KEEPING ONE COW. 71 



ficiency must be supplied, for it will not do to stint her, and if it 

 is ever found necessary to change or modify her diet, it should 

 be done. 



I have allowed three-quarters of an acre for the sustenance of 

 the cow, and this will be sufficient, but only on condition that 

 the land is in good heart. If the land is poor at the start, it will 

 be safer to begin with more, and afterwards to reduce the quantity 

 to three-quarters of an acre, as the soil increases in fertility. Tie 

 value of clover as a renovator of the soil is well known, but the 

 Jerusalem Artichoke is equally efficacious, if fed on the farm, for 

 it attracts its nitrogen to a great extent from the atmosphere. The 

 dairy-farm now under discussion possesses all the advantages that 

 can be derived from these plants as fertilizers, and as the other 

 crops raised on it do not injuriously exhaust the soil, being cut 

 before they produce their seed, the land will improve indefinitely 

 in fertility. 



THE CALF AND THE CARE OF IT. 



Since the plants here recommended for the nourishment of the 

 cow, afford the best milk-producing food the whole year round, 

 the time of calving may be left to the option of the owner, for it 

 will not affect the quantity of milk that the cow gives. If the 

 milk is mostly needed in summer, the cow should calve in spring, 

 and if it be desirable to have more milk in winter, she should calve 

 in autumn. I might add, that if the butter, or a part of it, is to 

 be sold, it will be more profitable to have the calf in fall than in 

 any other season, because butter brings the highest prices in 

 winter. 



The disposal of the calf depends on circumstances, of which 

 the owner is the best judge. If he concludes to keep it on account 

 of the value of the breed, or for any other reason, he should raise it 

 by hand, not allowing it to suck more than three days at furthest. 

 For the first few days it should receive only the fresh milk of the 

 cow ; afterwards it may be fed on warm fresh milk, skim-milk, 

 buttermilk, whey, and hay-tea, until it is old enough to subsist on 

 solid food. Fresh milk should be the leading diet in the begin- 

 ning, and should be gradually diminished in quantity as the calf 

 increases in strength. Hay-tea is made by pouring boiling water 

 on hay, and letting it steep for about two hours. If the calf is 

 not to be raised, it ought to be sold before it is a week old, be- 

 cause the milk that it drinks before it is ready for the shambles, 

 is worth more than the price it will bring. If a purchaser for the 



