FEEDING TWICE A DAY. 45 



had, at the same feeding. Now, my practice is to feed the 

 best feed first to the cow, and finish up with the poor after she 

 has eaten all the good she desires. I tell 3^011, gentlemen, if 

 you attempt to defraud a cow a little, you cheat yourselves 

 abominably. Although you may consider the cow a mere ma- 

 ~«3hine for the manufacture of milk, she will not make much milk 

 out of stufi' that contains little or no nutriment ; and if a straw- 

 cutter is good for anything under heaven, it is good to cut up 

 j)oor fodder to use as bedding — if you have nothing better. 

 Cut your grass, gentlemen, at such a time that your cow will 

 be her own cutter, and sell your frying, stewing and ])oiling 

 machines. When grass is cut in its proper stage of growth, 

 tlie cow is prepared to masticate it, to digest it and assimilate 

 it with perfect ease, and she will do it. After she has had a 

 full feeding of the very best hay, — mixed hay, — she will 

 lie down and half close her eyes ; she will masticate it very 

 slowly, and present the very picture of contentment and hap- 

 piness. 



I have switched off a little, but I will say now, that instead 



of adopting Mr. Ellsworth's system, I would feed the cow all 



the first-rate food she desired to eat first, and then I would 



give her poorer food. Then I would water her, and twelve 



hours after, as nearly as may be, I would feed her again all 



the good early-grass she desired to eat. I would give her a 



feeding of roots in the morning, but not let her out to water. 



The cow is a creature of habit, like her owner, and she may 



be brought to one feeding a day, or two, or three, or five. I 



have dropped down to two feedings a day, believing it better 



for the cow. I believe she masticates her food better to have 



two feedings a day, the time being divided as nearly equal as 



possible. I think she assimilates her food better, and digests 



it better, when she has but two feedings. I had a neighbor 



living in the northern part of the town, a good dairyman, who 



owned a meadow and barn about a mile and a half from his 



dwelling. He practised for a good many years driving his 



herd, as soon as he drove them out, up to that barn, to feed 



out the hay that was grown on that meadow. He was an old 



gentleman, and' he would take out his horse in the morning, 



after breakfast, go up and feed his cows all the hay they would 



eat, let them out to drink, clean the stable, and return fliem, 



