273 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



cattle after deducting their cost, equal the value of feed consumed, letting the 

 manure balance the work, we consider it a good investment. 



PKOFIT ON" THE PIGS. 



But we find we can do better than this by keeping the small-bened, tine 

 bred pigs, and judicious and heavy feeding, and taking the value of the 

 manure into consideration, we think we can compete with the western fanner* 

 in raising pork. Our pigs during the past year have returned 61,000 over the 

 value of feed consumed on pigs sold for pork and feeding, while at the same 

 time we are establishing a herd of thoroughbred pigs. But we expect a greater 

 profit on the increased production of crops caused by the use of this manure. 



HOW WE TEEAT THIN STEERS. 



We make a practice of buying thin steers in the fall, either two, three, or 

 four years old, which cost us from $20 to S50 each ; these are fed until in 

 good condition and then sold at from 50 to 100 per cent advance. 



FEEDING CATTLE. 



There are a class of farmers who raise cattle till they are two, three, or four 

 jears old, merely giving them feed enough to keep them alive and make them 

 grow; and this class of farmers are found all over our State. We can bay 

 these cattle, feed them heavily three or four months, and get nearly as much 

 for feeding them that length of time as the man who raised them did for keep- 

 ing them two or three years. But it is not done by a slipshod way of feeding. 

 Our cattle are kept in warm stables and fed regularly on cut hay, straw, and 

 stalks, mixed with pulped roots, and all the steamed corn meal and mill feed 

 they will bear. 



THE BEST WAT TO MAKE MANURE. 



There is probably no way in which manure can be made with less trouble, 

 experience, and expense than in feeding cattle winters. It is a practice which 

 I believe could be adopted with success by gardeners in any vicinity where 

 manure is scarce and feed can be bought at a reasonable price. I am satisfied 

 that it can be done successfully in the vicinity of Detroit, and that is probably 

 as good a market for farm produce as there is in the State. It does not 

 require a very great expenditure for buildings or machinery ; an old barn or 

 shed can be fitted up with gates and mangers at an expense of one or two 

 dollars per head, with stanchions, or where cattle are tied with ropes the 

 expense would be less, but the extra amount of work will more than balance 

 the cost of gates. 



I fitted up a shed floor for twenty-five head, with gates and mangers at an 

 expense of seventy -five cents per head for lumber and nails, and it was all 

 made portable so that it could be taken down and packed up summers, so that 

 the building can be used for other purposes. 



A PLAN OF A CATTLE SHED, 



I have a plan of a cattle shed that we propose to put up next fall, that may 

 be built either by itself or as a lean-to by the side of a barn, with a gate be- 

 tween each animal, manger and all complete, and be as convenient and com- 

 fortable as a cattle shed for feeding need be, and it will require but 2,Q00 feet 

 of lumber for every ten head of cattle, and any man who can use a saw, square, 

 and hammer can build it. As this would hold nothing but cattle, another 



