The Question Box. 101 



To Mr. Richardson. — What is the best and most practical way 

 of fastening a cow when kept in the stables nearly all winter? 



Answer. — I have had considerable experience in that line, and 

 I believe the time has come to let the stanchions go. Such treat- 

 ment as the confinement of a cow in a rigid stanchion, 12 or 15 

 hours, would not suit any of us here, and we know the cow has 

 considerable human nature. Knowing this, I had one row of the 

 stanchions taken out of my stables and replaced with the Knapp 

 cow tie. Later, we took out all the stanchions but three. Now 

 every cow smiles when I go into the stables. Beside being more 

 comfortable, she is able to turn and lick herself, and is also able to 

 eat all there is in her manger. Having her stall all to herself, she 

 cannot be injured by another cow, while she will be kept fully as 

 clean as those in the stanchions. Then, too, she cannot reach 

 through and steal a part of another cow's ration. But I am sorry 

 to say that I still have to take the tie off and allow the cows to go 

 out and drink. I have, as vet, no inside watering device. But I 

 ought to qualify some of my statements by saying that more room 

 — that is, a wider manger in front of the cow, is required when 

 the Knapp tie is used. 



Question. — Realizing that intensive farming is the only one 

 that pays, I should like to have you tell me to what degree can 

 it profitably be carried ? 



Mr. Smith. — Ask the man how he is situated. What would 

 pay one man will not pay another. If a man has confined 

 himself to one branch of farming, he will, if he begins intensive 

 farming:, have to beein slowlv. Bv this, I mean if a man has 

 been growing grain or fruit exclusively, and wishes to enlarge, 

 he will have to learn something that will enable him to work suc- 

 cessfully. If a man has a dairy and has been practicing the 

 timothy hay and corn meal system, if he changes, as he will be 

 forced to do, he will have to study other methods. The time is 

 near at hand when the dairyman will have to fill a summer silo 

 to tide his herd over the drouth. 



Question. — Is there any scientific proof that the planting or 

 sowing of seeds in certain phases of the moon has any effect on the 



crop ? 



Dr. Smead. — I have never visited the moon, so I don't know; 

 but I have heard it said that the moon has an influence on seeds. 

 Yet all scientific investigation shows it to be a fallacy. Then, too, 

 I find that these moon theorists do not agree. One says the new, 



