[ still fed upon three bushels of uncooked meal, 
| This bushel and « half of cooked meat ap¬ 
peared to satisfy the ten steers as well as the 
three Imshcls of uncooked. Each ten were 
thus fed till disposed of to the butcher, near¬ 
ly ten months, and the butcher pronounced 
the ten fed upon cooked meal the best. This 
would appear to prove that meal is doubled 
! in value by cooking. ” 
Hon, 0. trRDDics of Syracuse, N. Y., says : 
“ I land if 1 take ten bushels of meal and wet 
it in cold water and feed twenty-five hogs 
with it they will eat it well ; but if I take the 
same and cook it, it will take the same num¬ 
ber of hogs twice as long to eat it up, aud I 
think they fatten quite as fast in the same 
length of time. 
Thomas J. Book, —whom tlve Editorof the 
Practical Fanner endorses as one of the best 
practical farmers, and most accurate in his 
observations and experience,—in detailing 
his experiments with raw and cooked food 
for swine, says“ I found that five, bushels 
of whole corn made 47% pounds of pork. 
Five bushels (less miller's toll) of corn, 
ground and made into thick slop with cold 
water, made 54.V£ pounds of pork. The sane 
amount of meal, well boiled, fed cold, made 
88K pounds of pork. 
Prof, Wilkinson of Baltimore, suys “ l 
conducted an Agricultural School and Ex¬ 
perimental Farm for eight years, and experi¬ 
mented with feeding cooked and uncooked 
food of every description used for cows, 
horses, s« me, working and fattening cattle 
any time of the year and come in season if 
they live well while they suckle the same as 
cows do, I sold the ewes aud the second lot 
of lambs by their sides the next August, ob¬ 
taining more for them in that way than if 
they had been fattened by the butcher, al¬ 
though, being so late and out of season, they 
went at a comparatively low price. 
Doubtless in England, where lamb is only 
in the market from January to June, they 
will be always in demand for the very early 
supply ; but in the united States the lamb is 
mostly young mutton half the year and prob¬ 
ably the price would not be sufficiently high 
to pay for genuine house lamb. House lambs 
are not permitted to eat ; they must, to make 
Mae highest price, be tut on aiaiik alone. Butch¬ 
ers in London charge their West Endeustom- 
ea“s and also the club houses a guinea per 
quarter—at least they did twenty or moro 
years ago—till the Down and other breeds 
coaaae hi, when it gradually comes lower ia 
accordance with supply. Of course the treat¬ 
ment and attention described is only for tho 
very early lamb. The taste for this delicacy 
is like the New Yorker’s liking for early 
spring chicken, the price being veay large 
and the meat very sweet. \v. f. 
FEEDING MEAL TO DAIRY COWS NEW 
LV IN MILK. 
WOOL GROWING IN KANSAS 
I should be pleased to have vo a answer, 
through the Rural New Yorker, the fol¬ 
lowing : (1.) At what time is it best to feed 
meal dry to new milk cows, for their good 
and your own profit (/'. p.) in connection with 
hay ? (2.) What per cent, would I gain to 
scald it ? (3.) Would I make or lose by ad¬ 
ding water enough to fill a pail, and feed it 
as a slop { 
(i.J In making your reply, take the same 
quantity of meal in each case, and give me 
the profit and lossof each over t he other, mul 
also at what time to feed—either before or 
aftei'feeding hay. Yours truly, 
Rockwell's Mills, N. Y. Subscriber. 
1. Tho best manner of feeding dry meal in 
connection with hay. is to moisten the luvy 
and sprinkle the dry naeal over it. The 
moisture of the hay causes the line particles 
of meal to adhere to the coarser fodder, and 
the whole goes into the first stomach of the 
cow tube thrown up and thoroughly re-mas- 
tleated together. When meal is fed sepa¬ 
rately it goes directly to the fourth stomach, 
and is not re masticated; and, in consequence, 
only a certain quantity is assimilative. 
Hence, if fed beyond a certain quantity the 
supply passes olT in the excrements. 
Mr. Miller of Chautauqua County, whose 
experiments in wintering cows exclusively 
upon corn meal have caused so much atten- 
great blessing if niauy others possessing 
means, with clear business views, will go 
into the sheep raising department of agricul¬ 
ture, for it is a disgrace to tho country to find 
it so fa)' behind in wool and mutton growing ; 
aud it really and truly casts a very gi'eat 
shadow on the opinion of those who think 
that protection helps sheep husbandry, for 1 
I'eally believe the only good derived from 
it is the revenue, and that is dearly bought 
by the country, as results speak louder than 
any arguments from the pens or Ups of clever 
men. I remember when English farmers 
were protected ami It was said ruination 
would follow the removal of it., but sheep 
have far more than doubled since free trade 
was given a trial ; and if the proportionate 
number of sheep kept in England aud the 
United States is reckoned, how does such a 
calculation tell ? 
Tn America everybody pays fifty per cent, 
more for clothing aud the money Is all thrown 
away, for instead of causing more sheep to 
be kept, there are less ten to one or twenty 
TICKS ON SHEEP 
I noticed a statement that sulphur and 
salt would kill the ticks if fed to them. I 
think I have reason to dispute that, for I 
have tried it and found it a failure. Being 
advised by an old sheep shearer (at the time 
of shearing my Hock) of this remedy, I tried 
it faithfully. No doubt it did the sheep good; 
but in killing tho tick it was a fall lira. I 
have a remedy which is certain and power- 
tul. It is simply tobacco steeped in water; 
dip your lambs iuto it about four days after 
■shearing the old ones, as the ticks leave the 
shoi-n sheep and collect on the lambs for pro¬ 
tection and warmth. Having experience in 
this matter and the constant care of sheep 
from my youth up to gray hail's, I feel justi¬ 
fied in sayiug the above. Use about three 
pounds of the poorest kiud that you can get 
for about forty head. 
A great many do not care for sheep as they 
should. They need protection from the cold 
rains of the fall and spring as much as the 
best cows and more so—they ai*e a more ten¬ 
der animal. I get my sheep up every cold 
storm as regular as I do my cows, and find it 
pays me as well. They need warm sheds to 
protect them from the chilling blasts of win- 
tei-, when the thermometer is down to 33" 
below zero. Above all, I say, take good cai'e 
of the sheep and they will amply repay you 
for your trouble. Oho. Cowles. 
St. Lawrence Co., N. Y. 
tion and comment among dairymen, says 
that tho best way to feed meal, separately 
from the hay, is to feed it several hours after 
the hay rations, and no hay or coarse fodder 
should be given for several hours after feed¬ 
ing the raeul. If he fed hay in the morning 
he would at night feed meal—say from two 
to three quarts—aud give no coarse fodder 
until next morning. He claims that better 
results are obtained by this course Mum to 
feed dry meal Immediately before or after 
the feeding with hay, because, as the dry 
meal goes directly to tho fourth stomach, 
that organ has all it can do to properly digest 
the meal, and should not he further over- 
loaded and taxed by a constant accession of 
other food, as is the case whom hay is fed 
immediately before or after the meal. If 
this theory is true, and if it was proposed to 
feed hay night and morning, dry meal, fed 
at noon, would be more in accordance with 
his plan than to feed the meal in close con¬ 
nection with the hay. 
In our own experience in feeding meal in 
connection with hay -that is in moistening 
the hay and sprinkling the meal on it, or in 
feeding dry meal immediately after feeding 
the hay—the first always gave the best re¬ 
sults. 
2. It is an admitted fact, we believe, 
among all who have experimented in the 
feeding of cooked and uncooked food, that 
the former is more easily digested aud assimi¬ 
lated, aud therefore inoi’e valuable. All food 
taken into the stomach goes through a pro¬ 
cess amUagous to cooking, before it can be 
assimilative. If the cooking is performed be¬ 
fore feeding it. is in a state more readily to 
be assimilated, and, therefore, the Powell’s of 
the animal are not taxed so much in that di¬ 
rection. Pereira says, to render starchy 
substances digestible, they require to be 
cooked, in order to break the grains.” 
“Htarcli,” says Raspail, “is not actually 
nutritive to man until it lias been boiled or 
cooked. The heat of the stomach is not suf¬ 
ficient to burst all the grains of the feculent 
mass.” 
Johnson, in his Agricultural Chemistry, 
says “ When wheat Hour is heated to a 
temperature not exceeding SOU Fahr. it 
slowly changes, acquires a yellow or brown¬ 
ish tint, according to the temperature em¬ 
ployed, and becomes entirely soluble in cold 
water. Thus, one result of baking bread is 
to render flour-starch more soluble, and 
therefore more easily digested.” 
The per centage of grain from feeding 
cooked meal over that which is raw, has been 
variously estimated from 25 percent, to 50, 
75, and even 100 per cent. 
Mr. E. W. Stewart of the Live Stock 
Journal, who has had large experience in 
feeding cooked food, and who is a strong ad- 
sound horse, (let a breed that will stand the 
cold weather, and not stand even in this 
weather shivering with cold—one that has a 
thick, dry covering ; these arc* not only the 
most profitable for their wool, but also for 
their lambs that will be dropped in their 
season. Give the sheep exercise ; oblige them 
to go a short distance for their food and 
drink. A successful sheep raiser must love 
his sheep not only for the dollars and cents, 
but must love to look at them, to see them 
eat and drink, to really enjoy their capering ; 
in fact, he must love their every movement- 
love them in such a way that they will meet 
him with greeting, and not take to their 
heels aud try to hide from his sight; success, 
in a great measure lies hero. Do not wash 
the sheep. Be careful in shearing ; do not 
leave uny wool on and say you have made it 
up by taking off an equal amount of hide, 
for this is not only an injury to the ^heep, 
but no wool will ever grow from these 
scarred places. High pasturage is neces¬ 
sary ; low meadow land is not adapted to 
sheep pasturage. Feed for sheep should be 
cut just before or at the time of blossoming - ; 
should be fed neat and clean, as sheep are 
naturally clean, and will trample it under foot 
unless they have clean food in clean places. 
Do not oblige them to wade through mud 
and water, forall have noticed that iu driving 
they will go round rather than through water 
or mud. 
DORSETSHIRE SHEEP 
Having had experience with these ewes 
and raised what is called “ house lamb,” and 
sold in the London market, it was pleasant 
to see the illustration in the Rural New- 
Yorker bearing date Feb. 30. I bought mine 
(9(>) in 1851, in May ; they were a very fine lot 
of ewes, having been brought to Guildford 
the year before, aud tho lambs all marketed 
and the ewes good mutton but not very fat. 
I purchased an Oxford Down ram and during 
the months of June aud early part of July 
eveiy ewe conceived and in November and 
December lambs came in profusion—twins 
and triplets ; enough of the latter to make 
up for almost all tho single ones. My shep¬ 
herd did nothing but attend to them. I kept 
the Iambs in from their birth, letting the 
ewes out at daybreak, when they rail out till 
noon on old grass land, and having a field of 
white turnips they were given some of them, 
too, daily. At 12 the ewes came to tho home¬ 
stead and the Iambs sucked, the ewes eating 
about half a pint of barley each and then 
running out again till dusk, when they re¬ 
mained with the lamias till morning. 
There were too many iambs to be fat at 
six weeks old, the age at which house lambs 
pay best to go to the butcher ; however, as 
soon as the fattest went to market, the shep¬ 
herd held the ewes from which the lambs had 
gone away, while the hungry lambs sacked, 
and it was astonishing how soon they became 
plump and ripe ; and still as the lambs went, 
those which were left had the milk from the 
other ewes till they could not take it all. 
These ewes all took the ram again, for it is a 
peculiarity of the breed that they breed at ‘ 
A CONVENIENT CREAM GAUGE. 
The cream gauge on the plan suggested by 
Mr. Douglas of Vermont, is cheap and con¬ 
venient. lie takes one of the common pails 
or cuus used in the deep setting or pool sys¬ 
tem, and has the tinman cut out a slot, in¬ 
serting in its place a strip of glass. These 
pails or cans, it is, perhaps, needless to say, 
are twenty inches deep by eight inches in di¬ 
ameter. A strip of glass six or eight inches 
long, and two or three inches wide, wifi be 
sufficient. If grooves are made iu the tin, 
and the glass inserted with white lead or 
some other cement, ho as to be water-tight- 
leaving no places for the milk to accumulate, 
and so that it may )>o readily cleaned—the 
vessel is now ready for marking. The grad¬ 
uation should be marked on the tin, along¬ 
side of the strip of glass, so as to show the 
percentage of cream for a given quantity of 
milk Tlie milk being placed in the can un 
