STOCK. 259 



and morning. This year I fed them on large cucumbers, cut 

 up, and one quart of meal to each cow, sprinkled over the mess, 

 during the first part of September ; but except this they get no 

 grain while they are at pasture. They are tied up at night, and 

 get a little hay in the barn, when they are not full ; but no 

 grain of any kind is my rule while they graze. I made an ex- 

 ception this year, both because grain is cheaper than hay, and 

 for fear that so much green fruit might affect the quality of the 

 milk. When the test of the milk was made, Sept 22d, they were 

 in a scant pasture, and had only the single quart of meal daily 

 that I have stated. 



The heifers were in the pasture from May to November, with- 

 out any other feed. In the winter I feed the young stock 

 chiefly on rowen, and give the milch cows as much English hay 

 as they will eat in the morning after milking ; then water, in the 

 barn if stormy, and in the yard if pleasant, leaving them out an 

 hour or two. At noon, tie up and feed a mess of cut stalks or 

 meadow hay, with a quart of cob meal to each cow, using the 

 stalks in the first part of the season, and the meadow hay, which 

 has some blue joint and swale grasses in it, later in the season. 

 At night, after milking, give them a feed of roots, mangolds or 

 turnips, and a shake down of swale hay is put before them at 

 bedtime to pick over, and tlje refuse is used for their bedding. 

 I try to keep them comfortable by warm stables, clean bedding 

 and carding every day ; but I do not feed high, and I care more 

 for quality than quantity of milk. The milk is not sold, but 

 made into butter for the family use, and the skim milk is given 

 to the calves, which I have almost always raised. These I feed 

 for the first month on new milk, teaching them to drink it from 

 the pail as soon as the cow's bag is all right ; after that I give 

 them skim milk that has stood twelve hours only for cream, 

 warmed up to blood heat ; then, rowen or grass, as soon as they 

 will eat it, without any grain, till they come in with their first 

 calves. I have never lost but one in the six years I have prac- 

 tised farming, and I mean always to keep them growing ; but 

 for some years, when I have let them go into the country, I have 

 not succeeded, and now propose only to raise what I can feed at 

 home. I have stated, above, the quantity and quality of their 

 milk, but the largest amount of butter, per week, I cannot give, 

 or the average, as we do not sell it or weigh it, and we use cream 



