The Warner sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1885-1???, 1886-07-30
FARM MANAGEMENT.
interesting Experiments in Fat
tening Animals at the Kansas
Agricultural College.
Planting Trees that Will Ornament
Grounds and Produce an Alum
dance Of Fruit.
some Farm Experiments.

III is mucn more ulIncult TO arrive at
definite and satisfactory conclusions
from experiments made on farm than
from those performed in well-ar-
ranged laboratory. In the latter place
the experimenter can carry on his
work without regard to the state of the
weather. He is protected by walls and
roof, and he can regulate the tenn
perature of the room as he chooses.
On the farm, however, the person con-
Quoting experiments is at the mercy of
the elements. The temperature of the
air and soil is liable to change at any
moment. The soil may be too wet or
too dry to insure the quick termination
of seeds, the vigorous growth of plants.
or the proper ripening of grains and
fruits. The growth of all plants is
liable to be affected by disease and in
sects, as well as unfavorable conditions
of the atmosphere. The number of con-
/ tingencies increases when we begin to
experiment with animals and fowls in
stead of plants, as they are more sus-
ceptible to various influences. They
I dlC W ulOob VI tiIC 0lStdStS lIldb
affiict mankind. They are dependent
on plants for their food, and their con-
dition, health, and growth will largely
/ depend on the state on the plants on
which they feed.
| What are usually classed as agricult-
ural experiments amount to very little
in determining general facts. They
| simply give the results of certain trials
made under peculiar circumstances. If
the results are good we are generally
safe in arriving at the conclusion that
| all the conditions were favorable to
! success We are not safe, however, in
adopting the plan pursued by the ex-
perimentor in all parts of the country
on a different soil than that worked by
| him, or in locality where the climate
is essentially different. In. short, we
have no great assurance that we shall
/ have the same success that he had if
our soil is similar and the climate near
| ly the same. A mode of planting and
a system of cultivation that produce
excellent results one season NAV fail
the next year on account of the marked
difference in the temperature or amount
of rainfall. The level culture of corn
! and potatoes may give excellent results
in very dry season, but repeated dur
4 ing wet year it might result in COM
/ plete failure. Farmers who rush into
I print after they have raised fine
crop of anything often do much injury,
as many think tha. shey can certainly
secure like results by following the
same course during any season and on
/ any sort of land.
Prof. Z. MI. Shelton, of the Kansas
Agricultural college, has made during
the past few years some interesting and
valuable experiments on the farm at
the college, located at Manhattan, the
results OF which have been published
in ali official report. One of them was
/ made with view Of determining the re-
lative value of common corn-meal and
of corn-and-cob meal for making feed.
i Ten steers, - years past, were select
ed for the experiment. They were
divided into two lots, allowed the same
fodder rations, kept in the same barn,
1 watered from the same trough, tended
by the same men, and were feed regu-
larly for a period of $50 days. The first
lot were fed, besides their fodder ro-
| tation, kept corn-and-cob meal exclu-
j sively, and the second lot common corn
meal Each animal was weighed every
ten days, and accurate account kept of
the food consumed, and the gain Of
weight during the time the experiment
lasted. The average gain of the first
| lot was 1872 per cent per hundred
| weight, while the average gain of the
second lot was 1879. The actual and
average gain of steer in the first lot
was 200 pounds. and in the second lot
217 pounds. The average daily gain
of steer in the first lot was / IA
pounds, and of one in the second lot
was 1.36 pounds
Another experiment was made with
a view of determining the value of
cooking unground corn to be used
in fattening pigs. Ten yearling pigs
was selected for this experiment and di-
vidcd into two lots. These pigs were
fed twice daily with general regularity
at 8 A. NJ and p. M. All were
weighed at the end of each ten DAYS,
and a careful record made of all
weighings. The pigs occupying pens
to 5, inclusive, were fed cooked shelled
corn, those in pens to 10 received raw
shelled corn, as much in both series be-
ing fed as was consumed without waste.
The figures for cooked corn refer to the
| weight of the corn before cooking. The
corn was weighed before cooking and
after, and the proportion of water alb
sorbed in the cooking process subtract
| ed in the case of every feed of every
| pig. The comparisons, therefore,
| wherever made are of cooked corn,
weighed before it was cooked, with yw
corn simply. In cooking. no set rdle
was followed except that the corn was
So thoroughly acted upon by the heat
int each grain might easily be crushed
| between the thumb and finger. The
cooking was done in an ordinary bar
rel, which was connected with cteam
boiler by half-inch steam pipe which
supplied the barrel with steam at a