thing appears smoky. Now it is a well known 
fact that scientifically educated men, or let 
me say, professional men. and practical work¬ 
ing men whoso minds have not been trained 
to observe end contemplate every detail of a 
question, but who take a general view of 
such 7 Mattel's as they are occupied with, take 
entirely different views of such a matter as 
the value of feeding substances. And when 
they read that the manure value of this or 
that food is worth as much or more than the 
first cost of the article, they are staggered. 
Now I have tried to show that this food 
value and manure value of any substance is 
not a certainty by any means, aud that these 
two values vary so much as to entirely destroy, 
for any practical purpose, any estimates that 
may be made in regard to them. I have read 
with much interest and care the article by 
Professor Jordan (on page 421) and 1 per¬ 
ceive that the whole drift of the argument 
goes to corroborate aud sustain my proposi¬ 
tion. 1 am quite ready to admit all that Pro¬ 
fessor Jordan states in regard to a fattening 
animal, or a work animal, in which the ni¬ 
trogen of the food is nearly all regained in the 
manure. But this is an extreme case which 
readily occurs to a scientifically trained mind 
but w'ill not occur at all to a farmer who 
never fattens a steer. It is really putting 
an example of the laboratory or experiment 
station against one in a dairy stable. Now 
after 30 years’ work, among cows principally, 
1 take quite a different view of this question, 
because it is a matter of dollars aud cents to 
-me and this has led me gradually to get over 
the bias of an early scientific traini ig, more 
especially as I have already had to unlearn 
what I was first taught as the real science of 
feeding and nutrition, and learn in my later 
ycal's a new system which may be upset by- 
aDd-by, by another new one. So that I w ant 
to put before the readers of the Rural a dis¬ 
tinctly practical view of this question, not 
deuying or combatting any proposition, made 
by Prof. Jordan aud other scientific investi¬ 
gations, but simply turning them about and 
looking at both sides of this shield. Aud I 
aver again my first proposition viz., that food 
values and manure values are entirely un¬ 
known quantities, varying with the kinds of 
foods; the proportionate mixture of those 
foods; the age, condition, and purpose of the 
animals fed; the skill of the feeder; and 
that necessarily no one can say with any 
precision to a farmer. “ you feed a ton of 
clover hay, or a ton of cotton-seed meal, and 
you get back in the manure §9.64 worth of the 
value of the clover; £14.59 of that of tho bran, 
and £27.85 of that of the cotton-seed meal.’' 
Indeed this is exasperating and disappointing 
to the farmer who is buying feed for cows 
giving milk, wdio is rearing calves or lambs, 
and wants to get the value of his money re¬ 
turned in these, first. Further I say it is mis¬ 
leading and dangerous to such a farmer, as 
raising expectations which are necessarily de¬ 
lusive and may tend to make him use those 
costly foods lavishly and injuriously. I don’t 
think there is much danger of this with old 
farmers, who are suspicious of these mattei-s 
as a young chicken whose quarters have been 
changed, aud which won’t be led or driven; 
although he is by no means any' chicken him¬ 
self; but it is apt to bring trouble on a good 
many young farmers who are very' easily led 
into mistakes by the recital of partial facts 
which they do not understand sufficiently to 
use judiciously. And, therefore, I repeat my 
belief (1st) that in feeding an animal any food 
whatever, there are returned a portion of the 
value in product or work from the animal, 
.and a portion iu the manure; (2nd) that it de¬ 
pends upon the amount of the food digested 
and assimilated bow much is returned in 
rroduet, and bow much in the manure; (3rd) 
that in some animals as work horses, or oxen 
and fattening, mature animals nearly all the 
actual value may be recovered in the manure, 
that being expended being of little or no 
manorial value; (4th) that in some animals, 
as dairy cows, young calves, lambs, nursing 
ewes and colts, nearly all the value is used up 
in product or increase of weight; (5th) that it 
is to the interest of the farmer so to feed these 
animals as to get the most of the food 
value out of them and not to use recklessly in 
the expectation of getting the value back in 
the manure, because it is quite easy to over¬ 
feed his animals and do harm rather than 
good; (6th) (but not last by any means,) that 
of a thousand animals it is doubtful if any two 
would yield precisely the same results in the 
analyses of the foods they would inakeiu their 
digestive organs. Then if these are thus, how 
can any one put a figure upon the mauurial 
value of any food, or oven give any approxi¬ 
mate value of these unknown and unknowable 
quantities which are called feeding value and 
manure value of food, Aud if oue cannot, 
then it is wrong to use such terms which may 
mean anything or everything or nothing and 
are so indefinite as to be useless for a practi¬ 
cal man. 
A very pertinent example is given in the 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
4 
(Irish) Farmers’ Gazette of June 23rd . It is 
a conflict of the experiences with some crops 
grown at the experimental farm at Woburn, 
England, with manure made from sheep fed 
in clover and cotton seed cake, also on clover 
and com. Tljese experiments have been re¬ 
peated for five years. The results may be tab¬ 
ulated as follows. 
Yield of roots. 
Average of 5 years. 
From manure made from 
Cotton seed. Corn. 
Roots per aere. 
Barley. 
Gain In live weight 
of sheep fed on 
clover seeding . 
Wheat. 
Motley value of ef¬ 
fect of manure.. 
Sir J. B. Lawes’s 
estimated pro- 
tlonate value.... 
13 tons 3 cwt. 
44J6 bush. 
353 bush. 
40)4 bush. 
£39 12s. 
£fi 10 s. 
12 tons 13 cwt. 
42%( bush. 
371 lbs. 
42 1-10 bush. 
£39 18s. 
£1 Us. 6d. 
In Sir J. B. Lawes’s explanations he “ as¬ 
sumed that no one conversant with chemistry 
would doubt that the excrement of animals 
fed upon cotton cake would be richer iu ni¬ 
trogen, phosphoric acid, aud potash than that 
of an animal fed on an equal amount of com.” 
For myself 1 don’t doubt it, under certain 
circumstances; but under others, as in feed¬ 
ing young animals or milking cows, I do se¬ 
riously doubt it. But, any way, this result at 
Woburn soems to support my belief that the 
manure value of a food is so uncertain au ele¬ 
ment of it, that no farmer can have any pre¬ 
cise dependence upon it. All he knows 
when he feeds his auimals is this, that w hat 
he does not get back in the food value, he 
gets back in the manure; but lie cannot have 
it in both food and manure at the same time, 
nor can he know how much there is in either. 
Mow the weetis in the corner of the fences 
before they go to seed. Bad neighbors should 
always be got rid of if possible—or converted. 
.. Do not allow your root crops to grow 
too thick, but give them room enough to 
spread themselves. Keep them well cultiva¬ 
ted .If the stock is turned out to pas¬ 
ture be sure that they have plenty of pure 
water, and if the pasture is dry get them in 
one where there is enough water to satisfy 
their thirst. One first-class farmer says, 
“were I to purchase a farm, the first thing I 
should take into consideration would be the 
water facilities I should want good water 
and plenty of it”.Trees planted this 
Spring need careful watching during the dry 
weather, otherwise they are liable to die from 
lack of water.Don’t pick the early 
apples uutil ripe, and then be careful in hand¬ 
ling them, as they show bruises very readily, 
and these will injure their market value. All 
unripe fruit that falls to the ground will be 
relished by the porkers....Watch for in¬ 
sects and destroy all caterpillar nests, etc., 
which a re frequently found during this month. 
.When the scorching rays of the sun 
descend with all their fierceness, be sure that 
all tender seedlings are protected from the 
burning heat.Turnip seed may be 
sowed during this month, the best variety for 
late sowing being the Red-top Strap-leaved 
.New strawberry beds can now be 
made.Go over the tomato vinos and 
destroy the woims....Those that wish to 
have Geraniums bloom in midwinter or be¬ 
fore, should make their cuttings now. Use 
any kind of a box containing three or four 
inches of sand. Keep this moist aud exposed to 
the morning sun.It is not yet too late to 
put iu fodder corn with the drill. It will 
attain a very good size before frost. 
Sow millet aurl get one good cuttiug.A 
good w r ay to get rid of plantains on the lawns 
is to pull them up after a rain.Those 
persons accustomed to drawing manure from 
the city, can best do it at this time of year 
when it is dry aud light, when the roads arc in 
good condition and when a greater bulk can 
be drawn than at any other time. Besides, it 
is more abundant and cheaper than at other 
seasons.... In selecting your wheat seed be 
particular to got the best you possibly can. As 
you would breed from the best stock you have, 
grow also from the bent seed you can obtain.... 
Keep lice off the stock if it is a possible thing. 
During warm weather they are especially 
troublesome. We know r from experience that 
tobacco water is an excellent remedy. 
Drainago can be carried ou now. Read W. 
L Chamberlain’s very Interesting series of 
articles that have been continued of late in 
the Rural .Watch for apple-tree 
borers, and punch them to douth w ith wire. 
.It is a good plan to begin to fatten 
swine this month so as to get them to market 
early aud thereby get a higher price .... ..If 
you are through haying, do not leave your 
rakes aud tedders out in the field or orchard 
until it "is time to cut the rowen, but carefully 
cleau them up, oil, and put them in a safe 
place under cover until needed. Negligence 
never made any money in any business. 
Don’t overwork yourself or others during this 
usually very warm month. Wlien in the 
field at work large green leaves or a moistened 
sponge or handerehief inside the crown of the 
hat, will keep the head cooler and more com¬ 
fortable. Devote a day to pleasure with your 
neighbors, pienicing, or at tho fair if there is 
one.If your cabbages are troubled with 
worms, if your patch be a small oue, go over 
it and pick them off. Nearly boiling-hot 
water poured on the plants may be used with 
effect....Be sure of one thing—whether 
it be a harness to fix, a horse to shoe, a pas¬ 
ture fence to repair, a macliine that needs re¬ 
pairing, or any of a hundred and one other 
things needing attention—that invariably, “a 
stitch in time saves nine.” 
£l)t 
A DIFFERENCE IN THE DIGESTION 
OF ANIMALS. 
COL. F. D. CURTIS. 
Almost every one thinks that animals of 
the same species, being animals, are all alike. 
Upon this supposition they are fed alike, and 
generally in lots, or flocks, where each one 
gets its portion as best it can, the stronger 
robbing the w r eakor. The truth is, there is a 
great difference in animals of the same spe¬ 
cies in their ability to fully digest food. One 
animal, very ofteu, can eat as much again as 
another without any injury, but. on the con¬ 
trary. it may require double the amount of 
food to keep all its organs in healthful action. 
There is always more or less difference in the 
ability of animals of the same sort to digest 
and assimilate food. When they are fed in 
lots, or flocks, these differences cannot be well 
observed. When it is noticed that an animal 
is not thriving, it should immediately bo sepa¬ 
rated from the others and put bv itself, aud a 
careful test should be made of its ability' to di¬ 
gest food. Most of the sicknesses of young 
animals, aud older ones also, comes from a dis¬ 
ordered condition of the stomach, and this is 
gradually caused by over-eating. In order to 
test the ability of an animal for digesting its 
food, a comparison must be made, not with 
the amount it eats, but with its excrements 
compared with those of an animal perfectly 
healthy and rigorous. If undigested portions 
of its food are found in the excrement, then it 
is apparent that it is fed too much; if the ex¬ 
crement is iu a loose ami watery condition, it 
is probable also that this animal has been over¬ 
fed, and in either ease there should be a re¬ 
duction of food. By reduction of food I do 
not mean a lessening of the amount of hay 
and grass, but the feeding of more concen¬ 
trated foods, such as grain or milk; beginning 
with a small amount and not increasing tho 
ration beyond the degree of perfect digestion. 
This system of feeding will always insure a 
healthy conditiou aud greater gain than with 
an excess of food, unless colds should intervene 
by allowing the animal to become chilled 
either by exposure to storms or cold drafts. 
A farmer should always remember that it is 
not the amount of food which goes into an ani¬ 
mal’s stomach that makos the largest gain; 
but what it can entirely digest and assimilate. 
These differences are so great that experi¬ 
ments in feeding can never be made infallible 
tests in the values of food, or of different 
breeds of animals for fattening, or, indeed, of 
classes of animals of the same breed. As an 
illustration of this point, one calf may con¬ 
sume a quart of linseed-oil meal and wheat 
middlings and be in perfect health; while an¬ 
other of the same age, on this amount of food, 
would have scours; whereas if this kind of 
food was reduced to one-half oi* one-fourth 
the amount, it w'ould do well. The same law 
will apply with equal force to young pigs or 
lambs, and also to full-grown animals, 
1 have learned that the growth and fatten¬ 
ing of animals do not depend upon the abund¬ 
ance of food so much as upon other conditions; 
the most important of these, as I have herein 
stated, being the digestive powers of the 
stomach. The toue and ability of the stomach 
to perform its functiou.s may be maintained 
and strengthened by mixing less nutritious 
food with that which is cooling iu its nature, 
such as roots aud forage, which may be cut 
fine, with the grain. When thus mixed, there 
is a tendency to cloying and to fermentation. 
There will ulso be a better secretion of saliva 
and more thorough mastication, without 
which there cannot be perfect digestion. The 
stomachs of some animals require more rest 
than those of others, and without it there will 
be continual disorder and a feeble gain. The 
losses accruiug to farmers from indiscrimiuato 
feeding, regardless of the peculiarities of the 
animals, are enormous. 
QLtrbotiniltural 
FOREST EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 
Arboreta — Mr. LavalUc's Work in France • 
An Example for our State and Agricul¬ 
tural Colleges. 
DR. JOHN A. WARDER. 
Several citations of the plantations of 
private individuals iu this country have 
been presented to the renders of the Rural. 
Some of these may fairly lie considered 
specimens of that desirable matter for students 
of forestry, the arboretum. So far as they 
go, certain!}' all collections of trees, young 
and old, are entitled to that designation, and 
are very useful as experimental stations 
wherein to test the adaptability of the several 
species to the particular soil and climate. 
The arboretum when perfected becomes a 
museum of specimens of woody plauts brought 
together from distant localities, and as such 
it is a most valuable field for study by the en¬ 
quiring student. The results of experiments 
tried by the Director of such an establish¬ 
ment, whether public or private, may be of 
incalculable value to the State, and tliis value 
will be proportionate to the means invested 
in it, os well as to the skill aud intelligence 
with which its management has been con¬ 
ducted. But it is rarely within the reach of a 
private citizen to establish an arboretum of 
any magnitude, uor should the community be 
dependent upou the efforts of its individual 
members. Such labors are too onerous for 
them if carried on upon a liberal scale, there¬ 
fore upon the General Government and upon 
the several States should devolve the estab¬ 
lishment and care of such important means 
of instruction for Hie people. Tho General 
Government has been urged to establish schools 
of forestry and experimental forest stations 
upon the public domain, in regions especially 
where so much of her territory is needing 
such fostering aid to protect , to supply, and 
to extend the forests. The several States 
should establish similar institutions, where 
trees could be tested as to their adaptation to 
the soils and climate, aud where the approved 
varieties and species could lie multiplied for 
distribution at the minimum cost price The 
agricultural colleges have been urged to es¬ 
tablish arboreta as important means of illus¬ 
tration to the classes of agricultural students 
they are supposed to gather within their halls; 
for no one will now deny the importauce of 
tli is great branch of agricultural study. Some 
of these colleges have made commendable 
efforts iu this direction, would there were 
more, aud that all would bestow a larger share 
of their means and their taleuts iu this direc- 
tiou, aud also that our States were each sup¬ 
plied with a Commissioner of Forests, to en¬ 
courage the preservation of woodlands, and 
to enlighten the fanners upon the utility, yes, 
the necessity of maintaining a due proportion 
Of forest, aud to demonstrate to them the 
profits of this branch of culture. 
In the following paragraphs a trauslation 
is given in which is portrayed the noble work 
r>f a private citizen of France, who has built 
up an arboretum which has attained a world¬ 
wide reputation, and which may be taken as 
a model for the imitatiou of our National aud 
State governments, but more especially for 
our agricultural colleges, as well as for the 
forest experimental stations we would faiu 
see established in various parts of our domain. 
Mr. Alphonse Lavallde, sou of one of the 
founders of the Central School of Arts and 
Manufacturers, is now President of the Hor¬ 
ticultural Society of Franco, and permanent 
Treasurer of the National Agricultural So¬ 
ciety. His whole life has been devoted to the 
study of the woody plauts adapted to tho 
climate of France. 
This love for trees appears to have been 
spontaneous—without assistance. With no 
other guide than some botanical work that 
he accidentally met with, he learned how to 
determine plants while completing his class¬ 
ical studies iu Euglaud. Ou returning to 
France, he voluntarily joined tho classes of 
Brogniart and Descaisne. About this time 
his father became possessed of the domain of 
Segrez, uud thus enabled his son—then 20 
years of age—to enter upon a grand field of 
lalior, which he has turned to good account. 
This arboretum, though a private enterprise, 
deserves to be cited being as worthy of notice 
as a national establishment.” 
“The Park of Segrez,’’ where M.La vallde has 
established his collection of trees and shrubs, 
contains about 81 hectares (108 acres), situa¬ 
ted on the eastern bank of the River Rtmaud, 
an affluent of the Urge, some 80 kilometers 
from Paris—miles. Many springs rise 
there and supply all parts of the property with 
water. Thanks to the geological and topo¬ 
graphical conditions, we find in this Park a 
* diversity of exposure aud soils varying form 
