98 KEEPING ONE COW. 



quarter acre is well set in Alfalfa. The rest I would have 

 plowed twice, very deep, smoothed and laid off in drills for car- 

 rots, which, at the proper season (with us in February or March), I 

 would enrich in the furrows with any well-rotted manure. For 

 Alfalfa almost any good soil suits, for I find it adapts itself to 

 various soils and endures, a great deal of rough treatment, but in 

 order to get the best results it should be well treated. I prefer a 

 moderately sandy soil, which is naturally moist. On dry, mellow 

 ground, it will send down a tap-root ten feet. I have drawn 

 roots out of very sandy soil when digging post holes that would 

 measure six feet. They seek moisture during dry weather, and 

 although I have had Alfalfa die down, the ground being parched 

 and cracked, yet when the fall or winter rains begin, it springs 

 up in a few days. 



As soon as the Alfalfa conies in, feed it alone, salting as suits 

 one's own idea. When the first scattering blooms appear I would 

 cut the remainder namely, that which had not been cut each day 

 for the cow. I would then cure it as rapidly as possible, and 

 put it under cover, sprinkling salt over it. I now advocate and 

 practice feeding the cured hay in preference to the green. By 

 the latter you obtain a greater flow of milk, but with the former I 

 consider the milk richer, and this is the experience of dairymen 

 with whom I have conversed. 



A cow learns to eat the cured fodder almost as readily as the 

 green, and all danger of bloat is obviated. Some may think be- 

 cause I am in California that irrigation makes some difference, but 

 my Alfalfa grows without it. I cut mine six times last summer, 

 1879, and it was an exceptionally dry and hot season. Our rains 

 fall mostly in winter, and that has to do us until the next winter. 



Now, as to the cow, I would place her in a corral or lot, we'll 

 say, of one-fourth to half an acre in size, giving her a comfortable 

 house or shed for winter, m which I think she should be fastened 

 by a closed door in cold rainy weather. At other times she 

 should be allowed the run of the lot, having access to good fresh 

 water at least twice a day. Shade trees for summer's hot sun are 

 indispensable. In this lot or corral you have all the manure 

 where it can be gathered up daily or weekly, and composted 

 or housed, ready to be spread on the ground for future crops. 

 Some would say a cow should be curried every morning. They 

 certainly do enjoy it, but many California farmers never saw 

 such a thing done. I think it should be done just before the ani- 

 mals begin to shed their old coats ; afterwards I see little use of it. 



