IV.] KEEPING COWS. 67 



less than the 40 rods. I am here, for simplicity's sake, 

 to suppose, that he have 40 rods of clear, unshaded 

 land, besides what his house and sheds stand upon ; 

 and that he have nothing further in the way of means 

 to keep his cow. 



117. I suppose the 40 rods to be clean and unshad- 

 ed ; for I am to suppose, that when a man thinks of 

 5 quarts of milk a day, on an average, all the year 

 round, he will not suffer his ground to be encumbered 

 by apple-trees that give him only the means of treat- 

 ing his children to fits of the belly-ache, or with cur- 

 rant and gooseberry bushes, which, though their fruit 

 do very well to amuse, really give nothing worthy of 

 the name of food, except to the blackbirds and thrush- 

 es. The ground is to be clear of trees ; and, in the 

 spring, we will suppose it to be clean. Then, dig it 

 up deeply, or, which is better, trench it, keeping, how- 

 ever, the top spit of the soil at the top. Lay it in 

 ridges in April or May about two feet apart, and 

 made high and sharp. When the weeds appear 

 about three inches high, turn the ridges into the fur- 

 rows (never moving the ground but in dry weather ',) 

 and bury all the weeds. Do this as often as the 

 weeds get three inches high ; and by the fall, you will 

 have really clean ground, and not poor ground. 



118. There is the ground then, ready. About the 

 26th of August, but not earlier, prepare a rod of 

 your ground ; and put some manure in it (for some 

 you must have,) and sow one half of it with Early 

 York Cabbage Seed, and the other half with Sugar- 

 loaf Cabbage Seed, both of the true sort, in little 

 drills at 8 inches apart, and the seeds thin in the 

 drill. If the plants come up at two inches apart (and 

 they should be thinned if thicker,) you will have a 

 plenty. As soon as fairly out of ground, hoe the 

 ground nicely, and pretty deeply, and again in a few 

 days. When the plants have six leaves, which will 

 be very soon, dig up, make fine, and manure another 

 rod or two, and prick out the plants, 4000 of each in 

 rows at eight inches apart and three inches in the 

 row. Hoe the ground between them often, and they 



