g4 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



and all they had all winter was bog hay and fish pomace. I 

 do not mean porgy chum, but herring pomace ; and it is well 

 eaten by cattle if educated to it. On the island, a man told 

 me that he hauled raw herrings, and they were all he gave 

 his sheep to eat during the winter. My sheep have not had 

 a partible of English hay in three or four years. 



The Chairman. In regard to straw, one gentleman said he 

 thought it was not worth much. I have given mine to my 

 horses for the last six or eight years. That is all they have 

 besides grain, and they keep in very good order. I would 

 much rather have oat straw than poor English hay. 



Mr. Flint. I think it makes little difference what time of 

 the day you feed sheep, if you are only regular. Generally, 

 the farmers my way feed them about twice a day, all they will 

 eat. It is sometimes cheaper to use straw and make it up 

 with grain. I also believe in roots. One of the most impor- 

 tant subjects for farmers in Maine is raising roots. 



Mr. Hill. I am not much of a man to talk, but I will 

 give you my mode of procedure. I have a barn one hun- 

 dred feet long and fort^^-five feet wide. There is a small 

 shed on one end. From the time the cattle go into the barn 

 in the fall, until spring, they do not go out. It is well ven- 

 tilated. They go down into the cellar and drink. As soon 

 as they are turned out into the cellar, I feed them and bed 

 them with straw. I use sugar beets or shorts, three or four 

 quarts a day, for the cows. The Wellman Sugar beet I con- 

 sider the best and cheapest root I have ever seen. M}^ tie-up 

 is fifteen feet wide, and we have ample room to give them 

 good bedding. We make quite a large quantity of manure. 

 We generally use one hundred and fifty loads of muck which 

 goes into the cellar with the other manure. It is scraped 

 back and drops down into the cellar, where we keep a num- 

 ber of hogs to work it over. If you do not keep hogs at 

 work on it, it will sometimes ferment almost enough to set 

 the barn on fire. 



Mr. Go^^^:LL. I have been feeding cows and cattle gen- 

 erally for six years, perhaps a little heavily lately. I have 



