Vermont Dairymen's Association. 117 



President Bruce : — There are a few minutes left now for 

 discussion. 



A Member: — I understood Mr. Cady to say that he sold 

 seed enough to pay for the best cow he had, will he please ex- 

 plain that. 



Mr. Cady : — Perhaps I have not fed as much grain as some 

 of the farmers in the eastern part of the State. Our county 

 is quite a place for grain and I have always had good clean 

 seed, have raised considerable barley and oats, have raised con- 

 siderable grain every year. I have not a very large dairy, am 

 not a very large farmer, but I have some land on which the 

 best of hay can be grown and when it is cut in the right shape it 

 is very nutritious and good for milk ; and then I have a silo 

 and I calculate to get that filled with good corn, if I can. I 

 have not been successful every time since I have had it, so I have 

 fed as little western grain as 1 could. 



Q. What kind of hay do you raise. A. Our hay is timothy 

 and clover. The hay that I have sold is timothy. I think it is 

 a mistake for most of our farmers to sell hay but my pasture is 

 not sufficient to keep what cattle I can winter. I could keep 40 

 cows very well during the winter but I have not got the pasture 

 so that I can summer feed them so well. 



Q. How many cows do you keep? A. I have from 18 to 

 22 or 23. I can only pasture about 18. 



O. Have you ever tried alfalfa? A. I have not. 



O. Know whether it is feasible? A. I don't know. I 

 think Mr. Aitken can tell better about that than I can, the most 

 I know about it I heard from him. 



Mr. Aitken : — I have had considerable experience with it 

 for two or three years. So far it has been successful most of the 

 time. I have cut about eight tons of it and it wintered first rate. 

 It winter-killed in spots last winter the same as other grass. 

 Where water stood and ice formed it killed off. But outside 

 of that it did first rate. 



Last summer I was under contract to the Government to 

 grow some alfalfa seed. The contract read I should leave the 

 second cutting for seed. I cut it early and got about 25^ tons 

 to the acre, the first cutting. The second growth was killed. 

 The seed did not rip.en, the rust struck it so I did not get any 

 seed of value. I was very much disappointed. I thought the 

 whole thing was going to be a failure. An expert from Wash- 

 ington came up to see it and he said there was not a particle of 

 seed grown east of the Rocky Mountains this year. There seerned 

 to be something the matter, or something in the seed so that the 

 alfalfa did not blossom. 



