TERMS, $3.00 PER YEAR.] 
“ PROGRESS AND IMPROVEMENT.” 
[SINGLE NO. 31X CENTS. 
VOL. XV. NO. 
ROCHESTER, N. Y.-FOR THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1864. 
f WHOLE NO. 770. 
MCGEE’S KUBAL HEW-YOEKEK, 
AN ORIGINAL WEEKLY 
RUSAL, LITERARY AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER. 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE. 
GHAKIiES l». BRAttDON, Aweelntc Editor. 
HENRY S. RAND AT.I, Li. D„ 
Editor Deportment of Sheep Husbandry. 
SPECIAL CONTRIBUTORS! 
P. BARRY, C. DEWEY, LL. D., 
H. T. BROOKS. 
L. B. LANGWORTHY. 
Tub Rural N e w-Yorkrr is designed to be nnsnr- 
pas9edin Value, Parity. aihI Variety of Contents, and 
unique and beautiful la Appearance. Its Conductor 
devotes his personal attention to tlm supervision of Us 
various departments, cud earnestly labors to render 
the Rural an eminently Reliable Guide on all the 
important Practical, Scientific and other Subjects Inti¬ 
mately connected with the business of those whose 
Interests it zealously advocates. As a Family journal 
It Is eminently Instructive and Entertaining—being so 
conducted that It can be safely taken to the Homes of 
people of tntelllaeuee. taste and ill “crimination. It 
embraces more Agricultural, Horticultural, sV'ionUBe, 
Educational, Literary and News Matter, Interspersed 
with appropriate Engravings, than any other journal,— 
renderliu it the most complete Agricultural Lite¬ 
rary and Familv Newspaper in America. 
The Subsumption Price of the Rural is 13.00 per 
annum. For particulars as to Terms see last page. 
STATE FAIR DISCUSSIONS. 
CUTTING AND STEAMING FOOD. 
Geo. A. Moore of Buffalo.—I have never 
weighed food nor stock in the conduct of my 
experiments in feeding. I was led into the 
practice of steaming food by observing the effect 
upon stock of feeding corn stalks cut, put in a 
barrel and hot water poured upon them, com¬ 
pared with the dry food. I was feeding sheep, 
cutting for them timothy hay, millet, carrots, 
and feeding with bean and oat meal. Before 
steaming, I found by weighing I was putting on 
two pounds of flesh per wmek. After steaming 
I found I put on three pounds per week. And 
the stock ate the food cleaner; indeed, the sheep 
called for the food before it could be prepared 
for them. And I noticed they laid down quietly 
after feeding. 
I also experimented with sixty-four cows. 
Obtained and used one of Prindlk's steamers. 
I had a quantity of inferior, musty hay which I 
cut up and steamed. The cows would eat it 
entirely up and scorned better satisfied with it 
than with other hay. They ate to-day what 
they would not have eaten one-eighth of yester¬ 
day, and seemed bettor satisfied with it than 
with the sweetest unsteamed hay we could give 
them. Steamed food does not constipate the 
animal, the hair looks better. I think cutting 
food alone insures a gain to tho feeder of twenty 
per cent, and cutting and steaming combined, 
thirty-three per cent at least. The manure re¬ 
sulting from feeding steamed food is worth 
double that resulting from feeding lu the ordi¬ 
nary way. I have cut and steamed food for 
three years. Have kept eighty head of stock, 
and have had a surplus of food on a farm where 
previously only fifty head were carried through, 
and hay bought at that. After cows come in. 
steamed food increases the milk fully one-third, 
and the cows do better when put out to grass. 
E. W. Stewart.— Have cut feed ten years. 
I cut everything my cattle eat, whether hay or 
straw. I have only fed hay without cutting for 
experiment. Iu this country and England it is 
said that 19 lbs. of cut fodder is equal to 25 lbs. 
uncut. That is not stating tho matter strongly. 
I think 15or HJ lb-, cut is equal to 25 lbs. uncut. 
And cutting and steaming gives a gain of jhjty 
per cent. Musty hay is sweetened—entirely re¬ 
newed by -teaming, badly wet and mouldy 
straw or hay,not decomposed, may he renewed 
so as to be eaten by stock as greedily as if never 
injured. This fact, which experience has taught 
me, surprised me. A neighbor saw me hauling 
musty straw and thought I was going to use it 
for manure. I steamed it and called him to see 
the stock cat it. He could scarcely believe the 
savory food the cattle were eating so greedily 
the same straw. Cutting and steaming will in¬ 
crease tho value of straw 33 per cent, and that 
will more than pay the labor and expense 
necessary to do it. I cut all tho straw and 
refuse stuff about the barn and feed it all—feed 
it to horses, cattle and sheep. I purchased 
sheep on which to experiment. I fed them 
straw cut, with two quarts of bran to each bush¬ 
el of straw, steamed together. I found both 
sheep and cattle to flourish better on this food 
than on the best of bay. I experimented with 
ten head of cattle, feeding five on food prepared 
in this way, and five on good hay. Those fed 
on the steamed food gained over the other five. 
Alternated, changing the food of one to that 
of the other, and found it to be the case invari¬ 
ably, that those taken from the hay and fed on 
steamed food gained over the others, and more 
rapidly themselves than when fed on hay. I 
indorse all Mr. Moore has said about the bet¬ 
ter health of the animals. After they have 
been fed on steamed food awhile, it is ditheult 
to get them to eat unsteamed food. The food 
should be cut as short as possible. If it could 
be cut as fine as bran it would be better. The 
longest cut should not be more than one-fourth 
of an inch. I cut my corn stalks one-eighth of 
an inch. The toughest corn stalks, steamed, are 
eaten. The huts of com stalks so cut and 
steamed are eaten more greedily than the tops 
and foliage. I regard one tun of corn stalks 
equal to one tun of hay if used up. 
The object of cutting is to decrease the labor 
of mastication. For horses this is important 
We mu?t facilitate their grinding their food. 
One hour’s feeding on food as I prepare it, is 
worth more than three hours without such 
preparation. A horse with incipient heaves 
may he cured in three weeks by the use of 
steamed food. It is better than fresh grass for 
improving the appearance of the horse. A 
cough on horses feeding on grass, disappears 
when they are fed on steamed food. Few dis¬ 
eases appear on horses so fed. which are com¬ 
mon to horses unfed in this way. Steaming 
prepares the food for digestion—seems to econo¬ 
mize and use all the nourishment in the food. 
Heat prepares it. Heat is what the animal 
uses in digesting its food. 
Steamed food is peculiarly adapted to sheep. 
I find little diffloulty In teaching them to eat it. 
I starve them to it. The first day they did not 
touch it. The second day they did,—and the 
third day they ate it greedily. When I put 
them back on dry food again, they would not 
touch that. 
An animal that would consume three bushels 
of cut feed without steaming, would consume 
but two after steaming. They will eat twenty- 
live per cent, less of steamed food, and improve 
in condition more rapidly than on the greater 
amount of dry feed. Cows fed on steamed food 
improved rapidly, the milk seemed richer, and 
the butter was of better color; but I can not 
state the per cent, of gain which resulted. I 
have steamed vegetables. Carrots, cut and 
steamed with cut straw, are equal in value to 
bran for mixing, and seemed to produce the 
same effect. 
We shall find it entirely practicable to steam 
all our food for stock. I find a man will take 
care of the same number of animals after the 
hay is cut, that he will if fed iu the ordinary 
way. A man will steam the food for, feed and 
take care of fifty head of cattle. I have pur¬ 
chased stock for the purpose of having all my 
cut and steamed food consumed. The manure 
seems to he better—takes effect more readily 
upon the crop to which it is applied. There is 
no coarse stuff in it. It is all saved and pre¬ 
pared for the field without composting. 
It is easy to steam food for a large stock of 
cattle, where feeding is to be undertaken on an 
extensive scale—say 100 to 200 head. A four- 
horse power steam engine that, in ordinary 
times, would cost $230— for that is the best for 
steaming—that would cut the food, grind the 
grain and steam the whole, should be pur¬ 
chased. Locate the stock in a lower story, the 
straw above them. Cut it above and drop it 
through the door into a steam-box below, in an 
aisle between two rows of stock, and steam it 
there. If you design to use mixed feed, au ar¬ 
rangement can be made for mixing as the straw 
passes into the steam-box. The meal should be 
thoroughly mixed with the hay or straw before 
steaming. Such an arrangement for mixing as 
is used in superphosphate factories for mixing 
sulphuric acid and bones, may be employed. It 
is essential that, bay or straw should ho thor¬ 
oughly moistened before steaming. I feed my 
food warm, but not hot. 
L use Cummings’ patent two horse cutter for 
cutting feed. It requires about one hour and a 
quarter to cut one tun of hay, and one hour and 
three-quarters to cut a tun of straw. Three 
persons are required to do this work in this 
time, if the cut straw does not fall directly from 
the cutter into the steaming-box in the lower 
story. The machine is driven by horse-power 
—an ordinary tread-power like Wheeler's or 
Emery’s. A one-horse power will answer for 
the smaller sized cutters. I have cut a tun of 
hay in two hours with one horse, and a tun of 
straw in two and a half hours. This has been 
done by measure; I did not weigh it, but 
weighed a measure of the cut feed, and thus 
estimated the weight cut. A bushel of cut 
straw weighs from five to five and a half pounds; 
the same measure of hay, eight to nine and a 
half pounds. I regard barley and oat straw the 
best to feed. Rye straw is not as valuable as 
wheat. 
A. B. Conger. —We want facts and figures. 
The great thing to be attended to is to econo¬ 
mize labor. I have it arranged so that a -team 
engine will do all the work, and perform it on 
rainy days. The cutting is performed in the 
second story of the barn. The whole lower 
story receives the cut food. The steam-box is 
outside of the barn, and the straw is carried to 
it on an endless apron. The steam-box consists 
of two stories, so as uj supply the stables in 
each story of the burn While the contents of 
one story of the steam-box is being steamed, 
that of the other story may be cooiing. But 
steaming alone is not sufficient in the prepara¬ 
tion of this food. It must he first wet, so that 
if left aione ten hours it will heat. Water, in 
large proportion, must ne added to the hay or 
straw after cutting. .• nd -o prepared, thirty 
head of stock may be key- nn tne same amount 
of food as twenty on unprepared food The 
mistake made iu the early experiments in this 
country and England was that the food was not 
wet sufficiently lit ore steaming , Turnips of 
course do not need moistening, but aav, straw, 
corn stalks, .fee., mu*t be wet. 
Another way of economizing food is to cut 
and wet it, and let it lie and heat. Experiments 
should be conducted with considerable care to 
determine if this is not really as profitable as 
steaming, when the relative cost is considered. 
This is a question of figures. I am not sure but 
steaming is the more economical, but experi¬ 
ments should be carefully made to settle the 
question. If you take good straw you will get 
from it from 9 to 13 per cent, of matter soluble 
in water and easHy digestible, and if an acid re¬ 
action eau be produced like that got by the chem¬ 
ist in his labratory, a greater amount of that 
which yields flesh to the animal can be attained. 
Lawks ,t Gilbert have shown that such food 
treated with dilute sulphuric acid yields 20 to 30 
per cent, more of soluble matter. The ques¬ 
tion is whether the cutting and wetting and 
steaming docs not produce tiffs result—whether 
the chemical effect is not such as to give this 
increase ol' nutritious matter to the animal. Fed 
in the ordinary way a large proportion of nu¬ 
tritious matter passes out and is lost. It must 
not be forgotten that desirable results from 
steaming food depends upon the wetting of the 
food before it is .-teamed. I do not hesitate to 
say that I do not think there is any advantage 
gained in cutting and feeding food dry—especial¬ 
ly to sheep. Cattle should masticate their food 
so as to mix it with saliva. The mere mechan¬ 
ical process of grinding food does not aid diges¬ 
tion. Of course I would not apply these re¬ 
marks in reference to feeding dry cut feed to 
working animals where time is a consideration. 
Si kmaut. —I>ocs not cutting food enable 
sheep to masticate better: 
Geo. Geddes.—I think cutting corn stalks 
detracts from their value for food for sheep. I 
have tried ii, aud found that our s.ieep did not 
eat so much of it as when uncut. Sheep will 
keep fat if fed on good clover hay, corn stalks 
aud straw, uncut. I don’t want my corn stalks 
cut for sheep at all. I have a cutting machine 
and power, but I don't use it. If I could steam 
probably I could get my money back. But we 
winter our stock cheaper to feed hay, straw, 
corn -talks and beets (the last cut) than we 
would to go to the expense of cutting. I give 
my sheep all I can get them to eat, and get all 
the straw under their feet that is possible. 
L. H. Tucker— House falls’ theory is that 
food cut and steamed parts with its organic con¬ 
stituents more readily. The effect of such feed¬ 
ing was not only to benefit the animal, hut the 
manure was in better condition for application 
to soils. But the process of steaming lood has 
not obtained generally iu England. Large 
amounts of straw are produced, and the system 
of using it is similar to that practiced by the 
gentleman from Onondaga. 
L. Wethere'll.— The effect of cooked food 
on the healthfulness of animals is an important 
consideration in determining its value. Iu Eng¬ 
land this matter has been discussed, and experi¬ 
ments have been made. Pork made from 
cooked feed was found ffabby as compared with 
that made from uncooked feed. So beef was 
less nutritious where the animal had been fed 
on cooked feed. Prof. Simonds. an eminent, 
scientific authority, says this is just the effect 
which should be expected, by any physiologst, 
upon ruminating animals. I: is objectionable to 
interfere with natural rumination—it impairs 
the constitution of the animal. This was con¬ 
firmed by other experiments The economy of 
feeding cooked food has not been apparent to 
those who have tried it in England. Those 
who advocated cooking food in the outset 
have become silent. I do not know of any ex¬ 
periments in Massachusetts which have given 
results which will warrant farmers, who live by 
their business, in entering upon this system of 
preparing food for their stock. A fanner in the 
Connecticut Valley fed four pigs—two of them 
on cooked and two on uncooked lood. The 
result was but little difference in tveizhr, which 
was slightly in favor of the uncooked food. 
Bip.xey, Peters and Loring have never 
brought out facts which afford any guide to the 
common farmer in this matter. A gentleman 
has told us that musty, innutritious food is made 
nutritions by steaming. I can not see how that 
U possible. It may be prepared so that cattle 
will eat it, but that it affects nutrition I van not I 
conceive. I do not believe we have facts suffi¬ 
cient proving the advantages of cooking to war¬ 
rant its general adoption. And there are strong 
physiological objections to feeding warm feed. 
[To be continued. 
3DXTRD BY HENRY 8. RANDALL, LL. D. 
STATE AND COUNTY SHEEP BBEEDEBS’ AND 
WOOL GEOWEBS’ ASSOCIATION. 
It is to oe hoped that the organization of the 
X. V. State Sheep Breeders’ and Wool Growers’ 
Association will be followed up by the formation 
of County Societies having the same objects. 
The latter will impart energy and vitality to the 
former, as tributary streams swell the currents 
of rivers. What would our State Agricultural 
Society be, compared with what it now is, had 
not the spirit of improvement and the agricultu¬ 
ral enterprise which sustain it been awaked and 
fostered—carried into every county and town— 
by the local organizations? In this respect the 
State and County Societies mutually act and re¬ 
act on each other. Neither would flourish in 
fhll vigor without the other. The local Society 
pioneers the march of improvement—the State 
Society carries it to its fullest healthy limits. A 
few of the most enterprising cattle or sheep 
breeders of a county bring their stock together 
for exhibition. Others come to look on. The 
close comparison of animal with animal, stand¬ 
ing side by side, shows the Rip Van Winkles of 
Agriculture that they are twenty years behind 
their neighbors in the quality of their stock—or 
if it does not show it to them, it shows it 
to others, and, happily, it shows it to the 
younger men whose prejudices and self-conceits 
axe yet but in the gristle. As it costs no more 
to raise a good animal than a bad one, every 
common sense man becomes anxious to obtain 
the improved stock which he has found in the 
possession of others. This improvement is inau¬ 
gurated at the local Fairs—and among many who 
would never have gone far, in the first instance, 
to find it. But having taken the first step—hav¬ 
ing discovered the reaiitv of current improve¬ 
ments—they seek them on wider theaters—they 
go to a State Fair to see choice animals from a 
whole State brought together for comparison. 
Thus the more enterprising farmers of the 
whole community acquire a knowledge which 
is iuvaluahle to them. Thus improvements are 
sown broadcast. Such are a part of the pri¬ 
mary objects of State and County Wool Growers’ 
Associations. Others have been alluded to 
heretofore. 
But these associations may find objects which 
we have not before alluded to. We have said 
again and again that the State organization is 
not intended by its founders to be made or used 
as a combination of men engaged in Sheep Hus¬ 
bandry against any other industrial interest 
whatever. It does not. if we understand it, 
propose to attempt to control or interfere with 
the ordinary and healthy transactions of trade 
in wool and woolens, as they are fairly regulated 
by demand and supply and by sound usages. It 
will doubtless, if necessary, suggest changes in 
usages; it wiH give sheep growers all the in¬ 
formation which it can obtain which is calcu¬ 
lated to promote their true interests; it wiH 
stand up for their rights under all circum¬ 
stances; but it will do these things only by 
legitimate modes, and w ith due respect to the 
rights and interests of all other persons. Above 
all, it will not be guilty of the suicidal folly of 
inaugurating an aggressive war on the interests 
of the woolen manufacturers. We do not be¬ 
lieve there is an intelligent man in it who does 
not know and feel that the interests of the Amer¬ 
ican wool grower are indissolubly connected 
with those of the American wool manufacturer; 
and that the blow which strikes down the latter 
will also destroy — ye-, utterly destroy — the 
former. United States wool < can not possibly be 
grown for profitable export. As long as woolen 
manufactures flourish as they now do, so long 
will wool growing flourish; and the latter will 
flourish in proportion to the former. Stop the 
clanging' wheels and busy ••pindles of our manu¬ 
factories. and the rapidly increasing flocks of 
sheep which are now literally yielding golden 
fleeces to our farmers—will suddenly lose their 
value and mostly disappear. The wool grower, 
then, is bound by every sensible consideration 
not only i»ot to wage aggres-ive war on the man- 
ufacturer—but to act as his friend and ally — to 
stand by him and all his just rights on the mart, 
in the halls of legislation, ar.d everywhere else! 
This, we believe, will be the fixed policy of the 
S^eep Breeders' and "Wool Growers’ Association 
o New York. 
‘‘Bu* suppose the woolen manufacturers do 
not act on the same magnanimous policy ? Sup¬ 
pose they make aggressive war on the wool 
growers? Suppose, for example, they are im- 
wiUing to bear their portion of the heavy bur¬ 
thens imposed by our country, and combine to 
obtain changes of the tariff which will shift off 
their just share of those burthens, and place it on 
the shoulders of the wool growers and wool 
consumers? What then would he the duty of 
the latter ? ■’* These questions are often asked in 
view of certain reeent movements on the part of 
manufacturers. Some of the leading manufac¬ 
turers of the United States have issued a circular 
calling a Convention to meet at Springfield, 
Mass., on the 5th of October. 11 for the purpose 
of consultation, and, if it shall be thought advis¬ 
able, of forming a National Association of Woolen 
Manufacturers for our (their i mutual interest and 
advantage. The U. S. Economist says:—‘‘It is 
understood that, among other things, it will be 
strongly urged on the Convention to adopt reso¬ 
lutions favoring a modification of the tariff' on 
wool.” We can not believe the manufacturers 
will take such a step at present. The tariff may 
have imperfections. It is possible that some of 
its provisions may be beneficially changed, when 
they have been separately and relatively tested. 
But generally speaking, it is quite as fair to the 
manufacturer as to the grower. The manufac¬ 
turer has been, in the common phrase, coining 
gold, during this war. He is understood to be 
coining it now. The grower, though now doing 
well enough, has reaped no equivalent advant¬ 
age from those exceptional circumstances which 
have so much increased the scarcity and value 
of his staple. Our country is calling on all her 
patriotic sons to contribute to her revenues in the 
form of taxes and duties. Is this the time, 
then, for our wealthy and flourishing manufac¬ 
turers to go before Congress asking for a reduc¬ 
tion of the revenue for their especial benefit, and 
at the expense of other interests? We will not 
believe this. Though this article will not he 
published until after the Springfield Convention, 
it is written and will be in type before the meet¬ 
ing. We predict , theu, that the manufacturers 
there assembled will not now re-open the tariff 
agitatiou. 
If these reasonable expectations are disap¬ 
pointed, if the manufacturers open au aggres¬ 
sive war on the interests of the growers, we 
have no hesitation iu saying that, in our opinion, 
it will he the duty of the latter to protect them¬ 
selves by adequate nans. It will be their duty 
to show the manufacturers that they are no 
longer a scattered and unorganized multitude 
who can be trampled on by a mere, handful of 
wealthy business men acting in strict concert. 
