44 KEEPING ONE COW. 



found empty at noon. At that hour, the regular watering, two or 

 three pailfuls, and then a small bunch of hay thrown in the box ; 

 the stall cleaned also. Between six and seven at night, the milk- 

 ing done and bedding fixed, the roots fed, chopped up pretty fine 

 with a spade, and the cotton-seed meal sprinkled over them. Hay 

 then given, and the cow left for the night. 



It was my intention to feed the roots in two parts, morning and 

 night, and I should have preferred this, but my time in the morn- 

 ing was limited. Preparing the roots over night, they sometimes 

 froze, but I could cut the hay at evening, ready for the morning 

 chop-feed. As one kind of root was about to give out, some of 

 the next to be fed were mixed in, and thus sudden changes 

 avoided. The extra hay and stalks calculated for February and 

 March were not used exactly in those months, but consumed 

 during severely cold and windy spells, being added to the usual 

 noon and night portions. At all times, the cow had, under this 

 plan, full as much as she was ready to eat up clean. The hay 

 left on hand a year ago was all used last summer, and before No- 

 vember a full load each of the best rowen and clover hay were 

 put into the barn, one thousand six hundred and one thousand 

 four hundred pounds respectively, and there is a little left. 



It ought also to be mentioned that while the cow was mainly 

 fed on sweet corn, last July and August, I was obliged to add 

 about two pounds of cotton-seed meal a day, to give quality to 

 the milk ; it was fed dry, at noon. As soon as the feeding of car- 

 rot tops began, this meal was omitted, but it was again needed 

 when turnips were substituted for carrot and beet tops. The ra- 

 tion of mangolds was increased to about two bushels in three 

 days, because there were plenty of them, and my house cellar 

 being rather warm, they commenced to rot. I was very careful 

 to give the cow only sound roots. This extra food in February 

 and March resulted in a better milk record by " June " than in the 

 two months next preceding. I shall feed more roots the coming 

 year. There were more parsnips than could be well used ; they 

 were not needed until April, and I sold five dollars' worth, as an 

 offset to what the cow got from last year's kitchen garden. The 

 cow goes on to pasture to-day. 



Therefore, in review, the cow has been carried through the year 

 with the one and one-half acres rented for thirty dollars, and 

 forty-five dollars expended for hay and grain. Against the ma- 

 nure taken for my garden may be placed the cleanings of the 

 poultry house, the contents of the earth-closet, and the garden 



