The States and Union. [volume] (Ashland, Ohio) 1868-1872, 1869-06-16
RURAL ECONOMY.

We have thus far confined Dur OBJ
servatiens, almost entirely, to the sub
ject of general subsistence of stock
We will now devote a short space to
the subject of fattening, or preparing
it for the SHAMELESS. Beef and mutton,
are generally prepared Tor market, as
much rs possible from grass, thecheap-
est of all animal food. To prepare
cattle and sheep for the summer and
fall markets, the farmer must ever ex-
ercise a watchful foresight and by the
are of his winter and spring manage
ment and feeding, have his animals IN
the best possible condition for making
the most out oftheir summer pasturage
1t viii require peculiar care, during
the spring months, in particular, to
get, or keep stock in proper condition
for grazing; and especially where the
object is 10 prepare it for the early
summer mar&et.
More or ess grain during the months
of March, April and May, will be
found indispensable where the objecti Is
to prepare stock for the early markets
The animal being thus kept in good
condition, will commence at once to
take on fat rapidly, as soon as it can
find a plentiful supply of grass. But
even if it be not the purpose to pre-
pare his stock for market until late in
the fall, if the farmer intends to avail
himself of the advantage Of the cheap
est and best food, grass, to the utmost
extent thai the season will permit, if
will still be found good economy to
give to his stock this spring manage
ment and care as he will find thIs,ac-
count, even in the fall, in the increas-
ed weight, and more marketable con
dition of his stock. 1t must be always
borne in mind however, that when we
speak of feeding grain, we e refer
to the crude, raw article; but always
at least I grain in the ground, if not
in the cooked state. Hogs should al
ways when fed grain to prepare them
for the butcher, have it both ground
and cooked; as many well conducted
experiments have shown that the adj
ditional advantage thus gained, will
far nor than compensate for the ex-
pense of its preparation. Some of
these experiments have shown adifer-
ence that would be truly astonishing
to a person not prepared for compre-
hending it in a scientific. light. One
experimenter found that whilst one
bushel of raw unground corn, would
make 81 pounds of pork, a bushel of
corn, ground and C olzed, would make
III pounds. Whilst some have shown
the difference to be less than a third,
in favor of the latter method
Now suppose that the farmer in
tends to feed corn enough to make
1870 pounds of pork we mean to put
that much additional weight on the
fed; if he does it by the old
method, it will require nearly two
hundred bushels of corn; whilst if
done by the latter method, it would
only require about sixty. Now if
corn be worth IS cts. per bushel, by
the former method, this pork would
cost him about II cents per pound.
Whilst by the latter, it would only
cost u cents. Let us now suppose
that all the farmers in the country
shall make their pork by the new, and
enlightened method, and then calcu-
late the aggregate amount of money
thus saved, and the result would be
most startling. There may be per-
SONS incredulous as to these statements,
but they should remember that they
are founded on actual experiments,
made by practical men whose object
was to apply the principles of science
to the practical affairs of life; and
that these experiments in the aggre-
gate will show a saving of at least one
third in the cost of production ofpork,
and ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS or ignored IN
practice without loss.-StocE Journal.
T. NJ. II.