Sec. 3.] COWS, AND THEIR FOOD. 33 



and it is simply a question of easy solution, by experiment, ^vhether it ■will 

 add to theiirotit of the butter-maker to buy corn at one or two cents a pound, 

 and convert a portion of it into butter at 25 cents a pound, or -whatever tlie 

 market price of corn and butter may be, and another portion of it into fat, 

 and another portion of it into nninure, for that is the natural result of the 

 chemical change produced in the laboratory of the cow's stomach. The same 

 result will follow any other kind of feeding. Good pasture will produce an 

 abundance of milk, often as much as the cow can carry ; but does it follow 

 that even then it will not be profitable to feed her with some more oleagi- 

 nous ibod to increase the quantity of butter, just as it sometimes proves 

 profitable to feed bees, to enable them to store more honey? It certainly 

 does appear to us that the value of a cow feeding iipon ordinary winter 

 food may be almost doubled by making that food suitable for the purpose 

 of increasing the quantity of milk, if that is the object, or the quantity of 

 butter, if that is the purpose for which the cow is kept. Farmers generally 

 understand that they can convert corn into beef, pork, and lard, and some 

 of them know exactly at what price per bushel it will pay to convert it into 

 these substances ; but does any one know at wh^t rate it will pay to convert 

 corn or any other grain into butter, or any other kind of feed into any of the 

 dairy products? Is the whole business a hap-hazard one? Wg fear so. 

 Some persons know that they can increase the salable value of butter by 

 adding the coloring matter of carrots to it. Docs any person know the 

 value of a bushel of carrots fed to a cow to increase her value as a butter- 

 producing laboratory ? Experimental proof upon this point would be far 

 more worthy of agricultural prizes than it is to see who can show the largest- 

 sized roots ; for by a few carefully-conducted experiments we should be able 

 to increase the value of a cow almost at pleasure. 



24. Pasture — How many Cows to au Acre. — In Cheshire, England, which 

 is a great grazing county, the land that has been under-drained and top- 

 dressed with ground bones, will carry one cow to each acre through the 

 summer, but the land not thus treated will only carry one cow to two acres. 

 The dressing of bones upon pasture land is 12 to 15 cwt. per acre once in 

 seven years. But even if not repeated at that time, it still continues better 

 than it was before the bones Avere applied. 



Now, how many acres of pasture, on the average, does it require in this 

 country to the cow? Would it not be economy to improve our pasture 

 lands up to the Chesliire standard? 



25. Food Consumed by a Com'. — It is generally estimated that a cow needs 

 each day three per cent, of her M-eight in hay. Tiiat is, if she weighs S cwt., 

 which a fair-sized cow will do, in working order, she will require 24 lbs., or 

 its equivalent, of hay. For five months' feeding — 150 days — ^j-ou will require 

 n,C00 lbs. In the New England States the feeding period averages nearer 

 si.K than five months, and therefore two tuns of hay should be allowed for 

 each cow. 



26. Feed, Exercise, and Shelter have a powerful influence upon the health 



