“to improve 
THE SOIL AND THE MIND.” 
New Series. 
ALBANY, 
SEPTEMBER, 1850. 
Vol. VII.— No. 9. 
Nutritive Properties of the Apple. 
That apples are valuable as food for animals, is 
now generally acknowledged, and their use for this 
purpose has, within a few years, been greatly ex¬ 
tended, though it is probable that their relative value 
compared with other articles is but little understood. 
Few exact or reliable experiments have been made 
in feeding apples to animals, and we are not aware 
that much light has been thrown upon the subject 
by chemical investigation, till the late analyses of 
Dr. J. H. Salisbury. 
The late Payne Wingate, of Hallo well, Maine, 
made some experiments in feeding pigs with apples 
compared with potatoes. Both the apples and 
potatoes were boiled, or rather stewed, separately, 
and about four quarts of oat and pea meal mixed 
with each bushel, at the time the cooking was finish¬ 
ed—the meal being intimately incorporated with 
the potatoes and apples while they were hot, and 
the mass left to ferment, slightly, before it was fed 
to the pigs. 
Two pigs of the same litter, and as near as prac¬ 
ticable of the same weight, were taken; one was 
fed for a week on a given quantity of the cooked 
potatoes per day, and the other on the same quantity 
of apples. At the end of each week the pigs were 
weighed, and the food was reversed—the pig to which 
potatoes had been given, was fed with apples, and the 
one which had received apples was fed for the next 
week on potatoes. This course was continued 
through several weeks—the food of each pig being 
changed every week. The result was, that the ap¬ 
ples proved to be fully equal, or somewhat superior 
to the potatoes. In this instance the apples were 
mostly sweet, and they, as well as the potatoes, 
were nearly in a ripe state. 
On another occasion, Mr. W. experimented with 
sweet, compared with sour apples, in various ways. 
He found that when they were fed raw to swine the 
sweet apples were preferable—the animals ate them 
better, as the sour apples seemed to make their 
teeth sore;—but when both were cooked and mixed 
with meal in the way above described, there was no 
difference in the gain produced by an equal quantity 
of each. It should be stated, however, that all the 
apples used were of palatable kinds, nearly ripe; 
and that unripe, and ill-flavored apples are known to 
be less relished by stock, as well as less nutritive. 
It is probable, also, that when sour apples are eaten 
raw, and in considerable quantities, the animal may 
take into the stomach too large an amount of acid, 
which may tend to derange the digestive organs. 
This objection would be chiefly obviated by cooking, 
and the saccharine fermentation, by which the pulp 
loses much of its acid and becomes nearly sweet. It 
does not appear from analysis, that the amount of 
actual nourishment is much greater in sweet than 
in sour apples. (See comparison of the analyses 
of the Roxbury Russet and Tolman Sweeting.) 
Mr. Wingate practiced fattening swine for several 
years, on food composed principally of apples. The 
animals attained good weights, and the pork was 
solid and of excellent quality. In other instances, 
we have known apples fed raw to horses, cows, and 
other stock through the winter, with much advan¬ 
tage. For using in this way sweet apples would 
probably be best, and they should be such as will 
keep till spring. They may be stored in a cellar 
under the barn, or in the bottom of the hay-mow,-— 
a proper place having been left for that purpose 
when the hay was put in. They will be more likely 
to be injured by heating, than by freezing. They 
will seldom freeze in such a situation as is mention¬ 
ed ; and if they should be touched by frost, their 
nutritive properties will not be much lessened, if 
they remain in a dark place, and where they will 
thaw slowly. 
A peck of apples a day, fed to a cow, has been 
found to add more than a quart to the daily quantity 
of milk, besides greatly increasing its richness, as 
well as improving the condition of the cow. The 
effect of apples is equally favorable to other stock. 
Horses fatten on them, and their coats assume a 
brilliancy which hardly any other food will give 
them. For all stock they answer a similar purpose 
as vegetables, in preventing costiveness, which is 
likely to ensue from the exclusive use of dry food ; and 
in this way , and by the nutriment they contain, they 
contribute much to the animal’s thrift. 
An impression prevails that apples will dry up 
the milk of a cow. This idea has been imbibed 
either from the effect produced on a cow by eating 
a very large quantity of apples at once, by which 
surfeit and fever were brought on, or from the trial 
not being properly conducted till the animal had be¬ 
come habituated to the food. The ill effects attri¬ 
buted to apples would have occurred with any other 
rich food, as any kind of grain, potatoes, or other 
vegetables. 
A fair average product of an acre of orcharding, 
in good bearing condition, may be estimated at two 
hundred to three hundred bushels a year; and at this 
rate, we doubt whether so great an amount of ani¬ 
mal nourishment can be obtained from the same ex¬ 
tent of land, in proportion to the expense, by any 
other crop. We should not hesitate, therefore, to re¬ 
commend the cultivation of the apple as food for stock. 
It will be interesting to compare the result, ob¬ 
tained by Mr. Wingate in feeding swine with ap¬ 
ples, with the results of the analyses made by Dr. 
Salisbury, and in doing this, we shall find a more 
general correspondence than would, perhaps, have 
been anticipated. The fat producing properties of 
