KEEPIKG ONE COW. 65 



year, and the soil will become rich without any other manure than 

 that derived from the cow. This can be done with little expense, 

 and with no more labor than is involved in ordinary farm culture. 

 It is necessary to begin operations on the farm in most sections 

 of the Middle States, a little earlier than the first of May. 



A cow can be subsisted to the best advantage on a small patch 

 of land, by feeding her Jerusalem Artichokes and a little hay or 

 other dry fodder through the winter and part of spring, and soil- 

 ing her with green rye, clover, and green-corn fodder, the rest of 

 the year. Three-quarters of an acre will, under judicious treat- 

 ment, yield enough of these products to maintain a cow during the 

 year. If the soil be not in good condition to begin with, that 

 quantity of land may, for a year or two, be insufficient for the 

 purpose, and it will then be necessary to supply the deficiency 

 from other sources; but by proper management the land will, in 

 a few years, be converted into a garden that will afford abundant 

 nourishment for the cow, without pasture or outside aid either in 

 food or manure. 



Suppose that a man owns a cow of medium size, or a little 

 larger, that he has three-quarters of an acre of land, that one- 

 third of it, namely, one-quarter of an acre, is in clover, that the 

 remainder is ready for the plow, and that it is early spring-time 

 of the year, he should go to work at once and manure the land 

 liberally, for he will be well repaid for the expense, in the superior 

 productiveness of the soil. All the land, excepting the clover, 

 should be plowed, and one-sixth of the land, that is one-eighth of 

 an acre, should be sowed with oats, with about one-half bushel of 

 seed. One quart of clover seed, and one pint of timothy seed 

 should be sown on the oats. The oats are raised only during the 

 first year, rye being substituted in after years, and the timothy is 

 added for the purpose of increasing the hay-crop hi the second 

 year. One-third of the land (one-quarter ot an acre) should be 

 planted in Jerusalem Artichokes, early in the season. This root 

 should be planted in hills, three feet apart each way, and cultivated 

 flat, both ways. As the land increases in fertility in future years, 

 the hills may be set a little farther apart. The patch should be 

 stirred two or three times with the cultivator while the plants are 

 young, and afterwards kept clear of weeds with the hoe. The 

 weeds require but little attention after the plant has attained a 

 fair growth. One tuber, or piece of tuber, of about the size of a 

 hen's egg, is sufficient for a hill, the seed being covered to the 

 depth of two or three inches with earth. 



