Newspaper Page Text
THE SOUTHERN WORLD, MARCH 1,1882.
3
of sacked corn? Agricultural statistics do
not record it j for, like the teachings of the
Prophet to Ephraim, it is only “hero a little
and there a little" in the contracted barns of
the country, and that little too often unfit
for the summar's use. My friends, have you
ever analyzed a bushel of credit raised corn?
If not, send it to tiie head of the economy
department of your home government for
inspection, and his report upon it will be a-
bout os follows: It has very little soluble
matter that furnishes meat and bone; its fer
tilizing—fattening properties extremely lim
ited—reverted matter or elements that are
essential os plant food economically suppli
ed. A total absence of the ammonia of hos
pitality, because, owing to the use of the
lime of great cost, it has been set free; and
being volutile it has escaped. While the
total available is about 90 cents the commer
cial value, owing to credit prices of the in
gredients, is $1.30 It is not strange from
the analysis that it is rurcly given to fowls;
horses and mules do not find it a good appe
tizing esculent, while the neglected hog re
alizes too lute itcontuinsthe seeds of cholera
and death. From a system furnishing such
corn, in the language of the I.itany, "good
Lord deliver us.” These are Canaans, and
these only, for bought supplies have not the
savor of "mi Ik and honey,” and credit farm
ing makes no wilderness blossom as the rose.
Joy builds no altur in u home of want; hap
piness gladdens no heart where independ
ence is banished—manhood is dwarfed and
contentment estranged. The sun rises be
hind a cloud, is faintly visible at noonday
through a hazy rift, then sets at evening in
tempest and storm. Night, night—a long
night of sorrow and gloom—succeeds the day
of darkness and cloud.
Tiie farmer allows himself his own enemy,
b^a refusal based upon .prejudice, to avail
himself of the inventions and appliances
that science is daily furnishing to lighten
his labors and advance his industry. Say
what we will of our present lubor, I contend
if properly managed and properly remu
nerated, it is tiie best for the farmer he will
ever get. .Still it is, must be apparent, it is
gradually passing-away or becoming too in
dependent to work, and it Is a question the
future will solve, whether the education of
the negro, under his false idea of freedom,
will not prove a curse rather than a blessing,
for he is educating hisollspring to look upon
manual labor as menial and life as an exis
tence only of pic-nics and pleasures. These
false teachings time uiul necessity, uUlcd by
a generous philanthropy of the whites, may
remedy, but in* view of their false ideus, it
becomes the farmers of Georgia to avail
themselves of every assistance—every labor-
saving factor—that science furnishes for the
cultivation of tiie soil. As lubor becomes
scarce or inefficient, it must be substituted
by labor-saving machines, which will plow
and sow and cultivate and reap, thereby
lessening the cost of production und in the
same ratio udding to the profits and income
of tiie farm. You liuve no longer a virgin
soil that can he opened yearly to cultivation.
You have no money to buy new lunds, and
you have no longer labor you can control at
will; lienee tiie necessity of concentrating
lubor and means upon a narrower area for a
corresponding incrcuso of yield per acre.
This can be effected by labor-saving ma
chines, with which our farmers generally
arc but little acquainted. He who visited
the Cotton Exposition must have been pain
fully impressed with the idea that we were
so ignorant of these inventions and aids
which were so economically employed by
other agriculturists, who kept pace with
the march of scientific and economic agri
culture. This is un age of progress. Science
is taxing her powers to lighten man's bur
dens and to perform his labors. Tiie work
of hands—slow, toilsome and weaiy—is be
ing superceded by modern inventions and
working machines, and ignorant prejudice
-must no longer reject them, if you would
keep pace with your progressive industry.
Europe, under the teachings of agricultural
science, has token u step in advance of our
country, and to-ddy steam, iustcad of horse
power, is plowing her lunds and reupingher
harvests. Steam culture is now in success
ful operation in England, Scotland, France,
Austria, Itussiu, Italy, Germany, India,
West Indies, Demarara and Peru. The
steam plow may be ridiculed—so was the
steam engine, which now transports your
commerce, laughed at by the wagon and cart
unbeliever; so were the spinning jenny and
mule ridiculed by the sceptical spinner of
other days. Yet now we are moved by ma
chinery and dressed and clothed by steam,
and the day is coming when steam and me
chanical agencies to cheapen production
will be as important agencies In agriculture
as they are in commerce. Agricultural sci
ence is progressing, and he who laughs at its
march and rejects its assistance, is tamper
ing with bis interest and cheaply parting
with his birthright. The mechanic who
sticks to the hand-saw, the jack-plane and the
chisel—discarding the assistance of machin
ery and the use of steam, is a journeyman
in his profession and a patch-work jobber,
while he who has kept up with the wonder
ful progress in tiie mechanic arts becomes
the skillful artisan—the rich inventor, the
developer of industries and benefactor of
his race. So he who clings to the hand-loom
and cotton cards of our mother's, cannot
contend in textile and mechanical industry
against the machinery of the factory, which,
under the guidance of skillful operatives,
does the work of many hands. As in these
industries, so in agriculture, science will
perform the work of hands, while nutural
agencies, under educated control, will cul
tivate your fields und gather your crops.
Away then with your prejudices against
scientific improvements, which are formed
in ignorance and nursed, because they were
unknown to your fathers. Science tells you
that rotation of crops icrcases the produc
tiveness of your lands, andthnt "nothing is
mure exhausting to the soil than repented
croppings by the same product,” yet most
of our farmers, from necessity under this
system, follow cotton with cotton and corn
with a little corn, thereby exhausting their
soil and crippling their industry. A good
example is set you by the most successful
agricultural countries in Europe, of a rota
tion system (forced in some by statuto'.y
regulations) bienninl, triennial, and in
others, quardrennial—and each successive
year adds to the fertility of their soil.
Besides improving your soil this rotation
would give you more cereals nnd better
results, for I still adhere to an opinion given
you years ago, that with cereals as the main
crop and cotton the surplus, your profit
account would be larger than under your
present system. Would that I could impress
upon you that it is more profitable to raise
more grain and less cotton than to raise ail
cotton to buy grain. Small grain is cheaper
and more profitable, because they require
fewer laborers, nnd therefore a smaller num
ber on the pay nnd supply roll, and is
equally as good feed as corn ; and be assured
hog cholera is not an epidemic where these
are grown in abundance, and stock do not
look like n bnrn before the weather boarding
is put on. The agricultural statistics of
Europe tell us the iiymcnse population and
stock of their most progressive countries
subsist entirely on wheat, oats, rye, pens,
und root plants, and if they are profitable
there with their small acreage and vast
population, they can bo equally so here, at
lenst it is worthy of trial, for believe me,
diversified farming, aided by all the appli
ances science can give, is the surest road to
success.
But lastly—farmers are enemies to their
profession in this—they underestimate and
decry it. This is evidenced in the fact that
few of them study it, and fewer still are
educating their sons to master it. Rest as
sured there will be no grand success in any
calling or profession that does not command
the love of those engaged in them. Success
is the reward of effort, and effort is energized
by a love of the occupation in which we
labor. The marble would have remained
untouched in the quarry, and the world
would have never been entrusted with the
Jupiter of Phydias, the Greek Slave of Pow
ers or the Apollo Belvidere of the Vatican
hud sculpture possessed no charms and
commanded no pleasant hours of study for
those whose self-imposed labor has inscribed
their names upon tablets more lasting than
the marble upon which they worked. The
canvas would never huve been animated
witli the creative fancies of the painter, and
lovers of art would never have enjoyed the
grand conception of the Lnst Judgment of
Michael Angelo, or the expressive beauty
and grandeur of Raphael’s transfiguration
had not their bosoms, filled with the soul of
nature, longed and studied to catch its
breathing spirit, that they might transfer to
canvas its deep passion and ideal existence.
The starry heavens would be regarded to-day
as they were by the shepherds of Galilee, had
not Galileo and Jupiter, inspired by their
love of science, revealed their mysteries and
transcribed their language. The lightnings,
acknowledging no laws, useless and unserv
iceable, would still wreathe our mountains
with fiery garlands or leap from cloud to
cloud amid crashing thunder, as they did
around craggy Binai, had not Franklin and
Morse and other scientists opened the door
ways of. the .skies and subjugated them to
man’s will and necessities. Science, inspired
by her triumphs, is breaking the seals and
opening new books of earth and sea and sky,
from whose pages are streaming the light of
new discoveries for the elevation of man and
the glory of God. Astronomy is basking in
the light of new constellations. Philosophy
is argumenting her influence with the
powers of new discoveries; mechanics is
utilizing to her glory und elevation the
properties of earth and the elements of
Heaven. And shall agriculture, that art
and science which existed before the flood
and about which Moses wrote, and which is
the basis of every art anil the life-sustaining
element of every science, be supplemented
with no “fuller revelation” of the honors
that crowns its industry, of the power that
underlies the profession ami the distinction
that may be attained in its study and pur
suit? Are the young men of the country to
be educated to the belief that laurels can
only be won at the “bar and bench," styled
by Allison “the charnel house of genius,”
when along the paths of other professions
crowd honorable distinctions and upon the
many columns in tiie temple of fume are
written, in incfliiccuble characters, the names
of scientists, mechanics, artists, agricultur
ists and professors, whose fame will be
sounded down the corridors of the ages?
Away with the idea that there is no merit in
honorable labor und no distinction in agri
cultural pursuits! Agricultural science in
vites investigation and offers emoluments
and honors to the geologist, the chemist, the
botanist, the mineralogist, the physiologist,
the philosopher who reveal its mysteries and
unfold its blessings. Seek not to degrade
your profession by circumscribing its powers
and influence, for as a profession it embraces
a vast field of study und enters tiie domain
of every science. Love, then, your calling;
give to it your energies and your hopes, and
honors nnd rewards await you. Love it,
because it is dignified, honorable, manly,
Hoaven ordnined. Study to build it up, for
it is the foundation stone upon which is
huilt all prosperity, all advancement, all
honor. These plain truths huve been spoken
to you time nnd again; but verily they have
not lost their power or appeal by age or
repetition, for, like the Sermon on the
Mount, its blessings are as pronounced, its
exhortations are as urgent as they were over
eighteen centuries ago, when they were
spoken to the multitude from Galilee and
from Jerusalem and from beyond Jordan.
Heed them und Heaven will smile upon
your labors and crown them witli riches and
with honors.
OATN VN. COHN.
An Essay delivered by Mr. It. J. ItcuniNO, at tbe
Augusta Agricultural Convention Feb. it, lSSi.
I shall endeavor to set forth in its just
light, the importance of the out crop as a
main reliance for stock food, and to show its
superiority in quality, cheapness nnd relia
bility.
It is not my purpose to detract from the
merits nnd well sustained reputation of
Indian corn as a fattening nnd bread mak
ing grain. Still less would I ndvocate the
utter abandonment of the old standby, even
as a general,stock feed. But I shall insist
that corn should change places with oats,
and that oats should become the leading
stock feeding grain of the South.
So impressed have I long been with the
great iniportanceof the subject, that I would
have preferred that the opening paper on
this occasion had been prepared by one bet
ter qualified than myself to do justice to the
subject. Owiug to little practice in extem
poraneous public speaking, I crave your in
dulgence for the infliction of this manu
script, and in return therefor, will promise
to be short—hoping, and not doubting, that
anything that may be overlooked by me will
be supplied by others who may follow in the
discussion of the subject.
The question to be discussed is the compar
ative value of oats and corn, as food crops
for working animals.
I affirm that oats are superior to corn for
working animals.
CHEMICAL ANALYSIS.
In supportof this proposition, I direct your
attention, in the first place to the proximate
analysis of these cereals respectively.
Agricultural chemists divide the constit
uents of foods into two classes: albuminoids
or flesh formers, and carbohydrates or fat
formers and heat producers.
Albuminoids (whose essential element is
nitrogen), serve to nourish and build up the
muscular system, supplying the daily waste
of muscular and nervous tissue. There can
be no strength to labor or power of endur
ance witljput muscle, and the food must
contain a sufficient quantity of those con
st! tuents which enter into the composition of
lean flesh or muscle, or the animal will be
unable to do full work.
The carbohydrates include all those ele
ments of the food which furnish fuel to
keep up tiie animal heat. They are com
posed chiefly of carbon and hydrogen—hence
the name, carbohydrate. The oils we use for
the production of light and heat, are com
posed of these two elements, and in the form
of starch, woody fibre, gum, sugar, fat, etc.,
they enter into the composition of food and
arc taken Into the system, digested, and
thrown into the circulation; and by their
union with oxygen produco the heat which
keep the vital organs in operation. Any
excess of carbohydrates in food, will be
stored up in the body as fat, to serve future
necessities of the animal, or be rejected from
the system as waste matter. Wo are now
prepared to present the proximute analysis
of oats and corn, ns follows:
Oats—12.0 albuminoids or flesh formers;
07.0 carbohydrates or fat formers; total 79.0.
Corn—10.0 albuminoids or flesh formers;
75.0 carbohydrates or fat formers, total 85.0.
It is thus seen that oats contain I-5th more
of the flesh forming elements than corn,
and about l-Oth less of the fat-forming ele
ments; or to state it differently, the propor
tion of albuminoids to carbohydrates is in
oats, ns 1 to 6; in corn as 1 to 0.8. Elaborate
experiments in feeding have shown that the
hitter ratio is is too high for profitable or
economical feeding to work animals. The
ratio between these classes of food eleiuents
in oats, is much nearer the correct one.
Without attempting to pursue the scien
tific question, we mnysum upon this point:
Oats abounds in albuminoids; corn in carbo
hydrates. Outs produce muscle rather than
fat; corn fat rather than muscle. Corn has
a surplus of starch and oil, which must
oitber be stored up as fat, consumed in res
piration, or pass off us waste. Too much
fuel produces too nwich heat, which must be
relieved by a more profuse perspiration.
We may say further, outs are especially
adupted, not only for working animals, but
also for growing unimats of every kind—
particularly those to ho used for draught
purposes. Oats are chiefly nouriehing—fitted
for building up the bones, muscles und
nervous systems of the growing, and sus
taining the strength of the working animal.
Corn is primarily u fattening food, adapted
to prepare nnimals for the butcher, while
giving strenth to lubor in less degree. While
oats are a less heuting food than corn, a fact
universally admitted, thoy are also more
easily digested and more wholesome. When
fed as clean grain, the husks render them
more bulky than shelled corn; they distend
tiie stomach to a greater degree, and a horse
is much less likely to injury from over
feeding on oats. Who ever heard of a
horse being colicked on oats? The facility
with which oats may be thoroughly mixed
with their straw by the use of the feed cut
ter, is another advantage in their favor. A
minor advantage is found in tho less labor
required in masticating oats.
ACTUAL EXPERIENCE.
I am indebted to the kindness of several
gentlemen, farmers in different sections of
the State, for replies to queries sent to them
with a view to get all possible light on tho
question. Their uniform testimony is that
oats are much more wholesome than corn,
especially in summer time. Major R. H.
Harduwuy embodies in few words the opin
ions of nearly a dozen farmers whom I in
terrogated, and doubtless they will be cor
roborated by most of thoso who bear me to
day. He says: “ I consider oatB in summer,
when cut two-thirds ripe und cured, superi
or to any other food for work horses and
mules. You get all the gluten, purer and in
a state more easily digested, than in any
other food; besides, you get all the sweets
of the straw. As a feed it acts upon the
horse, the same as do fresh, tender vegetables
upon man; imparting vigor, strength,
health and vivacity to the stomach, blood
and bowels, that corn and fodder cannot
do.”
It is useless to multiply words on this
point. I appeal to the experience of every
practical farmer, who has grown and used
enough oats to enable him to form a well-
considered judgment, in support of the
views just expressed.
I might, however, mention under tbe same
head, one or two incidents 1 advantages. One
is that oats offer scarcely any temptation to
the midnight crib or manger thief. I ven
ture to say that there have been a thousand
bushels of corn stolen for every bushel
of oats so token. Ihe midnight thief is not a
patron of oat meal, but leaves it for the
more refined palates of our city friends.
Another incidental advantage- is that, oats