VoL. LX. No. 2701. 
NEW YORK, NOVEMBER 2, 1901. 
$1 PER YEAR 
FEEDING STUFFS FOR THIS WINTER. 
THE CHEAPEST FOOD TO BUY. 
How to Use Roughage. 
As this has been an unfortunate crop year in cer¬ 
tain sections of the country the question will natur¬ 
ally arise with many, what feeds can be used most 
profitably where they are both scarce and high in 
price? One can only offer suggestions, and these may 
have an application in some regions, and will not do 
nearly as well in others. Yet where money is to be 
expended the suggestions may have a wider applica¬ 
tion. For the Central West hay and fodder will not 
be especially scarce. The severe damage to the corn 
crop was to the grain rather than the stalk and leaves, 
although the supply of fodder will be far short of an 
average. Yet the crop of early hay was quite gener¬ 
ally good, and corn stover will be abundant in the 
Mississippi Valley, if the product of the fields is util¬ 
ized. Hundreds of thousands of acres of corn stover 
have each year in the past gone to waste, by standing 
uncut through the Winter, to be plowed under or 
burned in the Spring. The past season’s drought may 
result in saving a large percentage of this year’s for¬ 
age. An acre of ordinary corn stover contains about 
1,600 pounds of digestible food, and if there 
is but half a crop, there will be perhaps half 
that amount. A thousand pounds of field- 
cured corn stover contains 20 pounds of di¬ 
gestible protein, so the reader can readily 
see that there is nourishment in the plant, 
even if the ears are gone. 
Pork can be fed with good profit this com¬ 
ing season. Live hogs have already passed 
the seven-cents-a-pound figure in the West, 
and corn and shorts at present prices will 
let one have a liberal margin on the cost ot 
production. Even though the price of grain 
is high now, this is the season of golden har¬ 
vest for the man with a good bunch of pigs. 
Grain may be bought at a distance and 
shipped in, and considerable money saved in 
many localities. Minneapolis and Chicago; 
Cincinnati, Louisville, Pittsburg and south¬ 
ern cities have responsible dealers in feeding 
stuffs, from whom samples and prices can be 
secured. Correspondence may save many 
dollars to some farmer about to lay in a 
Winter supply of feed. It will no doubt be 
wiser to buy now what is needed for the 
Winter, than buy from time to time, for prices may 
be expected to rise rather than fall, so good judges 
report. The writer has recently purchased a carload 
of bran and shorts. These were shipped 600 miles, 
and delivered here from Minneapolis at |17 for the 
bran and $18 for the shorts or middlings. I also 
bought five tons of gluten meal, which cost delivered 
$26.50 a ton. Of late I have bought some hominy 
chops at $20 a ton, and shelled corn at the rate of $25 
a ton. Analyses show that these contain the follow¬ 
ing amounts of digestible foods in 1,000 pounds: 
Dry Pro- Carbo- 
matter. tein. hydrates. Fat. 
Bran, Spring .885. 129. 40L 34. 
Shorts .882. 122. 500. 38. 
Gluten meal .918. 258. 433. 110. 
Hominy chops .889. 75. 552. 68. 
Corn .891. 79. 667. 43. 
A study of this subject will show that on the basis 
of valuable food nutrients secured the gluten was by 
far the cheapest feed. Protein is the most costly ma¬ 
terial secured in our feeds, and the gluten is specially 
rich in this material, yet it cost almost the same as 
the corn. The fact of it is, that gluten is really one 
of the cheapest foods one can buy. Dairy cattle in. 
particular respond to its infiuence, and our cows do 
their very best when fed this food. But one does not 
want to feed all gluten. Bran is a peculiar feeding 
stuff. It seems to have a laxative, cooling effect on 
the bowels, and while it supplies a fairly good per 
cent of protein or muscle-making food, it also keeps 
the digestive system in good condition. No other 
grain seems quite to take the place of wheat bran, 
and so it should always be used to some extent with 
cattle. Bran anu shorts are much alike in composi¬ 
tion, but shorts I especially prefer for the pigs, giving 
the bran to the horses, cattle and sheep. Old pigs 
may be fed bran if desired, but shorts handle nicer, 
and are not so irritating to the digestion of pigs, and 
young ones in particular. 
The hominy chops can be bought at hominy mills 
or in the market in many places in the West. This 
makes a most palatable meal for cattle and pigs, and 
it has essentially the same composition as corn, al¬ 
though there is rather more fat in the hominy than in 
the corn. In making up feeding rations, variety is 
relished by animals, and better returns may generally 
be expected where a variety is fed. And if one has to 
buy anyhow, then why not buy several sorts? We 
must take palatability into account in feeding our 
stock. The chemical analysis is only an indicator of 
value in part. The taste in the mouth affects ani¬ 
mals as well as man. And so I find, in the fixing up 
A PAIR OF WELL-BRED FARM BABIES. Fig. 333. 
of these feeding stuffs, that some cornmeal along 
with the gluten gives an additional fiavor, and fur¬ 
ther helps to balance the ration up. Gluten is very 
rich in protein, and an animal should not eat of this 
feed heavily. So in place of gluten some cornmeal or 
hominy may be substituted if feeding cattle, and a 
better balanced ration made. A ration of 25 pounds 
of stover, three pounds of gluten, four pounds of corn¬ 
meal and four pounds of bran, would cost about 15 
cents on the basis of the above prices, and would be 
well adapted to a dairy cow of 1,000 pounds or less. 
Of course, tne amount of grain fed depends on produc¬ 
tion. This amount will do for a good milker making 
say three gallons a day. A fattening animal would 
need less rough feed, more cornmeal and less bran. 
The economical carrying of horses through the 
Winter should not be a difficult problem. On many 
farms where work is light, good clover hay, moist¬ 
ened, will give first-rate results alone, with no grain. 
This the writer has given a good Winter trial, and 
T. B. Terry’s experience in keeping horses on clover 
hay alone has been much quoted in the past. For sev¬ 
eral Winters we have fed our horses shredded corn 
stover with excellent results, plus a light feed of oats. 
The horses relish good bright corn stover for a 
change, and keep up on it in a surprising manner. At 
present we are feeding 1,300-pound horses on four 
quarts of oats three times a day, and Timothy hay, 
with three-fourths of a pound of oil meal once a 
week, as a conditioner, but soon the oats will be re¬ 
duced, and a cheaper diet fed. We must get the cost 
of our horse feed down close to 10 cents. If 15 pounds 
of stover are fed, at $2.50 a ton, and 10 pounds of oats 
at 32 cents a bushel, then the horses will do nicely, 
and the feed will cost but about 11 cents. As the work 
is increased the feed may be increased. One can 
easily tell how horses are doing by the way they re¬ 
spond to work, and the way they appear in flesh. In 
Winter some bran may also be substituted for oats. 
The New Jersey Station found that it could substitute 
brewer’s grains for oats and save money. Oat rations 
at prevailing prices cost 24.3 cents a day, while ra¬ 
tions with dried brewer’s grains substituted cost 19.4 
cents. To 1,000-pound horses this Station fed six 
pounds of hay, two of bran, four of unground corn 
and eight of dried brewer’s grains. 
For sheep a feed of clover hay or Alfalfa, with a 
light ration of bran or wheat screenings, with a bit 
of oil meal is desirable. In some regions wheat 
screenings can be bought very cheap, and while they 
do not represent any fixed feeding quality, they as a 
rule are most excellent for steep, and give good re¬ 
turns. I have bought them all the way from 
$8 to $20 a ton. Sheep relish them greatly, 
and one can afford to pay a good price for 
high-class screenings. Oil meal or oil cake 
seems a most excellent food for sheep in a 
small way, giving a finish to the wool, and 
condition to the skin and eye of the desir¬ 
able sort. Sheep also relish oats, and these 
feeds are all staples. Ample good hay, a pint 
of oats daily and an occasional bit of oil 
meal, will keep sheep thriving. Ewes at 
lambing should also have some bran, while 
fattening sheep would do better on corn than 
oats. At present low prices on sheep, one 
can hardly afford to spend much on stock 
animals, unless sure of a select market. 
Stockers should have plenty of good hay of 
some sort, and then be fed grain on the most 
economical basis, according to local sur¬ 
roundings. Screenings will probably be 
cheaper and better than corn. Finally, if 
you feed at all, feed only superior stock, 
that will more than pay for their keep. 
C. S. PLUMB. 
R. N.-Y.—We find wheat bran one of the 
most useful feeds for all kinds of stock. This year 
oats seem to be the most expensive feed that eastern 
farmers can buy. 
A SHETLAND PONY COLT. 
About two years ago I invested in a pair of Shet¬ 
land ponies, with the idea first of pleasing the little 
boys, and secondly, I thought they might be profit¬ 
able to raise for market. I send you a photograph 
of the first pony bred and raised at Hickory Hill 
Farm, shown at Fig. 333, with his young master, 
Harold Morse, aged three. This colt’s dam was less 
than three years old at the time the colt was foaled. 
She is 38 inches tall, and weighs about 300 pounds. 
At birth the colt weighed 27 pounds and was 22 inches 
tall. As far as we have found, the purebred ponies 
are very docile and safe for the children. A very good 
illustration of this was an incident that occurred two 
days after this colt was born. I had turned the mare 
and colt in the back yard, and soon after we missed 
Master Harold. We found him in the attitude in 
which he appears in the picture. The mare was 
standing close over them, very watchful, but not at 
all inclined to be cross. This little mare is not a 
“fish-cart” pony though, by any means, and can draw 
the two older boys, aged eight and 11 years, five miles 
