55 
1875.1 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
price per acre. Each man would liave six horses ; 
three would be resting in the stable, while the 
other three were at work. I believe the plan was i 
to change horses not only at noon, but perhaps 
once in the forenoon, and once in the afternoon, 
though the details are not given. In this way, he 
thinks, he should get full as much work done, with 
just half as many men, while the horses would not 
suffer, as they now so often do, by being kept too 
long at work in the field. I feel sure that it would 
pay me to have a man do nothing but take care of 
my horses, implements, machines, wagons, har¬ 
ness, and everything connected with the teams. 
If he would keep everything in repair, and every¬ 
thing in its place, and clean and feed the horses 
properly, he would earn twice as much as he pos¬ 
sibly can by going into the field to plow and harrow. 
I am trying to persuade the Squire and the Dea¬ 
con to join with me in ordering ten tons of super¬ 
phosphate and ten tons of nitrate of soda. We 
can get, so I am told, a superphosphate, in lots of 
not less than ten tons, at a price equal to 131 cents 
per pound for the soluble phosphoric acid that it 
contains. We can afford to use it at this price, and 
I feel pretty certain, that we can also afford to use 
nitrate of soda on barley and potatoes—using say 
200 lbs. of superphosphate and 200 lbs. nitrate of 
soda per acre. Commercial nitrate of soda con¬ 
tains about 15 per cent of nitrogen, and if it can be 
bought for SI cents per lb., we get nitrogen at 25 
cents per lb. It has hitherto cost us at least 30 
cents in our best artificial manure's. 
“But will it pay?” asked the Squire, who has 
several large farms, and is quite rich, and very 
keen, where dollars are concerned.—“At the pres¬ 
ent price of barley,” I replied, “nothing can pay 
better. The manure will cost us say $10 per acre, 
and if the land is dry, well worked, and the crop is 
put in early, and the season is favorable, we are 
pretty sure to get an increase of 20 bushels of barley 
per acre, from this §10 worth of manure.”—“You 
putina good many ‘ifs,’” quietly remarked the 
Deacon, “ but if the Squire likes to join, I will take 
half a ton of each. But you must say nothing about it." 
After they were gone, I could not help exclaim¬ 
ing, “ good for the Deacon.”—I am anxious to have 
him try it. Not merely because I think it will pay 
him, but because if it does, I can prove to a de¬ 
monstration that we can get nitrogen and phos¬ 
phoric acid at a far cheaper rate here at home, by 
keeping more stock, and feeding it liberally. 
For instance, a ton of corn-meal contains 36 lbs. 
of nitrogen, worth, at 25 cents a lb., §9.00. It con¬ 
tains phosphoric acid equal to 22i lbs. of phosphate 
of lime, worth say 6 cents a lb., or §1.35 ; and, be¬ 
sides other matters, it contains 7 lbs. of potash, 
worth say 7 cents per lb., or 49 cents. In other 
words, the manurial value of a ton of com is $10.75. 
On the same basis, the manurial value of a ton of 
oats is $12.10; a ton of wheat, $11.94; barley, 
$10.64, peas, $20.54 ; fine mill-feed, $22.76 ; bran, 
$24.32 ; malt-combs, $30.23 ; clover-hay, $15.82 ; 
wheat-straw, $4.57; oat-straw, $4.87; good pea- 
straw, $9.35 ; meadow-hay, $10.65 ; mangel-wurzel, 
$1.70; potatoes, $2.73; linseed oilcake, $31.96; 
decorticated cotton-seed cake, $45.26. 
I am now feeding my young pigs on malt-combs, 
bran, and corn-meal. The malt-combs cost 15 cents 
a bushel, or about $12 per ton. The bran $22 per 
ton. The corn-meal $38 per ton. We mix about 
100 lbs. malt-combs, 50 lbs. bran, and 50 lbs. corn- 
meal, with 80 gallons of water, and steam it until 
well cooked. This cooked food contains about 75 
per cent of water, or about as much as green clover. 
Pigs six months old eat about 20 lbs. of this mix¬ 
ture each per day, and gain about 8 lbs. each per 
week. The weekly ration, therefore, is composed 
of 17i lbs. of malt-combs, Si lbs. bran, and 8i lbs. 
corn-meal for each pig. The food, leaving out the 
expense of cooking, costs 371 cents per pig per 
week, and from this we get 8 lbs. of increase, equal 
to say 6 lbs. of dressed pork. I am expecting to 
see such pork worth 121 cents per lb. If so, then 
the pork will bring just double what the food costs. 
In other words, three shillings’ worth of food pro¬ 
duces six shillings worth of pork. And we get the 
manure into the bargain. 
Now if nitrogen is worth 25 cents a lb., phosphate 
of lime 6 cents, and potash 7 cents, then the ma¬ 
nurial value of 171 lbs. malt-combs is 261 cents; 
8i lbs. of bran 101 cents, and 8i lbs. corn-meal 4i 
cents. Total 41i cents. In passing food through 
an animal, a small portion of nitrogen is retain¬ 
ed in the form of flesh, hair, bones, etc. It 
probably ranges between five and ten per cent. 
In other words, 100 lbs. of nitrogen in the food, 
would give us from 90 to 95 
lbs. in manure. The loss of 
phosphoric acid and potash is 
very much less than this. Pro¬ 
vided we do not lose any of the 
manure from leaching and eva¬ 
poration, we shall be safe in 
concluding that there is not 
more than 10 per cent of the manurial value of the 
food taken out of it in passing through an animal. 
These figures, therefore, lead to the following 
comfortable conclusion. Each pig per week eats 
three shillings’ worth of food ; and for this we get 
six shillings’ worth of pork, and three shillings’ 
worth of manure. 
And so, if I can get the Deacon to buy nitrate of 
soda and superphosphate, I shall be able to prove 
that he makes a mistake in not keeping more stock 
—that he can get nitrogen, and phosphoric acid, 
and potash, cheaper from clover hay, oil cake, and 
bran, than he can buy it in the form of artificial 
manure. 
When I have gained this point, then the question 
will come up why we do not get as great an effect 
from the nitrogen in our manure, as we do from 
the nitrogen in ammonia and nitric acid. And this 
will bring up the question, how best to manage 
and apply manure. The Deacon and I differ on 
this subject, and I want to convince him that if I 
am not right, I can at any rate give some good rea¬ 
sons for my faith and practice. 
Emasculation by Torsion. 
BT J. C. MCKENZIE, V. S. 
The “ ecraseur,” as described in the Agriculturist 
of Nov., 1874, has many advantages over the older 
methods of castration, as by its use the operation 
is rendered simple and safe. But none of the 
methods hitherto in use are any simpler or safer 
than that of the torsion clamps and forceps, which 
is new in this country, but extensively used by 
European veterinarians. The method is as follows : 
the horse being cast and secured in the usual man¬ 
ner, the operator, kneeling on the left side, grasps 
the parts so as to make the skin of the scrotum 
tense. He then makes one steady bold incision 
about three inches long through the scrotum and 
down on the gland, which can now be cleared of 
its coverings, and gently raised from its bed; the 
operator then cuts through the white and bloodless 
portion of the gland, being careful to place nothing 
but those portions containing the artery and veins 
accompanying these arteries in the clamp, fig. 1. 
The clamp, which is rough in its inner edge, like 
the teeth of a mooth single cut file, is then pressed 
rather tighfoy on the cord, and the screw turned to 
retainf; ,n place; the cord is then divided with the 
knife, leaving a portion, which is then grasped by 
the forceps, fig. 2, about a quarter of an inch from 
the clamp. This is gently twisted until the coats 
of the artery are broken and drawn out, resembling 
the end of a thread; the forceps and clamp are 
then removed, and the cord allowed to fall back 
within the scrotum ; the other gland is treated in 
the same way, and the operation is completed. 
No after-treatment is required, little or no swelling 
takes place, the pro .ass of healing commences at 
once, and continues to go on successfully. This 
method has the advantage over the ecraseur that 
the operation can he performed in shorter time, as 
the working of the ecraseur must go on slowly to 
insure the desired amount of compression on the 
vessels, to avoid hemorrhage, which would other¬ 
wise take place. But by torsion, in most cases, 
not one drop of blood is lost from the vessels of 
the cord. The second advantage over the ecraseur 
is, that it is less painful, the horse giving only one 
struggle when the clamps are pressed tightly, and 
the animal feels little or no pain while the act of 
torsion is going on. In using the ecraseur, I have 
seen violent struggling at each alternate turning of 
the screw, the compression causing a shock to the 
animal every time. Another advantage over the 
ecraseur is, that the instruments used cost little 
over one-third of the price of a good ecraseur. 
This is a new method in this country, and is not to 
be confounded with simple torsion of the vessels, 
which is of more ancient date, and is often follow¬ 
ed by hemorrhage. This method of torsion was in¬ 
troduced into Rochester, N. Y., last spring, and 
the operation performed successfully upon a large 
number of colts and old horses. 
A Picking or Marketing Bos. 
Boxes th&t will hold a heaped bushel, (2,750 cubic 
inches,) and that will fit closely into a wagon-box, 
are very useful for gathering corn-ears, potatoes, 
apples, or such market truck that is generally sold 
by the bushel. They are equally useful for market¬ 
ing such produce. When they are most needed, 
there is no time to make them, but the winter 
months furnish the leisure needed, to prepare a 
supply of them. Those who would have them for 
next season must therefore now procure the ma¬ 
terials, and go to work to make them. The most 
convenient box of thjs kind is shown in the engrav¬ 
ing. It is 16 3 /e in. long, 14 in. wide, and 12 in. deep, 
inside measure, thus making 2,751 cubic inches, or 
as nearly as possible a heaped bushel. To make 
them most economically, procure a quantity of 
dressed f-in. boards, 12 in. wide, and 12 ft. long. 
These are cut into pieces, 14 in. long, each board 
making 10 pieces, which are for the ends of the 
boxes. A row of 4 holes are bored with an inch- 
and-a-half bit and auger, about 3 inches from one 
side of these boards, and connected by cutting 
away the wood between them. This makes a place 
in which to put the fingers, when the boxes are 
handled. Provide also a quantity of battens, 11 in. 
wide, I in. thick, and 12 ft. long. These are cut 
t PICKING BOX—BOTTOM UPWARD. 
into lengths of “ scant ” 17# inches. Six of these 
pieces are nailed to the end-pieces for the bottom, 
and five upon each side, leaving spaces of about an; 
