58 KEEPING ONE COW. 



Joseph, having no experience of his own, was glad to use that 

 of others in regard to his cow, so from this time he began feeding 

 " Comfort " corn meal, beginning with a pint and increasing gradu- 

 ally to one quart ; the result being plainly seen in the improved 

 quality of the milk and condition of the calf When this was five 

 weeks old the butcher took it away giving five dollars for it, and 

 seemed much pleased with his bargain. 



That evening Joseph figured a little. He found his bran and 

 corn meal had cost three dollars and fifty-five cents, so there was a 

 balance of one dollar and forty-five cents from the calf to pay on the 

 hay. They had had from three to four quarts of milk per day, of 

 better quality than that they could have bought for six cents a quart. 

 Thirty days, three and one-half quarts a day, at six cents a quart, 

 is six dollars and thirty cents. By stabling and bedding the cow, 

 quite a quantity of good manure had accumulated, and Joseph felt 

 very well satisfied, so far, with his experiment, and most of all for 

 the luxury of having good sweet milk for the family use. It was 

 now the middle of May, grass was well started, and as there were 

 farms near them, it was thought best to hire pasture for the sum- 

 mer. By inquiry they found she could be pastured one-fourth 

 mile from home. This seemed too far to carry the milk, and 

 would take too much time to drive back and forth twice a day. 

 " Why not keep her at home nights, and feed her something as 

 we do now," said Mary; " she will be glad to come home then. 

 Father always feeds his cows bran in the summer; he says it pays 

 in their ' coming up' if in nothing else. He goes to the gate and 

 calls ' come boss,' and they all start as quickly as if he had said, 

 * come to supper,' and it is that to them." So it was decided to 

 keep " Comfort " home nights. In a few days " Comfort " was intro- 

 duced to her summer range, and quickly learned the way to and 

 from the pasture, and the children tho;ght it a great pleasure to 

 drive her to and fro. 



"Joseph," said Mary, about this time, " what shall we do with 

 the sour milk ? The neighbors will take some of it at two cents a 

 quart, but the demand is irregular, and it don't seem right 

 to throw it away. Don't you think we better get a pig?" 

 " Perhaps so ; as we are in for experiments this year we might try 

 that also. Mason has some nice pigs two kinds. One kind 

 make large growthy animals, the other kind are smaller but finer, 

 and would be best for us, I think" Soon a pig was added to their 

 farm stock. Joseph declared he would not try to live without a 

 cow again if it cost twice as much to take care of her. " Why we 

 didn't know what good living was until 'Comfort' came to live 



