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THE INDUSTRIAL AMD EDUCATIONAL IHTERE3T3 OF OUK PEOPLE PARAMOUNT TO ALL OTIIEU CONSIDERATIONS OF STATE POLICY.
Volume XVIII.
RALEIGH, N. C, TUESDAY NOVEMBER 3, 1903.
Number 39.
AGRICULTURE
Economical Pork Production.
The Agricultural Experiment Sta
tion of Tennessee has just issued a
bulletin giving the results of using
corn wheat, and soy bean meal with
skim milk for pork production. The
following are the conclusions arrived
at:
1. Where the ration fed was corn
meal it took 4.6 pounds to make 1
pound of gain in 1901, 2.8 pounds
in 1902, and 7.1 in 1903, or an average
of 4.1 pounds for the three years.
2. From the data presented under
the table of rations used it would
be an easy matter to estimate the
amount of food required for hogs of
varying weights. Hogs fed in the
ratio of 1 pound of grain to 3, 6, 9
and 12 pounds of skim milk made the
largest gains on from 9 to 12 pounds
of skim milk. The consumption of
skim milk reduced the consumption
of concentrates considerably, though
the cost of a pound of gain was low
est with a consumption of 1 pound
of grain to 3 pounds of skim milk.
This shows that animals will often
consume larger quantities of food
than they can digest and assimilate
with the greatest economy.
3. The largest gain per head per
was made by Groups III ahd IV,
1-40 pound, followed closely by
Groups I and VI, with a gain of 1.35
pound. The other groups all gained
1-30 pound with the exception of the
lot fed corn meal and water. The
largest gains were made by the
groups receiving corn meal and
heat meal, mixed in the ratio of 2
to 1, with skim milk. The ratio of
erain to kim milk was 1 to 9 with
Groups III and 1 to 12 with Group
"K This ratio made the best, gain
fcut was not the most economical.
It required 140 pounds of con
centrates and 1,640 pounds of skim
fcJk to make 100 pounds of gain with
Group IV, which received 1 poufld
of grain and 12 pounds of skim
As the ratio between the skim
and gain decreased the con
ation of concentrates increased.
- Group I, AVhich received 1
Pound of grain to 3 pounds of skim
7 consumed 80 pounds more grain
c a'GrouP IV and 990 pounds less
I Skl milk, which makes itVrident
at ratio of grain to skim milk
6 rl iu the latter &rouP-
value of skim milk as an
Junct m hog feeding is shown by
lact that Group V consumed
Pounds of corn meal for 1 pound
of gain, whereas, Groups VI, VII and
VIH consumed only 1.6 pounds of
concentrates with approximately 12
pounds of skim milk per pound of
gain. In other words, 12 pounds
of skim milk saved 22 pounds of
corn meal.
7. The experiment indicates that
a bushel of corn produced 13.6
pounds of pork, which at 6 cents
would give it a feeding value of 81
cents a bushel; at 5 cents, 68 cents a
bushel, and at 7 cents, a feeding
value of 95 cents. A farmer often
sells his corn at 40 to 50 cents, when
fat hogs would bring him 5 to 7
cents per pound, under the mistaken
idea that he cannot afford to feed it.
Corn has been purchased at 80 cents
a bushel and fed at a profit at the
Station.
8. In the case of Group VI, it was
possible to secure 35 pounds of gain
with a consumption of 416.5 pounds
of skim milk. On the basis of the
gain made from corn meal and water
416.5 pounds of skim milk made 21.4
pounds of gain when fed with corn
meal. This would give it a feeding
value at 31 cents when pork sells at
6 cents, of 26 cents when pork sells
at 5 cents, and 36 cents when pork
6ells at 7 cents.
i
9. The manure from animals' con
stitutes a part of the legitimate
profits from any feeding experiment,
as it takes the place of purchased
commercial fertilizers, which are not
so satisfactory. When 75 per cent
of the fertilizer value of the food
stuffs consumed was credited to the
animal, the average cost of a pound
of gain for all groups was 3.7 cents;
when no allowance was made for the
manure, 5 cents. There is no reason
why at least 75 per cent of the ma
nurial -constiuents of the food-stuffs
should not be returned to the soil
under proper management, which ac
cording to these figures would reduce
the cost of a pound of gain by 1.3
cent.
10. The highest gross cost of a
pound of gain was with Group V,
fed -corn meal alone, 5.8 cents, or
1.4 cent more than Group I. The
cost of a pound of gain was close in
all instances and in no case was ex
cessive. 11. The profit per group without
considering the manurial value of
the excrements was largest with
Group I, $7.63; Groups II and III
made a profit of $5.27 and $5.62, re
spectively; Groups VI and VII, $4.96
and $4.13; Group Viii, $3.38. The
cost of soy beans in the "case of the
last group was probably responsible
for the small profit shown, which in,
dicates the importance of studying
and utilizing those gains best adapted
for the cheap production of pork
The price of food-stuffs has a marked
influence on the profit from a feeding
experiment.
12. These experiments clearly dem
onstrate the importance of skim
milk as an adjunct food for hogs.
The best ratio is one pound of grain
to 3 to 8 pounds of skim milk.
Killing Nut Grass.
Editor, of The Progressive Farmer :
What will kill or destroy the old-
time nut grass? It makes a nut in
ground and grows deep. It is a bad
grass, and the bed spreads larger
each year and the roots will hang on
the plow and drag them over the
field, and they keep spreading. I
want to kill them in some way. I
want some one to tell me through
your paper how to destroy them,
and oblige C. V. B. BATTS.
Wilson Co., N. C.
(Answerd by W. F. Massey, of the
North Carolina Agricultural Ex
periment Station.)
Eternal vigilance is the only thing
that will destroy nut grass. When
I took possession of the place where
I now live, three years ago, the gar
den was a complete meadow of nut
grass wrjich, by the way, is not a
grass at alljbut a true seidge (cyperus
Hydra) and some said I would
never get rid of it. I have not got
ten rid of it yet, but it is very
scarce compared with its luxuriance
three years ago. . One reason why
nut grass flourishes so is that people
let it go to seed in the fall, and there
are thousands of the plants that
come from seed to every one that
comes from the roots. No plant that
makes green leaves above ground
can live long if not allowed to make
green leaves. I am thinning out the
nut grass by keeping it chopped off
all summer and fall. Of course you
may chop if off to-day, and if the
rains comes that night, it will be up
and smiling to-morrow, and if you
let it alone it will be green as ever
in a day or so. But chop it off con
tinually, and you will find it getting
thinner all the time. Then keep this
up till frost and never let a plant
make seed. I have mine under to
such an extent that it is no longer,
a pest in my cropsi and another sea
son will nearly see the last of it.
Then if it is where you can plow it,
turn it up late .in the fall and the
winter will kill a great of it.
Feeding Cotton Seed Meal.
The Arkansas Station has been
conducting some experiments in the
feeding to swine of cotton-seed meal,
with the object of finding out why it
scr often proves fatal. A summary
of the results of the experiments
says :
1. The harmful effects of overfeed
ing with cotton-seed meal are mani
fested in all species of animals o
far tested. Hogs exhibit no great
excess of susceptibility over cattle
when fed in doses proportionate to
their weight.
2. In a first series of tests embrac
ing nine pigs of thirty to fifty
pounds in weight, all died in from
thirty-four to sixty-four days on a
daily allowance of .6 to .8 pounds of
cotton-seed meal in mixture with
ground corn or bran.
3. Wheat bran or wheat chops in
combination with cotton-seed meal
proved less dangerous to pigs than
a similar mixture with ground corn.
4. In later tests embracing alto
gether fourteen hogs, cottonseed
meal was fed -in mixture with bran,
wheat chops and cut cow-pea hay
for periods of from three to six
months without any evident harmful
effects the daily allowance of cotton
seed meal being from .8 to 1.4 per
cent of the body weight, or from .4
to .7 pounds to pigs weighing fifty
pounds.
5. In one test' cotton-seed meal in
above doses was fed to a sow during
the last eighty days of pregnancy
without harm to mother or progeny.
6. In one test embracing three pigs,
crude cotton oil was fed for twenty
weeks in amount exceeding what is
contained in a fatal ration of cotton
seed meal without any evil effects;
hence, it is probable that the harmful
effects of over-fgeding with cotton
seed meal are not attributable to the
oil which it contains.
7. The characteristic post-mortem
feature of cotton-seed meal poison--ing
in all our cases was an acute
dropsy of the pleural and heart sacs
with intense congestion (probably
secondary) of the liver and kidneys,
immediate cause of death being suf
focation from compression of the
lungs.
- 4
"It will pay to make a little sacrii
fice for the children, and parents who
do so are heading the opposite direc
tion from the poor house, strange as
it may seem to some. Keep " the
schools going." -The Record, Madi
son County. : .