48 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



year and last year. I sowed a large piece of millet last 

 spring ; bnt the storms came and beat it down, and it rusted 

 and was a pretty poor crop, I thought ; nevertheless, I made 

 to save it, and out at the present time my cows are eating 

 one foddering of that rusty, poor millet. They will take it at 

 the first foddering with a pretty good' appetite. I follow that 

 millet with some hay, — not my best, early-cut hay, but hay 

 that was cut a little later, — and they will take that very well ; 

 and I follow that with some rowen. That has been their 

 feed this week and last week ; and they eat that poor millet, 

 and not the best hay, and rowen, all clean, eveiy straw of it, 

 and will go and drink and appear to be hearty ; appear to be 

 contented, and are full. Well, sir, reverse that, if you 

 please, and, judging from our own appetites, would a cow eat 

 the rowen, then the hay and then the millet ? I think not. 

 So far as watering twice a day is concerned, my cows are 

 watered twice a day, immediately after they have eaten ; and 

 almost invariably every cow will drink twice a day. 



I don't see as the gentleman differs much from me about 

 salt. He said he didn't want to give too much salt ; I don't 

 propose to make ni}'- cows eat any more salt than they want. 

 I give them salt. He mixes ashes and sulphur with his salt. 

 I very frequently give my cows sulphur, but not ashes. 



The gentleman says the best food for making milk is early- 

 cut hay. I agree with him there, perfectly ; but we have 

 some poor fodder that we wish to work up somehow, and if 

 we carry a good stock of cows, we can't carry them all on 

 earh^-cut hay. 



Dr. Sturtevant. The farms in Massachusetts contain a 

 great variety of soil, and some of it is pretty bad. In one 

 location, in eastern Massachusetts (I speak particularly of 

 that) , I know of a farm which would support nothing like 

 the number of stock that are kept on it, from the good land 

 of that farm. The only way we can carry the herd and make 

 it profitable, is by utilizing the poor hay and poor land of that 

 farm. At the present time, on our own farm, we are keeping 

 a breeding herd of about thirty-two cattle, all told. We 

 have fed one foddering of hay, and one foddering of the low- 

 meadow hay. At the present time, we are feeding what we 

 in Massachusetts call meadow hay (that is, muck-land hay), 



