KEEPING OKE COW. 25 



THE COW IN THE GULF STATES. 



BY GEORGE G. DOFFEE, MOBILE, ALA. 



For several years I had been experimenting on a small scale in 

 soiling cattle. My area of land, however, was exceedingly limited, 

 being only a portion of the kitchen garden of a city resi- 

 dence, but my success was, even in this small way, so sat- 

 isfactory, that I determined at some future day to try it on 

 a more extensive scale. My reading and experience convinced 

 me, that in our favored southern climate, a half acre of land, 

 intelligently cultivated, would produce a supply of food amply 

 sufficient to support one cow through the year, and circum- 

 stances favoring, I determined to try the experiment. In April, 

 1876, 1 became owner of a lot two hundred and fifty feet long 

 by one hundred and twenty wide in the rear of my premises 

 the greater portion having been used as a grass plot for a 

 horse. I immediately began by fencing off a portion one hun- 

 dred and twenty feet by two hundred, running a wagon-way 

 eight feet wide down the center, which, with the space occu- 

 pied by the stable (say twenty by thirty feet), left nearly twenty- 

 two thousand feet, or within a fraction of half an acre, for 

 actual cultivation. The land was a sandy lo;im, covered with 

 a thick sod of Bermuda and other grasses. Years before it 

 had been cultivated as a market garden, but latterly given 

 up to grass ; it sloped to the south sufficiently to favor good drain- 

 age. In and around the stable was a goodly lot of manure, which, 

 during April, was spread upon the land some forty cart loads. 

 On April twentieth the land was thoroughly plowed with a two- 

 horse turning-plow, and harrowed until finely pulverized. On 

 May first, I planted one half of the land in Southern field corn, 

 in drills two feet apart, with the grains about one inch apart. 

 The rows were lengthwise, to render after cultivation more con- 

 venient. On May fourth, sugar corn was put in one half of the 

 remainder, planting at the same distance as the larger variety. 

 May sixth, the remaining fourth was sown heavily with German cr 

 "Golden" Millet, in drills twelve inches apart. Seasonable show- 

 ers, followed by warm sunny days, soon produced a vigorous and 

 rapid growth. On May fifteenth, a Thomas' harrow was run over 

 the first planted corn, and six days later over the second planting, 

 and over the millet. On May thirtieth, the corn was plowed, fol- 

 lowed by a good hoeing. A fortnight later, a second and last hoeing 

 2 



