The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1891-03-12
FARM NOTES.
A BREEZY LETTER FROM THE STATES
MANS FARMER.
The Use of Sorghum as Food For
Cattle-The Cry For an Unlimited
Coinage of Silver.

books.
The best way, says the Texas Earn
and Ranch, to tell whether an egg
will produce male or female loWI Il
10 place il under hen or in an Ihcu-
bator until the inside of it is Matched
out then feed the result until ABOUT
haIf-grown-or larger if necessary. Ii
sickle feathers and an aggressive mien
are developed the specimen is proba-
bIy a male. If not male iJ is pro ba'
bly, female.
A Kansas man has just received
letters pttent for the invention OF
| machinery for the manufacture of arti.
fetal eggs. The artificial is said to re.
sembe the natural product in all par
ticulars. The inventor says he can
manufacture at least one Car load PER
day ut cot of three cents per dozen,
with machinery that will cost only
| $500. What next?
The ca'penter, the mason, the ma
hnist, the blacksmith cal eacl tie II
YOU at what price he can per,
form for you a certain piece
of work in his line, hut what
farmer can tell what it will cost to
raise bu>hel of corn or at what price
he can afford to sell a pound of beef a
year hence? There may be a sort OF
general average which is obtained
from ear to Year found bv comparing
long series of years together, but OF
any particular year no one can predict
the y eld Of his fam. This shows the
necessity for brains and business
faculty in farming.
The New England Homestead says:
Free coinage 0, American silver will De
b z thing for American spectators
and miners. Certainly, and this is an
incident that the public don't fancy,
But how about the holders of gold and
owners of gold mines? Haven't they
profted by the demonstration OF
silver in the past seventeen years for
more than the silver men will he bene
fitted by free coinage now? Neither |
point is vital to the issue involved |
out one is a iair a. swer to Jhe other.
SORGHUM.
A bulletin iu,t isSu II by the Texas
agricultural experiment tation deal
with the value of sorghum as cattle
food. Experiments were commenced
in 1888.
/. TO discover by analysis the diff
ferences that mi@ht exist i'll the diff
| rerent varieties Of sorghum.
3 10 di>co>er any difference in the
comp sition of sorghum b-twenn tn
| time of "dou IN state" and the time of
ripening
3. TO find it's value as feed stuff and
| as ilaGe.
4. To estimate the amount Of plant
food removed from the soil by one
crop.
The experiment has shown that
there is very Little difference in he
feed value of the various varie-
ties. Eighteen saccharine aud nine
Mons accharine varirieS were planted
and analysed at various stages OF their
growth. / he former were found to
contain less dry or mineral matter
| than the latter. but was much richer
in SUGAR, sta CHI etc.
1t was also demonstrated that the
| nearer cane reached maturity tn
grenter The increase in crude fat. and
decrease of crude fibre or woody mate
al. That there was an Increase OF
protein or heterogeneous matter as well
az OF carhohl dratts.
From thus we learn that the nearer
ripe, he richer the food but if more
than two crrpS are demanded qualit
must he sacrificed to an eXtprt TO,
quantity. The heads are much more
valuable than the stalks, owing to the
large amount Of water i'll the latter.
A table is gwen, showing the amount
of plant food removed by crops OF
sorghum, wheat aud corn. Assuming
that he green sorghum weighed ten
tons TO the acre, wheat twenty bush
els and corn tn rty bushels. This
shows that sorghum requires very
little more nitrogen than wheat and
corn, but the amount Of phosphoric
acid demand d is about three times as
much as for wheat and corn, while the
potash in its composition is four or five
times as large.
THIS proves the exhaustive character
OF the sorghum crop, an objection long
urged against 1t.
The conclusions arrived at by the
eXperiluenter are summed up thus:
l. 1t is better, so far as nutrition is
concerned. to let 1t nearly mature
before cutting, but if intended for hay
ii should be SOwn thick and cut earlier
2. The saccharine Varltt eS are to be
preferred to the non.saccharine, but
between the saccharine there seems TO
be but little difference in nutritive |
ratio.
3. 1t is an exhaustive crop, removing
more mineral matter FROM the sol
than is removed by either corn or
wheat.
4. 1t is good milk producer when |
fed III the green stale with other dry |
feed. Its digestlbiity compares favor |
ably with that OF corn, except Tor til, |
matt'r
SILV R
There is wild cutlery throurhOut |
the west and south for Il free Unlimited
COINAGE of sllver-a cry based on
ha1y idea that dollars could then b.
acquired with facility in exact ratio
TO their increased number. Farmers
are Lot innocent of this charge, and
the demand for an iucr eased coinage
comes largely from the farmir class.