60 KEEPING OKE COW. 



them excellent helps. " I have never," said be, " paid out money 

 for anything that came back as quickly with as good profit, as su- 

 perphosphates. These and other fertilizers .must be used with 

 judgment to get the best returns, but on gravelly soil, with a clay 

 subsoil like ours here, it pays well." Joseph also asked Mr. M. 

 what he could raise on his lot to the best advantage for his cow. 

 u I should say sowed corn and mangel wurzels. You see this 

 little lot at the back of the barn, it is ten square rods, and very 

 rich ground. 



CORK FODDER. 



" I sow this to corn in drills about this tune (the last of May), BO 

 that it gets well tasseled by the time pastures begin to get rather 

 dry, as they usually do after the middle of summer, then I begin 

 to feed, and it helps keep up the flow of milk amazingly. It is a 

 sweet, juicy and nutritious feed, just the thing for cows. Lot me 

 calculate a little. Why Earnest, if your land could be made to 

 produce like this piece, you can raise coarse fodder enough for 

 your cow for six months, on thirty square rods of ground. I like 

 some roots for cows we like a variety of food, so do animals. 

 The best roots I know of to raise for stock are sugar beets or 

 the mangels." 



Very soon after this conversation Joseph had his half acre of 

 land plowed deep and in narrow furrows, as he had seen recom- 

 mended in agricultural papers. The manure that had accumu- 

 lated from the cow was used for a top-dressing for one half of the 

 plowed portion. This was well harrowed, and three-fourths of it 

 lightly furrowed with the plow, two and one half feet apart. The 

 remaining one-fourth was turned into ridges as close as the fur- 

 rows cculcl be turned together. His team work was now done for 

 the present on this part of his lot especially set apart for his cow. 

 (The other half of the plowed lot was to be used for his main 

 family garden, he having spaded up some beds for early vegeta- 

 bles.) He had provided himself with seed corn from farmer 

 Mason's, some mangel wurzel seed from the seed store, and also 

 a bag of two hundred pounds of phosphate, of a brand recom- 

 mended by Mr. M. The phosphate was sprinkled in the plow 

 marks, at the rate of three hundred pounds to the acre, as near 

 as could be judged, the soil in the bottom of the furrow was 

 lightly stirred with a four pronged potato hook, the corn was 

 sprinkled in, about eight kernels to the foot [sixteen to twenty is 

 better ED.,] and covered about two inches deep. One half of 

 the piece designed for corn was planted, and the other half left to 



