DEC 17 
■washed stones. The bottom of the ice-house 
looked as shown in Fig. 482. 
Fig. 482. 
Not liking the considerable expense of plank- 
iug the bottom, we spread armfuls of long, 
slender willows, cut on the river banks, over 
the bottom, together with a litt-le sawdust. 
The ice at the points a a melted a good deal, 
the lower layer being very thin. But at the 
point W W W, where the drainage was best, 
the lower layer was as thick as when taken 
from the lake. 
Last wiuter we spent much time in pound- 
iug ice down between the blocks of ice, and as 
a result the labor of getting out the ice was 
very great. Next season we shall do no 
“chinking” except, perhaps, a layer or so on 
top. I propose having a wheel and track, like 
the track on w hich barn doors run, so that we 
may move up the ice easily from the rear of 
the house to the loading place by the aid of 
blocks and pulleys. o. h. 
Greeley, Colo. 
FEEDING SUBSTANCES AND FEEDING 
RATIONS.—NO. IV. 
HENRY STEW ART. 
BREWERS’ GRAINS. 
Brewers’ grams contain the most valuable 
portion of the barley and corn which have been 
used in brewing. The malt made of the bar¬ 
ley contains a substance called diastase,which 
has the property of converting 2,000 times its 
weight of starch into sugar. Hence the brew- 
el's use a large quantity of corn-meal in their 
business, and in considering the value of the 
grains for feeding cows this fact should not be 
lost sight of, and the old analyses should be 
corrected and something added to the fat 
contained in them. In their fresh condition 
they contain as follows: 
Water, 
Nitrogen compound, 
Carbohydrates as starch 
sugar, gums, 
Fat, 
Fitier (husk, etc.), 
Ash, 
76.6 per cent. 
49 
At 
11.0 
u 
1.1 
it 
5.2 
it 
1.2 
u 
100.0 
Rich pasture grass contains: 
Water, 
Nitrogen compound, 
Carbohydrates. 
Fat, 
Fiber, 
Ash, 
The close similarity between the two is very 
interesting, aud iu the various discussions 
which have so frequently occurred in regard 
to the feeding value of brewers’ grains this close 
comparison, I think, has never before been 
made. It shows that they are a very excellent 
food for cows. 
Then it is to be considered, are they whole¬ 
some or is there anything in them that may 
be detrimental to the health of the cows and 
the parity and quality of the milk? This is 
altogether a matter of experimental knowl¬ 
edge, and scientific analysis will not help us. 
Solar as practical knowledge goes, then, it 
may be said that they have been used by the 
largest and best known milk dairymen for 
xuauy years with the very best results, and the 
milk from some of these dairies nearNew York 
is sold by the largest aud most popular dealer 
who supplies the wealthy families in the city, 
and keeps a large number of wagons for de¬ 
livering the milk. This should prove that the 
milk is good, and the food healthful. I know 
of one daily of this kind where 200 cows are 
kept, aud are fed on half a bushel of the grain 
every day in the year, with pasture in summer, 
hay iu winter, and corn meal mixed with the 
grams, aud these cows ure always in condition 
to be sold for beef. 
My own experience is connected with the 
use of brewers’ grains iu a fine butter dairy. 
1 have fed them largely without finding any 
objectionable result in any way. The milk 
aud butter yields were both good, and the food 
is cheap, a bushel of 40 pounds containing 
Worth Cents. 
Nitrogen compounds, 1.9 lbs. 5 • 
Carbohydrates, 4.4 ” 4% 
Fat, 0.5 ” 1% 
The total value is seen to be 10% cents per 
bushel of 50 pounds as compared with corn 
which contains in 40 pounds 
78.2 per cent. 
45 
10.1 “ 
1.0 . “ 
40 
2.2 “ 
100.0 
Worth 
Cents. 
Nitrogen compounds, 
4 lbs. 
10 
Carbohydrates, 
25 ” 
25 
Fat, 
2K ” 
6# 
and is worth on the same basis 41 },{ cents, or 
about 60 cents a bushel. The grains are seen to 
bemore valuable as food when a due allow¬ 
ance is made for the water contaiued in them, 
which is 76,U per cent, against 14U per cent., 
or one-fifth as much in the corn. The dry 
matter in the corn is 4}4 times as large as that 
in the grains, while the feediug value is only 
four times as large; this excess of value lies in 
the larger proportion of nitrogen compounds 
in the grains, which are the most valuable con¬ 
stituents of food. Hence the grains are worth 
more for feeding than the corn pound for 
pound. 
But this estimate must be taken with due 
allowauce; for no one food can be used with 
the best effects, aud the grains are seen to be 
more nitrogenous than is conducive to health 
if fed alone for a loug time. This proves the 
justice of the statement made by your neigh¬ 
bors, viz., that the grains will run a cow down 
to nothiog, if too many are fed ; but the 
qualification “too many’’indicates that faulty 
feeding is the cause of the ill results, aud not 
the food in itself,and this is strictlj T true. The 
grains contain one part of nitrogenous ele¬ 
ments to three of carbonaceous, allowiug 2>£ 
for one to equalize the fat with the starch, etc., 
as has been explained iu former articles ou 
feediug. This is uot a healthful ratio and 
would necessarily have a bad effect upon the 
cows; but when corn meal is ted with the 
grains, this inequality is remedied as is here 
shown: 
Nitrogen Carbo- Ratio, 
compound, hydrates. 
20 lbs. graius contain, 0.95 2.8 
14 lbs. corn meal, 1.4 9.8 
2.35 12.6 1 to 5.3 
This proportion is that used in the milk 
dairy above mentioned; but as the object 
there is to keep the cows always in condition 
for beef the large quantity of corn meal is 
used. If half as much were used and a peck 
of the meal was given to each bushel of the 
graius, we should have the following ratio: 
Nitrogen Carbo- Ratio, 
compound, hydrates, 
40 lbs. grains, 1.9 5.6 
14 lbs. corn, 1.4 9.8 
3.3. 15.4 1 to 4.7 
which eoutaius a very safe excess of nitrogen 
compound for a cow giving milk aud produc¬ 
ing butter aud given bay or pasture. It is 
easy to vary the ration as may be desired. In 
my daily I added 4 pounds daily of cotton 
seed meal to the above mixture, which furn¬ 
ished abundance of fat for making a full yield 
of butter. The whole amount mentioned was 
a whole day’s ration for each cow and may be 
compared as follows with the former ratio: 
Nitrogen Carbo- 
Compound. hydrates. Ratio. 
40 lbs. graius, 1.9 5.6 
14 lbs. com, 1.4 9.8 
4 lbs. cotton meal, 1.6 2.8 
49 18.2 1 to 4 
giving a food exceedingly rich in nitrogen 
compound for the formation of milk, aud 
containing 2% pounds of fat for the produc¬ 
tion of butter, and with the other feed an am¬ 
ple supply of food for keeping up auimal heat 
aud repair of muscle. 
PRESIDENT LYON’S ANSWER TO 
PRESIDENT BARRY. 
It appeal's from the criticisms of Mr. P. 
Barry, on page 804 of the Rural, that I have 
not been so fortunate as to be fully under¬ 
stood iu my remarks on pages 751-2. While 
I was in full sympathy with the hearty and 
unanimous conclusion of the members of the 
Am Pom. Society, to go to Boston for its 
last session, I have the conviction that the 
feeling heretofore referred to had no existence 
among those in attendance there. Moreover, 
I have not supposed that such feeling exists, 
to any considerable extent, among the mem 
bers, save, perhaps, among such as may be 
said merely to hang upon the society's skirts, 
as members upon occasion; and who, from 
imperfect knowledge of the actual considera¬ 
tions which had so long held the sessions at 
the North were not able to properly compre¬ 
hend its motives. 
In fact, iu making the remarks objected t), 
1 had reference, not to members of the Am. 
Pom. Society, but rather to the horticultural 
public generally, and to that of the South and 
West especially, as was pretty distinctly in¬ 
dicated in the second and third paragraphs of 
the communication in question. 
Aside from the supposed possible influence 
of this feeling in bringing about the organiza¬ 
tion of the Western society, my personal cor¬ 
respondence affords abundant evidence of the 
existence of the feeling in question among 
horticulturists outside of the Am. Pom. So¬ 
ciety, and even in occasional cases among its 
members, although it may be fairly antici¬ 
pated that the action had at Boston will go 
very far to quiet apprehension of the charac¬ 
ter referred to. 
B lind Pool Swindlers Again. —Iu the 
Rural of November 20, the Eye-Opener 
told of the collapse of Abott, Page & Co., the 
“blind pool” operators of London. Eugland, 
after having swindled their dupes out of 81,- 
125,000* About three years ago Flemming & 
Merriam, of Chicago, swindled their Ameri¬ 
can and Canadian patrons out of a sum at 
least as large, and after the principals had 
been imprisoned for short terms, aud tried in 
several places in this country and Canada, 
they were set at liberty to enjoy their dis¬ 
honest gains, which doubtless they are doing 
at the present moment. These sharpers are 
well able to pay for the best legal talent to 
keep them free from the clutch of the crimi¬ 
nal law, and they iuvariahly secure it; as for 
the civil law, they eau afford to laugh at it, 
for however large the amount of “boodle” 
they make, it is always so disposed of that uo 
process of law cau ever touch it. 
“Speculative Syndicate” is a new name for 
“blind pool” just hit upon by a concern iu 
this city. It proposes to operate for its 
members iu grain, produce, stocks, etc., for a 
profit of 30 per cent of the net profits accru¬ 
ing from every transaction or deal that is 
made. In its own words, 
“It will form a combination of the capital 
of each syndicate shareholder into oue total 
amouut, operating it as a whole, dividing 
profits pro rata with each member accord¬ 
ing to the amount they (sic) have invest¬ 
ed. By this plan large reserve margins are 
secured to all alike. The capital stock of this 
syndicate is put at 835,000. This amouut. is 
divided into shares of $10 each. Our firm has 
one hundred shares of this capital, aud paid 
into the Syndicate 810 for each share, leaving 
the remaining shares now being subscribed 
for at $10 each by our traders and others 
Our firm will give its personal attention to 
operating capital for the benefit of every 
member interested in this Syndicate..... And 
upon the first day of each mouth an abstract 
of the entire transactions of the month, to¬ 
gether with the net profit, will be sent to each 
shareholder. 
Dividends uf from 25 to 75 per cent every 
30 days are foreshadowed. Here are the 
profits alleged to be made in the first three 
weeks of November: $1,000 invested, made 
8430; $500 invested, made $215; $200 invested, 
made $86; $100 invested, made $43; $50 in¬ 
vested, made $21.50; $20 invested, made $8.60 
$10 invested, made $4.30. 
A large, four-page circular and some smaller 
ones are filled with similar fallacious promises 
aud misrepresentations. The Eye-Opener has 
seen the prospectuses of nearly all the “blind- 
pool” humbugs that have duped the public 
duriug at least the last eight years, aud the 
present one bears ou it the “ear marks” of 
barefaced fraud more uumistakably than any 
of its prototypes. They all ask the confiding 
public to send in its money—the ■•wore from 
each the better. Most of the others gave 
references as to the skill bf the manipu¬ 
lators iu “bulliug” or “bearing” the market; 
aud as to their honesty also. The references, 
it is true, were usually either bogus or to con¬ 
federates, or to themselves under wholly ficti¬ 
tious names, or under other names under 
which they carried on other swindles. The 
present advertisers, however, simply trust to 
the gullibility of the public, without a single 
reference as to their skill or trustworthiness, 
“All” they ask is that the public should send 
them the money, to be at their absolute dis¬ 
posal. In no case can the senders have any¬ 
thing but the word of the concern as to 
the way the money was disposed of. Of 
course it will be tost. There is not ono 
particle of doubt about, that, J ust at the out¬ 
set the other “bliud pool” swindlers frequent¬ 
ly returned very large monthly profits to some 
of their put.rous, in order to induce them or 
their neighbors to make heavier investments; 
but in all cases t-h * patrons were swindled in 
the eml. No doubt the same policy will be fol¬ 
lowed in the present case, unless the thing 
comes to a premature close. A number of 
these “blind pool” swindlers usually begin op¬ 
erating simultaneously. Indeed this particu¬ 
lar concern says: “Imitators who have cop¬ 
ied our circulars and plans are now in the 
field.” The method of doing business of all is 
substantially the same. What is said here 
therefore applies to every one of them; hence 
the Eyo-Opener thinks it best not to specify 
this oue by name. 
Another swindle reported from Michigan. 
An agent of some bogus medicine company 
will call and say that he will sell the right of 
a medicine for $5. He will not take the 
money, but hand the purchaser au envelop, 
which the buyer is to send to tbe company 
with the money, The medicine comes all 
right, but with C. O. D. charges to such an 
amount that, few will accept, and those who 
do accept, the packages find nothing but a bot¬ 
tle or jug filled with colored water. Writing 
protests to the company does no good, for 
nothing more is heard from them. 
CORRESPONDENTS’ VIEWS. 
The Driven Well FrASCO.—All the agri¬ 
cultural papers that I have read, in speaking 
of the drive well patent, claim that the late 
decision of the United States Supreme Court 
is a great relief to farmers; but not a word 
do they say for the teus of thousands of poor 
people in the towns and villages that own 
their little homes aud nothing more, worth, 
say, $400 to $2,000, and who work for meager 
wages. Now take this town of 23,000 popula¬ 
tion. There are, say, 3,000 drive wells iu it, 
and l believe this is less than the actual num¬ 
ber. It is more than any county in the State 
has; that is, iu the country among farmers, 
for the farmer’s well is ofteuer a large pipe 
settled or forced down, the earth being re¬ 
moved up through it. The decision that the 
patent is void is a godsend to all—farmer, 
mechanic, laborer, capitalist and corporation. 
Ou November 10 there arrived in this city a 
gentleman whose business it was to collect the 
royalty on the drive wells. He just had two 
days to ply his collecting business, for on 
Monday, the 14th, there came a dispatch that 
knocked his occupation to naught, and there 
was great rejoicing over the decision. I think 
a great deal of the Rural New-Yorker, aud 
it can count on me for a subscriber right 
along. H. W. h. 
Canton, Ohio. 
R. N.-Y.—The first decision in favor of 
Green’s patent—that of Judge Wallace of the 
Uuited States Circuit Court for New York— 
was rendered in October 1876. In the Rural 
for November 30, of the same year, there ap¬ 
peared a three-columu article entitled “The 
Tube Well aud its History,” which gave a de¬ 
tailed account of the “invention” and of the 
early patents connected therewith, and showed 
conclusively that Green probably never had 
any valid claim to the invention; that the 
suggestion that led to it was, most likely, 
prompted by an indistinct recollection Of an old 
receipt iu “Mnekensie’s 5,000 Receipts” repub¬ 
lished in Philadelphia in 1825, and, above all, 
that whatever shadow of a claim Green 
might possibly have at any time possessed, 
he had abandoned it to the public for over five 
years and was not therefore entitled to a 
patent. 
This phase of the question was discussed at 
leugth. It was the chief point dwelt upon. It 
was stated that while the patent might he up¬ 
set on other grounds, this was the main reli¬ 
ance. In the follow ing Issue another lengthy 
article appeared on the same subject, still fur¬ 
ther explaining and emphasizing the points 
made in the first. Both were widely copied 
by other papers. A great many extra copies 
of the first issue were sold, aud demands for it 
have been made to a late date. To satisfy 
these,the article of November 30 has been sub¬ 
stantially reprinted more than trace. Other 
articles of the same character, fully explain¬ 
ing every phase of the battle against the pat¬ 
ent, have appeared from time to time in our 
pages. Ours was the first full account given 
of the matter to the public, aud as it was 
widely spread before the people by other pa¬ 
pers, it aroused a general feeling of resistance 
to the pay mettt of royalty. \V e have also fur¬ 
nished a great deal of information privately 
to the lawyers ami others engaged or about to 
engage in the cases and put them in the way 
of obtaining mure. The Rural has lieeu from 
the first the outspoken,earnest, persistent sup¬ 
porter of those who fought against the fraud. 
Finally the victory was won ou the very point 
ou which the Rural had insisted 11 years be¬ 
fore and the importance of which it had reit¬ 
erated over and over again in the mean time. 
We are quite aware that the agents’ extor¬ 
tions were grievous to all classes of the com¬ 
munity. The wells have come into universal 
use where water can be struck from 20 to 83 
or even 40 feet from the surface. This can be 
done in most parts of the country. Even 
where the water-bearing strata are deeper the 
the driven well system is frequently used a 
part of the way down. The upsetting of the 
puteul was, in truth, a widespread godsend, 
aud the Rural cau look back with satisfac¬ 
tion ou the part it took in the conflict. 
Caution in Buying New Things.—Is it 
uot a question whether the average agricul- 
