Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1885-07-31
FARMERS Column.


Give fools their gold 4 k naves their power
Let fortunes bubbles rise and fail;
Who sows field or trains flower,
Or plants tree. is more than all.
Suceulent Food as an Aid to the Grain
Ration.
The best results in feeding are con-
trolled to greater extent than most
people seem aware: by an attention to
details which are too often neglected.
Cattle in the course of feeding should
have an abundance of nutritious food.
There should be strong proportion
Of grain or the concentrated foods, aud
the supplies given must be equal to
the assimilative powers of the animal,
and yet not sufficient to cloy the appe-
tite. Protection from the inclemencies
of the weather and good water at suit
able intervals are also essential. Such
details as these and the selection of
animals of the most suitable age and
possessing to high degree an apti-
tude to fatten kindly are in some de-
gree neglected by means Of those con-
Quoting feeding operations, or left al
together to chance. And still these
do not embrace all the questions that
the student Of the science of feeding.
will find interesting. 1t is the common
practice in this country to give steers
ii course Of dry grain and hay indeed
it is the regular practice Of thousands
of farmers to devote the winter months
to the preparation on this feed of
proportion Of steers for market. In
some cases the operation is profitable
one, perhaps, where the animals are
well selected and other conditions not
averse it is generally productive Of
some profit. And yet it is very doubt
full whether this dry food is ever used
under such circumstances to the best
advantage, and whether more could
not be made out of it in some other
way. Sir J. B. Lawes several years
ago conducted series OF experiments
with both sheep and oxen, showing
that as compared with partial ration
Of roots, the fattening on dry food "a
lone was too costly to be recommended;
and what is true of Great Britain is
true of this country, only that the
supplies of food being more abundant
and cheaper, and the necessities of our
farmers less pressing to make the most
OF everything, less account is taken
here of the waste. But the waste, if
it exist there, must also exist here,
and while the English farmer is COM
PEELED to avoid it, as far as possible,
by providing supply of roots to be
consumed with the dry and concentra-
ted food, it is quite probable that the
American farmer will also find it to
his interest to give the same question
some attention, and that those who do
will secure augmented profits.
The question has recently arisen "a
fresh in England, in the course of
some comments on experiments made
by Sir J. b. Lawes in connection with
ensiIage, in which he had contrasted
the feeding value Of the food with that
of roots. 1t was claimed that the
comparison was valueless one, and
that the comparison should have been
made between ensilage and hay made
from the same clover. Sir J. B. Lawes,
in reply, calls attention 10 the previous
experiments and to the fact that the
most intelligent farmers no longer at
tempt to make either milk or beef
upon dry food alone, and that the real
practical question i'll which farmers
are interested is as to whether succu-
lent TODD is to be used with the dry,
can be better provided in the shape of
ensilage than in the shape of roots
There seems little doubt that the in
clusion of some form of succulent food
in the daily ration of fattening cattle
will be Of practical advantage in en-
abling the animals to better assimu-
late the dry and concentrated foods
fed with it, but the subject has not re-
ceived much attention in this country
because of our lessoned advantages for
raising roots. The high price of Ia
Dor, the hot and dry periods which
are frequent at just the critical periods
Of growth, and the difficulties attend
ing the storage Of roots in such va
riable climate as this, have, one with
another, served to prevent roots for
stock becoming a favorite crop with
the American farmer. But the max.
ing of ensilage on any desired scale is
entirely practicable, and will be gene
rally resorted to as fast as farmers are
convinced that there are advantages
to be secured through it. The ques-
ton therefore as to whether ensilage
compares favorably with roots in feed
ing value, and as to whether a given
quantity Of sueculent food can be more
cheaply and conveniently provided in
the shape of ensilage than in the shape
Of roots, is one of great practical i'm
portance. The cost of making and
filling moderate-sized silo is so small
that we shall expect many of our en-
terprising farmers will endeavor to
test and ascertain for themselves the
advantages to be secured in feeding a
small ration Of succulent food to fat
tening cattle. A very slight advan-
tage will enable more stock to be kept
upon the same food that is now re.
quired by lesser number to a CORE
spending increase in the profit of the
farm. The experiments to which we
refer, by the way, are not specially
favorable to ensilage, so far as the re-
suits have been announced; but they
are not yet completed, and do not pro-
mise to be conclusive.-Breeders' Ga
zette.
BLACKBERRY yINEGAR.-One quart
of blackberries to one Of sharp vinegar.