364 REPORT OP THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



York when brought to the cheese-factory was found tainted, and on examiup^tion the 

 cause was discovered to be a putrid carcass lying in the pasture. » * * Milk and 

 cream set in the dairy are very susceptible to odors of every kind. The smoke of the 

 kitchen, of cooking vegetables, are readily absorbed. The proximity of the hog-pen, 

 or of the uiilkiug-yard, sometimes taints the milk. Wherever milk is kept, either in 

 the spriug-house or dairy, every paius should be taken to secure a pure atmosphere. 

 When the milk is set in a kitchen, dust and smoke will affect it injuriously, and first- 

 quality butter cannot bo made from it. 



Mr. Nathan Hart presented a i^aper on feeding- for the production of 

 milk. He states that he i.s engaged in developing an enterprise involv- 

 ing the winter dairy as an important part of dairy husbandry in a ter- 

 ritory formerly interested largely in the fattening of cattle, in this new 

 enterprise the question of feeding for the i)roduction of mSk being one 

 'Df great importance, he has devoted much time to an investigation of 

 the subject. A series of experiments with different kinds of fodder and 

 ground feed has convinced him that hay is the basis for all winter feed- 

 ing, and tha,t matle from the natural and cultivated grasses grown on 

 upland meadows is the most valuable, if cut early and nicely cured. 

 This may be supplemented with sowed corn and the annual grasses, mil- 

 let, Hungarian grass, and others. Difl'erent varieties of roots are also 

 valuable, and more concentrated food is found in corn, oats, buckwheat, 

 rye, wheat, and l:{.rewers' grains. The latter is used extensively in the 

 vicinity of i>ew York, where these experiments were made. Different 

 methods of preparing these materials, and entirely different proportions 

 and varying quantities, are used either from choice or necessity. Mr. 

 Hart says : 



After a more or less extended inquiry and trial, guided by the closest observation and 

 a full knowledge of the net results, I have adopted the practice of feeding hay and all 

 kinds of what is generally denominated fodder, uucut, and (including ground feed,) 

 dry, and I apprehend that the varying results maj' be accounted lor more in the external 

 conditions aud the quantity and quality than in the preparation. The system of tho 

 cow is a laboratory in which chemical and mechanical changes are constantly going 

 on; into this we put the raw material, consisting of tho articles named ; a part the 

 animal uses to support itself, to run the machinery, to keep up warmth, repair the 

 V.' aste ; a part is thrown off .is refuse, and a portion is yielded for the support and profit 

 of the farmer. How milk is produced, whether it is a secretion or the result of some 

 other operation of nature, is for tho physiologist, and perhaps the chemist, to investi- 

 gate. What is required of tho feeder is to give tho cow just such quantity, quality, and 

 relative variety and proportion as shall give the greatest quantity, reference being 

 had to the cost of the material and the value of the product. The question of profit 

 and loss should enter into the calculation. If too large quantities of these substances 

 (all or any of them) arc given, digestion will be interfered with and tho yield of milk 

 will be diminished. If too little, it will be the same, as the proportion needed to sup- 

 port the cow will leave a smaller surplus for the pail, and right here, it seems to me, lies 

 the field of investigation and experiment. There is a point in quantity and concentra- 

 tion of milk-producing constituents beyond which if we go we do it at a loss. If we 

 feed a jjail of now njilk to a cow, it will not atiect the fiow of milk so much as a quart 

 of bran in a pail of lukewarm water with a little halt thrown in, other things being 

 equal. The ])oiut aimed at, then, is to feed in quantity, quality, and condition so as to 

 secnro perfect digestion and the largest possible product at the least possible expense, 

 having regard to quality and protit and loss. 



Is it necessary to cook it to secure XJorfect digestion ? If it is necessary, will or will 

 not the increased capital, skilled and consequently more expensive labor, more than 

 counterbalance the benefits of cooking ? May we not secure, very nearly, the same 

 resulfe at much less expense, and at the same time secure a larger margin of profit in 

 consequence? » » • Hay should be cut early and nicely cured, and fed in quantity 

 with other substances just as much and no more than is perfectly digested, and aa 

 nearly regulated in time and manner as we observe the habits of the animal indicate 

 when left to help herself when at pasture. My own practice is to give a light feed the 

 first thing in the morning, which will beeaten'up clean in ten or fifteen minntcs, while 

 the milking is going on, and then the ground feed is given diy with a small cpiantity 

 of salt. In about an hour the cows are let out to go to water, and I prefer they ahould 

 go twenty or thirty rods, to drink from warm springs, and get exercise, rather than 

 drink almost frozen water in the yard. Wfiile they are absent the stables are cleansed 



