AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
217 
posed to apply for their premiums in the pre¬ 
sent circumstances of the Society. 
The chair stated that no advantage would be 
taken of such a regulation. 
Mr. P. B. Mead called the attention of the 
members to the subject of the Conversational 
meetings of the Society, the first of which was 
to be held on Monday, December 12th. He 
hoped the members would take an interest in 
them, and that all who could give any informa¬ 
tion would freely do so. With regard to the 
objection that some of the profession had to 
expose its secrets, he would say, that he did not 
desire that they should do so ; indeed he held 
that what the whole profession know is no se¬ 
cret. He hoped the members would take an in¬ 
terest in the success of these meetings, and that 
they would bring their friends with them, as 
they were to be open to all. 
He thanked the Society for the renewed 
proofs of its confidence in reelecting him to 
what he considered a high position, but he as¬ 
sured them he would be willing to hold the 
most trifling office in the gift of the Society, 
such was his anxiety for the promotion of the 
objects it had in view. He thanked them espe¬ 
cially for the kind forbearance they had always 
exhibited, without which he could not have filled 
the position to which he had been reelected, and 
he would add that if all the members felt the 
same interest as he did in the success of the So¬ 
ciety, it would not long remain in its present 
condition. 
A discussion took place regarding the reports 
of committees on Fruits, Flowers, and Vegeta¬ 
bles, which was concluded by the adoption of a 
resolution requiring the various committees to 
furnish a full report at the next meeting. On 
motion, the Society adjourned to the second 
Monday in January. 
Several specimens were presented, including a 
new Pear by Mr. R. L. Livingston, raised by 
him from seed; several trees had borne from 
the same sowing, but this was the only one 
worth preserving. It resembles the Seckel, and 
is evidently a seedling of that variety, and being 
in season much later, renders it a valuable ac¬ 
quisition. As it was referred to the Committee 
on Fruits for examination, who will report at 
next meeting, we will not describe it minutely 
at present. 
Mr. Wit. Cranstoun, Hoboken, exhibited 
some very fine stalks of Celery, well blanched, 
solid, and crisp. The whole plant measured 
three and a half feet at least, and the blanched 
portion nearly two feet. He calls it the Giant 
Solid. It was exhibited in the proper manner, 
with the roots attached, and not as we have 
seen some, trimmed up as if just purchased from 
a stall in market. 
A collection of cut flowers, of green and hot¬ 
house plants was also contributed by the same 
gentleman, consisting of about twenty varieties, 
including three varieties of Abutilon, Bedfordi- 
anum, venosum, and striatum; Begonia incar- 
nata, Bouvardia leiantha, Fuchsia serratifolia, 
and other choice specimens. 
- •• 0 - 
Foreign Patent.— Improvement in Deodoris¬ 
ing Sew eg e-water and Cesspools , and in Manu¬ 
facturing Manures —Patent dated March 8, 
1853, (No. 581.) Jacques Francisque Pinel, of 
Pall Mall, Middlesex, agricultural chemist. This 
invention consists in applying to sewege-water 
sulphate of zinc, potash, alum, chloride of so¬ 
dium, and sand, so as to precipitate the solid 
matter contained in it, and then manufacturing 
the solid deposit into manure by combining it 
with such substances as pulverised chloride of 
sodium, nitrate of potash, soot, ashes, slaked 
lime, or muriate of ammonia, that will concen¬ 
trate the gases necessary to vegetation. 
-•-• •- 
PROFIT OF FEEDING CORN TO HOGS 
In the Ohio Agricultural Report for 1852, now 
in press, we no tice in the report from Highland 
county, by C. 0. Sams, a calculation based upon 
experiments, designed to answer the oft-re¬ 
peated question as to how much pork a bushel 
of corn will make. AVc copy from the Report.— 
Ohio Cultivator. 
It is estimated, from an experiment made by 
S. B. Anderson, that 100 bushels of corn will 
produce 1050 lbs. of gross increase in the weight 
of hogs. 100 thrifty hogs were weighed and put 
into a pen. They were fed for 100 days as 
much corn as they would eat. The average 
consumption -was 100 bushels every six days. 
The average gross increase per hog for the 100 
days was 175 lbs., or at the rate of If lbs. per 
day. 
It thus appears that 1 bushel of corn will pro¬ 
duce a gross increase of 10) lbs. Throwing off 
1- 5 to come at the net weight, gives 8 2-5 lbs. of 
pork as the product of one bushel of corn. If 8 
2- 5 lbs. of pork are made by 1 bushel, or 56 lbs. 
of corn, 1 lb. of pork is the product of 6f lbs. of 
corn. 
From an experiment made by Samuel Linn, 
of this county, with 58 hogs, as reported in the 
Patent Office Report for 1849, GA lbs. of corn 
produced 1 lb. of pork. 
From the experiments of the Hon. H. L. Ells¬ 
worth, reported in the Patent Office Report for 
the year 1847, it appears that 3 4-5 lbs. of cooked 
meal made 1 lb. of pork. This experiment was 
on a small scale. 
Assuming that it requires Gf lbs. of corn to 
make 1 lb. of pork, the cost of its production 
will be seen from the following table. The la¬ 
bor of feeding and taking care of the hogs is 
not included in the estimate : 
When corn costs 12}£c. ^ bu., pork costs l%c. lb. 
<c 
17c. 
“ 
“ 2c. 
<< 
25c. 
“ 
“ 3c. 
(< 
“ 
33c. 
(i 
“ 4c. 
<; 
u 
42c. 
u 
“ 5c. 
The following table shows what the farmer 
realizes for his corn, when sold in the form of 
pork: 
When pork sells for 3c. $ lb., it brings 25c. a bu. corn. 
u u 
4c. c 
l u 
33c. 
« (( 
5c. ‘ 
< it 
42c. 
u a 
6c. 1 
( “ 
50c. 
The above accords mainly with our own ex¬ 
periments made several years ago; the average 
of which, with an excellent herd of swine, was 
about 9 lbs. of pork for every bushel of shelled 
corn boiled whole previous to feeding. This, 
we have no doubt, is as economical as cooked 
meal, deducting the toll or cost of grinding. 
Hogs will make from 3 to 12 lbs. of pork for 
every bushel of corn fed them, according to the 
goodness of their breed, manner of keeping and 
feeding, the season of the year, &c., when fed. 
Grape Mildew. —Perhaps some of your read¬ 
ers may like to have another proof that sulphur 
will destroy mildew on vines. The Vinery 
here is 80 feet in length, and 18 feet wide. 
Last year I lost the greater part of the grapes 
on it from mildew; I washed the pipes with 
sulphur, and put fires on. but that did not stop 
it; this year the mildew made its appearance 
before the vines were in bloom. As soon as I 
saw it, I dusted them all over with sulphur, 
throwing it by handfulls in about the foliage. 
The mildew disappeared, and I have had an 
excellent crop of well-colored grapes. Great 
care must be taken in stopping thinning, and 
not to|shake the sulphur on the grapes, I did 
not syringe the vines, but kept the house very 
damp until the grapes began to ripen. I used 
7 lbs. of sulphur.— H. Morgan , Gardener , 
Raynham Hall , Norfolk. 
- • 9 •- 
ON THE PRESERVATION OF GRAIN. 
The only mode of storing and preserving corn, 
compatible with true economy, is in its clean 
state on a granary floor so constructed with pro¬ 
per traps and hoppers, that the grain may be 
quickly and easily swept down into winnowing 
machines below, and thence hoisted up to an¬ 
other floor previously cleaned and whitewashed. 
For new grain, it would be requisite to perform 
this operation about once in every three weeks 
for the first two or three months, but afterwards 
twice or thrice a year would be quite sufficient. 
The expense of the granary and manual labor 
would be amply compensated in three or four 
years, by getting rid of the enormous loss ne¬ 
cessarily attendant on the rick system. We 
constant]}' hear of thousands of rats, dead and 
alive, being found by farmers on opening their 
ricks, which are not unfrequently in such a pes¬ 
tilential state, that the owners would willingly 
set fire to them if it were not for fear of the 
surrounding property; and it has happened that 
a man, in attempting to remove the thatch of an 
old rick, has fallen through to the floor, nothing 
being left of the rick but an empty shell. Un¬ 
fortunately, actual loss of corn is not the only 
mischievous result of the rick system. We are 
always complaining of the rascally baker for 
supplying us with bad bread; but what can 
they do while the farmers and millers together 
supply them with flour made from overheated 
Wheat, browned with age, rottenness, and 
rats—and seasoned with the putrid carcases of 
themselves and their enemies ? To convert such 
stuff into white, I cannot say wholesome bread, 
the bakers must use large quantities of alum, 
and throw in plenty of ammoniacal and alkaline 
mixtures to make it rise ; but let any one pro¬ 
cure some newly-reaped Wheat, and have it 
ground pure by itself, if he can, and he will find 
that the flour of such Wheat will produce bread 
as white as snow, and as light as a puff-paste, 
without any chemicals whatsoever. It is true 
that bakers use flour made from the oldest 
Wheat in preference to that made from new, 
because flour made from old Wheat requires 
more water to make up the dough ; and it is to 
the interest of the baker to sell as much water 
in proportion to the flour as he possibly can. 
No great harm would result from this practice 
if the Wheat had grown old on the granary floor, 
but not in the Wheat-rick. I have eaten good 
bread made from Wheat 50 years old, preserved 
in the magazine granary of a fortress. As it would 
be preposterous to suppose that barns could be 
built of sufficient capacity to receive the whole 
produce of a farm in the straw, the rick system 
must be continued; only the farmers must be 
prepared with powerful steam threshing ma¬ 
chines (now, happily, quite common,) and thresh 
out the whole of their crops as soon as possible 
after reaping, and store their corn in granaries, 
one of which might serve several neighboring 
farms. It is melancholy to think that the price 
of bread, the staff of life to the poor, should be 
enhanced by such slovenly management; but 
the farmers are not alone to blame, seeing that 
hundreds, nay, sometimes thousands of quarters 
of corn are annually shot into the Thames from 
the numerous granaries up and down the river 
banks; partly from mismanagement and im¬ 
proper corn stores, as well as from an idea that 
the increased price of the better sorts may more 
than compensate for the loss upon inferior.— 
Henry W. Reveley, in the Journal of the 
Society of Arts. 
- 18 0 - 
To mourn deeply for the death of another 
loosens from myself the petty desire for, and the 
animal adherence to, life. AVc have gained the 
end of the philosopher, and view without shrink¬ 
ing the coffin and the pall.— Bulwer. 
