FARMER'S ASSISTANT." 245 



bushel of turnips, carrots, or other good root, per day, dur- 

 ing the six Winter-months, beside her hay; and, it her 

 Summer-feed be such as it should be, she will give nearly 

 double the quantity of milk she would afford, if only kept 

 during Winter in the usual manner, and the milk will be 

 richer and of better quality. 



The carrots, or other roots, at nineteen cents per bushel, 

 amount to about eighteen dollars. The addition of milk, al- 

 lowing it to be only three quarts per day, for three hundred 

 days, at three cents per quart, amounts to twenty-seven 

 dollars. It should be remembered, too, that, when Cows 

 are thus fed with roots, they consume less hay; and they 

 are less liable to several diseases, which are usually the 

 effect of poor keeping. 



Raw potatoes should not, however, be given to Milch- 

 cows, but should first be steamboiled; otherwise they will 

 commonly lessen the quantity of the milk. 



The feeding of Milch-cows, cattle for fating, and for 

 labor, with roots and cabbages, is a very prominent part 

 of the employment of the British Graziers, and of Farmers 

 who attend to the dairy. For this purpose, fields of turnips, 

 cabbages, carrots, Sec. are raised, and fed out to the cattle 

 during the Fall, Winter, and early Spring. 



The Winters, however, in our northern States, being 

 much severer than those of Greatbritain, renders the feed- 

 ing of cattle with roots, Sec, less practicable than it is in 

 that Country. It is more suitable to the climate of the 

 States south of Pennsylvania. Much more, however, might 

 be profitably done in this way, even in Winter, than is gen- 

 erally imagined. If the Farmer, or Grazier, were first to 

 provide himself with a cellar or apartment under ground, 

 sufficiently large for storing away his roots, and sufficiently 

 warm to prevent their freezing, with a place in it also for a 

 steamboiler, for steaming the roots, he would then find but 

 little difficulty in dealing out this food to his Cows, Sec. 

 even in the coldest weather. 



In this case, however, they must be kept in stalls, with 

 troughs suitable for this kind of food. Nor is there any 

 additional expense in this ; as it is well ascertained, that 

 this is the most economical method of keeping Milch- 

 cows, working and fating- cattle, as well during Winter as 

 Summer. In Winter, as they can be kept warmer, and 

 more comfortably, less fodder is requisite to keep them 

 well, and much less is wasted. 



See SOILING, for the reasons why stall-feeding is also to 

 be prelered in Summer. 

 See also, STABLE, Sec. 



For a description of a Steamboiler, see that article, 



