THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



329 



milk to be wholesome, if she is kept in 

 dirty close quarters The cow should al- 

 ways have a supply of clean, fresh water, 

 from which she can drink. It has been 

 proven by scientific investigation that 

 cows which drink from stagnant pools or 

 from dirty ditches, cr polluted wells, may 

 take in disease germs which afterwards go 

 into the milk, and so produce sickness in 

 the people who are thoughtless enough to 

 drink such milk. It is also very import- 

 ant that the cow herself is a healthy ani- 

 mal. One should be careful to get milk 

 from cows which are strong, healthy and 

 carefully treated animals. The food is a 

 very important point. To the beef cow we 

 feed corn, oats and hay; to the dairy cow 

 we feed bran, roots, oats and hay. A very 

 good ration for a dairy cow is twenty 

 pounds of carrots, ten pounds of bran and 

 shorts, and some oats or alfalfa hay. This 

 is in the season when she can not get at 

 pasture. When she can be turned out to 

 eat grass she need only have a little bran 

 and a little hay. A cow eats hay with 

 pleasure to herself and profit to her owner 

 every day in the year. It is very import- 

 ant that nothing like slops or swill or ref- 

 use from breweries or such food be given 

 cows. If turnips are fed to a cow one 

 hour before she is milked, the milk will 

 taste of turnips, so quickly does milk be- 

 come contaminated. It is easy to see that 

 slops ar decayed and rotten vegetable 

 matter will also make milk both unwhole- 

 some and unpleasant to the taste. For a 

 like reason cows should not be allowed to 

 feed on weeds, as they are often obliged 

 to do where no regular pasture is provided 

 for them and they are allowed to roam 

 around and shift for themselves, drinking 

 from ditches and eating anything that 

 looks green. 



It pays to keep good cews and to treat 

 them well. The ordinary scrub cow will 

 give from 125 to 150 pounds of butter a 

 year. A well-bred, carefully handled cow 

 will give 300 pounds of butter 'a year, and 

 ne is known which gave 1000 pounds of 



butter in a year. Nor is breeding every" 

 thing. An ordinary herd which gave 150 

 pounds of butter per head was turned over 

 to an expert and by giving these same ani- 

 mals the proper food he got them up to the 

 point where they produced 300 pounds per 

 head during the year. If you want to get 

 good results from any cow you must house 

 her well, keep her warm, keep her clean, 

 feed her clean, wholesome food, and give 

 her plenty of pure, fresh water to drink. 



SUGAR BEET CULTURE. 



By GEO. H. HUTCHINS. 



The Pecos Valley Beet Sugar Company 

 has decided to plant all of their lands in 

 alfalfa and are urging the farmers to do 

 the same. A large acreage is being put 

 into alfalfa. This step is taken in order to 

 put the lands of this valley in better con- 

 dition for the culture of beets. It is a 

 well known fact that alfalfa in this valley 

 is the fertilizer. The manager thought it 

 prudent to advise this in order to have the 

 land in first-class condition for the culti- 

 vation of beets in 1901. In the meantime 

 steps will be taken to get a colony of good 

 beet growers, mostly Grernsans, to raise 

 the beets for the factory. They are con- 

 vinced that this course is the proper one 

 to give the factory a full supply of beets. 

 We are as confident as ever that both the 

 soil and the climatic conditions in this 

 valley are exceedingly favorable for beet 

 culture, but realize that proper fertilization 

 and good beet growers are necessary here 

 as well as in any district where beets are 

 being raised. It has been thoroughly 

 demonstrated that the ploughing under of 

 a good growth of alfalfa is the best policy, 

 and the one that is needed particularly in 

 this valley. The Company feel assured 

 that the policy adopted by them will insure 

 a large crop for 1901, one that will give 

 sufficient beets to work the factory up to 

 its full capacity. The plant itself has 

 been put in absolutely first-class condition. 

 With the recent improvements made in 

 the same, though not a large plant, it is as 



