STOCK FEEDING. 173 



required a large amount of labor to handle it and its extra weight 

 is apt to press some of the liquid from the manure pile. 



Common soil, when dried, is very valuable as an absorbent. If 

 a good supply is kept on hand, and when first placed under the 

 stock is thrown well up under the forward feet, then drawn back 

 each day as a new supply is placed under them, it will become so 

 thoroughly dried that but little unnecessary weight need be handled. 

 The liquid ma}' be saved by having water-tight apartments to receive 

 it, then drawing it direct to the field in carts made for that purpose. 

 Anything that will absorb moisture is valuable, and no evil results 

 will follow from its constant use if properh' handled. For cows I 

 have found nothing better than sawdust. It is an excellent absorbent 

 and not heavy to handle. 



A certain successful farmer was asked to give his methods of 

 carrying on his farm that led to his success. His reply was, "By 

 having my plowed land all in one piece." Now if this is true of 

 our plowed land, it is also true of the manure pile. Enough saw- 

 dust may be placed under the horses to keep the whitest one clean, 

 and if the resultant mixture is wheeled into the cow hovel, 3'ou 

 still have a fine absorbent that will keep the cows clean, and when 

 placed upon the manure pile the total value of the liquid and solid 

 animal waste is there, and will remain until placed upon the la d 

 for crops. An}' farmer who allows his horse manure to waste for 

 lack of moisture, on one side of the barn, and the liquids from his 

 cow hovel to waste for lack of an absorbent on the other, is crimi- 

 nall.y careless to his own best interest. He is the very one who 

 will wade through the mud and slush of a reeking barn yard to hitch 

 up his team to go for phosphate, a practice that leads to disappoint- 

 ment and disaster. Therefore let us prepare ourselves with plent}' 

 of absorbents, use them judiciously and in sufficient quantity to 

 secure all the liquids, and expect good returns for our labor. 



After learning to avoid all waste, the proper methods of feeding 

 come as the second step. Much fodder of a coarse nature, that has 

 but little actual value, either for food or fertilizer, can be used very 

 profitably by so arranging the feeding that it shall become a part of 

 a balanced food ration, thus adding much to the food capacity of 

 our farms to our ability to enrich the land and to the health of the 

 stock. Meadow hay or straw becomes a great factor in our farm 

 economy, when properly blended with the rich fodders and grain 

 rations of the farm. And just here it will be proper to consider the 



