1859 . 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
361 
For the American Agriculturist. 
Still Slops—Their Uses. 
I abominate “swill milk” as much as any 
body, and readily concede that it causes all the 
disorders to children and others who consume it 
either in its natural or cooked condition, as set 
forth in the various reports made upon it by ei¬ 
ther official or private authorities. The evils of 
“ swill milk,” and the wretchedly disordered con¬ 
dition of the cows yielding it, are owing, howev¬ 
er, to the fact that the cows get nothing else but 
the “ slops,” and are confined in filthy, close 
stables, breathing a pestilential atmosphere, and 
having little or no hay, or straw, with which to 
form a “cud.” Thus, the acrid qualities of the 
slops acting on a stomach contracted for the want 
of a distending food like hay, straw, or grass, the 
cow immediately becomes unhealthy,and of course 
■permanently diseased, and that disease as a con¬ 
sequence affects the quality of her milk. Thus 
you will see I heartily agree with the “ Swill 
milk Committees” of New-York and Brooklyn. 
But, conceding the truth of what I state above, 
still slops are a very useful and profitable food 
when fed rightly, and to the proper animals. 
“ Still-fed ” pork is well known. It is a soft, 
greasy, slippery article, as commonly barreled, and 
so is the lard of such pork. Yet the hams and 
shoulders, properly cured, are good, and not easi¬ 
ly distinguished from those which are corn fed. 
Still-fed beef is oftentimes of the first quality, 
when abundance of light straw and good hay are 
given to the cattle with the slops, and the slops 
not fed hot. I have made the best of mutton with 
still-slops, giving the sheep meantime all the good 
hay, or pasture (if in the pasture season) they 
wanted. They are very fond of it, and will suck 
it down with the greatest gusto; or it may be 
economically fed upon cut hay, straw, or oats in 
the sheaf, putting on all the slops it will take. I 
have fed it to my cows at pasture when the grass 
got dry and short. It increased the yield of milk 
largely, without detriment to the quality of the 
cream or butter, or the taste of the milk itself. 
Geese and ducks will fatten rapidly upon it, when 
fed thick, that is, the sedimentary portion, like 
thin mush. But it is not so good for hens, and 
turkeys, unless it is mixed with Indian meal and 
cooked potatoes, yet when it is so mixed it is 
better—using about half slops, and half meal. 
Understand me: I am not advocating distil¬ 
leries at all, but simply discriminating how, and 
in what manner the slops may be fed to manifest 
advantage and profit. I have no interest in a 
distillery at all—pecuniary, or otherwise, but there 
being a large one erected in my immediate vi¬ 
cinity a year or two ago (sufficiently far away as 
not. to be offensive), I commenced to use its slops 
as I could get them at a low price, and as a mat¬ 
ter of information give this testimony, A. R. B. 
Variety in the Food of Animals. 
No man is contented with the same dish for din¬ 
ner every day, neither will he thrive as well for 
confining himself to one article of diet, however 
wholesome it may be. The Creator has provided 
a constant variety of ripening fruits and grain to 
correspond with man’s desire for change. Ani¬ 
mals have the same want and to some extent the 
same provision. The ox ranges over the field to 
find out different varieties of grass. Animals in 
the yard will nose over the refuse heap to pick 
out something different from their accustomed 
food. The pig turns from his regular meal of 
corn, to root for nuts, bulbs, and other tit-bits. 
These facts should be kept in mind in the Winter 
care of stock. An alternation of roots, cut feed, 
oil meal, etc., with an occasional treat of grain and 
shorts, will please their palates, keep up appetite, 
promote digestion and general thrift. Hogs as 
well as other animals need such a change. The 
sweepings of the barn, which contain clover 
heads, seeds, bits of hay and straw, etc., should 
be thrown into the pen where they will be eager¬ 
ly devoured, and will contribute not a little to 
the health as well as the comfort of the animals. 
The Beech Tree. 
A Western Artist was commissioned to pre¬ 
pare for the American Ag r iculturist some original 
sketches of native forest trees, and among others 
we received the accompanying group of Beeches 
(Fagits ). Though beautiful as a picture, the sketch 
does not give a full representation of the peculiar 
characteristics of the Beech tree as it grows wild, 
thickly studding many extensive forests that 
abound on the fertile soils of the Northern and 
Western States. As we have usually seen it, it 
has a straight, tall trunk, the bark smooth, with 
scattering small branches shooting out in every 
direction, beginning at a hight of from five to 
thirty feet from the ground. In the forest the 
main branches are usually from fifteen to twenty, 
and sometimes forty feet from the ground. 
Wherever this tree abounds, it is a favorite one 
with the new settler for the construction of log- 
houses. 
It bears an abundance of fruit, beech-nuts, of 
triangular shape, or three-sided, and not unlike 
buckwheat kernels in form and even in color, 
though the beech-nut is of course much larger. 
(The name Buckwheat is derived from beech¬ 
nut, or beech-wheat, from its resemblance to the 
nut.) Beech-nuts, called mast, or leech-mast, are 
very nutritious and serve to fatten a vast number 
of hogs in the newer countries. Hogs and other 
animals thrive well upon them, but two or three 
weeics ot nnai leeuing upon corn are required to 
give solidity to the pork, though we have assist¬ 
ed in slaughtering many hogs immediately after 
driving them in from the forest, when further 
feeding was shut out by deep snows, and the pork 
was found to be delicate and good for home use, 
though not well adapted for strong salting for dis¬ 
tant markets. The nuts are pleasant eating, and 
in our boyhood days a bushel or two of beech-nuts 
were considered no mean addition to the gar¬ 
ret stores, especially when 
the hickory nuts and black- 
walnuts chanced to yield 
poorly. The nut grows in a 
bur which opens and drops 
out the kernels after a severe 
frost, while the burs still 
clinging to the trees present 
a pretty appearance in Win¬ 
ter. The wood of the beech 
ranks next to the oak and 
maple for fuel. It is of close 
texture but unfitted fortitnber 
in exposed situations, owing 
to its liability to decay. It is 
admirably fitted for many 
mechanical purposes, and is 
much used for making planes, 
shoe-lasts, saw and other 
tool-handles, wooden screws, 
rolling-pins, butter stamps, 
etc. The Beech has a dense 
foliage, and makes a pretty 
ornamental shade tree for 
standing singly upon the 
lawn, or in groups. The 
Weeping Beech, ( Fagus pen - 
dula), with its long pendent 
branches hanging down near¬ 
ly to the ground, is scarcely 
excelled in beauty by any 
other tree. There are sever¬ 
al varieties of this tree—the 
red beech ( Fagus ferruginea), 
and the white beech, Fagus 
sylvatica,) being the most 
common in the northern por¬ 
tions of our country. The former is thus de¬ 
scribed by Gray : Leaves oblong-ovate, taper- 
pointed, distinctly and often coarsely toothed : 
petioles and midrib soon nearly naked ; prickles of 
the fruit recurved or spreading; common, es¬ 
pecially northward, and along the Alleghanies 
southward. 
^ -— 
How Hemp is Grown and Prepared for 
Market- 
Hemp is one of the minor crops of the country, 
like hops confined to a few localities, very impor¬ 
tant in the limited districts where the cultivation 
is understood, and generally bringing a fair re¬ 
turn for the capital and labor invested in it. 
Kentucky and Missouri are the only States in 
which hemp is grown on a large scale, and in 
these it is confined mainly to the region around 
Lexington, in Kentucky, and to Howard, Lafay¬ 
ette, Jackson, Saline, Clay, and Platte Counties, 
in Missouri; these counties all lie upon the 
Missouri river, in the western part of the State. 
It was a favorite crop, with the great statesman, 
Henry Clay, and he labored steadfastly, during 
his life, to encourage its production in this country, 
so as to exclude the use of the foreign article. 
The Hemp Plant, ( Catinalis Saliva,) belongs 
to the nettle tribe, and is often seen as a 
weed about farm houses in the older States, 
though its cultivation as a crop has long since 
