CHAPTER XXX 



AUTUMN BECKONING 



WE harvested the crops in the autumn of 1896, 

 and were thankful for the bountiful yield. Nearly 

 sixteen hundred bushels of oats and twenty-seven 

 hundred bushels of corn made a proud showing 

 in the granary, when added to its previous stock. 

 The corn fodder, shredded by our own men and 

 machine, made the great forage barn look like 

 an overflowing cornucopia, and the only extra 

 expense attending the harvest was $31 paid for 

 threshing the oats. 



Three important items of food are consumed 

 on the farm that have to be purchased each year, 

 and as there is not much fluctuation in the price 

 paid, we may as well settle the per capita rate 

 for the milch cows and hogs for once and all. 

 At each year's end we can then easily find the 

 cash outlay for the herds by multiplying the 

 number of stock by the cost of keeping one. 



My Holstein cows consume a trifle less than 

 three tons of grain each per year, about fifteen 

 pounds a day. Taking the ration for four cows 

 rr-' n matter of convenience, we have: corn and 



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