dec aa 
The usual course that the farmer pursues at 
such a time, if he should by chance happen to 
know the date, is for him to leave his sows to 
themselves, with no preparation for their 
comfort. If it should happen to be a cold 
night in March, Mr. Farmer is found sitting 
by the kitchen fire “talking politics” or else 
snugly established in a warm bed for the 
night, remarking, as he passes off to sleep, “I 
hope the old sow will have good luck in hav¬ 
ing her pigs this time. If she don’t, I’ll 
take and sell her. I ain’t agoin’ to bother 
around with her any longer.” 
Well, what is the result of such a course? 
Mr. Farmer gets up “real” early (au awful 
bother) and goes out to count his pigs. They 
are all there—nine of them—perfect little 
beauties, and worth £30 in quick cash—had 
they lived, but each one is a cold, stiff dead 
pig, or perhaps Mr. Farmer found no pigs, 
but plenty of evidence that the sow had given 
birth to a large litter. Where are the little 
a happy, united, prosperous family. If a very 
cold time I .again take the pigs to a warm 
place, and continue to do so until two days 
old. If the weather is not severe, I leave the 
sow, having first fixed the pen so she can¬ 
not lie on them and all goes well with no 
“luck” about it—simply by careful attention. 
GEORGE Q. DOW. 
fxxrra 0X01X0111:1). 
THE VALUE OF POTATOES FOR FEED¬ 
ING. 
HENRY STEWART. 
Why potatoes are not more largely used as 
stock feed in mew of the ease with which 
they are grown ; their great yield and 
large proportion of nutriment ; analysis 
of them ; the stems : why, if fed raw, much 
of their nutriment goes to waste, while 
they irritate the digestive organs and 
often cause diarrhoea; likely to choke cat¬ 
tle ; their nutritive ratio ; how raw potatoes 
injuriously affect milk; good when fed in 
small quantities as part of a ration; cook¬ 
ing removes all injurious properties : their 
theoretical and actual value as compared 
with com and other foods; jjersonal expe¬ 
rience in feeding them. 
fellows? The sow has no appetite, she does 
not care to eat, she has had a fine breakfast of 
early spring pigs, which cost Mr. Farmer a 
nice little sum, but then he had a good com¬ 
fortable night’s rest, “no bother” and when 
the next sow is ready to have pigs, he will 
be found sitting by the fire telling his neigh¬ 
bor what “bad luck ” he had with the last 
sow. 
The period of gestation in a sow may be 
timed to a day and one may reckon almost to 
the hour the date at which she will farrow^ 
provided he knows the date of service, hence 
the importance of knowing that. Having 
these dates, a successful breeder will make all 
his arrangements to conform to the same, and 
be prepared to be up all night if necessary. 
When the sow is ready to begin operations, 
which usually occurs just after eating, go 
into her pen and remain there until the job is 
finished. The reason a sow eats her young is, 
I think, this: she is in great pain and suffer¬ 
ing badly at that time. The attention is 
concentrated upon giving birth to her young. 
The little fellows as fast as they come, get up 
around her head and bother her very much. 
Her milk has not started freely and does not, 
until all the litter is born. The pigs try for 
food, and this only provokes the sow the more 
and causes her to snap, bite and eat her young. 
The affection that she has for her young does 
not exhibit itself in the sow until after her 
milk has started, and all the pigs have helped 
themselves; and it is very rarely after that 
that she will injure her young intentionally. 
Nature has so arranged it that food and 
affection both start in the sow at the same 
time. 
To obviate all this, as soon as the sow gives 
birth to a pig, I immediately take it away out 
Fig. 411. 
of her sight and hearing. If it is a cold night 
or day, a basket or box is prepared for them 
near some fire, and they are put there as fast 
as they come. By the time the sow is done 
farrowing, got up and moved around a little, 
the pigs have become nearly dried and squeal¬ 
ing for something to eat. I first give the sow 
a little warm, nourishing drink, clean up her 
pen, arrange her bed, get her to lie down by 
a little scratching, and then one by one I place 
her pigs at her teats and in 10 minutes I have 
I am asked to answer the following note : 
“Will potatoes fed to milch cows produce 
any bad effect in the butter ? 
It is strange, considering the ease with 
which potatoes may be grown, the large pro¬ 
duce when the crop is managed in the best 
manner, and the large proportion of nutri¬ 
ment they contain, that they should not have 
long ago been grown and used to a large ex¬ 
tent for the feeding of stock of all kinds. 
There is, however, always a reason for what¬ 
ever may appear strange and unreasonable, 
and there is one for the absence of the potato 
from the list of popular foods for stock. 
When potatoes are examined under the mi¬ 
croscope, they are found to consist of a large 
quantity of starch cells existing in the cellular 
tissue and floating in a watery liquid. This 
liquid contains some gum and is somewhat 
viscous; it also contains the greater part of 
the mineral matter of the tuber, of which pot¬ 
ash is the most abundant. It is, in fact, the 
crude sap of the plant. The analysis of the 
tuber of the potato plant is quite interesting 
when viewed in connection with its physical 
construction. The tuber in its fresh and dry 
conditions is thus made up : 
Per cent. of. 
Fresh. 
Dry. 
Ash. 
3.6 
Water. 
.75.0 
• • . • 
Albuminoids.. 
.2.1 
8.4 
Carbohydrates. 
.20.7 
82.8 
Fiber. 
.. .. 1.1 
4.4 
Fat. 
. 0.2 
0.8 
100.0 
100.0 
The ash is made up as follows : 
Potash, per cent. 59.8 
Magnesia. 1.6 
Soda. 5.5 
Lime. 2.3 
Phosphoric acid. 19.1 
Sulphuric acid. 6.6 
Silica. 2.3 
Chlorine. 2.8 
100.0 
It is curious that the stems contain a very 
different proportion of mineral matters, as 
22.6 per cent, of magnesia and 40.2 per cent, 
of lime, with only 6.3 per cent, of potash. 
This is mentioned, however, only in passing, 
as being noteworthy, although not pertinent 
to the subject under consideration. 
As compared with corn, then, potatoes, as 
regards their dry matter, are found to be 
very little inferior in nutriment, for the dry 
matter of corn contains 11 per cent, of albu¬ 
minoids, 70 % per cent, of carbohydrates and 
seven per cent, of fat, and is thus only in regard 
to its fat of any largely better feeding value. 
But the chief difficulty met with in feeding 
potatoes is that the cellular tissue is not fully 
digestible, and the starch thus partly escapes 
from the animal uselessly, and, moreover, 
when potatoes are fed abundantly this indi¬ 
gestible tissue and that which forms the en¬ 
velop of the starch cells themselves, have an 
irritating effect upon the digestive organs and 
often produce diarrhoea, which entirely 
counteracts any benefit which might accrue 
from the use of the large quantity of nutri¬ 
tious matter in the tubers. When, however, 
potatoes are fed in small quantities and are 
mixed with some dry food, as bran, which 
adds considerably to the amount of nitro¬ 
genous matter (albuminoids) and thus im¬ 
proves them, both as regards their nutritious 
quality and digestibility, this difficulty is no 
longer met with, and the mixed food is found 
to be exceedingly useful for all kinds of stock, 
and especially for cows, if given in moderate 
quantity. For horses, potatoes are equal to 
any kind of roots and are often found to re¬ 
move that common trouble, heaves, and to 
improve the wind—as it is termed—very 
much. 
While the commonly accepted standards of 
value of feeding substances given by the 
chemists are more theoretical than practical, 
yet they may be taken as near approxima¬ 
tions to the truth, differing only as the peculiar 
character and alimentary ability of the ani¬ 
mals may vary, and, taking these standards 
as a guide, we find that the nutritive ratio of 
the potato is very nearly one of nitrogenous 
matter to ten of carbonaceous. But when a 
certain quantity of bran is used, the ration 
may easily be brought to the normal one of 
one of nitrogenous to five or six of carbona¬ 
ceous; for as bran contains 15 per cent, of 
albuminoids, 52 per cent, of carbohydrates 
and 3.2 per cent, of fat (equal to 8 per cent, 
of carbohydrates) and the nutritive ratio of 
it is thus one of nitrogen to four of carbo¬ 
hydrates, it follows that an equal weight of 
bran, taking the dry substance of both, will 
bring the ratio to one to seven, which is an 
excellent one for a cow, a fattening pig or a 
full-grown animal.Then,as potatoes have three- 
quarters of their weight of water, if three parts 
by weight of them are fed with one part of 
their weight of bran, we have a ration equal¬ 
ing one of nitrogenous to seven of carbon¬ 
aceous matter. And, besides, the dry bran 
will very much help the digestion of the pota¬ 
toes. 
But, again, the shape of the potatoes is 
against the use of them for feeding,because of 
the danger of choking the animals, a very 
common occurrence, often fatal and always 
troublesome. Hence the tubers should be cut 
or mashed, which is easily done by a sharp 
spade or a rather heavy masher. The objec¬ 
tion, however, is better removed by cooking 
the potatoes, by which every fault apper¬ 
taining to them is got rid of; for the cellular 
tissue is made digestible, the starch cells are 
ruptured, some of the starch is converted into 
the more digestible substances—gum and 
sugar—the softened tubers are easily broken 
up by the animal and masticated, and the in¬ 
jurious effect of the raw tubers upon the 
bowels is entirely prevented. 
In feeding raw potatoes largely and alone 
to dairy cows the effect upon the bowels is in 
part shared by the milk. The tubers, it is 
seen, contain a large proportion of sulphuric 
acid, the excess of which in the process of di¬ 
gestion is ejected through the bowels, and in 
this process this excess enters into combina¬ 
tion with some of the hydrogen evolved. 
Thus sulphuretted hydrogen—which is a gas 
of a very powerful and disagreeable odor, so 
well known in rotten eggs—is produced, and 
it does not all escape from the bowels, for in 
part it is absorbed and affects the milk and 
the butter. Thus potatoes should not be given 
to dairy cows alone or largely even with bran, 
unless they are cooked, when they are free 
from all objection whatever and form a cheap, 
nutritious and very acceptable food. 
One point more is to be considered, which 
is the actual money value of potatoes for 
feeding and as compared with other foods. 
As 100 pounds contain 20% pounds of carbo¬ 
hydrates, worth one cent per pound, and two 
pounds of albuminoids, worth 2% cents per 
pound, while the fat is worth about two cents 
more, 100 pounds of potatoes are worth about 
27 cents—the feeding tables give the value at 
29 cents. This is, of course, theoretical. In 
practice it has been the general belief that 
potatoes are worth 25 cents a bushel to feed. 
I have fed a great many. One year I had 
more than 1,000 bushels, of which 600 were of 
the old Harrison variety, a coarse but very 
prolific kind, and these were all fed to pigs of 
which 1 had at that time a large number. 
The potatoes were boiled with corn-ears and 
the meat made cost four cents a pound after 
charging for the corn at the market price of 
50 cents a bushel, and the potatoes at 30 cents. 
As the .pork made 7% cents per pound, these 
prices wer6 nearly doubled. The present 
year I have fattened a number of pigs upon 
skimmed milk and boiled small potatoes 
alone; counting the skimmed milk and butter¬ 
milk as a waste product, and worth nothing, 
the gain in weight alone from the feeding 
nets me 37 cents a bushel from these unmar¬ 
ketable potatoes. Having a good many po¬ 
tatoes, I have given a two-year-old colt a peck 
daily of the cooked ones, cold, instead of corn, 
with his hay, and he has done quite as well as 
the other colts of the same age which have 
had two quarts of corn daily, and his appear¬ 
ance is apparently better, for his coat is 
smoother, and this is an indication of better 
thrift. In all my feeding of potatoes, to all 
kinds of stock, I consider them worth fully 25 
cents a bushel and all the labor and cost of 
cooking. 
A FEW FARM FIXTURES. 
Here are a few devices I have noticed in 
use on farms. Fig. 410 represents a milking 
stool which is too simple to require explana¬ 
tion. 
\ Fig. 409 is a cast-iron hog trough which can 
Y-W-\. 
Fig. 412.—See page 843. 
be easily filled by means of the spout. It will 
last a lifetime. 
Fig. 411 is a home-made needle for putting 
strings through hams or beef or fastening 
strings in .bags. It is made of one-fourth 
inch wire. c. w. T. 
Potter Co., Dakota. 
A HANDY HOOK. 
When the end of a prong of a three-tined 
pitchfork breaks off, the rest of the fork can 
be turned to good account by cutting off all 
the prongs to five or six inches in length and 
bending the shank to get the general shape of 
the potato-hook, as shownat Fig. 413, page 851. 
Flatten and sharpen the points of the prongs, 
and'bend them to the general shape of those of 
the potato-hook with the outside ones about 
four inches apart. Completed with a hoe-han¬ 
dle, it makes a fine implement for loosening up 
ground around plants. e. d. n. 
Ingham Co., Mich. 
Jvfonst’l £>0xktk$. 
AMERICAN FORESTRY CONGRESS. 
(RURAL SPECIAL REPORT.) 
Consolidation of the American and Southern 
Forestry Congresses; millions' worth of 
good j or a pittance of outlay; Gen. Greely 
“ the lion of the Congress" ; imports of 
Canadian lumber; girlish enthusiasm in 
tree planting ; resolutions passed; a pleas¬ 
ant and profitable meeting. 
Atlanta, Dec. 8, 1888.—The great meeting 
of the American Forestry Congress closed 
here yesterday. It was important in many 
ways, not merely in the consolidation with it 
of the Southern Forestry Congress; but in 
the fact that it was the first meeting ever held 
in the South, and it came at a critical time to 
arouse the interest of people in the forests, be¬ 
fore the demands of the varied industries of the 
New South shall have swept away the forests 
as has already been done, to so great an ex¬ 
tent, at the North. The sentiment in favor 
of tree cutting is giving way to a sentiment in 
favor of tree planting, and largely;in conse¬ 
quence of the industrious dissemination of 
intelligence by this very Congress. 
In relinquishing his office as corresponding 
secretary, which he has held since the first 
year after organization, Prof. Fernow re¬ 
views, in his annual report, the entire history 
of the Congress. The pioneer work, he thinks, 
is done. The awakened public interest will 
not again die out, and facts have been collect¬ 
ed sufficient to guide to judicious action. 
Arbor Day or Arbor Week is becoming a 
national institution. All this has been accom¬ 
plished at a total expenditure of funds in the 
operations of the society, during the last six 
years of its existence, of only £1,841! The re- 
