G8 Statk Boakd ok Agkiculture, &,c. 



Of course, stables shoiiUl be well ventilated, but warm 

 quarters do much to keep up tlie flow of milk iu winter. 



Cows must have plenty of good, pure water, and a good 

 bed of straw, sawdust or forest leaves adds much to their 

 comfort and saves much of the liquid manure now being 

 wasted in Vermont. 



Cows enjoy bL'iug petted and carded, and it does much to 

 make them gentle, I have a great deal of respect for good 

 cows, and would discharo-e a hired man for abusing; a cow 

 sooner tlian for almost iiny other fault. 



If a cow kicks while beins; milked, I would tie her Icirs 

 carefully together above her gambrels, and keep on milking 

 as thougli nothing luid happened, but never strike her. 



The subject of the size of cows is discussed considerably 

 recently. I have never considered it one of great import- 

 ance, and yet it demands some attention. A cow consumes 

 of good hay about three per cent of her live weight daily, 

 to support life and rcjiaij- the waste ; if a Ir.rge cow will, 

 when not used for the daiiy longer, make cuough more beef 

 than the small one that makes the same amount of butter 

 to pay for the greater amount of fodder consumed during 

 the years she is kept for a dairy cow, she is worth the same, 

 and this is the best rule I know of by which to judge ot the 

 relative value of large and small cows in the butter dairy. 



The cow is a quiet animal luiturally, taking but little exer- 

 cise of her own choice. This suggests plainly the inqior- 

 tance of supplying to the cow an abundance of good food. 



The manner of milking is of ini})orttince. The utmost 

 care should be taken to milk at stated intervals, es])ecially 

 when cows are giving full messes. 



