48 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



a ton variation in the price of that. A year ago last spring cotton 

 seed meal was twenty-seven dollars a ton ; this 3'ear, up to within 

 a few weeks, it could not be bought for less than thirt3-two dollars 

 a ton by the car load. Corn a year ago last June was bought for 

 fiftj'-eight cents a bushel delivered at our place. Of course, on ac- 

 count of the difference in freight the prices would not be the same 

 at all i^oints. 



Now the cost of keeping a cow last 3'ear, reckoning hay at twelve 

 dollars a ton, and grain at the price it was bought for last year, 

 amounted to $54.32. That would be the cost of keeping good 

 cows per head in a herd of fifteen or twentj'. That means liberal 

 feeding, not stinting them, as man}' farmers do at this season of the^'car, 

 taking their cows to the tie up and saying, "I have 30U tied up before 

 me ; ni}- ha}' now is just so large and you cannot have but just so 

 much per day, if you do you will have to go without in the spring." 

 No man should expect to realize a profit on such feeding as that. 

 Don't 3'our cows return abundant pay when the}' come to get the 

 good feed in the pasture ? It is the same when they are tied up in 

 the barn and are led bountifullj'. 



Reckoning the milk at three and a half cents a quart, which I es- 

 timate as the average price, taking it for the year round, you will 

 see that a cow will produce $94.50 worth of milk. This would 

 leave 30U, according to the figures I have given, a real income of 

 $40 from each cow, besides the value of the dressing. It has been 

 shown to you by the chart how much that nia3- be. If you reckon 

 the amount of fodder tliat is fed, and the amount of concentrated 

 food, it gives you something over thirty dollars worth of resulting 

 manure, providing it is all saved. 



I wish to make this a little plainer to you b}- telling 3'ou the ex- 

 perience of a man in my town. Commencing eleven years ago with 

 four cows and one horse upon his farm, which was a poorish one of 

 fifty acres, he planted and raised considerable southern corn for 

 fodder to carry his stock through ; from that he commenced plant- 

 ing sweet corn, a number of acres, and keeping a few more cows, 

 and every year increasing the fertilit3' of his farm, until at the pres- 

 ent time, as the result of his farming operations done in a small 

 wa3', a close business, he is able to keep eighteen cows, four large 

 oxen, a pair of horses and some sheep and other stock. These re- 

 sults were due chiefl}- to the raising of corn fodder. 1 do not mean 

 "fodder corn," but corn was planted for a croj) of corn and the fod- 



