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204 From the American Stock Journal. I THE ECONOMY OF MIXED Oil VAItIED FOOD FOII ANIMAES. To the casual observer the forage, produced on an old pasture, seems to consist of but one or two different species. Careful examination corrects this error, and shows that, on each square foot of old sod, the species of plants which may be found, are to be numbered by the dozen. We see here the beautiful provision, made by nature, for sup plying variety iit the food of our domestic animals, and it requires but little experience to show that almost all animals love variety. The horse alternates between oats and hay; the cow leaves hay to feed upon corn and fodder 1 and then rejects the.fodder and prefers a little hay. Now we believe that, the score of economy and j humanity, the taste of all our domestic animals should be consulted to tlie fullest extent possible. But beyond j this there is much to urge us to introduce variety into f the food of cattle. -j It is well known that different kinds of food possess very different values as sources of nutriment. It was, nt one time, supposed that the value of each variety might be determined by the per centage of nitrogen which it contained, and, as nitrogen is the most expensive of all the constituents of food, the originators of this theory j were not very far wrong. Hut it happens that other sub stances, besides nitrogen, are necessary for the support j of the animal and, as a certain portion of nitrogen can be 1 used, it becomes necessary to provide a full supply of the other elements, and, if the nitrogen is in too large a pro portion ,it is simply wasted. It is just as if we were to furnish a builder with a certain quantity of brick and mortar for the purpose of building a house. A ton of lime may be more valuable than a ton of brick, but if we furnish more mortar than the proper proportion, the ex cess is simply wasted. Now, all feeders ought to understand that it is not what passes through the intestinal canal of an animal, but what passes through his system —in other words, what is digested and assimulated, that does him good. Ni trogen is expensive and valuable, but, if we furnish more than the the animal requires, it passes through the bow- 1 els in an undigested state and is lost. It is, of course, understood that much of the food, that is eaten by herbivorous animals, passes through them un digested and unabsorbed, and it seems that the action of such bulky food is necessary, not only for the purpose of allowing ruminants to eliew the cud, but in order to stim ulate and irritate, to a certain extent, the surface of the alimentary canal. Men often overlook this fact, and fan cy that they can feed concentrated and easily digested food to cattle and so obtain astonishing results. Beyond a certain limited extent this is not true, and its falsity Was perfectly illustrated by the mortality of the cows fed on the swill of the New York distilleries. Swill never yet injured an animal if fed in moderate quantities, but animals, especially ruminants, fed exclusvely on swill soon become diseased. Add bulk and solidity in the shape of cut straw and this difficulty will be removed. — lly adding swill to the dry food of any milk cow, we can increase very perceptibly the amount-of milk produced, as well as improve the general health of the animal. SOUTHERN CULTIVAT()R. But it would soon seem that the chemical constitution of the bulky portion Is not of much consequence. Straw is as good as any thing else and it would be great folly to use extra supplies of rich and digestible food, whether nitrogenous or otherwise merely for the purpose of ob taining bulk. But while we thus seek to increase the bulk of the food which is ingested by the animal, we must remember that, if we, first of all, feed a pleasant and nutritious article, such as swill and cooked meal, the appetite of the animal will be dulled and it will refuse to eat a sufficient quanti ty of the coarse i variety. This is best remedied by cutting the straw and mixing \l v,;.h tlie concentrated food—-moreover either straw or bay, if cut, should be softened by long continued macera tion in warm water, or lather, by allowing it to lie for some time in a moist condition. When straw or hay are cut in short lengths, the necessity for thorough mastica tion is diminished. The rigid and sharp pieces of straw pas§ directly into the bowels and, instead of proving a gentle stimulant, they become harshly irritant. All this is avoided by the softening process to which we have re ferred, and which, at the same time, does not, in the slightest degree, diminish the tendency of the animal, if a ruminant, to chew the cud. The principles which \Ve have placed before our readers are too obvious to require lengthened demonstration.— They commend themselves to every intelligent thiriker, and show the necessity for studying to a greater extent than we have hitherto done, the peculiar composition and characteristic of each different article of food. No kind of food will be found perfect, and it is only by judicious mixture and combination that we can hope to attain a high measure of success. JABAL. TOE NEW TEXTILE, The following communication, from a merchant of Bir mingham, England, on the Ramie Fibre, is of interest, and we commend it to such of our Southern patrons as are embarking in the cultivation of the new textile: To the .Editor of the Shippinj A' commercial List: In your impression of April 4th, I notice an at tide on “Ramie Fibre,” and being one of the first who introduced this commodity from India, a few remarks on the subject may be of interest. ltamie has long been known in India, China and in the Indian Archipelago. The names by which it is known in various parts of the world are :—ln China, Tchou Ma ; in Japan, Karas ;in Sumatra, Caloee; in Malay* Ramee; in Bonoa, Ilian ; in the East Celebes, Gambe ; in Rung pore, Kunglioora ; in Assam, Rheea ; and in Shaw* Pan, This produce is sold in the London and Liverpool mar kets under the name of China Grass; some of the first shipments realized £l2O per ton, and the importers net ted a large profit, which attracted increased imports and brought down the price to £45 per ton. In Yorkshire, a company was formed for the purpose of preparing the fibre for the manufactures iu the neigh-* borhood of Bradford. There are several firms in York shire who are now partially using the fibre, most of whom, however, inform me they are unable to use it unless the fibre can be purchased in England at about £2B per ton.