532 DAKOTA COUNTY, MINNESOTA. 



two feeds of oats and one of corn in Winter, bran taking the 

 place of corn in Summer. They are fed wild hay or straw, 

 never tame hay any length of time, which if fed constantly 

 surely gives them the lieaves. Colts are fed bran for tlie first 

 year ; after that time, the same as the horses, and all have a 

 handful of salt and wood ashes each week. Cattle are fed in 

 a rack similar to that for the horses, only not so hi^h. They 

 are fed all the hay they will eat during the night from their 

 rack, and bran or corn-meal once a day, except the milch cows, 

 who are fed generously (that is, all they will eat without get- 

 ting off their feed), of bran and corn-meal alternately, twice 

 a day, with salt twice a week, and straw or corn-stalks in the 

 yard. The calves are reared as follows : I feed new milk the 

 first two weeks, then skimmed milk, taking a. little older all 

 the time, till they use the oldest. Better calves can be raised 

 on plenty of old milk than on a short allowance of new. 



HORSES. 

 I would say that for farm work, my choice is a spirited, 

 quick-stepping, good-natured horse, weighing from ten to thir- 

 teen tiundred. I have tried the sixteen hundred Percherons, 

 but do not like them, for they are too slow and heavy. I greatly 

 prefer some of the trotting family mixed with what we call 

 common stock. 



CATTLE. 



I have bred, in the cattle line, the Devons, Short-Horns, 

 and Jerseys. Neither kind quite reaches the mark of the high 

 calling for which it has been advertised, but after years of 

 experimenting with the different breeds, I have settled on as 

 the choice for my purposes the cross between a good milking 

 strain of the Short- Horns and the Jerseys. The Short-Horns 

 furnish the size, the Jerseys the splendid quality of milk for 

 beautiful golden-colored butter. 



SHEEP. 



For sheep, I keep only the pure-blood South-Downs. They 

 are acknowledged b}- all to be the best for mutton, and for 

 hardiness they can not be beaten. For example : Last Spring, 



