Sec. G.] feeding CATTLE AND CARE OF FARM-STOCK. C3 



Farmer, and might have been much more extended, only that we have a 

 great many other gond things to glean from other sources. 



S3. Straw for Cattle. — Mr, Johnson says, in a letter to the Genesee 

 Farmer : " You say tliat I put straw in my bo.xes for my cows. This is not so. 

 No man ever saw me feed straw to cattle, at least for the last twenty-five years. 

 If they choose, they can eat the straw spread out for litter, but I never 

 compel them to eat straw. I know cattle can be fatted on grain and straw, 

 but 1 don't think so profitably as part grain and i)art hay, or part oil-cake 

 and part hay. Grass is the natural food of sheep and cattle ; and hay made 

 from §rass, if properly made, i)uts on fat, even if very little else is fed. I 

 am satisfied that either cows or fatting cattle do much better in 3"ards, Avith 

 amj)le sheds and plenty of straw for clean, dry beds. I can not feed any 

 kind of stock profitably unless they have such lieds." 



84. IViutcriug Catttc. — There is yet a good deal of wisdom to be learned 

 upon this subject, even by those whose talk is of bullocks, an(^ particula>ly 

 in wintering calves. The one great error is in neglecting them in autumn, 

 after the frust has destroyed the sweetness of the grass, and allowing them 

 to commence getting poor before winter feeding is commenced. There is no 

 error more fatal to success than such neglect. It is often the foundation of 

 disease that the animal never recovers from. There is no condition so good 

 for an animal going into winter quarters as a thriving fatness; and if that 

 can be kept up till mid-winter, the danger of starvation upon very light 

 feed in the spring is greatly diminished. It is one of the worst things in all 

 farm economy to neglect feeding stock in the fall, because it is not yet time 

 to begin to fodder. You had better begin in July, if your pasture fails, 

 so that your animals begin to lose flesh. All that is saved of fodder in the 

 fall, upon the plea that "cattle can shift a M-hilc longer," exactly verifies the 

 old saw about " saving at the spigot and wasting at the bung." 



85. Feodins Pumpkins. — A subscriber sends a long communication against 

 feeding pumpkins to cows. The writer's reasoning is not entirely sound, and 

 does not agree with our own experience and observation. As a general rule, 

 we arc quite sure that pumpkins increase rather than diminish the quantity 

 of milk ; and instead of making neat stock grow poor, we have fattened 

 large numbers of cattle on pnnqikins alone. There is one suggestion in our 

 correspondent's letter, however, which may bo worthy of attention. He 

 refers to the fact tliat the seeds of pumpkins have a decided diuretic (urine- 

 producing) cllect upon the human organs, and that if they have the same 

 effect upon cows, the excessive flow of urine must necessarily reduce the 

 flow of the milky fluid. He advises that when pumpkins arc fed, the seeds 

 should be taken out. The idea is plausible, and worth being acted on. 



S(i. Kecpiiis: stork Warm, and Variety of Food.— I^Ian craves a variety of 

 food ; Uiat is, a variety of substances, either one of which would sustain life, 

 but would not be satisfactory. Nature demands the variation, and the mix- 

 ing together the several substances. Wliy ? Sim])ly because no one will 

 give all the elements tliat go to make up the animal economy. One article 



