Western people to an interest to which they 
have heretofore been blind. But these investi¬ 
gations have by no means ended here. In the 
fall of 1877 I established the fact that sorghum 
cane of every variety known to us in Pennsyl¬ 
vania yielded its sugar with invariable cer¬ 
tainty when treated according to the method 
by which it was obtained from corn stems. 
These results the chemist at Washington has 
also fully confirmed, and the same were ob¬ 
tained by practical men last year in different 
sections of the country. Accurate estimates 
have been made showiug that the entire cost 
of growing the corn or cane and producing 
the sugar in this way does not exceed 24 cents 
per pound of ar. 
These statements are either true or false. 
The time is now close at hand when they can 
be either disproved or more fully verified. If 
they are true, they have a significance to 
which I can give no adequate expression. 
If. L. Stewart. 
THE DAIRY COW-NO. 5. 
HENRY STEWART. 
How to Feed a Cow.—II. 
The character of the food has much to do 
with the quality and the quantity of the milk 
and the butter made from it; although this has 
been disputed, but never I believe by one who 
has long been engaged in feeding cows for 
profit. For it is very certain that certain feed¬ 
ing stuffs have different effects on the product 
of the cows- Wheat bran and middlings, and 
rye bran have the effect of producing a dense, 
rich milk of a yellowish color, and a butter of 
a deep yellow color, solid, waxy texture, and 
good flavor. Corn ineal has a similar effect 
and for general use there is no better concen¬ 
trated food than a mixture of bran or mid¬ 
dlings and corn meal in equal parts. Buck¬ 
wheat bran will increase the flow of milk, but 
it will be thin and white and the butter will be 
very white, 6oft and greasy in texture and dis¬ 
agreeable in flavor. Good butter cannot be 
made from buckwheat bran, although It is a 
profitable food for a milk dairy where quantity 
is more considered than quality. Brewers’ 
grains, corn-starch meal (the waste from glu¬ 
cose factories) and linseed-cake meal have a 
similar effect. They are for the milk dairy 
but not for the butter maker or the family 
cow. Pea meal is rarely to be procured, but 
when it is, it makes an excellent mixture with 
wheat bran or middlings iu place of corn meal, 
but it is to be fed cautiously on account of its 
nitrogenous or heating character. Palm-nut- 
cake meal is a rich food and has doubled the 
amount of cream in a careful test made with 
it, but it does not give a rich color or flavor to 
the butter, although it Is not objectionable if 
its price were reasonable; but its cost is higher 
than that of cotton-seed meal. Cotton-seed¬ 
cake meal is the best of all concentrated foods 
mentioned. It has an agreeable flavor when 
free from husk ; it giveB a high color to the 
butter, produces more of it than any other 
food in proportion to quantity and co6t, and is 
safe and healthful. Its effect is somewhat con¬ 
stipating, and on thiB account, it is better when 
fed with malt sprouts which have an effect en¬ 
tirely different. Malt sprouts are very dry and 
swell enormously when steeped ; so that they 
eanuotbe fed safely unless in small quantity, or 
soaked and given wet. But when thus pre¬ 
pared and given with cotton-seed meal and 
wheat bran in equal parts, the mixture has 
made the best food I have ever used, either 
for milk or butter. 
For profit, it may be accepted as beyond 
question, that the more food a cow can be in¬ 
duced to eat, up to a point where the product 
is no longer increased in proportion, and as 
long as the cow is kept in good health and 
vigor, the better it is for the cow’s owner. For 
if a cow gives, when fed on hay alone, four 
quarts of milk a day and this can be increased 
to eight quarts by lour pounds of bran and 
corn meal, or to 12 quarts, by eight pounds 
of the extra feed, and each additional pound 
of feed after this does not increase the product, 
then the eight pounds of feed is the maximum 
quantity that the cow can use productively, 
and there the feeding should stop. It is not 
safe to force a cow by high feeding to the very 
verge of her possible production, as the diges¬ 
tive powers are then taxed to the utmost, and 
the system is on the utmost tension, when an 
accident, such as a sudden shower on a hot 
day, may change the current of the circulation 
and bring on a serious or fatal attack of fever; 
It is by such excessive forcing that so many 
productive milkers are subjected to inflamma¬ 
tory diseases, as garget, milk fever and abor¬ 
tion. It may be different in such a case as 
when large-framed cows, in a milk dairy, are 
fed highly with a view to force as much milk 
as possible, and when the milk fallB below a 
profitable point, the animal is fattened for the 
butcher. In some milk dairies the daily ra 
THE RURAL 1EW-V0RKER. 
AUS. 21 
tions of grain food amount to half a bushel of 
brewers’grains and one peck of corn ineal, 
with hay or pasture ad libitum. But ;n milk 
dairies cows are not permanently kept, but are 
coming and going continually, being changed 
as soon as the milk falls below the cost of feed. 
The general rule in feeding wows is that 27 
ponnds of dry food are required lor 1,000 
pounds in weight, and that three-fourths or 
two-thirds of this should be bulky food, such 
as hay. This estimate is based on the nutri¬ 
tive value of bay, in which the ratios of albu¬ 
minoids or flesh-forming substances, and of 
carbo-hydrates, or fat-forming and respiration- 
sustaluing substances, are equivalent to 1 of 
the former to 6 of the latter Of these 27 
pounds of dry substance, 21 pounds of the 
albuminoids, and 15 pounds of the carbo¬ 
hydrates, with half a pound of fat, must be 
capable of complete digestion. 
As the flesh of an animal contains precisely 
the same elements as pure milk, and as milk is 
of itself sufficient to support a growing animal 
and to supply every requirement of its vital 
function, so the food that will perfectly sustain 
an animal in health and vigor, is precisely 
adapted to the production of milk; and those 
kinds of food which will fatten an animal, will 
produce fat in fhe milk. So that we have a 
very simple guide to the choice of food for 
cows. Iu my own practice in feeding cows, I 
have found the above estimates not sufficiently 
liberal, and that 15 pounds of thebestcloverbay, 
with eight pounds of concentrated food, which 
is considerably more nutritions than hay, are 
required for adequate and safe feeding for an 
800-pound cow. 1 say safe, because a cow will 
eat more than this, but it will bo a dangerous 
experiment to feed more to a cow than she 
will consume with good appetite, and health¬ 
fully. I would not feed a cow on a high- 
pressure system, or advise any other persoD 
to do it. In many years’ feeding of cows, I 
have never had one case of sickness, never lost 
a calf, never bad more than an easily managed 
case of garget, inflamed udder, or bloody or 
thick milk; I attribute this to moderate and 
regular feeding, and watchful care to prevent 
accident and trouble. 
My normal ration is 15 pounds of hay. or 20 
pounds of cured corn fodder, aud eight pounds 
of concentrated food. This may be varied as 
follows, one ration being nearly equivalent 
to another, so far as regards milk and butter 
production: 
TABLE OF DAILY RATIONS FOR A COW OF SUU POUNDS. 
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 
Hay.15 .. .. 10 6 10 .. 
Corn fodder, dry. 2u .. .. 15 .. SO 
(green.) 
Mangels, or BUgar 
beets... 40 .. .. 30 
Brewers'grains.. .. .. 30 . 
Malt sprouts. 4 
Corn meal. 4 .. .. 6 .. 2 4 
Bran, or middlings. 4 6 2 .. 2 4 
Cotton-seed meal. 2 4 .. 4 2 
Total, pounds... 23 28 56 46 29 46 68 
I have found the best manner of feediug hay 
is to cut it into chaff, wet it, and mix the meal 
with it. One bushel-basket of cut bay, thus 
prepared, pressed down and heaped, makes 
one ration. 
Roots are cut into slices, aud either given 
by themselves or sprinkled with a portion of 
the meal. Green grass, oats, rye or corn fod¬ 
der are fed whole, and the meal given dry, or 
mixed with a small portion of green fodder, 
wetted, to secure the mastication of the meal. 
The cutting of the fodder, dry or green, 
(excepting grass or clover), is equivalent to a 
saving of one-fourth, so that it becomes a 
question whether it is better to save the fodder 
or pay for the labor of cutting it. In general, 
labor is cheaper than fodder; for it one man at 
a dollar a day can cut the feed for forty eows, 
that is equal to 21 cents a cow per day ; aud this 
is the value of 3 pounds of hay at •‘r'l 5 a ton. 
But one man can cut hay or corn-stalks for 40 
cows iu four hours, aud one mau or boy can 
prepare the food for one cow in six minutes, 
so that it is cheaper to cut the hay and mix 
the meal with it than to feed it long and give 
the meal by itself. 
POULTRY RAISING. 
I set my hens in a quiet place—when many 
fowls are iu one house they make too much 
disturbance. Fowls naturally hide their nests; 
they must be made to feel assured they will be 
left alone to hatch. The larger breeds can be 
easily moved at night to comfortable quarters 
where food and water must be at hand. They 
must be confined a couple of days to become 
accustomed to their new home. Let nothing 
disturb them. All movements of their keeper 
must be slow and gentle. If a hen’s confidence 
is obtained she will be submissive. The large 
breeds are clumsy and carelesB; they step on 
the chickens ; of this there is more danger the 
first few days than during the whole year. I 
have some common fowls to hatch my very 
choice eggs. I raise Light Brahmas chiefly. 
My practice is to take the chickens away as 
soon as hatched and keep them in a warm 
place till all are out. I use a box in my poul¬ 
try house, four feet square aud one foot high 
without any cover, for two weeks. I use no 
coops at all. At the eud of two weeks T let the 
hen go as she pleases with her bappy family. 
T watch that she gets all her family in the 
homestead at night. I nse an old crockery 
crate for my feeding place. Laths or slats 
driven into the ground three or four inches apart 
will do as well. I feed ground corn aud oats 
mixed and slightly moistened. The only dan¬ 
ger with it is that it sours iu a few hours. I pre¬ 
fer this feed to any other, as it is cheap and 
various in its nutriment. I find that fowls eat 
less if food is before them all tbe time—a gill 
of corn or its equivalent a day is a full 
ration for the largest fowl. The same prin¬ 
ciple applies to chickens. When I have to be 
away all day I leave inside of the crate all the 
cracked corn the chickens will eat. When 
they are large enough I keep cracked corn, 
whole corn, buckwheat screenings and a va¬ 
riety before them all the time. Clear, cold 
water, renewed daily, should be on hand at all 
times. 
For farmers I recommend Plymouth Rocks— 
they are hardy and fair layers. The Light 
Brahmas are the best city fowls. They will 
not fly over a two-foot fence ; they will not dis¬ 
turb your neighbors; they arc good foragers ; 
with a large range they will feed themselves 
during the Summer and Fall. Their chief 
danger lies in getting too fat. They, as aro 
all Asiatics, are good Winter layers. The eggs 
of all Asiatics must be set very early in the 
Spring—not latei than March or April. They 
require the whole season to grow in. If set 
late the chicks are smaller. The Cochins are 
less active iu their habit9 aud have a propen¬ 
sity to sit. The Black Cochin is the best of 
the Cochins for general use. The Leghorns 
and Hamburghs are great, layers of small eggs 
—they lay the best in warm weather. I prefer 
a variety, say, of Light Brahmas, Leghorns and 
Hamburghs so as to get eggs the year round. 
1 keep only one kind of cock so as to keep one 
kind pure. Jas. H. Campbell. 
Lucas Co., Ohio. 
(Entomological, 
OUR ENEMIES, THE INSECTS, AND THEIR 
CONTROL.-NO. 2 
Perhaps no man of Mr. Pasteur’s ability has 
followed him in his study of molds as causes 
of disease. Here and there it has engaged the 
atteution of learned men, however. Dr. Bain, 
a Prussian naturalist, has carried it forward; 
a few Americans are becoming interested in it; 
but. if, as surmised and now seems probable, 
the subject has its practical bearings, it should 
also be taken up by practical agriculturists. 
They are not only the most deeply interested, 
but quite capable of engaging iu it, and mak¬ 
ing more extended experiments to determine 
its supposed usefulness. The experiments and 
observations of the writer were confined to the 
latter portion of the last season, because his 
attention was called to it too late to make 
earlier aud fuller tests; but iu those made 
there seemed promise sufficient, at least, to 
merit fuller experiments the present season, 
and more will be determined when the infected 
iu&ects come out of the ground next Spring. 
Among entophytes the yeast plaut, perhaps, 
merits earliest attention, because it is known to 
be promising in its action as an insecticide, and 
easily obtained iu any desired quantity. The 
yeast should simply be diluted with water and 
sprinkled upon the foliage of plants frequented 
by insects. Beer and any other ferments that 
suggest Jlhemselves should also be experiment¬ 
ed with. It may be that calf's rennet, will 
serve a good purpose. It is, without doubt, 
of the nature of a ferment; but scientists are not 
agreed concerning it, some claiming it to be 
similar to the spores of cryptogamous plants; 
while some think it of a chemical and others, 
of an animal nature. 
But, doubtless, the spores that can be obtain¬ 
ed the most easily and used the most 
successfully are those that nature herself 
employs for this object, such as the fly 
fungus, aud allied forms of this and other 
classes. The dead iusects killed by these and 
other entophytes should be collected, powder¬ 
ed and preserved in years when epidemics 
prevail—as they often do among insects—for 
use as insecticides. It will not be difficult to ob¬ 
tain a considerable quautity. Here are the 
sources of the iufoctiou, and the harvest time 
t,o secure our poisons. One great fact to be 
observed in this connection is, that nature sel¬ 
dom commences these assaults upon insect life, 
until too late in tbe season for our purpose. 
It Bhould be man’s business to supplement 
nature’s shortcomings here, and be ready with 
his sporadic Infections to assault the smaller 
numbers of the first broods that hatch in 
Spring. The object aimed at is not, as is 
usually supposed, to kill, directly, but to poison 
aud infect the parents in 6ueh manner that 
they can lay none but diseased eggs that will 
again cause the disease to spread among the 
matured insects. 
To illustrate the subject, take, for instauce- 
Caloptenus spretus, tbe locust: one man arm¬ 
ed with tbe sporadic poison could go into 
Montana, or wherever else tbe native or origin¬ 
al breeding grounds of these locusts may be 
fouud, and by infecting the first broods of 
Spring, so control these insects that they will 
never increase m sufficient quantities to be 
able, or rather forced, to migrate to fertile re¬ 
gions to obtain food and scourge mankind. A 
few traiued men could thus control more than 
an army after the locusts are allowed to in¬ 
crease and migrate. The economy of such 
method must be apparent to all minds. Of 
conrse.it will be understood that the method is 
probably only applicable to such insects as 
devour the foliage oi plants and consume the 
sporeB as they have been scattered upon the 
foliage; such insects as the chinch-bngs that 
live by puncturing, and sacking tbe juices, 
might not be reached, still the sporos are so 
minute that this is not certain; but by testing 
it might be determined that enough could be 
infected to finally accomplish the desired 
object. 
Even if these methods should fail in these 
instances, the advantages would not be great¬ 
ly lessened, for the classes of puncturing in¬ 
sects are small, in comparison to those con¬ 
suming the foliage or whole substauees of 
plants. As to the diseases of insects above 
referred to. the topic has been little studied, 
and there is not much definite information to 
be gleaned from books, but it has often been 
observed that insects are very liable to be 
destroyed or rendeied unhealthy from the 
lodgement and development of parasitic plants 
upon their bodies. In many instances they 
have been observed to die by tbe million 
from unknown diseases, the dead bodies mold¬ 
ing, but it is not always clear that vegetable 
parasites were the cause of death. What we 
should take advantage of is the death of niyr_ 
iads of insects under conditions like those 
when human beings perish of cholera and 
yellow fever epidemics. We must then collect 
their bodies and retain and use the spores there¬ 
from as poisons again to produce similar con¬ 
ditions. Little pains are needed to carry the 
infection of cholera and yellow fever to distant 
places by means of clothing or affected per¬ 
sons; indeed, tbe difficulty is to prevent the 
infection from spreading. The virus may be 
preserved from season to season, and the 
diseases caused again aud again at will. This 
is somewhat the condition of things proposed 
to be artificially used against our iuseet en¬ 
emies, let the cause be entophytes or whatever 
else it may. If we can generate aud repeat 
the disease at will, then scientists may go on 
disputing as to tbe causes. Then we could be 
only intellectually interested, for wo would 
already have the practical application of the 
facts. But, after all, it may finally be discover¬ 
ed that the diseases are climatic and non-iu- 
fectiouB. D. S. Marvin. 
Jnkstrial Somites, 
THE ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SHOW AT 
CARLISLE, AND BRITISH FARMING. 
PROFESSOR J. P. SHELDON. 
For some time before the date of the Royal 
Society’s show the weather had beeu broken ; 
the prospects of the show were consequently 
not very bright, aud the result uufortuuately 
bore out tbe prospects. Two years in succes¬ 
sion the Society has been almost drowned out 
of its own show yard. The Kilburu show of 
last year became a by-word for rain aud mud, 
and I should be sorry to look upon its like 
again. But the Carlisle Bhow-yard would have 
been quite as much a quagmire as the Kilburu 
one but lor this—it was on an alluvial soil in¬ 
stead of on the London clay. My opinion 
about the London clay is this : it is the stickiest 
on tbe lace of tbe earth. Lncky it was that 
the Carlisle show-yard was on dry laud, or it 
would soon have become impassable, for the 
situation was a low one; but as matters stood 
it became very dirty by the end of the Becond 
day, at which tune I had had quite enough of 
it. The weather ut the Kilburu show caused 
the Society a loss of about 400,000, and though 
the people of Cumberland are not so much 
afraid as those of Middlesex of being dissolved 
by rain it can hardly be otherwise than that 
the Carlisle show should bo a financial loss to 
the Society. A few more disasters of this kiud 
will cripple the Society, unless other moans 
are resorted to for filling its exchequer. 
Iu all other respects thau those which had to 
do with the rain, the show was a success. The 
animal classes as a rule were well filled both in 
the matter of quantity and quality. The Short¬ 
horns as usual were present in numbers, show- ^ 
ing on the whole no falling off in quality as 
compared with former years. I have Beeu in¬ 
dividual auimalB in greater numbers and of 
higher merit, perhaps, at some of the Royal 
shows, but on the whole the Short-horns at 
