M'arthur Democrat. (McArthur, Vinton County, Ohio) 1853-1865, 1859-12-01
AQritaltural.
From the crnnlrz Gentleman.
BoiIed Corn W.. Rolled Meal.

Boiled Corn vs. Boiled Meal.
The Hon. II. l.. Ellsworth, some
time Commissioner Of Patents. says
that il is q fact. established by long
experimenting that corn ground into
meal, and then cooked, is $50 per
cent. better for iattening cattle and
hogs, than corn fed as they usually
feed at the West, in the field. That
is, corn worth 30 cents per bushol to
feed raw and unground, is worth 81 50
when ground ard boiled or steamed.
This difference would soon pay Tor a
mill aud steaming apparatus.
Mr.. CGssius Nj. Clay, after long
trial, has given us the following facts:
In making pork, ole bushel dry corn
made 5 10.16ths pounds Of pork; boil,
cd corn made IA 7.16ths pounds, and
loied meal made, in one instance,
1G u 16ths, and in another nearly IS
pounds OF pork. In other words, dry
corn is worth 45 cents, boiled corn
81 1919, and boiled meal 81 81 IL
TO 81 Al per bushel, when pork is
worth eight cents per pound; or one
busbel OF corn ground and cooked is
worth three bushels if fed dry.
In the GensSse Farmer for 1858,
page 80, we ind the matter presented
in another light. Mr.. S. II. Clay, OF
Bourbon County, Ky, says he has
tonnd by careful experiment that pork
made by feeding raw corn at tilty.siX
cents per bushel cost nine cents per
pound, and if the corn was ground and
cooked, the pork costs but three cents
per pound.
1t may, therefore, be safely assumed
that the value Of corn is treble for fat.
tening animals by grinding and cool,
ing. In the Transactions ortbe New
York Agricultural Society" for 1855,
page 312, in Watson's Prize ESSay,
we find the following elucidation Of
this subject:
The kernels Of corn are exceeding.
ingly hard and difficult OF mastication,
and, in consequence, large proper
tion passes into the stomach entire and
without being broken. The process
Of digcsting substances Of this kind
must be exceedingly slow and difficult;
the gastric juices cannot cfectually
penetrate them until they become soft.
oned and reduced by the action ofthe
stomach. This action Of that organ
is severe, and necessarily irritateS and
disturbs ite coats, and the grain, while
it remains in that condition, swells
and oppresses the membranes, and
passing but partially digested into the
intestines, is voided while n consider
able portion remains entire. 1t can
require no argument to prove that
grain rejected in this state has passed
through the system not only without
imparting any nutrition to the animal,
but has produced positive injury by
its irritative and oppressive effects"
Now, by grinding the corn into meal
it is rendered comparatively easy of
digestion, being made more permea-
bic to the gastric juice, and less irri-
tating to the coats Of the stomach and
intestines. Cooking the meal does
not add any nutritive ingredients,
probably, but softening and changing
the character Of the starchy constitu-
ents, the digestion, and subsequent
assimilation, are rendered perfect. 1t
will, therefore, pay any farmer well to
get. at least, mill to grind his feed,
If steaming apparatus is beyond his
reach. In the ratio obtained from
the above figure of Mr.. Clay,
if a man usually feeds fifty bush
els of raw corn to his iattening ami
mails, he could sell two-thirdS (thirty.
three bushels), and buy a mill, and
then have the requisite amount Of feed
to fatten his pork, as it could be boiled
in a common five or seven pail kettle,
or even over stove. This amount
Of corn--at eighty-scven and a half
cents per bushel--'he average price
here for the last three years-would
buy first.rate mill. | never could
see the use Of feeding cob.meal when
bran could be got as cheap as the mil
lors sell it here (trom twelve to twenty
cents per busheD; but some like to
feed it. do not see how it can have
any other than a purely mechanical
effect, and bran has the same effect,
together with good deal Of nutritive
matter. The only use | have for the
crushing apparatus Of my mill is to
grind bones for manure.
D. 4. A. NICHOLS.