On Dairy -Farming. 351 



will eat. Care should be taken to keep the calf-houses clean and 

 well ventilated. As soon as the weather becomes warm, the 

 calves should be allowed to run in a sheltered paddock ; at three 

 months old the suckling may be discontinued, but they should 

 still have an allowance of 1 lb. to 1 lb. of linseed-cake per day. 

 If they ai'e kept healthy and growing from birth, as they may be 

 by a judicious use of linseed-cake, the best of them will be big 

 enough to come into the dairy at two years and two months old. 

 If kept uniformly well, they will then be as good as those a year 

 older in ordinary condition, and will prove more profitable to the 

 dairyman. A few of the calves, at the commencement of the 

 season, which are not wanted for rearing, may be fattened ; but, 

 when cheese-making is in full operation, all the remainder of the 

 calves will be sold as soon as dropped, at about 1^, each. 



The cows, after they have calved, should have a daily allow- 

 ance of four or five pounds of crushed corn or cake, with hay 

 and roots or grains, until there is an abundant supply of grass for 

 them. They will then have the run of the 120 acres of pasture, 

 but they should be divided into at least two herds. Dairy 

 cows do much better in not very large herds ; they tread the 

 ground less, and the weaker ones are not so much knocked 

 about. Should they require it, they will be supplied with mown 

 clover, rape, and vetches, or other green food, in the summer and 

 autumn, until the middle of September, when the cabbage will be 

 ready for use.* This is a most valuable food for dairy-cows, and 

 by its aid a large quantity of cheese may be made in the last 

 three months of the year, when otherwise the cows would be 

 almost dry. The cabbage grown from autumn-sown plants will 

 generally be best for early consumption in the months of Sep- 

 tember and October, after that time it will be over-ripe, and its 

 quality will be deteriorated. Autumn-sown plants should be 

 planted nearly a yaid apart every way. Where cabbage is 

 spring-sown, those kinds should be selected which are of early 

 maturity. The Swedenburgh cabbage I consider the best for 

 this purpose. The seed should be sown on a warm border early 

 in March : 1 lb. of seed will produce plants enough to set out two 

 acres. The plants should be planted, about two feet apart, in the 

 latter^ end of Mayor beginning of June, damp Aveather being 

 chosen for this purpose. If the winter be mild, cabbage will 

 keep till February or March, but exposure to severe frost damages 

 its quality very much. Cabbage is a gross feeder, and will 

 repay a dressing of 4 cwts. per acre of Peruvian guano, in addi- 



* The danger of " hoove " from grazing clover with dairy cows is so great, 

 that it should be mown cither for hay or for immediate consumption. It may be 

 grazed by young ptock if it stands for a second year ; tlie alsikc is especially 

 adapted to tliis purpose. 



VOL. I. — S. S. 2 A 



