87 



a half moiitlis' full feed, with a little less than two mouths of partial 

 feeding:. Iowa, with its more southern latitude, averages but little less 

 than Miunesota, while Nebraska, though higher up the declivity of the 

 Rocky Mountains than Iowa, reports a shorter average full-feeding pe- 

 riod, only five months, with about two and a half mouths' partial feed- 

 ing. Missouri and Kansas average about four and a half months' full 

 feeding and two aud a third partial feeding. On the Pacific coast it is 

 difficult to average the statements of our correspondents on account of 

 different usages in different localities. In most cases, wintering stock, 

 in the sense of that term in the Eastern States, is unknown. Even in 

 Oregon, a mild winter or rather rainy season supplies farm-animals with 

 a full proportion of nutritious grasses, thus relieving the farmer of one 

 of his heaviest cares. Of the Territories, only one county in Colorado 

 reports stall-feeding, and that not over a month. In Utah it ranges 

 from three to five months ; in Washington very little, if any ; in Da- 

 kota from two to five months. Ko particular feeding-period is noted i n 

 any of the other Territories. 



Kind of peeding-material. — The staple of winter-feeding through- 

 out the country is hay, either timothy or clover ; but the demand for 

 this material in the towns and cities induces farmers in many portions 

 of the country to stint their own animals in order to realize the high 

 prices it commands. Hence there is a great eff"ort to supplement it with 

 other products. Corn and oats are also fed to work-animals in nearly all 

 the counties reporting in different States of the Union. In many of 

 them grain is given more or less freely to milch-cow^s and to animals fatten- 

 ing for market. In quite a number of counties grain is fed to stock- 

 cattle and to sheep, but these are communities of advanced ideas on the 

 subject of stock-raising. 



In New England, corn-fodder, wheat, oats, aud rye-straw, wild hay, 

 salt hay, and other organic matter are used to save hay and coru. One 

 adventurous correspondent in Maine has tried feeding flour to cattle, 

 but is not at all encouraged by the financial results of the experiment. 

 Millions of bushels of western corn are used in feeding animals. Grain 

 is fed to w^ork-auimals in all the counties reporting from this region ; 

 in many, to milch-cows, especially in the dairy-regions ; in some few, 

 to all kinds of stock. 



The New York farmers practice a more general feeding of grain to 

 all kinds of stock, especially toward the close of the winter. In addi- 

 tion to timothy aud clover hay, straw, pumpkins, millet, Hungarian 

 grass, corn-fodder, especially from sowed corn, and other supplementary 

 materials, are pressed into service. New Jersey consumes about all her 

 corn-crop on the farm, and uses about the same kinds of food previously 

 enumerated. There is an iucreased amount of grain-feeding to all classes 

 of animals. Pennsylvania produces a larger corn-crop. A generous 

 winter-feeding is gaining ground in many counties. A careful use is also 

 made of straw, corn, fodder, pumpkins, mill-stuffs, &c. Delaware being 

 more exclusively agricultural, and with a smaller number of large 

 towns and cities, is able to spare nearly or quite half of her corn-crop 

 for market. There is here also a variant usage in regard to grain-feed- 

 ing ; in some cases corn and oats are exclusively given to work-animals, 

 and in others also to cattle and sheep. 



The same may be said of Maryland, where, however, a more enlight- 

 ened policy leads to a more generous support of farm-animals. Nearly 

 a third of the corn-crop is marketed, the remainder being consumed on 

 the farm. Virginia sends about one-sixth of her corn-crop to market, 



