REARING AND FEEDING FARM STOCK. 25 J 



One of the greatest mistakes among- farmers is in keeping their 

 stock in cold stables. There is Dot one in ten among them that 

 realize how much they pay annually for exercising- the right to 

 keep their stock in cold, open stables. 1 have made an estimate and 

 have come to the conclusion that the extra expense of keeping ten 

 head of grown cattle sixty days in extreme cold weather, will 

 finish up a stable that is roomy enough to accommodate them, and 

 make it as warm and as comfortable as a common sitting-room in 

 our houses without a fire. And here allow me to explain one of 

 the ways in which it may be done ; first, nail the boards upon the 

 outside so that they are solid, and close to the timbers, then 

 cover the cracks between the boards either with shingles or with 

 narrow boards say three or four inches wide, then put furring upon 

 the inside about four inches from the outside boards, and board 

 upon the inside and fill up the space with saw-dust or tan as may 

 be most convenient ; board and shingle in front, leaving a space 

 sufficient to feed through that can be shut comparatively tight 

 after feeding, then have the doors and windows shut tight and a 

 scaffold of hay overhead and the whole thing is done if the floor is 

 tight. Any mechanic that can saw a board and drive a nail can 

 do such work, and the expense is very trifling compared with the 

 benefits to be derived from it ; and I may add here that barn 

 cellars ought to be so finished that they can be shut up as tight 

 as the barn over them. Few farmers are aware how inhuman is 

 the treatment of stock kept in cold stables ; if they were, they 

 would begin at once and make them warm and comfortable. The 

 expense is sure to be saved in fodder every winter ; it is saved 

 again in the labor of cleaning out the stables, in the difference 

 between shoveling out manure that is frozen solid to the floor and 

 such as is not frozen at all ; and it is paid again in the improve- 

 ment of the stock, and again in the consolation from knowing that 

 the stock is all warm and comfortable, whether they have any- 

 thing to eat or not. 



Another popular error is in the feeding of rough fodder, such as 

 dry corn-stalks, straw and swale hay, late cut. The large bulk of 

 such fodder is fed just as it comes from the mow, and nothing but 

 extreme hunger and cold will induce cattle to eat it, and then only 

 in quantities sufficient to keep them from actual starvation ; 

 whereas if it could be cut fine, wet with warm water, or even 

 with cold water in moderate weather, and a small quantity of 

 Indian meal, shorts or fine feed mixed with it, it would be very 



