176 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
[May, 
and should be more generally introduced with us. 
Beans, peas, and vetches, contain a great deal of 
nitrogen, and are very digestible. They are among 
the most common kinds of fodder in many coun¬ 
tries. The same is true of oil-cake and cotton-seed 
meal, and of malt sprouts, brewers’ grains, and 
refuse slump from the manufacture of starch and 
spirituous liquors. Bran, shorts, and corn-meal, 
contain considerable albuminoids, though propor¬ 
tionally less than the other materials, as will be 
seen by reference to Table 6, in the previous article. 
I should be glad to say a good deal more about 
the value of these nitrogenous foods and the pro¬ 
per way to use them, but the editors think that 
these scientific articles are such heavy reading, that 
they ought to be short. So 1 will simply add some 
German fodder tables, showing in what proportions 
these foods may be mixed with others, so as to 
secure the greatest benefit from both. 
MORE FODDER TABLES. 
In the March article were given a number of fod¬ 
der tables for oxen and milch-cows. The explana¬ 
tions there given apply to these. The rations are 
calculated for 1,000 lbs. live weight of the animals. 
Table 4 (o/ March number, page 92) continued. 
V.—For Fattening Cattle. 
T 
5 Bs. Meadow hay 
8 lbs. Oat straw 
125 D>s. Potato 
slump 
2K lbs. Rape cakes 
7 lbs. Maize meal 
orU 
6 lbs. Meadow hay 
7 lbs. Oat straw 
55 lbs. Beets 
5 lbs. Rape cakes 
1 lb. Linseed [ley 
3 lbs. Unbol’dBar- 
or V 
8 lbs. Timothy hay 
2 lbs. Barley straw 
42 tbs. Sugar beet 
cakes 
5 lbs. Rape cakes 
1 lb. Linseed 
or X 
or Y 
6 lbs. Clover hay 
7 lbs. Barley straw 
70 lbs. Beets 
2 lbs. Linseed 
3 bs. Bean meal 
2 Bs. UnboltedRye 
8 lbs. Clover hay 
43 lbs. Potatoes 
5 lbs. Bran meal 
% lb. Rape seed oil 
or Z 
10 lbs. Aftermath 
4 lbs. Oat. straw 
20 lbs. Potatoes 
20 lbs. Brewer’s 
grains 
1% lb. Rape seed 
2 lbs. Malt sprouts 
V I.—Fodder for Store Sheep. 
A a 
15 lbs. Barley straw 
9 lbs. Wheat chaff 
13 lbs. Potatoes 
3 lbs. Rape cakes 
or Da 
17 lbs. Oat straw 
9 Bs. Clover hay 
28 lbs. Beets 
or Ba 
9 lbs. Clover hay 
12 lbs. Barley straw 
27 lbs. Potatoes 
or E(t 
■22 lbs. Pea straw 
4 lbs. Meadow hay 
'll lbs. Potatoes 
or C<i 
9 lbs. Clover hay 
14 lbs. Wheat straw 
23 bs. Potatoes 
or Pa 
15 lbs. Meadow hay 
3K lbs. Clover nay 
12 lbs. Oat straw 
or G« 
12 lbs. Aftermath 
10 tbs. Pea straw 
7>£ Bs.Wheat straw 
or Ha 
10 Bs. Clover hay 
15 lbs. Oat straw 
15 Bs. Potatoes 
or la 
19 Bs. Barley straw 
5 Bs. Clover hay 
40 Bs. Beets 
1 B. Rape cake 
VII.—Fodder for Fattening Sheep. 
K.a I or 1 j a 
6 Bs. Timothy hay 7 Bs. Meadow hay 
4 Bs. Clover hay 5 bs. Clover hay 
23 Bs. Potatoes 140 Bs. Beets 
3K Bs. Rape Cake IB. Rape seed 
6 Bs. Crushed 4 Bs. Bean meal 
Maize | 6 Bs. Crushed Bar- 
2 Bs. Beau meal I ley 
or Ms 
15 Bs. Esparsette 
hay 
30 Bs. Turnips 
4 lbs. Rye bran 
1 B. Linseed 
5 Bs. Crushed Bar¬ 
ley 
To some persons these mixtures may seem com¬ 
plicated. They are, however, useful examples of 
the ways in which the strictest economy is practised. 
We are rapidly approaching the point where we 
shall be compelled, as European farmers have long 
since been, to economize in such ways as these. 
From what has been said here, let us not fail to 
carry away this main idea. A great deal of food, 
which is ordinarily considered very poor, is really 
very valuable. It is poor only because it lacks 
nitrogen. To realize its full worth for fodder, other 
foods, richer in nitrogen, must be added to it. In 
this way cheap mixtures may be made rich enough 
for all purposes of feeding. 
There is one more important point in this con¬ 
nection. The economy of this process does not 
end with feeding. Our lands need nitrogen in ma¬ 
nure as much as our cattle do in their food. If we 
use more nitrogenous fodder, we shall have richer 
manure and larger crops. 
One of the chief defects of our agriculture is the 
want of nitrogen in food and in manure. To re¬ 
medy this, we need to use waste nitrogenous pro¬ 
ducts, and to cultivate beans, peas, clover, and other 
crops, rich in nitrogen. Especially let us have more 
clover, as the quickest and most available resort. 
Voices from the Bee Hive. 
INTERPRETED BY M. QUINBY, ST. JOUNSVILLE, N. Y. 
If the flowers yield abundantly, we need to be fed but lit¬ 
tle. On no account allow us to suffer until the flowers yield 
plentifully. Clover may not yield much until some time 
in June. Strong hives sometimes starve from the failure 
of honey in flowers, when there was just enough in the 
hive to feed a large brood and get it sealed over. When 
we are in any way stimulated to rear a large brood, 
we must not be neglected afterwards. Very often there 
is a dearth of honey between fruit blossoms and clover. 
Sometimes an extra stock, with honey sufficient early in 
the season to rear an ordinary number of workers, and 
even a brood of drones preparatory to swarming, is 
overtaken by a scarcity, when the drones will be sacrific¬ 
ed, and occasionally when the dearth is prolonged, the 
just hatched young workers also ; even if we all do not 
starve at such a time. If we have a plenty of honey, and 
are weak in numbers, we increase moderately. In such a 
case, having honey on hand to carry us through this 
dearth, and continuing to increase moderately without 
any stoppage, we are ready to swarm earlier than those 
that had used their honey to rear early drones. When¬ 
ever we are stimulated by any means to rear early brood, 
we must be watched carefully. It will not do to see us 
flying thickly, and guess we are getting honey. Exami¬ 
nations need to be made within the hive, combs taken 
out, and cells looked into—all that are interested in this 
part, have movable combs. If there is sealed honey, all 
are safe from starving for several days. Be sure and keep 
a circle of cells containing honey, all the time outside 
the brood. It need not always be sealed over, but it 
should be there. If we are examined in the middle of 
the day, when honey is scarce, be careful and not keep 
the hive open unnecessarily long, because outsiders may 
be disposed to rob. We can be fed with Van Dusen’s 
feeder, the most conveniently of any. Let this fact be 
impressed, that we act according to circumstances, very 
like the human subject. If the flowers yield honey, and 
the weather is suitable, we collect it; if one takes what 
we have done, as indicating what we will do under differ¬ 
ent circumstances, he will often fail in his expectations. 
It is not too late to move us yet if we are taken a mile 
or more. If we are crowded, and the weather is warm, 
give us plenty of air, and a sponge containing water. 
Iron wire cloth is best to fasten us in the hive. 
There are some strains or breeds of bees much supe¬ 
rior in industry to others—both black and Italian. We 
cannot say how such are to be distinguished except by 
their thrift. Do not take the lightest and brightest 
Italians to be always the best workers, but see what the 
ordinary swarms do. Those that swarm first, and accu¬ 
mulate stores the most rapidly, are the ones to breed 
from. If one hive throws out a swarm early, and accu¬ 
mulates stores, and another equally strong, does not 
keep pace with it, by a few weeks, when both had an 
equal chance, the first is the one to propagate from. 
Watch closely, and see which is to be preferred. The 
rearing of queens will be given hereafter. [A large part 
of Mr. Quinby’s article omitted for want of room.— Ed.] 
—-— -—» »- » - 
The Great Swine Trade at the West- 
Interesting and Important Figures— 
“ Hard Times.” 
According to the reports submitted to the Cincin¬ 
nati Chamber of Commerce, the whole number of 
Hogs packed in western towns the past season, a- 
mounted to over five and a half millions ( 5 , 537 ,- 
134 ,) an excess of 343,314 over any previous 
year! As prices of pork and lard have been well 
maintained, the farmers producing these five and a 
half millions of hogs, and the corn that fed them, 
have little cause to complain of “ hard times ”— 
especially as they have been able to buy all kinds 
of manufactured goods arid family supplies cheap¬ 
er than at any other period in twelve years. An in¬ 
telligent friend from Iowa recently informed us 
that, owing to the high value of pork and lard, the 
farmers of that State were, generally, better off than 
ever before. Those raising wheat alone were less 
favored, comparatively. [The largest sufferers 
from “ hard times ” have been among those who 
have been thrown out of employment directly or 
indirectly by the cessation of railroad building, in 
which an average of over a Hundred Million Dol¬ 
lars a year were expended prior to the “panic of 
1873”—much of this money coming from foreign 
sources, as investments in bonds and stock. Of 
course, the eastern manufacturers, and the traders, 
who supplied the iron for these railroads and the 
articles worn and used by these builders, have suf¬ 
fered from the cessation of demand for their pro¬ 
ducts, and this has thrown out of employ another 
large class of persons. If any one will trace out 
these hundreds of millions, all through the chan¬ 
nels of trade, he will readily see that the effect has 
been felt in almost every town and hamlet through¬ 
out the whole country, and that in the aggregate 
several millions of persons have been the sufferers.] 
The following table gives the number of hogs 
annually packed at the West during 26 years past: 
1874-5.5,537,124 
1812-3.5,456,004 
1873-4.5,383,810 
1871-2.4,782,403 
1862- 3.4,069,520 
1870-1.3,623,404 
1863- 4. 3,261,105 
1861-2.2,S98,G6G 
1867- 3.2,78: ,084 
1869-70.2,635.312 
1853-4. -....2,534,770 
1868- 9.2,499,873 
1855-6.2,489,302 
1866-7.3,490,791 
1858- 9.2‘4G5,552 
1864- 5.2,422,779 
1859- 60.2,350,322 
1857-8.2,210,778 
1852-3.2,201,110 
1861-2. -.2,155,702 
1854-5.2,121,404 
1856-7.1,818,778 
1865- 6.1,785,956 
1849- 50.1,652,220 
1850- 1. v .1,332,867 
1851- 2.1,182,846 
Total number packed in 26 years.74,157,18’S 
Average per year. 2,852, 200 
It will be noted that the past winter’s packing ex¬ 
ceeds by nearly 2,684,924 the average for the past 26 
years. The following table gives the number 
packed the past winter at points where 10,000 or 
more were reported : 
Chicago, Ill.1, 
Cincinnati, Ohio. 
St. Louis, Mo. 
Indianapolis, Ind. 
Louisville, Ky. 
Milwaukee, Wis. 
St. Joe A- vicinity, Mo. 
Peoria, Ill. 
Cleveland, Ohio. 
Des Moines, Iowa. 
Kansas City, Mo. 
Keokuk, Iowa. 
Quincy, Ill. 
Cedar Rapids, Iowa... 
Dubuque, Iowa. 
Detroit, Mich. 
Sabula, Iowa. 
Ottumwa, Iowa. 
Terre Haute, Iowa_ 
Richmond, Ind. 
Franklin, Ind. 
Gosport, Ind. 
Galena. 111., 
Circleville, Ohio. 
Council Bluffs, Iowa.. 
Xenia, Ohio. 
Muncie, Ind. 
Charleston, Ill. 
,690.348 
560,164 
462,246 
278,339 
273,118 
218.197 
117,050 
112,750 
80,266 
74,017 
73.500 
72,000 
55,SOS 
54,6.0 
53.500 
38,376 
37,318 
35,000 
32,000 
27,700 
27.406 
25,571 
24,000 
23,486 
20,000 
18,842 
18,100 
17,202 
Pekin, Ill. 
Lawrence, Kansas_ 
Washington C. H., O.. 
Greensburg, Ind. 
Lacon, Ill.. 
Evansville, Ind. 
Delphi, Ind. 
Columbus, Ind. 
St. Paul, Minn,. 
Toledo, Ohio. 
Wilmington, Ohio.... 
Hagerstown, Ind. 
Martinsville, Ind. 
Leavenworth, Kan.... 
Canton, Mo. 
Omaha, Neb.. 
Lafayette, Ind. 
Nashville, Tenn._ 
Chillicothe, Ohio. 
New Castle, Ind. 
Wabash, Ind. 
Sioux City, Iowa. 
Marior, Ind. 
Ripley. Ohio. 
Springfield, Ill. 
Burlington, Iowa. 
Barry. Ill. 
Davenport, Iowa. 
17,068 
17,000 
16,335 
15,907 
15.286 
15.160 
15,140 
15,077 
15,009 
14,474 
14.286 
14,250 
13,960 
13,751 
13,000 
13,000 
12,830 
12,300 
12,238 
11,685 
11,640 
11,296 
11,000 
11,000 
10,500 
10,150 
10,000 
10,000 
By adding the amounts in this last table, we 
have the following numbers by States : 
Illinois.1,952,962 
Ohio. 751,091 
Missouri. 665,796 
Indiana. 545,765 
Iowa. 377,901 
Kentucky. 273,118 
Wisconsin. 248,197 
Michigan. 38,376 
Kansas. 30,751 
Minnesota. 15,000 
Nebraska. 13,000 
Tennessee. 12,300 
This accounts for only 4,924,357 hogs packed in 
the 56 towns enumerated, leaving 612,867 for towns 
packing less than 10,000, in the different States. 
The comparative average net weights of hogs, 
and the average yield of lard per head, for the two 
seasons, 1873-4 and 1874-5, are as follows: 
1873-4 1874- 5 
Ohio.. 
Weight of 
Hogi. Lard. 
.. 233.49 39.01 
Weigh t of 
Hogs. Lard. 
222.73 39.36 
Indiana. 
.. 207.22 
29.66 
208.80 
29.83 
Illinois. 
37.23 
213.76 
36.66 
Iowa. 
.. 204.67 
33.88 
198.67 
33.52 
Missouri. 
.. 207.01 
33.86 
189.74 
29.19 
Kansas... 
.. 220.64 
35.83 
171.63 
25.43 
Wisconsin. 
.. 210.89 
30.50 
212.48 
31.62 
Minnesota. 
.. 229.36 
36.41 
237.46 
29.83 
Nebraska. 
.. 214.65 
34.59 
193.96 
26.88 
Kentucky. 
.. 213.87 
29.66 
209.60 
29.70 
Tennessee . 
.. 200.42 
31.16 
192.39 
29.20 
Michigan. 
.. 234.02 
38.26 
234.27 
35.16 
Miscellaneous. 
.. 207.94 
31.03 
197.08 
28.27 
General Average... 
.. 214.97 
35.02 
209.77 
34.20 
The price of pork per 100 lbs. net, for the two 
seasons, w r as for 1873-4, 85.13, and for 1874-5,$8.33, 
a difference in favor of the season just past of 
$3.20 per 100 lbs. The average value of lard for 
the two years, was for 1873-4, 9c., and for 1874-5, 
141c. The total value of the western hog crop, 
pork and lard together, was as follows : 
Pork. Lard. Value. 
1874-5. 1,167,639,457 11)9. 190,380,607 lbs. $97,338,826 
1873-4. 1,175,126,971 “ 191,444,035 " 63,821,215 
Showing an increase in value in 1874-5 of..$33,511, fill 
all of which has gone into the pockets of the farm¬ 
ers of the Western States, during the past winter. 
The quantity of corn represented by these aggre¬ 
gate productions of pork and lard, may be estimat¬ 
ed very nearly by taking 6 pounds of pork as an 
equivalent of one bushel of corn. On this reason¬ 
able estimate, the quantity of corn fed would be, 
in 1873-4, 227,584,596 bushels, or about one-quarter 
of the whole crop, producing an average value of 
304c. per bushel, and in 1874-5, 226,513,932 bushels, 
or something over a quarter of last year’s deficient 
crop, producing an average value of 50c. per bushel. 
The stocks of hogs on hand the last seasons were, 
in 1873,21,193,300 head; 1874,19,927,600 head ; 1875, 
17,245,700 head.—The large falling off in the stock 
of live hogs with which we have begun the present 
season, is a fact worthy of note by pork producers. 
