340 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
eighty-one dollars and eighty cents, or two dol¬ 
lars and eighty-six cents more than the onions 
brought. I then had four tons, or about four 
hundred bushels of shorts, costing but two dol¬ 
lars and eighty-six cents more than the one hun¬ 
dred and tifty-six bushels of carrots. I think 
the labor was no more to raise the onions than 
the carrots, and the labor less to feed the cows 
with shorts than with carrots. 
December 1st, 1851, I commenced giving my 
cows from four to eight quarts of shorts each 
per day, and continued through the winter, ex¬ 
cept eight days in February I left off feeding 
four cows with shorts that had been having 
eighteen quarts per day, and measured the milk 
the first four days. I found they decreased on 
an average, three pints each per day. The next 
four days I fed them with about an equal quan¬ 
tity of rowen and coarse hay, which increased 
the milk full up to the quantity when fed with 
shorts. 
The next experiment I commenced December 
25th, 1852, by selecting three of my best cows 
as nearly equal in zize, condition, and goodness 
as I could. 
No. 1, eight years old, dropped her calf Nov. 25. 
No. 2, nine <l “ “ “ “ “ “ 
No. 3, eight “ “ “ “ “ Dec. 2d. 
I continued the experiment eight weeks, giv¬ 
ing to each cow the same money’s worth of the 
different kinds of feed by weight as the same 
cost at the time, viz: Shorts, twenty-six dollars 
per ton—Oil meal, thirty dollars per ton—In¬ 
dian meal, eighty cents per bushel of fifty lbs.— 
Rye meal, one dollar per bushel of fifty lbs.— 
giving to each cow fifty-two and a half cents 
worth per week, seven and one-half cents per 
day. 
The first week forty-two lbs. of shorts were 
weighed for each cow, and fed night and morn¬ 
ing, being about four and one-half quarts each 
time, wet with six quarts of water, two hours 
before feeding. (Beer measure is used for the 
milk.) 
No. 1 gave in the seven days 824 qts. 
No. 2 “ “ 784 “ 
No. 3 “ “ “ 79 “ 
Total, 23 9f qts. 
Second yveek, thirty-five lbs. of oil meal were 
weighed for each cow, wet and fed same as the 
shorts, being about four qts. per day. 
No. 1 gave in seven days 874 qts. 
No. 2 “ “ “ 81£ “ 
No. 3 “ “ “ 824 “ 
Total, 2514 qts. 
Third week, thirty-two lbs. thirteen ozs. of 
Indian meal were weighed for each cow, wet 
and fed the same, being about three qts. per day. 
No. 1 gave in seven days 85 qts. 
No. 2 “ “ “ 844 “ 
No. 3 “ “ “ 84 “ 
Total, 2534 qts. 
Fourth week, twenty-six and one-quarter lbs. 
of Rye meal were weighed for each cow, being 
about two and one-half quarts per day, wet and 
fed same as above. 
No. 1 gave in seven days 81£ qts. 
No. 2 “ “ “ 834 “ 
No. 3 “ “ “ 784 “ 
Total, 243f qts. 
Fifth week, thirty-five lbs. of shorts weighed 
and fed as before. 
No. 1 gave in seven days 764 qts. 
No. 2 “ “ “ 78£ “ 
No. 3 “ “ “ 74 “ 
Total, 228£ qts. 
Sixth week, forty-two lbs. of oil meal weighed 
and fed as before. 
No. 1 gave in seven days 82 qts. 
No. 2 “ “ “ 844- “ 
No. 3 “ “ “ 814 “ 
Total, 247£ qts. 
Seventh week, thirty-two lbs. thirteen ozs. of 
Indian meal weighed and fed as before. 
No. 1 gave in seven days 86| qts. 
No. 2 “ “ “ 894 “ 
No. 3 “ “ “ 84 “ 
Total, 260J qts. 
Eighth week, twenty-six and one-quarter lbs. 
of Rye meal weighed and fed as before. 
No. 1 gave in seven days 784 qts. 
No. 2 “ “ “ 83 “ 
No. 3 “ “ “ 78f “ 
Total, 2404 qts. 
Three hundred and fifty pounds of English 
hay and seventy pounds of salt hay were 
weighed and fed to the cows each week. When 
the cows were fed on shorts and rve meal, the 
whole quantity was consumed. When fed on 
oil and Indian meal an average of fifty-eight 
pounds of English hay per week was not con¬ 
sumed. 
Cost of feeding three cows two weeks 
on shorts, $3 15 
750 lbs. English hay, 75 per hundred, 5 62 
140 “ Salt hay, 50 “ “ 70 
9 47 
Quantity of milk for the two weeks, 4684 qts. 
Cost of feeding three cows two w r eeks 
on oil meal, $3 15 
692 lbs. English hay, 75 per hundred, 5 18 
140 “ Salt hay, 50 “ “ 70 
Total, $9 03 
Quantity of milk for the two weeks, 499 qts. 
Cost of feeding three cows two weeks 
on Indian meal, $3 15 
692 lbs. English hay, 75 per hundred, 5 18 
140 “ Salt hay, 50 “ “ 70 
Total, $9 03 
Quantity of milk for the two weeks, 5134 qts. 
Cost of feeding three cows two weeks 
on rye meal, $3 15 
750 lbs. English hay, 75 per hundred, 5 62 
140 “ Salt hay, 50 “ “ 70 
Total, $9 47 
Quantity of milk for the two weeks, 484 qts. 
It will be seen from the above experiment 
that Indian meal possesses, the highest value for 
producing milk, differing, however, but little 
from oil meal. 
Many farmers object to the free use of grain 
of any kind, believing such feed to be too stim¬ 
ulating. But my experience is otherwise. I 
have twelve cows which for the last five years 
have dropped their calves in the fall of the year, 
and have been fed during the wfinter and spring, 
till they went to pasture, with as much meal or 
shorts as were used in the above trials, and 
were uniformly in as good health and better 
condition than a like number that dropped their 
calves in the spring, and had no grain of any 
kind during the year. 
It should have been stated above, that my 
cows are kept in a tight barn, sufficiently ven¬ 
tilated during the days and nights, except when 
they are turned out to water about nine o’clock 
A. M., and four o’clock P. M., when they remain 
out about twenty minutes each time. 
William F. Porter, Chairman. 
APPEARANCE OP TREES IN WINTER, 
Continued from page 324. 
TnE horse-chestnut when divested of its 
leaves, is but a miserable-looking object, with 
its terminal branches resembling drumsticks, 
its primness without grace, and its amplitude 
without grandeur. Neither is it a very comely 
tree when covered with foliage, which is of an 
indifferent green, and without density. It is 
beautiful only while in blossom, when it is 
unsurpassed in its magnificent display of flow¬ 
ers, “which give it the appearance of an im¬ 
mense chandelier covered with innumerable 
girandoles.” The birds seldom build their nests 
in its branches, which are not sufficiently close 
to afford them protection. Its fruit, which is 
borne in great abundance, sustains neither 
beast nor bird, nor is it profitable to man. This 
may, therefore, very properly be regarded as 
an emblem of idleness and waste. 
The chestnut may be compared advantage¬ 
ously with the elm and the oak in size, and 
resembles the latter in many of its habits. It 
spreads horizontally more than it runs up in 
height, and has all the grandeur that appertains 
to trees of this shape and size. The foliage of 
the chestnut is peculiarly elegant and graceful; 
and although it is not a weeping tree, its lower 
branches have a peculiar droop, not unlike 
that of the beech. On account of the value of 
the produce of this tree, there are more beauti¬ 
ful and perfect individuals, resembling park 
trees, to be found in this country, than of any 
other species, except the elm. 
The beech, which is a classical tree, deserves 
rank with the most beautiful in our forest. 
Virgil applies the epithet “wide spreading” to 
this tree; hut in our own land, as this species 
has never been chosen for ornamental purposes, 
we see those only which have lost their charac¬ 
teristics by growing in a crowded forest. I 
have never seen a perfect tree of this species, 
and am enabled to speak of its peculiarities of 
growth only by observing the outer side of 
those which are found growing on the edge of a 
wood. In these the peculiarity which wrnuld 
cause the term “wide-spreading” to be properly 
applied to them, is very apparent. One remark¬ 
able feature of this tree, and which renders it, 
even when divested of its foliage, a very beauti¬ 
ful object, is a singular sweep of its branches, 
especially in the lower part of the tree. As 
they extend, they first incline upward, then 
make a gradual bend downward, curving up¬ 
ward again at the extremity. Every small 
twig turn’s upward, forming a very elegant 
>pray, which is still more attractive on account 
of the minuteness and density, as well as the 
neat arrangement of these terminal twigs, each 
pointed with the leaf buds, resembling little 
spears. A certain horizontal tendency of the 
lower branches of the beech tree causes it some¬ 
times to exhibit a double head, or a dividing 
space between-its upper and lower part. This 
appearance is produced by a kind of sucker 
growth of nearly horizontal branches, around 
and a little below the place where the trunk is 
sub-divided. The beech is distinguished for the 
deep and brilliant verdure of its leaves, no less 
than for their density and finely serrated forms. 
On account of the neglect which this tree has 
suffered from our predecessors, who never 
planted it for ornamental purposes, the present 
generation is condemned to behold the most 
beautiful of American trees almost entirely con¬ 
fined to the forest. 
Those who think that sturdiness is incom¬ 
patible with a drooping of the branches, have 
probably formed their opinion, by observing the 
aspect of the weeping-willow. In this beautiful 
and celebrated tree, the extreme slenderness of 
its terminal branches, combined with its almost 
linear foliage, destroy that majestic appearance 
which generally appertains to trees of large 
size. The weeping-willow, though resembling 
the elm in its outlines and in its drooping habit, 
is sub-divided in a different manner, as I have 
already remarked. Hence, except when in 
foliage, it has less graceful regularity than the 
elm. Other species of willow, whatever may 
be their size, are equally deficient in an appear¬ 
ance of sturdiness and strength. The willows 
are, for the most part, very graceful trees, and 
are pleasantly associated with lakes and water¬ 
courses, around whose borders they are fre¬ 
quently found. 
The poplars, still more than the willows, 
which are an allied genus, are wanting in sturdi¬ 
ness, and their principal charm consists in the 
graceful and tremulous character of their foliage. 
Most of the species have a tendency to up¬ 
rightness rather than spread in the direction 
