No. 85.] 223 



accustomed to the change of feed before they are allowed to have full 

 range of pasture. Shift of pasture is frequently made to keep feed 

 fresh and a good bite. About one acre per cow affords plenty of feed 

 till the first of August. If enough land was turned to pasture to feed 

 the cows through the season, it would get a start of them about this 

 time and be hard and dry the balance of the season. To avoid 

 turning upon my meadows in fall, I take one acre to every ten cows, 

 plow anil prepare it the fore part of June for sowing. I commence 

 sowing corn broad cast, about half an acre at a time, so that it may 

 grow 80 or 90 days before it is cut and fed. I have found by expe- 

 riment that it then contains the most saccharine juice, and will pro- 

 duce the most milk. If the ground is strong, I sow two bushels per 

 acre; more if the ground is not manured. The common yield is from 

 15 to 20 tons (of green feed) per acre. About the first of August, 

 when heat and flies are too oppressive for cows to feed quietly in day 

 time, I commence feeding them with what corn they will eat in the 

 morning, daily, which is cut up with a grass scythe and ih'awn on a 

 sled or wagon, to the milking barn, and fed to them in the stalls, 

 which is one hour's work for a man at each feeding. When thus 

 plentifully fed, my cow^s have their knitting work on hand for the 

 day, which they can do up by lying quietly under artificial shades 

 erected in such places as need manuring most, and most airy, by set 

 ting posts, putting poles and brush on top, the sides being left open. 

 These shades may be made and removed annually, to enrich other 

 portions of soil, if desired, at the small expense of one dollar for every 

 ten cows. My shade trees are all cut down, so that if I have occa- 

 sion to till the soil, there is no forest trees to drink up the nourish- 

 ishment that circulates in the air to a wide extent around them, be- 

 fore it reaches the weaker chiss of vegetables below, nor roots to pre- 

 vent a thorough cultivation of the soil to get the benefit of its partial 

 richness. At evening my cows are fed whey only, because they can 

 feed more quietly with less rambling, and will give more milk by 

 feeding most when dew is on the grass. 



Saving and Application of Manure. 



No one item enters more largely into the account nf the economical 

 farmer than saving manure ; the means of which are simple, cheap, 

 and in the reach of every one who has strength to till the soil. 



The cheap method I have adopted to save manure, is by sinking 

 hogsheads with one head, at the discharge of slop drains and troughs 

 that ciitch the urine from my stables. A hollow bass log, 12 feet 

 long is split, making two halves, which are settled into the earth, the 

 two lowest ends meeting in the center, under which point is placed a 

 large tub as a reservoir. The earth is made descending to these 

 troughs on each side, and bedded with clay, pounded down, to make 

 it water tight, to convey the liquid manure that drains from the heap 

 into the reservoir. Four boards are nailed together and set into the 

 reservoir, forming a stationary box to receive a cheap boaid pump, to 

 raise the liquor whenever the heap needs moistening. Straw, coarse 

 weeds, swamp muck, ashes, lime, night soil, otTal, carrion, and all sur- 



