268 
Sept. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
of flowing in the channel intended for it, will take the 
shortest cut of escaping through every crevice of the soil 
directly down the hill, thus actually irrigating or filling 
with water the soil immediately below the ditch, (fig. 
3.) This will be undoubtedly the case if the soil and 
subsoil be in any degree of a porous nature, and the 
only exception occurs where the hard-pan beneath is 
perfectly water-tight, as in the case exhibited by fig. 1. 
Modem experience has therefore proved the method 
of laying the drains directly up hill, in all ordinary 
cases, as decidedly the best. The water having a ra¬ 
pid descent, will be immediately carried off thoroughly 
and completely; much smaller tiles will accomplish 
the same purpose, and no water, after it has passed into 
the drain, can possibly enter the soil again below. 
Hence in draining a swale, or any portion of land lying 
between ridges, a single main ditch should be first cut 
along the bottom or lowest part, and the parallel se¬ 
condary drains should then be so laid as to enter it 
“ And where will you find such horses and such men?’ 
—the English horses, even at that day, standing pre¬ 
eminent for excellence. 
It appears that Dr. Johnson’s own countrymen are 
just beginning to inquire into improved modes for ma¬ 
nufacturing this same Scotch bread, in a form suited 
for genteel people, chemists having discovered that the 
farina of the oat supplies more nourishment of the 
muscles, bone, and blood of man, than any other vege¬ 
table substance. The London Farmer’s Magazine 
states that a new process has been adopted for prepar¬ 
ing flour from oats, as white as that from wheat. It 
is secured by patent, and consists essentially of first 
kiln-drying the grain, then separating the husk, and 
afterwards grinding it into flour. Experiments ap¬ 
pear as yet to be too limited to judge of its value for 
gereral use, but it is said that specimens already pre¬ 
pared may be used for gruel, for the preparation of arrow- 
root, puddings of the lightest and finest quality, pan¬ 
cakes, tapioca, &e., and one experimenter states that 
“ for puddings it is much superior to arrow-root, sago, 
and all such farinas.” The correspondent of the Farm¬ 
er’s Magazine informs us that specimens of this flour, 
“ were received on May 12, and the following day, a 
pudding, according to the given direction, was made 
with two tablc-sjpoonfuls of the flour. It was sufficient 
for five persons—thus proving the fact of a small quan¬ 
tity being requisite for the purpose.” 
Could not some of our smart countrymen—of corn¬ 
starch and meat-biscuit invention,—take hold of this 
oat-flour business, and make something out of it ? 
Cattle Gnawing Bones. 
(Fig. 4.) 
nearly at right angles. Fig. 4 represents the course 
which the minute streams of water take through the 
soil while flowing towards these parallel drains, the de¬ 
scent for these streams being nearly as steep and rapid 
as if they flowed into horizontal drains, cut along the 
hill-sids, at the same time that the direct drains pos¬ 
sess none of the disadvantages of those cut in a hori¬ 
zontal direction. 
✓ 
Oat Bread. 
The celebrated Dr. Johnson was once asked for a 
definition of the word “oats,” when he replied, by in¬ 
tending a slur upon the object of his prejudice, Scotland, 
a —“It is a grain on which horses are fed in England, 
bi and men in Scotland !” A Scotchman present proved 
n quite a match for the Doctor by instantly replying, 
Mr. Editor — I wish to inquire if you, or any of 
your numerous subscribers, can tell me why it is that 
my cows and other cattle have a liking to chew old 
bones that they find in the fields, that they will stand 
for hours and chew them ; they will even leave their salt 
many times for this purpose. Please answer through 
the Cultivator. Vixen. May Flower , April, 1853. 
We can give no other reason than the appetite they 
acquire for some peculiar flavor possessed by the bones, I 
or by the small remaining portions of muscle and gela¬ 
tine which remains upon them. Animals sometimes 
show nearly as strong an appetite for certain substances, 
as some men do for tobacco. It has been said that the 
practice of chewing bones, arises from a natural instinct 
for phosphate of lime in such animals as do not get a 
sufficiency of this ingredient in their food, especially 
in those which are confined to old pastures which have 
exhausted the soil of its phosphate. This strikes us as 
exceedingly improbable, for to say nothing about the 
extraordinary analytical discrimination which this 
would evince, throwing in the back-ground the most 
delicate tests of the longest-headed professors, it so 
happens that the animal’s teeth usually make no im¬ 
pression whatever upon the hard bone, and only get 
small portions of the more soluble gelatine, &c. . To 
test this matter, observe whether cows will continue their 
liking for bones, after small portions of bone-dust or dis- 
solved bones have been mixed regularly with their food. (G 
We have known some animals, and colts more espe_ ft 
