FARM-MANAGEMENT. 37 



seed-meal, at twenty-six dollars per ton. Meadow hay was 

 bought at eight dollars per ton in stack on the meadow; 

 some fine salt hay, at twelve dollars ; some early-cut black- 

 grass, at sixteen dollars. For two months my milch cows 

 were fed a mixture of bog-meadow, salt hay, and black-grass, 

 at an average cost of twelve dollars per ton, and my dry 

 cows a mixture of bog-meadow and salt hay, at an average 

 cost of ten dollars per ton. Cows that were giving from 

 fifteen to eighteen quarts of milk a day were fed eight 

 pounds of shorts, six pounds of corn-meal, and four pounds 

 of cotton-seed-meal each, per day. Cows that were giving 

 less milk had a smaller allowance of grain. The dry cows 

 had no grain or roots with their ten-dollar hay. 



I never have had cows give more milk than they gave on 

 that twelve-dollar hay ; and the dry cows kept in good condi- 

 tion. j\Iy horses were fed the same hay, and did well on it. 

 Between two and tlu-ee months there was no upland hay in 

 the barn. Towards spring, meadow hay and good salt hay 

 were scarce. The roads were bad, and some baled hay was 

 bought : it was not first quality, was over-ripe, and it did no 

 better than the other mixture, though it cost more. Late in 

 the spring I was in a neighbor's barn : he had some river 

 meadow hay that he asked fifteen dollars a ton for, and some 

 early-cut upland hay that he asked twenty-five dollars for. 

 He said the meadow hay would do for dry stock, but there 

 was no milk in it ; but the upland hay would make milk. 

 I told him I would take a small load of the meadow hay. 

 It weighed fifteen hundred pounds ; cost eleven dollars and 

 a quarter. I fed it from the wagon, and fed no other hay 

 while it lasted, which was just one week. All the hay six- 

 teen cows and three horses had for one week was that fifteen 

 hundred pounds of meadow hay; and they had all they 

 wanted of that kind of hay. They produced thirty-six dol- 

 lars' worth of milk from that eleven and a quarter dollars' 

 worth of hay, and the grain that was put with it. There 

 were three or four dry cows in the barn at that time ; but the 

 cows that were giving milk gave enough to pay for all the 

 hay and grain that was eaten for the week by all the stock, 

 horses and hens included. 



The merit of meadow hay lies in its bulky character, and 

 in what may be called its stand-by capacity. A daily ration 



