STEAMING FOOD FOR CATTLE. 
311 
plements, improved stock, better culture, more 
thought, and better crops are the result. 
Fifteen or twenty years ago, five or six bales of 
cotton was considered an excellent crop; corn was 
worth scarcely ever less than 50 cents per bushel; 
now 6 to 8 bales is not deemed very excellent; corn 
can be bought in the same county at 25 to 37 cents 
per bushel. There are laggards in the field, and so 
there are everywhere; no apology for any one to 
be thus, because there are such at “ Reviewer’s” 
elbow} but still, to encourage others, due credit 
ought to be given. Five years ago, 30,000 bushels 
of corn from foreign parts were needed, in a small 
scope of country j now, very little corn will sell 
there; a few, comparatively, have to buy, but the 
many raise a surplus. 
The south has not been forced to seek shelter in 
her resources; land has been cheap, and our erratic 
disposition, as a people, forces us off to search new 
homes} this is a weakness, I think, but it belongs 
to the nation. A part of the south is worn out, 
and their citizens are forced to exert themselves. 
They are moving and will soon be on the way. 
Improvement in agriculture must work its way 
very shortly : the south is sparsely populated, and it 
needs a general system of education. Educate the 
mass, and you at once overlook prejudice and in¬ 
tolerance. The uneducated are exceedingly jealous. 
They think every one desires to take an advantage. 
They fear every new thing is intended to cheat; 
old ways must linger on until the younger part of 
our population are enlightened, precisely what all 
centuries have passed through. We must not be 
impatient; let us labor on hoping for all things 
good. I can show fields of corn, that will average 
over 30 bushels per acre, whereas, ten years ago, 
on the same farm, 15 bushels was the average. 
This is no solitary instance, and the fact of an in¬ 
creased demand will cause an improvement. 
Cherokee. 
Drain Your Lands. —Let not a particle of stag¬ 
nant water lie on the surface, nor under the surface 
of the lands you cultivate. One of the best of all 
blessings is pure wholesome running water. But 
see that it is running, and not stagnant. The lat¬ 
ter destroys all useful vegetation, all economy in 
working the land, all health, and all beauty of 
landscape. It is the loss of everything as far as it 
extends, and breeds malaria and disease for cattle, 
and all domestic animals, equally with man. Ma¬ 
nures are inoperative upon wet or moist lands. 
Do not content yourself with removing what is 
on the surface, for stagnant water, just below, is fre¬ 
quently equally prejudicial,with that which is visi¬ 
ble. This may be removed by under, as the former 
by surface, drains. 
Activity of the Vital Functions of Plants. 
—Many plants and fruits mature better and more 
perfectly after removal from their natural condition, 
than when allowed to continue in it. Wheat, oats, 
and many other grains fill out better, and make a 
finer quality of flour, than if allowed to ripen 
while standing in the field uncut. Many specimens 
of the pear are richer, more juicy, and higher fla¬ 
vored, if plucked and allowed to ripen when spread 
upon a table in the shade j and numerous species 
of both these and apples do not ripen for months 
after they are picked. Cabbages and cellery will 
continue fresh, and add to their growth for months 
after being removed to the soil of a suitable cellar. 
STEAMING FOOD FOR CATTLE. 
If the nourishing particles contained in straw, in 
its compact state, and which, especially on account 
of their great quantity, cannot be dissolved by the 
animal organs of digestion in the short space of di¬ 
gesting and ruminating, are prepared and rendered 
more digestible by being previously boiled or 
steamed, they will be found to give the cattle a 
much greater degree of nourishment. 
Setting out from this undeniable position, there 
have been established at all the larger farms at 
Alscfith well-constructed steam apparatus for steam¬ 
ing the cut straw before its being given to the cat¬ 
tle ; that is, for boiling it in hot steam, in order there¬ 
by to change it to a fodder at once more digestible 
and nourishing. 
The following is a description of the apparatus 
—The upper boiler a, fig. 83, is 5 feet in width below, 
its bottom trailed up 9 inches, and the sides are 
15 inches high to the bend. The steam is con¬ 
ducted from the boiler into the casks b, 6, by means 
of a pipe c, which leads into two arms d , a, and 
which, by means of two stopcocks c, c, give the 
steam an outlet into either of the vessels. The 
casks made of pine wood are in form of a cone ; 
they are bound with hoops of iron, and are placed 
with their wider bottom upon stone sockets one 
and a half feet high. These casks are 7 feet 
high : their diameter is 7 feet 6 inches below, and 
6 feet 10 inches above. In the top of the casks is 
a round opening at /, 15 inches in diameter, which 
serves to fill the casks with chaff from the loft 
above. There is also on the lower side of the 
casks a square opening g, by which the chaff* 
when steamed is again taken out. To both the 
openings are covers of wood, which are trimmed 
with coarse cloth, or strong linen, and which are 
fastened by wooden or iron cross rails, so as to keep 
the openings the better closed. The small copper 
pipes marked h , serve for the escape of the steam 
after it has completely penetrated the chaff. Fi¬ 
nally, behind the boiler, stands a wooden vessel 
which is placed in the earth, and which is loaded 
with beams; and from this vessel, the water con¬ 
tained therein is conducted into the boiler by means 
of the pump k y and the funnel pipe l. 
The chaff is steamed either by itself alone, or it 
is previously mingled with potatoes cut into small 
pieces; in the latter shape, it is used as fodder 
only for cattle. The chaff is to bg one half wheat 
and the other half oat straw. For horses and sheep, 
it is cut half an inch long, for cattle, a full inch. 
The hay of second and third qualities is likewise 
cut into chaff and mixed up with the chaff straw ; 
it is put into the steam casks, whereby its taste is 
improved and its nourishing power much enhanced. 
A steam vat holds from 750 to 800 lbs. of chaff. 
For cattle, there are mixed to one barrel of chaff 
three bushels of potatoes. Within an hour, the 
whole is steamed, and 30 such decoctions require, 
for firing, one half cord of hard wood. One man 
is sufficient to tend to the apparatus. 
An apparatus so extensive and costly, to be sure. 
