ECONOMICAL STOCK FEEDING. 



61 



which he has laid down. That has certainly been m}' experience 

 so there is no need of my repeating anything that he has said. He 

 has given you the relative feeding values, and he has given you the 

 standard ration for a milch cow. He has not told 3'ou, and no man 

 can tell you just how much to feed any particular cow, because some 

 cows want more tlian others. Now tliis is a matter where good 

 sense and good judgment is required. If a man looks personally 

 after his stock, watches them, every farmer knows that there are 

 ways enough for him to see whether the machine is running along in 

 order, or whether there is any friction about it ; and he is the man 

 to judge. We can give general rules for everything, but there is no 

 arbitrary rule that I know of that should govern in all cases. If 

 you should ask me how I would feed, my answer would be, accord- 

 ing to these tables, as to the proportions ; and as to the amount, 

 feed till I had fed enough ; and here is where the judgment comes 

 in, as I said before. Joseph Harris of New York, a well known 

 scientific farmer and writer, illustrated this thing at one time 

 somewhat in this way : that he was about starting a horse power 

 machine for chopping feed ; while they were getting ready, one 

 horse was put in first and he could just turn the machine, but on 

 putting in three horses the machine ran easily and did its work 

 without friction. So in this matter of feeding, up to a certain point 

 you feed just enough to keep the animal in the condition iu which 

 you start with it; what you feed above that, up to the proper 

 amount, is what gives you your product. When you feed onlv 

 enough to keep the machine in running order, you quit just where 

 you commenced, and gain nothing, — your animal is the same as 

 you started with and you have lost your fodder. On the other hand, 

 from feeding this additional amount is where you get your product. 

 The most profitable results come from what is ordinarily- understood 

 as high feeding. And I take it this is true in feeding for beef as 

 in feeding for milk, but I never fed enough for beef to instruct you 

 about that. When I say high feeding I mean clear up ; there is 

 where a man wants to know his business. I mean that it is best to 

 feed up as high as you find that the feed is increasing the product in 

 relative proportion to the expenditure. For instance, a man is 

 feeding hay with cotton seed meal and shorts ; he feeds one quart 

 and finds an improvement in the flow of milk ; he feeds two quarts 

 and he enlarges the proportion, finds that he is gaining on this last 



