KEEPING ONE COW. 31 



more or less. On this food she was kept through the winter, 

 giving milk of excellent quality, and in good quantity. 



In February, she was tethered every fair day in the oats, and in 

 March, w fed her a good iness of fresh cut oats, still, how- 

 ever, keeping up the winter feed of corn fodder, pea-hay, 

 wheat bran, and cotton meal. About April first, the feed of 

 green oats was increased to all she would eat, feeding three 

 times daily, and the excellence of this diet was shown by a 

 marked increase in the quantity of her milk. Though due to 

 calve again in July, she continued to supply a family of ten per- 

 sons with an abundance of milk. Late in April, when the oats 

 were in the milk state, they were cut and cured for hay, making a 

 little over a ton of good food. 



Upon summing up the result, the foil jwing dollar and cents 

 view of the experiment of sustaining a cow on a half acre is sub- 

 mitted. The labor expended in cultivation is not put down as an 

 item of expense, as the carriage horse was used in plowing, and 

 the hired man did the rest. 



Dr. 

 To 1,500 pounds Wheat Bran, at 90c ..................... $13.50 



" 200 pounds Corn Meal, at 70c ............ .......... 1.40 



" 803 pounds Cotton-seed Meal, at $1 ................. 8.00 



" SOJpounds Hay, at 75c ............................. 2.25 



Total ............................................... $25 . 15 



Or. 

 By sale of 2,200 pounds of Corn-fodder, at 60c. . . .$13.20 



<5f '< 2,100 pounds of Oats, at 75c ............ 15.75 



Profit ......................... 4 ........ t .............. $ 3.80 



But the profit above shown does not express the real profit. A 

 year's continuous supply of rich milk in abundance, for a large 

 household, cream for special occasions, and that best of luxuries, 

 delicious home-made butter, and one hundred dollars for the little 

 heifer when six months old, aggregate the chief results of the 

 experiment. 



For the best results in soiling, no crop compares, as far as my 

 experience goes, with our Southern variety of Indian corn; on 

 rich land it produces marvellously. I have raised it at the rate of 

 one hundred thousand pounds (or fifty tons) per acre. There is 

 no difficulty in producing three crops in one season on the same 

 land. But cattle need a variety of food in soiling, as in other 

 forms of feeding. Oats are excellent, and come in early. Cat- 

 tail Millet (" Pearl Millet ") is a rapid grower, but cattle are not 

 specially fond of it ; they like German Millet better. Garden (or 



