42 KEEPING OKE COW. 



the bag milked dry. A little later, the after-birth naturally passed 

 off and was removed. The udder remained hot, knotty, and so 

 tender that when the calf sucked I had to protect it from the 

 mother's kicks, and also to prevent it from taking one teat which 

 was extremely sore. From this quarter I carefully drew the milk 

 with one of a set of four " inilking-tubes," which I bought two 

 years ago to do my milking, but soon discarded ; here they came 

 in use, just the thing wanted, but one as good as four. At night I 

 milked dry, gave a dose of half a pound of Salts, with one ounce of 

 Nitre, and a warm Bran-mash. The bag was well rubbed as before. 

 The cow ate some hay during the night, and a few cabbage sprouts 

 in the morning. That day (twenty-third), she was on the pasture a 

 little while, and had a full bag of milk, but still hot and tender. 

 The calf was separated from the cow at daylight, and allowed to 

 suck four times during the day, the bag being milked dry, and 

 then oiled and well rubbed every time. The bowels appearing to 

 be in a sufficiently active state, appetite improving, and her eyes 

 natural, the physic was discontinued, the cow allowed to eat grass 

 and hay at will, and for several days the calf sucked at daylight, 

 noon, and dark, the milk left by it being all drawn. The bag was 

 rubbed and anointed two or three times a day, and a little extract 

 of Belladonna added to the oil used. Under this treatment the in- 

 flammation gradually subsided. As soon as the cow would allow 

 her calf to take the tenderest teat, I kept it on that side as much 

 as possible while sucking. At the end of a week after calving, the 

 udder was again in sound condition. The calf was kept until the 

 first of June, and then the owner of its sire took it in full for ser- 

 vice of bull three seasons. We then began to get the full flow of 

 milk, and the pasture being good, it was a fine mess daily. At 

 that time, I began to measure the milk, and have done so ever 

 since. "June" gave four hundred and eighty-two quarts the 

 month she was five years old, an average of sixteen quarts a day. 

 Until the last of July, the cow got all her food from the pasture, 

 and one acre would have done as well as one and a quarter. For 

 the next five or six weeks, the grass was hardly sufficient ; it was, 

 for this period, based upon the experience of August, 1876, that 

 the corn had been provided. The ten rods of Mammoth Sweet, 

 three hundred and fifty to four hundred hills, had been put in at five 

 different plantings, a week apart, and the earliest was just forming 

 ears the last of July when I began using it, at first once a day, 

 then twice. For each feed, the whole plants of three or four hills 

 were taken, and chopped in a straw-cutter, ears and all, into two- 

 inch lengths. This was eaten with great relish, and during August 



