REVIEW OF THE AUGUST NUMBER OF THE AGRICULTURIST. 
315 
with small turnips, the cow was confined for 
five days to the diet. At the end of this short 
period, the tops began to freeze, and hence were 
unfit for feeding. The milk now gave the fol¬ 
lowing composition:— 
Water,.84.73 
Solid matter,.15.26 
Butter,.4.76 
Casein,.7.55 
Sugar and extract,.3.60 
Saline matter,.0.78 
This analysis shows an increase of casein, a 
result which might perhaps be expected. The 
feed imparted to the milk the turnip flavor. 
The ash of the turnip tops has the following 
composition:— 
Silex and some adhering sand,...16.60 
Earthy phosphates,.13.20 
Carbonate of lime,.38.60 
Magnesia,.1.51 
Potash,.9.13 
Soda,.3 94 
Sulphuric acid,.5.92 
Chlorine,.6.05 
Albany , 'N. Y., August, 1851. E. Emmons. 
REVIEW OF THE AUG-UST NUMBER OF THE 
AGRICULTURIST. 
Pork—Bacon — Ham. —The first sentence of 
this number, speaking of the way every part of 
the pig is converted to some useful purpose, in 
England, conveys or should convey to us a use¬ 
ful lesson of economy. Instead of saving all 
the offal in this country, we waste nearly all of 
it. More than 20 years ago, I took a trip 
through the west, during the pork-packing sea¬ 
son. At Cincinnati, I saw six-horse-wagon 
loads of offal; that is, heads, feet, ribs, and back 
bones, hauled to the Ohio River and thrown in 
to feed the catfish. The pluck, blood,and hair 
were never thought of as worth saving. I be¬ 
lieve the Buckeyes, or some importation of lard- 
ail-making Yankees, have since discovered that 
such things are good for something besides fish 
bait; but in many parts of the western country, 
the same waste still prevails, particularly of 
blood and hair—two valuable ingredients for 
the compost heap. One fact is mentioned in 
this number of the article, which is worthy of j 
particular note at this season of the year. When 
the hams are sufficiently cured, mix up a sort 
of pomatum of lard, sugar, and black or Cayenne 
pepper, and rub over all the fleshy parts of the 
ham, especially the end of the hock. It ex¬ 
cludes the air and keeps off flies. The worst 
condition of the atmosphere to cure pork, is, 
when the weather is moist whether warm or 
cool, particularly that condition known as 
“ muggy.” Hot, dry weather is not so bad. 
The writer says pork must hang to cool 16 to 
36 hours before salting. I say it is not neces¬ 
sary. It may be salted as soon as dressed. 
Goths and Vandals. —The spirit of destruction 
walketh abroad at noon day, and this corres¬ 
pondent has well named these destructionists, 
Goths and Vandals; for such wanton destruc¬ 
tion of beautiful shade trees evinces a barba- 
rious and uncultivated mind. “ Woodman spare 
that tree,” but do not spare your blows upon 
those who wantonly cut it down. J 
Experiments with Fresh and Compost Manures. 
like a great many other experiments show no 
practical result. Nothing short of five years’ 
careful and continued trial will give Mr. Gray 
perfect satisfaction whether it is better to apply 
manure fresh or composted. 
Chemistry of Milk .—In glancing over the pages 
of this number, the careless reader would never 
suppose the article under this caption contained 
this valuable piece of every-day information, 
and so I will repeat it; “A five-year-old cow, 
(known as the Dutch breed,) consumed 22 
pounds of hay per day, during the month of 
December, and drank 44 pounds of water. Her 
calf, seven months old, ate 12 pounds of hay 
and drank 17 pounds of water per day. A 
large horse consumes 31 pounds of hay per day.” 
Fattening Animals in Confinement. —I am not 
going to enter into the merits of this controversy; 
but if it is right for the farmer to adopt that 
course in preparing his animals for market, 
which will bring the greatest amount of money, 
without regard to the quality of the meat for 
human food, then is the distiller who prepares 
meat or milk for market, right upon the same 
principles. If fatness of carcass is the only 
criterion of excellence by which the consumer 
judges the quality of the farmers’ meat, we 
are fast approaching an enviable Exquimaux 
condition of life, where man is contented with a 
diet of whale blubber and train oil. 
New Importation of Merino Sheep. —-It appears 
from this interesting letter that we have very 
little occasion to send to Europe to improve our 
! flocks. We have good ones at home. 
Philosophy of Eating .—If this article could be 
read and properly digested, there would not be 
so much complaint in the country of indigestion. 
“ Truly,” says Dr. Hall, “ nine tenths of all our 
ailments, accute and chronic, enter the system 
through that orifice of the human face out of 
which cometh lies and deceit and all manner of 
abominations, except the abominable practice of 
bolting such vast quantities of indigestible, half- 
masticated food—conduct a respectable pig 
would be ashamed of. 
Amount of Foreign Flax Consumed in the Lory- 
i don Trade .—A very interesting statistical article, 
