Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1875-01-27


mems was worth one thousand times its cost
TO the state and the community. llethought,
moreover, that combinations among them
selves were the only means TO enable far
mcrs to get the proper price for their pro
ducts. Proceeding then to the discussion of
his subject, he advocated cooking the winter
food Of cattle, on the ground that it made it
more digestble. lie said thet French chem
lists had found by experiment, that it re-
qured more heat to obtain nutiment from
vegetables containing starch, than was af-
fordcd by the stomach, and he himself had
found by experiment, that when hay, grain
and straw were thoroughly cooked, IL re-
quired only sixty.six per cent. rs great
quantity rs when uncooked, to get the same
amount Of nourishment by actual test he
had found sixteen pounds Of cooked food,
consisting Of one and one-half pounds Of pea
meal, one and one-half pounds oil meal,
three pounds ofcorn mixed with ten poundso of
cut hay, afforded the same nourishment as
from twenty-three to tweuty-eight pounds of
the same substances in the same proportion
uncooked and the saving 10y cooking the
food through the winter, with o small stock.
after deducting expenses, was Sl00. lie
advocated feeding in accordance with ther re-
suits Of chemical analysis as to the proper
ties Of the different grasses and vegetables,
so that cattle could have their due proper
tious Of oarbonaceous or nitrogenous food,
etc, as they might require. lie had no
doubt that a botanst would find one hun
dred kinds Of grasses in Vermont. lie thought
very highly Of oil meal as a winter food
as it would act like a small feed Of grass, aud
put the cattle in good condition lie had
found that one quart represented the actual
need Of a COW per day, and believed that the
English ovcrdid oil meal feeding, in Civ
ing three, and even four quarts, 10 a steer a
day He believed in variety of win
ter food, and with the oil meal, occasion
ally give pea rye and corn meal, and a
small portion Of roots Corn meal shouldn't
be used alone, as it contained sixty per cent
Of starch, and was too heterogeneous in its
nature. Food is the omnpotent thing in
producing the best milk, butter, beef and
mutton. Breeds were fine things but it is
food that makes the breed to begin with.
You couldn't produce something from moth
! ing it was feed that produced the breeds to
begin with He had taken ordinary cows,
which had given only twenty-five pounds Of
milk day at the flush; by feeding in every
instance he had been able 10 bring those
cows to forty pounds and upwards in two
| years. He believed in special feeding and
instanccd calf Of his which he fed for
ninety days, from the time it was three days
old, with oil-meal, skim milk and fine bone
-four, and the result was a tremendous
frame, these materials combined being bone
fat producing substances aud fed it on milk
and cream. one-third cream 10 two-thirds
milk, molsses, etc, and when seven months
old the calf weighed seven hundred pounds.
If you want to produce bone, feed with bone
making food, aud so Of muscle. lie then
considered the advantage Of cooking food as
a means Of preventing communication Of
disease from rotten food, saying that the
disease was killed by the boiling process.
lie warned dairymen against laying out
money for a steam engine, boiler and cutting
apparatus, which would cost, perhaps, 81 900,
unless they had a large enough stock to
warrant it, for it cost but little more to cool,
food for one thousand head than it did fol
one hundred. If the stock was large enough
you would soon save enough to pay for the
cost of the apparatus in the increased value
of the cattle and the greater nutriment il
the food lie was believer in farming OF
a large scale, if the farm was only conducted
on business principles. Farming required
brain labor just as any great manufacturing
business did. If people didn't believe il
cooking food, at least let them cut it and nil
it as he had recommended, Even in sur
mer, when grass was plenty, it was a goo,
plan TO put a little concentrated food in viii
the grass, since n cow could always assimi
late more food than she could possibly ca
grass. Although il was sometimes elaine,
that high feeding shortened cows life
yet he thought it was uujudicious ieedinl
,, rather that killed cattle. lie had yer
poor opinion Of what were called store
cattle, believing that every day ia which Al
animal didn't gain something was day lost
y Particularly cows that were coming in Shout
be fed high for if she should be in goo
: flesh when the calf is born she will amply r,
, pay you in a good supply Of milk. He cor
cluded 10y inviting questions.
! An old gentleman in the audience aske
: whether the skim milk on which the cal
was fed till it was three months old, was sou
or sweet
Mr. Stewart said it was sour.
: Mr. Horace Ellis, of Brandon, asked
skim milk would produce bone.
Mr. Stewart said it would, and gave a
=, interesting analysis of its properties, one q
which he said was caseine, and of whic
cheese was made, which is a good bone pr,
>. Queer A slight souring didn't hurt
). Prof. l.. b. Arnold, Of Rochester, Ne
- York, inquired in regard to the value of IL
= milk left from cheese making.
- Mr.. Stewart said it was quite valuable f
food
: Mr.. Witherell, editor Of the Boston Cui
:. raior, asked if cooking food didn't tend
:. impair the animal physiologically, an
j. weaken its frame.
:, Mr.. Stewart said that as compared wit
\ grain it didn't tend to impair its eificient
:. or the strength Of the digestive organs.
did injure a horse, however as grass did.
a put the animal on the same footing as gra.
II you feed an animal on cooked food,
=. would put it so like an animal fed on gra
that you must calculate on the same amount
% shrinkage, and a good plan for the two wee
before sending TO market was to feed on
! food. Cooked food evidently laid in fle
! faster but it wasn't quite so solid
!, Mr.. Witherell asked if it wasn't water
- laid in instead of flesh, and thus weaken
"A the COW by producing tlabby muscle, al
~ sacrificed the natural vigor of the anim
- Mr.. Stewart said that he didn't consid
\, grass as bad food for fattening cattle, al
n so he didn't see how Mr.. Witherel's gu,
n, ton applied, since grass and cooked 70
,r produces like results II grass was the 81
-, pie food for boyines, then the nearer
"a. brought hay to the condition of grass, I
better We did for the animal lie had (