FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 131 



We find that a very good feed for our cattle is to grind the corn, cob 

 and all, and mix some oats with it. When oats are cheap we usually 

 put in a good many oats. Take forty bushels of corn in the ear, and put 

 in about ten bags of oats with that, grind it all up together, and then the 

 more you feed of that, the better they seem to do. 



Q: What else have you fed besides corn? Have you had any expe- 

 rience with ensilage? 



Mr. Boyden: I might say that I am not prepared to talk on ensilage. 

 I could not speak intelligently about it, because I have never used a 

 pound of it, and still I have some ideas on ensilage. Ensilage is the 

 farmer's best friend. He can raise such large fields of corn. You can 

 raise six or ten tons of ensilage per acre, and a farmer can soon figure 

 that down and find that he cannot afford to mow his land at two or three 

 dollars a ton. 



Q: How do you dehorn cattle? 

 Mr. Boyden : By application of caustic potash. 



Wet the top of the calf's head over the horn that you feel when the 

 calf is two weeks old, thoroughly wet that and rub the caustic potash on 

 the spot over the horn, and in nine cases out of ten the horn never starts. 

 Mr. Ball : In regard to the remark made by Mr. Mars last night. He 

 said that Mr, Ball could sell his steers so and so. Now I have some cattle 

 which are well enough. I have also a native scrub cow, which I paid 

 thirty dollars for. I was offered three cents for the steers, and one cent 

 for the cow. The cow has been fed as well as I know how to feed her. 

 It is not the man who owns the animal, but the animal itself, and I am 

 throwing away one-half to two-thirds of the feed I am giving that cow. 

 The better bred the animal is, the better indications it shows of beef pro- 

 duction, and it don't make any difference to the drover who owns the 

 animal. 



Mr. Wright: I believe there are others who sell beef at a good price 

 besides Mr. Ball. We have probably one of the best stock counties in the 

 State (Huron). I went down to the yards last fall, and I saw there a 

 bunch of yearling steers; the drover paid |28.00 apiece for them, and 

 made money on them in Buffalo. Those were highly bred cattle. 



THE DROUTH. 



There being a few moments to spare, Mr. L. B. Rice, of St. Clair county, 

 was invited to present a few thoughts on the above topic, having given it 

 considerable thought : 



We never had such a combination of things as we had in the spring. 

 We commenced the spring dry, following a winter without snow, and a 

 dry autumn and fall. We sowed our grain upon dry ground, when the 

 dust blew in clouds. After harvest you found a second crop coming up 

 in your fields because the seeds did not come up at first, and when we got 

 r^ins later, the grain started and you had a second crop. That was fol- 

 lowed by the dry hot weather of June, which seemed to scorch every- 

 thing up, all over the country. The wisest men of the country looked at 

 each other and said— not "What shall the harvest be?" but ''Shall we 



