168 FIRESIDE SCIENCE. 



light ; but grown in mass, in close contiguity, this 

 principle is almost wholly wanting. To test its 

 comparative value with the green stalks taken from 

 the cornfield, I fed to my herd of cows in August 

 a weighed quantity of the " corn fodder," so called, 

 night and morning, for one week ; they were then 

 changed to the field corn stalks, and the gain in 

 the milk product at the end of the week was a little 

 over eight per cent., and there was also a mani- 

 fest improvement in quality. As a rule, all vege- 

 table productions grown under conditions where 

 the chlorophyl, the green coloring principle of 

 plants, cannot be produced in all its richness of tint, 

 are abnormal, immature, worthless. The absence 

 of this principle in the whole of the lower portion 

 of the corn plant grown in drills, or from broadcast 

 sowing, indicates its watery, half- developed charac- 

 ter. As fodder for milch cows in summer, the 

 sweet millet, green oats, and clover are much to 

 be preferred to corn, and one or more of them 

 should take its place upon all dairy farms. 



The water supplied to milch cows has an impor- 

 tant bearing upon the lacteal secretion. With a 

 knowledge of the large percentage normally pres- 

 ent in milk, it is natural to conclude that a full sup- 

 ply should be always accessible both in pastures 

 and in yards, and that the quality should be unex- 

 ceptionable. Muddy, stagnant pools in pastures do 



