KEEPING ONE COW. 



VIEWS AM) PRACTICE OF A PRACTICAL 

 FARMER. 



BY F. E. GOTT, SPENCERPORT, N. T. 



Having been a practical farmer all my life, with considerable 

 experience in tbe care of stock and dairying, I give vou the result 

 of my experience. The system of management which would be 

 profitably adopted by one would be utterly impracticable for 

 another. In my own case I have about one acre of land, one 

 half of which I set apart for production of food for my cow, 

 while the remainders occupied by the buildings in part, and the 

 rest is devoted to the culture of small fruits. Without this land 

 I should be obliged to hire my cow pastured through the summer, 

 at a cost of about fifty cents per week, which I am now able to 

 save by practising a system of soiling. The advantages of which 

 are numerous. * 



PROFIT IX BUYING PART OF THE FEED. 



I am aware that, the amount of land which I have devoted to 

 this purpose is inadequate. One acre would be none too much to 

 supply a cow with food through the year, but I can realize more 

 profit by purchasing a portion of the necessary food and devoting 

 part of my land to the culture of small fruits, the amount of 

 money received from the sales of which, will more than pay for 

 the feed that I could raise on the same land. 



My barn (figs. 19 and 20) is inexpensive, yet it answers every 

 purpose. It consists of a box-pen for the cow, an open shed and a 

 pig-sty, the whole covered by one roof, and occupying a space 

 twenty feet in length by fourteen feet in breadth. It is constructed 

 of hemlock lumber. The posts on the front are twelve feet in 

 hight, while those on the back side are eight. It is boarded ver- 

 tically and battened on the sides, and the roof is also covered with 

 rough boards, laid on double, breaking joints so that no water can 

 leak through. The box for the cow is eight feet by ten, and is six 

 feet and four niches high in the clear. Adjoining this is a feeding 

 passage four feet by eight. The arrangement of doors is shown in 

 the accompanying sketch. The middle portion of the building is 

 an open shed, and is sevsn feet wide by fourteen feet long. It is 

 used principally for storing dry muck and also as a cover for the 

 manure pile. Adjoining the open shed is the pig-pen. While the 

 partition between the cow-stall and shed is carried up to the floor 



