158 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



yielding a quality of feed for late October and the first half 

 of November that can hardly be excelled. 



The season is at this time so far advanced, and the weather 

 so cool, that, if cut and left in the swath, it will keep well for 

 several days, or it may be stored quite deeply upon the feed- 

 ing-floor, without heating enough to injure it. I finished 

 feeding rye and barley this year after the middle of Novem- 

 ber, and previous to that date had fed very little cured fodder 

 of any kind.; although there are but about five acres of pas- 

 ture for twenty-five head of cattle, and the mowing-fields are 

 never fed. 



The rye sown with barley, and cut in the fall, lives through 

 the winter, and makes a full average growth 'the following 

 season. 



All these green crops are cut, and hauled to the barn, and 

 are fed at regular hours, morning and evening. It is the aim 

 to give each animal all it will eat up clean, and have a good 

 appetite for more at the next feeding. In stormy weather, 

 or when any thing interferes with cutting in the field, dry 

 fodder of some kind, previously stored, is given instead. 



With such a variety of different kinds of fodder coming 

 along from May to November, the cattle rarely fail to eat 

 with a relish. There is seldom the excessive flow of milk, as 

 from feeding in the best pastures in June, or good mowing- 

 fields in September ; nor is there ever such shrinkage as dur- 

 ing the droughts of July and August, the frosty weather of 

 November, or the backward months of April and May, with 

 the hay-mows almost empty, and possibly the pocket-book 

 more so. 



Any crop that overruns present needs is cut when mature, 

 and made into hay ; and, so long as it is being handled, it is 

 fed from at the barn, either green, wilted, or dry, as happens 

 to be most convenient. English hay, if I have it, is fed just 

 as freely in summer, if needed, as in winter. I am seldom 

 more anxious about a full supply of fodder than a suitable 

 place for storage. I have been increasing my storage-room 

 almost every year, and am still frequently compelled to put 

 something into stacks. 



Although I consider English grass a valuable crop to grow 

 on some kinds of land, I have this 5^ear had only about four 

 acres ; and the field upon which it grew is now ploughed for 



