go BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



winter, and if they survive the cold weather they will not 

 get their old coats off till the middle of the summer, and it 

 will take the remainder of the season to get to thriving. 



Discussion. 



Mr. Reynolds of Oxford County. The past winter I com- 

 menced feeding stock on the Herdsdale farm in Canton, on 

 the 10th of December. There are forty-six head of cattle : 

 fifteen thoroughbred Jersej^s, three Ashland grade Jerseys, 

 and sixteen Shorthorns, besides twelve of another kind. My 

 manner of feeding is, first, to give them the poorest kind of 

 hay ; next, meadow hay, then shorts and a little ground corn, 

 rye, oats and wheat, mixed. They have had about two quarts 

 of bran, and a pound of wheat, rye and oats. After they 

 have eaten this provender, they have a little foddering of 

 good hay. They remain in the barn until ten o'clock, if 

 pleasant. They are then turned out, and stay out until two 

 or three o'clock in the afternoon. If it is cold they are 

 allowed to drink, and are tied up at once, and are not fed 

 until two o'clock. They receive the last foddering about nine 

 o'clock in the morning, and then they are fed with meadow 

 hay, or a mixture ; it is better than ordinary meadow hay. 

 They receive every day a mixture of beets and ^turnips, cut 

 with a root cutter. I give each one as much as I can take on 

 a shovel. They have three good meals a day, regularly ; and 

 my stock has been gaining all winter. 



Mr. Nelson of Kennebec County. A great many of us 

 farmers find ourselves abounding in meadow hay, straw, etc., 

 and there is much difference between that kind of feed and 

 good hay. The question naturally arises, How can we best 

 use this poor feed ? I am of the opinion that in feeding such 

 fodder as the average farmer will have to do half of the win- 

 ter, and I may say three-fourths, the root crop is invaluable 

 to him. Roots fed with this coarse fodder have been worth 

 more than the same value in grain, in my experience ; worth 

 very much more with such fodder than with early cut Eng- 

 lish hay. Were I in possession of enough nice hay to feed, 



