THE SKIM-MILK TRUST 283 



do what you will or feed what you like, the hen 

 will insist upon a vacation at this season of the 

 year. You may shorten it, perhaps, but you 

 cannot prevent it. The only way to keep the 

 egg-basket full is to have a lot of youngsters 

 coming on who will take up the laying for Oc- 

 tober and November. 



We milked thirty-seven cows during July, 

 August, and September, and got more than a 

 thousand pounds of milk a day. The butter sold 

 amounted to a trifle more than $375 a month. 

 I think this an excellent showing, considering the 

 fact that the colony at Four Oaks never num- 

 bered less than twenty-four during that time, 

 and often many more. 



I ought to say that the calves had the first 

 claim to the skim-milk ; but as we never kept 

 many for more than a few weeks, this claim was 

 easily satisfied. It was like the bonds of a cor- 

 poration, the first claim, but a comparatively 

 small one. The hens came next ; they held pre- 

 ferred stock, and always received a five-pound, 

 semi-daily dividend to each pen of forty. The 

 growing pigs came last ; they held the common 

 stock, which was often watered by the swill and 

 dish-water from both houses and the buttermilk 

 and butter-washing from the dairy. I hold that 

 the feeding value of skim-milk is not less than 

 forty cents a hundred pounds, as we use it at 

 Four Oaks. This seems a high price when it 

 can often be bought for fifteen cents a hundred 



