COOKING FODDER FOR DAIRY STOCK. 
A coiu<Ksi*o.\i>Evr who has a dairy at forty 
cows, asks U8 concerning the advantages or 
disadvantages of cooking the food for the 
winter keep of dairy stock. He says: 
“ Would you consider it advisable for me to 
arrange buildings and fit up machinery for 
cutting and cooking all the food needed for 
my cows during the foddering season? Is 
there sufficient saving in cooking the food 
to make It an object? Ls it certain that the 
health of animals is better when they are 
kept upon cooked than Upon uncooked food? 
Please give me your experience and views 
upon tliis question, and oblige a constant 
reader of the Rural New-Yorker.” 
Wo have never tried cooked food for 
stock in our own dairy, and therefore can¬ 
not speak of the matter from practical ex¬ 
perience. We have visited farms where 
the system was in operation, and we have 
talked with many persons who have given 
it trial for longer or shorter periods. Seine 
are quite enthusiastic in their advocacy of 
the system, believing that “cutting and 
steaming food ” for cattle in a paying busi¬ 
ness, and should bo more generally adopted. 
Others express a contrary opinion, and 
do not think the system is economical or 
calculated to promote the health of stock. 
We do not regard the question as altogether 
a settled one; and although very much 
may bo said in favor of cooking food for 
cattle, there are some serious objections to 
its general adoption. Wo very much doubt 
whether it ever pays to cook good., early cut 
hay. When large quantities of straw and 
coarse fodder are to be utilized, and bay is 
expensive, the straw and coarse fodder may 
be cut and steamed, and by addition of 
bran, or meal, the mixture can be made 
equal in nutrition to a day's ration of hay, 
and at much less cost for the raw material. 
But there is a question right here, whether 
the English system of cutting the straw and 
mingling with it meal and pulped turnips, 
or other roots, may not, on the whole, give 
quite as good results, in proportion to cost, 
as the h teamed food. The important jiointe 
to be considered are whether the Increased 
labor and fuel expended, together with the 
interest on cupital invested In machinery 
and fitting up of buildings, etc., for the pur¬ 
pose, arc not equivalent to the saving made 
by way of fodder. If a saving, for instance, 
of 8100 per year be made by the use of 
cooked food, and if the cost of labor be foO, 
fuel and other expenses -550, in preparing 
the cooked food there is, in reality, no gain. 
In our examination of English dairy prac¬ 
tice, in I860, we did not find tho cooking 
system generally adopted, or indeed in 
favor. And it must be observed that, the 
English dairymen are much more economi¬ 
cal in their system of feeding stock than the 
dairymen of America. In fact, the English 
study economy very closely in this matter, 
and are pretty sure to follow any plan for 
cheapening the cost of feeding stock. 
Most dairymen with whom we conversed 
in regard to this question, wero quite posi¬ 
tive in their views that the advantages gain¬ 
ed in cooking were not sufficient to pay the 
extra cost- We are aware that the cooking 
theory appears remarkably well on paper, 
while the arguments and facts adduced are 
of a character to carry conviction to most 
minds in its favor; still the practice does 
not gain ground, and a good many persons, 
who at one time adopted the system with 
high hopes as to its advantages, have non 
abandoned it. This may have been done in 
many instances from particular circum¬ 
stances, or reasons not connected with the 
real merits of the ease; but the return to 
.the old system of feeding must always carry 
a damaging influence against cooking. 
Some years ago Mr. J. B. Lawes of Roth- 
amstead, England, gave some strong argu¬ 
ments against the cooking of feed for rumi¬ 
nating animals. As Mr Lawes is, from 
his extensive and exact, experiments, 
justly recognized as the highest authority 
ou any matter which he has thoroughly in¬ 
vestigated, liis opinion on the question be¬ 
fore us maj- not be without interest. In 
referring to the watery flesh of animals fed ] 
on cooked food, he .said there was scarcely : 
any limit to the quant ity of water that m iglit : 
enter the animal organization, if we gave 
food which contained a large quantity of < 
water. Speaking as a pathologist, he be- l 
lieved that a great number of diseases 
among the lower animals arose from the bad 1 
state of blood, induced by excess of water i 
and deficiency of nitrogenized matter in the i 
food. The practical fanner knew that if, in i 
the lambing season, he gave his ewes too t 
many white turnips, or other green food t 
•which had grown rapidly, and containing a s 
large amount of water, it would load to dis¬ 
ease and loss; whereas, if he put them ou 
dry food, containing, weight for weight, a 
large proportion of nitrogenized matter, a 
good quality of blood was produced, and the 
healt h of t be animal preserved. Admitting 
t hat cooked food had the effect of aocumu- 
, latiiig weight, to say nothing about flesh, in 
. a certain space of time, he was inclined to 
t think that this arose from the facility which 
. it gave for the digestion of the. food, by an- 
. ticipating a part of the process commonly 
( carried on by the action of the gastric juice. 
But it was quest ionable policy giving to 
an animal, and especially a ruminant ani¬ 
mal, cooked food, for thus they might, to a 
considerable extent, supersede mastication; 
if so, they would supersede in-sail vat ion, 
and thus interfere with one of the chief 
processes of nature. The action of the 
saliva was first to convert the amylaceous 
parts of the food (or starch) into sugar or 
gummy matter. A further provision was 
made in the ruminant animal for stirring 
up, if he might so express it, the food; and 
a chemical change took place in its character 
before it passed into the true digestive 
stomach. There was a re-mastication and 
a re-in salivation; and inasmuch as the se¬ 
cretions coming from the rumen were very 
analogous to those with which the food 
was mixed in the mouth, it not only re¬ 
mained mixed with saliva a much longer 
time, but was mixed with a much greater 
quantity of that or like substance. 
Jf, then, by tho use of cooked food they 
dispensed with part of the operations of na¬ 
ture, and sent the food quicker into the in¬ 
testinal canal, they would dispense with the 
process of re-mastication and re-iusaliva¬ 
tion J and he could easily understand why, 
although a large Increase might take place 
in bulk, the quality of the auimul might be¬ 
come bad. The digestive process depends 
materially upon the condition of the food; 
it is even possible by giving cooked food, or 
other food which was physically in tho same 
condition with regard to fineness and mois¬ 
ture, to render auimals non-ruminative 
which are naturally ruminative; that is to 
say, we may give them food that would be 
retained for a very short space of time in 
the rumen, pass quickly into the true di¬ 
gestive st omach, and become subject to the 
action of digestion without first undergoing 
re-mastication. 
We should thus interfere at once with the 
law of nature; if we cook food at. all, we 
ought not, before cooking, to reduce it too 
fine. If the straw be cut into lengths of 
from four to six inches, a cooking process 
may be set up, so as to convert the amyla¬ 
ceous parts into sugar, without interfering 
with the functions of the rumen; but such 
food would be re-masticated. 
He would advise t hat if food is pulped and 
m freed it should not lie too long to undergo 
the process of fermentation, but be given 
pretty soon after it is mixed. Straw, doubt¬ 
less, might be converted into palatable food, 
and animals induced to eat a large quantity 
of inferior provender, cut into chaff, by 
simply throwing over it a small quantity of 
oilcake, dissolved In water. This was a com¬ 
mon practice among farmers in Lincoln¬ 
shire in feeding their horses, especially dur¬ 
ing the winter months. Upon the whole, 
he was certainly not in favor of the so-called 
system of cooking food, either for the pres¬ 
ervation of the health of the animal, or for 
the promotion of the process of digestion, 
and was inclined to think that, by the phys¬ 
ical alterations they might make in charac¬ 
ter and condition by the cutting straw, 
pulping roots and mixing a solution of oil¬ 
cake with them, they would gain their point 
at a lower expenditure, and with much 
more advantage to the animal eoouomy. 
With the light of our observation we can¬ 
not adviBe our correspondent to enter upon 
any very expensive outlay for the purpose 
of introducing the system of cooking food 
for dairy stock. We do not say but that 
the system may have great merits in cer¬ 
tain cases and under particular modes of 
farming, where large quantities of grain are 
raised and the breadth of meadow lands is 
comparatively small. Our advice would be 
to test the system first ou a small scale and 
with a few animals, noting the amount of 
labor and cost, and the advantages, if any, 
as compared with the old method of feeding. 
Such trial, if carefully made, will be more 1 
satisfact ory than volumes of advice in favor < 
or agaiust the system. Our experience, as t 
farmer and dairyman, teaches us that plau¬ 
sible. theories are not always practicable. : 
We are not opposed to experiment or trial i 
of any system of feeding auimals or of farm- 1 
ing which looks reasonable and feasible, but 1 
unless you are thoroughly convinced that 1 
the change is to be for the better, lot the i 
trial at first be upon as small and inexpen- t 
sive a scale as possible. i 
coalpit C*conomi). 
THE SUGAR ORCHARD. 
THE MANUFACTURE OF MAPLE SIRUP AND SUGAR. 
i As the season of the year is now about 
, here for commencing operations in tho 
i sugar orchard, wo are inclined to believe 
that a slight history of the manner of con¬ 
ducting this branch of farming in this State 
will not fail to be of some interest to many 
of the Rural New-Yorker's readers. 
There is certainly nothing belonging to tho 
farm of those whose woodlands consist of a 
heavy growth of the sugar maple, that 
proves so remunerative, considering the la¬ 
bor required aud tho small amount of money 
invested, as the manufacture of maple sirup 
and sugar. And in order to give our meth¬ 
od of managing the business in as clear and 
concise a manner as possible, we propose to 
notice the subject uuder various headings, 
being as brief in each as will merely serve 
the purpose for which this article is intend¬ 
ed. The first thing we shall notice and de¬ 
scribe is 
The Manner of Opening the Trees 
and Collecting the Sap. — By our experi¬ 
ence in this particular (having for several 
years had upwards of three hundred trees, 
which are quite evenly distributed over 
about fifteen acres of ground, and opened 
each season), wc are satisfied that no better 
way, or at least no pluu more satisfactory, 
can be adopted than to tap each tree with 
two spiles, so arranging them that both flow 
into the same vessel. A three-quarter-inch 
auger is used for boring the trees, and the 
holes are made about one and a-half inches 
deep. The spiles, which are generally made 
from the largest sized specimens Ol the com¬ 
mon clderbush that can be found, are prop¬ 
erly pointed, aud driven by means of a light 
mallet into these holes, about half an inch 
deep—two to each tree, as above suggested. 
In about two weeks after the trees arc first 
opened the spiles should be drawn out and 
inserted in a new place, as a much larger 
quantity of sap can thus be obtained ; but 
experience has taught us that this opera! iou 
should not be repeated more than twice 
each season. 
For gathering in the sap for boiling, wc 
use a strong, light sled, drawn by a pair of 
horses, upon which is placed a cask capable 
of holding about one hundred and thirty 
RaUonts, having a circular hole cut in the 
top head just largo onough to admit a com¬ 
mon wooden bucket. With this we have no 
difficulty in collecting to the furnace all the 
sap which our trees afford during the sugar 
season, aud that with but little labor. 
Manner of Constructing the Furnace 
and Evaporating the Sap.—The style of 
furnace we use, aud the kind which long 
experience has proved the most satisfactory, 
is built of dressed stone and made double, 
both departments terminating in one flue 
or chimney, and separated by a very light 
partition running lengthwise through the 
center. The liight of the chimney H equal 
to the leugth of the furnace, and the draft 
is regulated by a damper neatly fitted in it 
near its base, and operated by a handle ex¬ 
tending to the outside. Eight cast-iron ket¬ 
tles, holding twenty gallons each, are placed 
in two rows in (his furnace and thoroughly 
plastered about the tops with a good article 
of mortar, which prevents the possibility of 
any heat or smoke coming up around the 
boilers to disturb the operator In attend¬ 
ance, The quality or clearness of the sirup 
or sugar not. being affected by keeping the 
kettles refilled as fast as the}’ are lowered 
by boiling, we generally evaporate enough 
of sap at one time to make from seventy- 
five to one hundred pounds of sugar, or its 
equivalent in sirup; and, iu order that 
evaporation bo performed as rapidly as pos¬ 
sible, the two boilers at the upper end of the 
furnace, or nearest the chimney, are used as ! 
heaters, being emptied into the others as 
fast as they come to the boiling point, and 
filled again with a fresh supply of sap. 
Much time and considerable fuel is saved 
by this method, since keeping each kettle 
tilled with fresh sap very much retards the 
process of evaporation. After the plan by 
which this furnace is constructed, any 
farmer possessing a sugar orchard can build 
one just the size needed to hold the number 
of boilers required to evaporate the sap his 
trees produce, whether he have many or few. 
Clarifying.—This being a very import¬ 
ant process —one to which the sap, when it 
has been boiled down until it has become 
highly concent rated, must be subjected be¬ 
fore it can be strained or filtered in a satis¬ 
factory manner — we will give our method, i 
which, though simple, is quite sufficient for i 
the business, aud will most certainly prove, 1 
in any case, all that can be desired. When i 
there has been enough of sap evaporated to 
make about fifty pounds of sugar — less 
quantities than this, of course, will require 
less clarifying material — take five fresh 
eggs, break them, and empty their contents 
( iuto a half gallon cup, and with a spoon 
beat them up thoroughly, and thou pour in 
water enough to fill the cup about half full; 
stir until well mixed, and empty into tho 
e kettles, putting an equal quantity in each. 
The kettles should then be allowed to boil 
c very briskly for about fifteen or twenty 
Y minutes, by which time the impurities con- 
*• tained in tho sap will all bo collected to- 
0 gother, and cau be easily separated from it 
a by straining. 
The kind of strainer or filter wc use is 
* made from a picco of heavy new flannel, cut 
,)T so that when sewed up it is conical in form 
} and capable of holding about three gallons. 
" To the top of this arc sewed a couple of 
straps or handles, to hold it up by while 
* straining, or to suspend it by to drip when 
’ the bulk of the fluid has passed through, 
} which completes it. 
Finishing Poiut.—It is somewhat diffi¬ 
cult to give particular directions upon Ibis 
subject. Many finish off their sirup or sugar 
* in a kettle placed a short distance from the 
' maiu furnace, while others complete the 
finishing process by the heat of the kitchen 
’ stove; but either of these methods are, in 
our estimation, very unsatisfactory, as it is 
almost impossible, iu either case, to keep up 
a regular heat. The fire, at times flaming 
briskly, causes the kettle to foam up and 
‘ perhaps run over, and then almost ceasing 
to burn at all, the foam immediately re¬ 
cedes, and thus, qs the heat is increased or 
diminished, the contents of the kettle al¬ 
ternately rise and fall, which causes tho 
simp or sugar, when finished, to be dark in 
color and slightly scorched. We, years ago, 
adopted the plan of finishing off our sirup 
and sugar in the same furnace in which tho 
sap was evaporated; and so great has been 
our success, we fully believe it to bu h very 
superior method. The furnace being thor¬ 
oughly heated by long continued boiling, 
but very little or no more fuel is required 
after the straining process has been gone 
through with, to finish the sirup or sugar— 
the immense bed of coals beueath the kettles, 
all glowing with heat, being generally all 
that is required for this work, furnishing, 
as they do, considerable, and a much more 
regular heat, than could otherwise be ob¬ 
tained. 
When the sirup has attained the proper 
consistency, or is thick enough to take off, 
it should be dipped out intoa tin or wooden 
vessel, and allowed to cool to some extent, 
when about five grains of pulverized alum 
may be added to each gallon, to prevent 
graining, -which it sometimes does, especial¬ 
ly if made very thick. 
If sugar is to be made, the sirup should bo 
very gradually reduced until tho steam be¬ 
gins to escape from it in lively puffs, aud 
the boiling mass assumes a glistening, or as 
some term it, a “ sugary ” appearance, when 
it may be considered done. It should now 
bo lifted out into broad wooden bowls, 
where it may be stirred as it cools, aud 
grained. Very little stirring must be done 
until the sugar has become tolerably cool, 
as oontluual stirring from the time it is first 
taken off until the process of graining is 
over, renders the grain entirely too flue. If 
it is to be run into cakes—the best plan, if 
the sugar is to be sold in the markets—it is 
better uot to oook It quite so low as is nec¬ 
essary where it i3 granulated. 
W. A. Graham. 
Flemingsburg, Ky„ Jan., 1872. 
-»-»«. - 
ECONOMICAL N0TE8. 
Coal Ashes.—J ohn Pinkham asks,“How 
can 1 utilize coal askes?" We answer, by 
using them as absorbents in privy vaults, or 
for house slops, kc.. and applying tothesoil 
in such compost. They will deodorize a 
privy vault, if used daily, and make excre¬ 
ment portable; aud if used in sufficient 
quantities, render its application to the soil 
after suitable mixing easy, safe, and con¬ 
venient. _ 
Feeding Oil Meal.— John Cochrane— 
We do not advise the feeding liberally of 
oil meal to an animal that Is not used to eat¬ 
ing ir. It will not answer. It is a relaxing 
food and should b#given in small quantities 
at first; and there should always be fed 
plenty of hay, straw or coarse fodder with 
it—as much of the latter as the animal will 
consume. 
Steaming Hay for Cattle.— Milton 
Darling, Chenango, Co., X. Y., would like 
to know from men of experience if any 
thing is to be gained from steaming hay 
for cattle—and the amount of benefit de¬ 
rived from actual experiment. 
