4=5 2 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[December, 
all events sucli a rude attempt, that it can 
hardly be called one. Although so rare a bird 
at the North, it is more common in the South¬ 
ern States. Audubon states that he found it at 
all seasons of the year in Louisiana, where it 
builds a nest, and raises two if not three broods 
in a season; he regards the fact of its not 
building a nest at the North, as evidence that 
it has ^strayed beyond its proper limits; yet 
they are found as far north as Hudson’s Bay. 
The flesh of this bird is highly esteemed. 
Early in the morning it makes a peculiar cry, 
which has been compared to that produced by 
the striking together of two pieces of stone, 
some liken it to the sound of flint and steel, 
and others say that its note resembles the 
croaking of a tree-toad. It makes its appear¬ 
ance near New York early in the spring, and 
remains until the frosts come, when it disap¬ 
pears suddenly, as is the habit of all the rails. 
The specimen here figured, was shot in the 
month of September, of the present year, on 
the meadows back of Bergen, N. J. Its food 
consists of aquatic insects and seeds. 
Walks and Talks on the Farm—No. 132. 
[COPYRIGHT SECURED.] 
The Deacon came in the other evening to 
talk over matters, and I said to him: 
“ Here is something, Deacon, that ought to 
please you ! Prof. Daniels delivered an able 
address at the Wisconsin State Fair on Hard 
Times—A Cause and a Remedy.”—“ It would 
please me,” said the Deacon, “ to hear of a reme¬ 
dy.”—“We must first ascertain the cause, Prof. 
Daniels attributes it mainly to a great over-pro¬ 
duction of wheat and corn in the Western 
States. I will read you what he says: ” 
“The present condition of Western farmers 
was long ago predicted, if they continued to 
depend upon the production of corn and wheat 
for their revenue. In 1864, the Superintendent 
of the Census said: (Agriculture of the U. S. 
Census, I860, p. 42.) ‘ For some time before the 
war our Western farmers were beginning to 
complain that wheat-growing was not profita¬ 
ble, that the cost of transportation left them 
barely enough to meet the cost of production— 
and it wgs argued, wisely as we think, that it 
would be more profitable to grow less wheat 
and raise more cattle, pork, and wool, the cost 
of transporting which, in proportion to value, 
is much less than that of a more bulky pro¬ 
duce. * * * The Western farmer, for a year or 
two, has been receiving high prices for his pro¬ 
duce. He would do well fully to understand, the 
causes which have led to this result. They are by 
no means permanent.’ 
“ Speaking of the increased demand for wheat 
then existing, he says, it ‘ will for some years, 
probably, keep prices high enough to make 
wheat-growing in the West exceedingly profit¬ 
able. The time must be expected, however, 
when the Western farmer will again find the 
cost of sending wheat to the Eastern cities, and 
to Europe, so high as to leave him barely mar¬ 
gin enough to pay the cost of production.’ 
These,”'says Prof. Daniels, “wer timely words 
of wisdom. No one could to-day tell more 
surely what has become a sad reality in the 
West, than these words, written ten years ago, 
foretold would come to pass, should the course 
then pursued by farmers be persisted in.” 
The Deacon put on his spectacles, and drew 
near the lamp on the table. “ Let me read that 
myself,” he said. “ I don’t see what there is in 
It that should please me.”—“ Why,” said I, 
“ have you forgotten where those ‘ timely words 
of wisdom ’ came from ? Prof. Daniels did not 
know that they were written in this quiet farm 
house. You and I talked the matter over again 
and again. ‘ No one,’ says Prof. D., ‘ could to¬ 
day tell more surely what has become a sad re¬ 
ality in the West, than these words, written ten 
years ago, foretold would come to pass.’ Aud 
yet some people are disposed to think a man 
can know nothing of farming unless he lives 
west of the Mississippi River. You and I, 
Deacon, worked at odd times over a year study¬ 
ing the Census returns, and making new tables 
showing how much we produced in the differ¬ 
ent sections, in proportion to population, in 
1860 as compared with 1850. I was promised 
$10 a page for the work. We prepared 120 
large pages of the Introduction, and after it 
was printed I sent in my bill. They sent me a 
check for $450, and said I should have the bal¬ 
ance in a month or two. But I have never re¬ 
ceived another dollar. When we send more 
farmers to Congress and fewer politicians, you 
and I, Deacon, will present our claim. It has 
never been disputed. In fact it has been ‘ al¬ 
lowed’—but never paid.” 
“ I did not know,” said the Squire, “ that the 
Deacon and you were able to tell ten years in 
advance what was going to happen.”—“ We 
can tell,” I replied, “that if you neglect your 
farm it will not improve. If you starve your 
cows this winter they will not give a large flow 
of rich milk next summer. If you sow foul 
seed, you will not have clean crops. We know 
that if a young man spends his days reading 
novels, and his evenings at the tavern, he will 
not increase in knowledge and wealth. If you 
keep a young apple orchard in grass, and do not 
manure it, or if you sow it every year to oats, 
wheat, corn, potatoes, or rye, and take off the 
whole crop and put nothing back, we know 
that ten years from now your apples will nei¬ 
ther be large nor fair, nor command the top 
price in market. We know that people will 
want something to eat, drink, and wear, and 
that wheat, potatoes, fruit, beef, mutton, pork, 
cheese, butter, and wool, will be wanted in the 
future as in the past. We know that, other 
thmgs being equal, the farmer who can produce 
the best article at the least cost, will make the 
most money.” 
And now, while we are talking on this sub¬ 
ject, let me predict again. Good farmers are 
going to see better times than we have had for 
some years. I do not know this, but all the in¬ 
dications point that way. The farmer in this 
section, and especially in the West, who drains 
his land, kills the weeds, cultivates thoroughly, 
gets his crops in early, and gathers them in sea¬ 
son ; keeps good stock, and feeds out nearly all 
that he raises; the farmer who makes rich ma¬ 
nure, and saves and applies it judiciously, has 
a fair prospect of getting pay for his care, la¬ 
bor, intelligence, and enterprise. Good tillage, 
and rich manure should be our motto. 
I have received a letter, commencing as fol¬ 
lows: “A Committee was appointed by the 
Eastern Experimental Farm of Chester Co., 
Pa., to investigate the subject of Cooking and 
Steaming Feed for Stock.”—Ah well, I said to 
myself, now we shall perhaps learn something 
definite in regard to this much discussed sub¬ 
ject. It has been talked and written about for 
half a century or more. So much so, that 
when I see an article in any of our agricultural 
papers headed “ Cooking Food for Stock,” I 
invariably and by instinct skip it. Not that the 
subject is unimportant, but that until we get 
some well-planned and well-tried experiments, 
all has been said for and against the practice 
that can be said. I was very glad to hear,, 
therefore, that the Eastern Experimental Farm 
was going to investigate the matter. Prof. 
Miles, of the Michigan Agricultural College, is 
also about to make some careful experiments. 
But the more we have the better. Our Agri¬ 
cultural Colleges should work together. Each 
should know what the other is doing, and tako 
up different branches of the same subject. But 
what is the next sentence in the letter ? “ They 
mean to make an exhaustive report, and take 
the liberty of asking you to have inserted in 
the American Agriculturist a notice of the same, 
requesting information from all quarters , pro 
and con, in regard to this matter.”—And so, it 
seems this Experimental Farm is not going to 
make an Experiment on Cooking Food for 
Stock—they are to make an “ Exhaustive Re¬ 
port.” Please don’t! Our agricultural papers 
are by no means destitute of enterprise. If 
there are any trustworthy facts, they will get 
hold of and publish them. We do not need 
Experimental Farms to do this kind of work. 
If we could get at agricultural facts by holding 
conventions, making reports, and passing reso¬ 
lutions, we should soon place agriculture on a 
scientific basis. I was once at a Meeting of the 
American Dairymen’s Association, when the 
following resolution was offered and of course 
passed: 
“Resolved, That this Convention is of the opinion 
that corn is a valuable product for the dairy-farm, 
and that we commend it as a forage crop.” 
I voted “aye,” but I could not help thinking 
that one experiment would be worth a whole 
car-load of such resolutions. 
“ You believe in cooking food for hogs,” k said 
the Deacon, “your steamer seems to be going 
almost night and day.”—Yes, but I am working 
in the dark and no “ report ” will give me light. 
I suppose cooking makes some kinds of food 
more easy of digestion. And when you are 
trying to push young pigs along as rapidly as 
possible, or when you are fattening well-bred 
hogs that can assimilate more food than they 
can digest, then cooking will probably pay. At 
the present time, corn is so high that we cannot 
afford to let any of it pass through the animal 
undigested. In fattening hogs, the great aim 
should be to make them eat just as much and 
no more than they can digest. There are hogs 
that can digest more corn than they will eat. 
In this case there is nothing to be gained by 
cooking—unless it will induce them to eat 
more. I would give them all the cooked or 
fermented food they would eat up clean. I 
would then pour a little more into the trough. 
They will fight over it and eat it up. Then give 
a little more, and so on until you are sure they 
will eat no more of this cooked food. Then 
throw an ear of corn into the pen, and let them 
try to get it away from each other. Every ex¬ 
tra ear of corn you can get them to eat and di¬ 
gest, will give you nearly or quite as much 
pork as the corn contains. A large proportion 
of the food of animals is used to support respi¬ 
ration and the vital functions. The growth 
comes from the food eaten and digested in ex¬ 
cess of this amount. It takes some time and 
not a little sense to feed pigs in this way. But 
it will pay. 
Now, on the other hand, if your pigs will eat 
more than they digest, there may and there may 
not be an advantage in cooking their food. If 
the cooking or fermenting will enable them to 
digest more food, then, at the present high 
