Seo. 3.] 



COWS— now TO CHOOSE A GOOD ONE. 



41 



severe season it is more by chance than for any care which they receive. On 

 the praii-ies, cattle can bo ke])t so easily in suniuier that every one is tempted 

 to overstock himself to such a degree, while the grass is green, that a portion 

 must die in winter. ISTow we would say to the farmers, you can not atford 

 this. Every one of these six hundred cattle which perished in Ohio could 

 have been sold at a low price by the owners, who were short of feed, to 

 others who would have carried them through the winter. And how infinitely 

 better this would have been than to allow such an amount of stock to die 

 of starvation ! 



It is not only in Trumbull County that cattle have perished in winter ; 

 the entire West has suffered equally in this respect with Oiiio. On the 

 Illinois prairies, where there is no limit to the amount of hay that might be 

 cut, cattle have died in large numbers for the want of a quarter more hay 

 than they had eaten during the winter. And yet the farmers of those dis- 

 tricts persevere in their criminal folly, although the result of each year's 

 experience ought to be sufficient to open their eyes to a proper realization 

 of the truth. Xo farmer can afl'ord to keep more cows or horned cattle than 

 he can provide hay for at the rate of two tuns per head ; he should never 

 attempt to keep more cattle than he can house warmly, unless lie has hay to 

 waste, and is willing to sacrifice at least one fourth of the stock. 



It is one of the most painful sights to be met with in traveling through the 

 West, while passing the little cabins of the new settlers, to see cows and 

 calves, oxen and young stock, all huddling together, without any shelter from 

 the cold winter storm. Is it any wonder that one half of tliese famished, 

 neglected things should perish before spring? Farmers, you must learn 

 wisdom from the calamities of severe winters. Keep fewer cattle, and 

 keep them better, and you will make more mone}*. "We might give hundreds 

 of extracts from country papers to convince you that feed is scarce every 

 year, but it would be superfluous. The richest corn country of Indiana 

 has suffered quite as much as its sister States during many hard winters* 

 and this is because it is a rich corn country, and rich in nothing else. Lar<Te 

 farms without grass ; cattle M-ithout food, dying by thousands ; farmers 

 losing all their stock, "because it is a late spring," or, rather, because thev 

 undertook to Avinter an unreasonable number. Will the farmers of our 

 country never take advantage of ihe exi)erience of the past, aiul learn that 

 they can not afiord these wasteful and ruinous sacrifices ? 



41. To fhoosp a Good Ulilcli ("o\v. — Select from a good breed. "W'e prefer 

 the Devons — bright bay red. The Durliams are J'oau, red, white, and mix- 

 tures of these colors. Ayrshire cows are generally red and M-liite spotted. 

 Ilcrofords, red or darker colored, with white faces. Alderneys, pale red and 

 mixed with white. These are the principal colors of the several breeds, of 

 which the Durliams arc the largest and Alderneys the smallest. Diflcrent 

 inilividuals will contend for each breed being the best and onlv one that 

 should be selected for their milking qualities. But animals of each breed 

 and of crosses of them, often prove remarkable milkers, and so do some of the 



