KEEPING OXE COW. 91 



pleasure which I have taken in caring for my pet cow, and in pro- 

 viding for her wants, and the pride I feel in exhibiting both my 

 cow and the delicious rich milk and yellow butter, with which she 

 so bountifully supplies us, amply repays me for my part of the 

 labor. I have made no account of using concentrated food, such 

 as oil-cake and cotton-seed meal, for the reason that I have had 

 very little experience in the use of them. Whenever an animal 

 has become thin and poor, these articles of food may be used to 

 advantage to increase the flesh and bring the animal into good 

 condition. But I never let my cow get poor, and I find that good 

 hay, with corn, oats, and bran, answers every purpose, and is fully 

 adequate to all her requirements. My system of rotation is as 

 follows : The one-eighth acre of clover sod of the preceding year 

 is well manured either during the winter or in the spring, and 

 well fitted up and sown to beets or n. angels. This crop occupies 

 the land during the whole season. The same plot is again plowed 

 the next spring for sowed corn. After this crop is off it is again 

 manured and sown to rye, and the following spring is again seeded 

 to clover. It is kept in clover one year, yielding two crops during 

 the season, after which it is treated as before. Each of the four 

 plots undergoes the same treatment; thus a complete rotation is 

 established. 



