AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
5 
stock, and negroes would relish wheaten 
bread as a change for the corn bread usually 
allowed to them. 
We would, from these few reasons stated, 
and many more needless to mention, recom¬ 
mend the reduction of the corn crop to such 
a degree as would throw all lands not naturally 
producing Indian corn well, into wheat, bar¬ 
ley, rye and oats. 
We could then cultivate our titled crops 
well and easily, and the avenues the system 
would open for improvement would soon re¬ 
pay for the experiment. We know that these 
recommendations will be met by all the ob¬ 
jections which prejudice and the tyranny of 
custom engender in those who cleave to old 
practices and theories, but as they are con¬ 
victions of true policy, we have no hesita¬ 
tion in making them.— Southern Agricultur¬ 
alist. 
COOKING POULTRY FEED. 
While one party is ever ready to quote the 
saying of that man who, suffering from indi¬ 
gestion, the result probably of over-indul¬ 
gence, and due rather to his excess than the 
want of skill in the class of whom he spoke, 
growled forth that “ God sent food, and the 
devil sent cooks,” another claims for cook¬ 
ery the dignity of a science. Without enter¬ 
ing into the dispute, we were led to think of 
it while feeding our feathered flock in the 
snow and hard weather a short time since. 
Although the results of our experience 
must of necessity be published too late to be 
of much service now, yet they may turn to 
account, during the biting east winds of 
March and April, and in the raw cold rain we 
sometimes have during those months. They 
may also save a trifle in the mealman’s bill. 
“A fellow feeling makes us wondrous 
kind,” we were provided with all the means 
and appliances that are considered necessary 
to resist cold, but were suffering from it; 
when being struck with the remark of a man 
to whom we gave some fuel, that “if it is 
only a potato, it does twice the good if eaten 
hot," we thought we would test his assertion 
with our fowls. 
Till now, we had belonged to a numerous 
class, who are disposed to allow a natural 
course to everything, without perhaps con¬ 
sidering enough how far we had violated the 
original laws by the habits and duties we 
had imposed. We had given good corn and 
meal, but, spite of them, the appearance of 
our fowls was anything but satisfactory, and 
as we looked with something like despond¬ 
ency on those that won prizes last year, and 
were expected to do the same again, we 
thought of the poor man’s hot potato. They 
were then standing each on one leg, head and 
tail drooping, feathers loose and ruffled, the 
wind was turning them into the semblance 
of “ Friezelands,” and they seemed to lack 
the courage or inclination to change their 
positions. Struck by the thought we went 
to the kitchen. Steaming hot water in which 
some mutton had been boiled, a few potatoes, 
a little dripping and some meal, enabled us 
to make a smoking dish of savory food, 
with which we issued to the yard. 
“ We willnot ask Jean Jacques Rousseau. 
If fowls confabulate or no.” 
But it is certain that either by smell or in¬ 
stinct, they perceived our intent, for they 
crowded round us, and as they eagerly de¬ 
voured the smoking morsels we threw down, 
we vowed to give our readers our experi¬ 
ence of cookery for poultry. In half an hour 
they were walking cheerfully, with heads 
and tails erect, their combs had assumed a 
healthy color, their plumage was smooth, 
and they were evidently warm and satisfied. 
Since then, we have saved for mixing their 
food much of the kitchen water that formerly 
was thrown away. We have become poul¬ 
try caterers and poultry cooks, and our re¬ 
ward has been to see our proteges in as good 
condition as if there were no snow on the 
ground, or frost in the air. Laying has 
gone on regularly. The present price of 
food has done much to make some lessen 
their stock, and to deter others from having 
any ; but it is wonderful how many helps 
there are, even in the smallest and most 
economical family. Pot liquor, the water in 
which plates and dishes from the table are 
washed ; bread, from toast and water ; the 
inevitable crumbs and small pieces of bread 
at every meal ; scraps of cooked meat, that 
which has served for broth or gravy ; all 
these chopped up together and given warm 
form poultry cookery. 
But the most important part is, they are 
not extras, but substitutes. They supply 
the place of other food, and they tend to 
lessen that “ nightmare ” of many amateurs, 
indeed of all who are not engaged in agricul¬ 
ture—we mean the corn bill. 
Poultry Chronicle. 
CUTTING MASHING AND COOKING FOOD FOR 
ANINALS. 
There can be no question as to the advan¬ 
tages and economy of cutting roots for both 
sheep and cattle. These animals are fur¬ 
nished with only one row of incisor or cut¬ 
ting teeth; and however admirably these 
teeth are adapted for nipping off the grass, 
they are by no means so well constituted for 
dividing large roots, and indeed this can not 
be done without a considerable expenditure 
of muscular power, which is equivalent to 
the expenditure of so much food. 
Besides this, when turnips are fed off in 
the field without being cut, a considerable 
portion of the root is soiled and wasted, and 
particularly the rootlets and lower parts. 
The effect of leaving these fragments is in¬ 
jurious to the land, and tends to produce 
club-root in the future turnip crop. W r hen 
the turnips are cut up by a proper machine, 
such as Gardener’s turnip-cutter, the whole 
is consumed, no part is wasted, and the tur¬ 
nips are eaten by the animal with very little 
expenditure of labor, as the fragments are 
at once submitted to the molar teeth, which, 
besides being much more powerful are placed 
nearer the center of motion than the nippers, 
and thus can be more easily exercised. It 
is of course of much greater importance to 
cut swedes than white turnips for sheep, 
in consequence of their much greater solid¬ 
ity. 
Another advantage in cutting turnips for 
fatting sheep is that more time is afforded 
for eating oil-cake, or other concentrated 
food, as well as for rumination. Many per¬ 
sons prefer Gardner’s turnip-cutter, for cat¬ 
tle as well as sheep, as being less liable to 
produce choking than when the slices are 
broad and flat. With regard, however, to 
mashing and cooking roots, we believe that 
for either oxen or sheep there is no advan¬ 
tage whatever, the labor and fuel is entirely 
lost. Trials that have been made are alto¬ 
gether unfavorable. Mr. Walker, of Had¬ 
dington, N. B., found five oxen and heifers 
on steamed turnips, &c., to cost £5 19s. 
more during the period of the experiment, 
than the same number on food uncooked. It 
is indeed agreeable to the constitution, and 
capacious stomachs, and powerful digestive 
organs of these animals, that roots should 
be consumed in a ra\V state. 
There is only one animal, that is the pig, 
for which cooking is advantageous. This 
animal has only one stomach, which some¬ 
what resembles that of man, and according¬ 
ly it is advantageous to prepare the food and 
assist the digestive organs. Besides which, 
boiled roots are more palatable to the ani¬ 
mal, and will be partaken to a much larger 
extent, than if raw. And as roots are cheap¬ 
er than meal in proportion to the nourish¬ 
ment contained, there is a decided advan¬ 
tage in using them in combination. It is un¬ 
necessary, however, to boil roots for store 
pigs. Although boiled roots have not been 
found advantageous for fatting cattle, yet 
when milk is the object they have been found 
to answer the purpose of the cowkeeper, and 
to produce a larger quantity of this secretion. 
Prize Essay by W. C. Spooner. 
CULTIVATION OF SANDY SOILS-LONG ISLAND. 
A large portion of the soil of the country 
is of this class, and very little of it is under 
what may be called good cultivation. The 
greater part is managed on the skinning or 
starvation system. That these soils possess 
many advantages, has been long acknowl¬ 
edged by those who have given the subject 
the least consideration, while their peculiar 
adaptation to the culture of root-crops is now 
generally admitted. The absence of alumi¬ 
na and their porous character rendering 
them unable, in a great measure, to retain 
moisture, the best portions of manure are 
lost, either by percolation or evaporation ; 
and hence has arisen a great objection to the 
cultivation of this class of soil, which their 
cheapness, ease of tillage, and facility for 
raising early crops, do not seem to have 
obviated. And yet that such soil can be well 
and profitably cultivated has been long 
known ; witness the barren sand of Belgium 
and the estates of Coke and Hatherton in 
England, or, nearer home, the blowing sand 
near Albany, and some small portions of 
Long-Island. Their adaptation also for sheep 
husbandry is well known ; and yet, within a 
few miles of this great city are thousands of 
acres every way capable of supporting im¬ 
mense flocks, with not a sheep on them. I 
have been led to make these observations 
from a recent trip on the Long-Island Rail¬ 
road, when, in the space of about fifty miles, 
I did not see that number of sheep ; and, as 
a friend with me observed, on passing Hemp¬ 
stead Plains, here are the Downs, but where 
are the Southdownsl Certainly not there. 
A great many sheep, I understand, are raised 
on the north side of the island, and the stock 
is generally improving; Mr. Becar, W. 
W. Mills, and J. Smith, having some fine 
flocks. Still they are the exception, not the 
rule, and it is the latter that we want. The 
growing taste for mutton, and the high price 
a good article will always command, we 
think should stimulate the farmers of Long- 
Island to push forward in what I consider a 
profitable branch of husbandry ; and instead 
of being satisfied with raising from eight to 
ten bushels of rye to the acre, and then car¬ 
rying the straw off the farm, consume it on 
the farm, and not rest satisfied till they can, 
from the same land, raise from five to six 
hundred bushels of turnips. That this can 
be done, we will endeavor, at some future 
time to show.—L., in Plow, Loom and Anvil. 
Sugar Prospects. -The Franklin (St. Mary) 
Planters’ Banner, of the 22 ult., says : 
Many of our planters stopped planting 
their seed cane during the drouth, thinking 
it wouldn’t pay for the trouble ; but since the 
late rain they have recommenced—this time 
with a prospect of success. We hear many 
complaints, however, for damage done; 
some say that one-half of their seed is ren¬ 
dered entirely useless. From all accounts 
we may expect a short crop next fall. 
Similar complaints reach us from almost 
every quarter of the sugar region.— N. O. 
Com. Bull. 
Do not for one repulse forget the purpose 
you resolved to effect. 
