; and what makes me incline still more 
to the Dove-House [Pigeons as the origin of our 
tame or fancy pigeons is, that if the varieties 
are neglected and permitted to intermingle, the 
type of the Dove-IIouse Pigeon will be more 
and more apparent among them. Still I have 
my doubts if all the fancy pigeons had one com¬ 
mon origin; it may be possible, but it does not 
appear probable.— B. P. B., in Poultry Chron¬ 
icle. 
