1889 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
825 
FARMERS’ INSTITUTES. 
(RURAL SPECIAL REPORT.) 
Farmers’ institutes in New York for 1889— 
1890; the institute at Plattsburgh a suc¬ 
cess, those at Malone and Ogdensburgh 
wet-blanketed by heavy rains; the 
chemistry of cattle foods; value of corn- 
fodder at various stages of growth; dif¬ 
ferent feeding rations; how milk be¬ 
comes tainted; valuable hints from ex¬ 
perts. 
Forty-five farmers’ institutes conducted 
in the same manner as those of previous 
years, will be held by the State Agricul¬ 
tural Society in this State during the com¬ 
ing winter. Their success in the past has 
established the value of these meetings be¬ 
yond controversy. Crowded houses seldom 
fail to greet the institute workers on their 
second appearance in any town. Mr. J. F. 
Converse, of Woodville, will relieve Secre¬ 
tary Woodward of the general charge of 
the meetings this winter, though any cor¬ 
respondence in regard to them should be 
addressed to the latter at the office of the 
society in Albany. A new feature in a 
few meetings of the institutes will be the 
furnishing by the society of an extended 
report to all the local papers in the county 
in which an institute is held. The force of 
speakers has been materially strengthened 
by the addition of Prof. J. W. Sanborn, 
formerly of the Missouri Agricultural Col¬ 
lege, and of Prof. A. J. Cook of Michigan, 
in a few meetings. 
The first institute was held at Platts¬ 
burgh November 18th and 19th. The 
weather was fine and every session was well 
attended. Though no local speakers could 
be secured to address the meeting, the in¬ 
terest increased to such an extent that a 
large farmers’ club was organized at the 
close of the last session. Fortune would 
not smile on the farmers of Franklin and 
St. Lawrence Counties, for during the 
meetings at Malone on November 20th and 
21st, and at Ogdensburgh on the 22nd and 
23d, the weather was execrable. Rain fell 
every day and nearly all the day. Despite 
this,there was a fair attendance. More young 
men were present than at Plattsburgh. 
Very few ladies attended any of these meet¬ 
ings. Since dairying is the leading occu¬ 
pation in Northern New York the insti¬ 
tutes were largely devoted to this branch 
of farming. We give extracts below from 
several dairy addresses. 
The Chemistry of Cattle Foods was 
discussed by Prof. E. F. Ladd, Chemist 
of the State Experiment Station. He 
said: “The terms nitrogen, phosphoric acid 
and potash were hardly known to farmers 
of our State a few years ago. The use of 
commercial fertilizers luis made these terms 
common to all. As it is now recognized in 
crop growing that a rational system of plant 
feeding is essential, so in stock feeding a 
rational system is just as necessary. Dif¬ 
ferent foods act differently in the animal. 
Some tend to produce lean flesh, some 
fat meat; others increase the milk yield, 
others affect the quality of milk. I have 
brought here samples illustrating the dif¬ 
ferent kinds of foods and their composition. 
(Prof. Ladd here displayed a fine exhibit 
of the chemical constituents of some im¬ 
portant foods, the percentages of which are 
given below.) 
Water. 
Crude 
Fiber. 
Nltrogei 
free Ex. 
Albumei 
cG 
fa 
A 
cc 
◄ 
Corn-meal.. 
17.08 
1.74 
67.16 
8.90 
3 82 
1.30 
Wheat bran 
Cotton-seed 
13.71 
10.83 
52.26 
14.56 
3.11 
5.53 
meal. 
11.06 
3.56 
23 86 
40.56 
13.57 
7.39 
Clover hay. 
Tim 0 1 h y 
15.35 
25.99 
37.63 
12.05 
8.48 
5.50 
hay. 
Maize for- 
15.35 
26.83 
44.33 
6.59 
2.69 
4.16 
age. 
80 66 
6.10 
10.07 
1.54 
.58 
.99 
Mangolds... 
S1.76 
86 
4.67 
1.53 
.15 
1.03 
Nitrogen-free extract consists of sugar, 
starch and gums and furnishes the heat of 
the animal system and body fat Fat is 
used for the same purpose as the nitrogen- 
free extract, but is more concentrated and 
worth times as much. Albuminoids or 
nitrogenous products vary greatly in these 
foods, being very high in cotton-seed meal. 
It is used to produce caseine of milk, 
muscle, and, I believe, assists in the pro¬ 
duction of butter fats. Mangolds contain 
more water than milk. The ash in these 
foods goes to build up the bones of animals 
and contains much fertilizing matter. 
Thus we see that by buying the right foods 
we can purchase a large amount of fertiliz¬ 
ing matter at the same time. 
Corn has yielded at the Experiment Sta¬ 
tion per acre: 
When tasseled, 9.02 tons, of which 8.21 
tons were water. 
When in full silk, 12.87 tons, of which 
11.33 tons were water. 
When in the watery stage, 16.30 tons, of 
which 13.97 tons were water. 
When glazed, (16.14 tons, of which 12.52 
tons were water. 
When fully ripe, 14.23 tons, of which 10.27 
tons were water. 
The increased value of the mature corn is 
shown more perfectly by chemical examin¬ 
ation. The maize in the tassel had only 
189 pounds of starch per acre. When glazed 
it had 2,550 pounds, and when fully ripe 
there were 3,540 pounds of starch per acre. 
In the earlier stages of this growth a cow 
must eat 300 pounds of forage to get 25 
pounds of dry matter, a full feed. The 
cause of the complaint that cows did not 
do well this summer when grass was good 
was owing to the excess of water in the 
tissues of the plant and upon it, due to the 
excess of rain and lack of sunshine. 
The value of fodder depends upon its 
physiological effect, its palatability and its 
chemical composition. 
The physiological effect of different foods 
is very different. 
In my experiments with feeds I have the 
following results: 
Taking six pounds of corn-meal and two 
pounds of bran as' our standard ration 
which furnishes a good butter, we find that 
the substitution of six pounds of gluten- 
meal for the corn-meal resulted in an in¬ 
crease in milk flow of three pounds, but a 
decrease in butter fat of two ounces per 
day. 
Six pounds of linseed-meal in place of the 
corn-meal decreased the milk flow but in¬ 
creased the butter fat three ounces per day, 
which means an increase of 70 pounds per 
year. 
Cotton-seed meal acted like linseed, ex¬ 
cept that it did not produce such a healthy 
condition in the animal. 
Corn-meal gave a hard butter. 
Linseed-meal made a softer butter, con¬ 
taining per cent, more olein. 
Gluten-meal furnished an inferior butter. 
The butter from wheat bran was white 
and poor. 
Oats made the yellowest butter, but it 
was crumbly. 
Buckwheat produced the poorest butter. 
It was white, insipid and lacked aroma. 
This experiment continued for two years. 
The first year the hay fed was Orchard 
Grass ; the next year it was Timothy, Or¬ 
chard Grass and Red Clover. A mixture 
of corn-meal, cotton-seed meal, and linseed- 
meal would be the best ration for cows. If 
I had silage I would feed a smaller amount 
of the linseed-meal than with dry hay. We 
fed from a mixture of 300 pounds of corn- 
meal, 200 pounds of cotton-seed meal, 200 
pounds of linseed-meal, and 100 pounds of 
oats. If I were feeding roots I would lessen 
the linseed-meal. 
When cattle foods are purchased their 
value as fertilizers should be made an im¬ 
portant consideration. One ton of Timothy 
hay contains $5.48 worth of fertilizing mat¬ 
ter ; one ton of Red Clover hay, $S.20 , one 
ton of corn-meal, $6.31; one ton of wheat 
bran, $13.10; one ton of cotton-seed meal, 
$28.68; one ton of linseed-meal, $21.42 ; one 
ton of oats, $S.37 ; one ton of milk, $2.80 ; 
one ton of butter. $0.26.” 
Tainting of Milk.— Geo. A. Smith said: 
“ A cow feeding on grass that grows in the 
immediate vicinity of any putrid animal 
matter will give milk having the worst 
kind of a taint. I have a case that came 
to my knowledge last summer and which 
proves this quite conclusively. A factory 
iu which the cheeses were well made had 
considerable trouble with the cheeses get¬ 
ting off flavor when they were about 20 
days old. They started a thorough inves¬ 
tigation and found that the trouble came 
from certain dairies where the pastures 
bordered on a small creek, and upon exami¬ 
nation of these pastures it was found that 
the offal from a slaughter-house had been 
washed by the high water down along the 
banks of the creek and lodged where the 
cows had been feeding. It spoiled the 
milk, that is, the germs of putrefaction 
from this decaying animal matter lodged 
on the grass and were taken into the ani¬ 
mal system. I am well satisfied that if the 
requisite means are used the milk will 
come to the factory very nearly as good in 
July and August as in September and Oc¬ 
tober. The only question is—will the 
dairymen use the means? 
Thorough aeration is one of the most es¬ 
sential points, the dipping of the milk for 
a few minutes does not do the business. It 
must be exposed to the air, either by using 
an elevated strainer, or pouring with a 
dipper, until the temperature of the milk is 
about the same as of the surrounding air 
during the summer months. Then we have 
a quality of milk in the morning whose 
flavor is all right and with enough ripeness 
so that the lactic acid will develop in about 
the right time, and the curd will not lie in 
the whey and become slippery or develop a 
gas as it is almost sure to do where the 
milk is cooled with cold water and not 
aerated. One of two things must happen 
to the factory system before long: either 
the careless, slovenly dairymen must re¬ 
form and take better care of their milk, or 
those who produce good milk and take 
care of it will have to organize by them¬ 
selves for their own protection, There are 
too many farmers who think if they can 
get the manufacturer to take their milk, no 
matter what the condition, that they are 
all right, because it all goes in together 
and will go to market in a lump, and if it 
does not sell for the top price, the manu¬ 
facturer must make it up to that, as in a 
majority of cases he agrees to do.” 
Prof. Ladd. —Chemical examination of 
our silage has shown that corn loses for 
every 100 pounds put in a silo about five 
pounds, but the dry matter loses 13.5 per 
cent. Corn left in the field to dry loses 11.5 
per cent. 
Prof. Cook.—If I were commencing farm¬ 
ing I would give this general-purpose-cow 
question much thought. The gentleman 
who has taken the first prize on butter in 
Michigan for the past three years, feeds sil¬ 
age. The trouble with the man who can’t 
make good butter from silage is that he 
does not know how to make silage. 
Mr. George A. Smith.—The best cow for 
cheese is the one that gives the best bal¬ 
anced milk. I would rather have an excess 
of batter fats in the milk than too little. 
Milk at this time of the year is viscid, and 
often becomes cold before being strained, so 
that thecream will not rise easily. To cor¬ 
rect this, add about a pint of water at 110 
to 120 degrees to a-half pan of milk, bringing 
its temperature to 98 degrees. Then, when 
the milk is set in rooms where the tempera¬ 
ture is about 60 degrees, the cream will 
rise easily and quickly. More cheese is 
produced from milk that is thoroughly 
aerated. 
In answer to inquiries from the “Ques¬ 
tion Box,” Secretary Woodward said : Re¬ 
member that the food furnished cows can 
affect the quality of the butter. There are 
two values to these foods, a feeding value 
and a manurial value. If I can get cotton¬ 
seed meal for $22 per ton and realize the 
cost for feeding I have the fertilizer with¬ 
out cost. If we realize this manurial value 
we must take care of the manure. 
I have 60 cows in my barn that do not 
leave the barn from November 1, till the 
next spring. I have practiced this for six 
years. My cows pay me better by this sys¬ 
tem than by being turned out. The best 
water for the cow is the warmest, up to 90 
degrees. If you do not warm it the cow 
must after it enters her stomach. That 
costs money. 
Last winter my cows were put into two 
barns; one lot had silage and the other 
roots. The cows that had silage on less 
grain aud less clover hay gave 10 per cent, 
more milk and sold for $5.00 more in the 
spring. 
Prof. Sanborn.—There is not to be found 
anywhere in the literature of science and 
agriculture a proof that anything is added 
to the value of food in the silo. German 
experimenters have shown that green food 
has no more value than dry food. One- 
fifth of the food cut into the silo is burned 
up in the average silo of the present time. 
When this loss is brought down to 10 per 
cent., I will be a friend of the silo. There 
is a gain in palatableness which makes it a 
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