The Bulletin. 31 



the lu'ifois had consumed (about $l'2r) worth), and we had left $950 cash, clear 

 of all expense, to pay us for the use of this 2.j() acres of land tliat cost, together 

 with the wire feneiiif,s about $1,400. Tlie heifers cost us $36.75 eacli, deliv- 

 ered at our station, and no interest eluuffe could be made afjainst them, as we 

 could have sold them at four dollars (each) above cost in the fall, after weaning 

 the calves. So tliis grazing experiment netted us over 05 per cent on the cost of 

 the land and fencing in one season. It is needless to say that this piece of 

 land is still grazing cattle and has so improved in productive capacity that 

 nearly two aninuils are being grazed lunv wliere one was grazed five years ago. 

 On our own place we have about one hundred and twenty acres of permanent 

 pasture. On this land we are grazing this season sixty-five head of cattle all 

 ages, forty ewes (high-grade Shropshire), nine brood sows, and four horses are 

 also getting their night feed. This land cost us six years ago $1,500. We have 

 expended on the lantl in grubbing up brush and building fence about $300, So 

 our permanent pasture stands us $1,800. The taxes and interest on the value 

 of this land amount to $120 per year. Add to this our average yearly expense of 

 about $25 for grubbing, cutting thistles, mullens, etc., and we have a total 

 expense of $145 per year for grazing the equal of seventy-five or eighty head of 

 cattle, or about $1.80 per head. And yet people will contend that we cannot 

 graze cattle profitably in North Carolina. Now I wish to say that we cannot 

 expect these results from grazing brush lots. You will note I have made a 

 charge of $25 per year for keeping our pastures clean of every robber plant. 

 This does not mean comparatively, but absolutely clean. We cannot expect to 

 make beef, pork, mutton, or milk of bushes and briars; and, therefore, if these 

 plants are of no use for grazing purposes, they have no place in a rightly con- 

 ducted pasture. They not only take up land that should be growing grass, but 

 also rob what grass grows in their near vicinity of its nutritive quality. So 

 clean up the pastures and make them to produce grass only. 



We next come to the matter of the winter feeds for our animals ; and a prin- 

 ciple we should not lose sight of in considering the question of winter feeds is 

 to provide in these feeds a ration as nearly like that of first-class summer pasture 

 as possible. To do this we must provide, first of all, for succulence. Nothing 

 that can be grown in this country will equal corn silage for this purpose, as no 

 feed of this nature can be provided in abundance as cheaply as can silage made 

 from the corn plant. Then we must provide dry foods rich in protein to balance 

 this ensilage ration which is rich in other food elements. All of the legumes, 

 such as clovers, cowpeas, soja-beans, vetches, etc., are admirably adapted to fill 

 this want in our ration, and they have the added advantage lOf gathering 

 nitrogen from the air, thus aiding us in this way toward increasing the fertility 

 of our soils. Further, we must — -when we wish to finish our meat-producing 

 animals or to provide for an increased flow of milk from our dairy lanimals — 

 add some concentrated feed or feeds to the above. In North Carolina we have in 

 com and cotton-seed meal two as good as the world knows for this purpose. 



So for maintaining any of the meat or milk-producing animals we need not 

 go out of the State for a pound of feed of any description. This certainly should 

 be a sti'ong argimient for more live-stock in our State, having a soil and climate 

 that adinits of growing all the feed necessary to the finishing of our animals and 

 in the growing of the majority of these feeds adding plant food to our soils at no 

 expense to us. 



We have the feeds provided for: now how shall we combine them when placing 

 them before our stock to secure their greatest value? For a stocker of any breed 

 we should use only the ensilage and bulky dry feeds. For a yearling steer, 

 about three pounds of ensilage to two of dry clover or pea-hay, feeding about 30 

 pounds of ensilage per day along with 20 pounds of hay. With a well-bred 

 yearling steer of quiet disposition, free from lice, this ration will give a gain 

 durine the six winter montlis of 150 to 175 pounds nt a cost of $0.47 for the six 

 months' feeding, at what our ensilage and pea-vine cost us on our farm, counting 

 the time consumed in groA\'ing and harvesting the crop at what the mill people 

 near our farm pay for hands and teams. Tliis also includes interest and taxes on 

 the land and interest on the cost of the silo, and fiafurinc silage corn at ten tons 

 per acre. We have in our section a good home niai'ket for what are called in 



