106 KEEPING ONE COW. 



forget, also, that pastures in general are kept down so close during 

 the greater part of the summer, that only by continual labor can 

 her wants be satisfied." 



The same rules are applicable to the soiling of the cow during 

 the summer months, the only difference being that green food is 

 given in the place of dry. This may consist of rye, oats, barley, 

 millet, or Hungarian grass, corn, English grass, etc., cut while in 

 the milk. It will frequently be found that a proportion of dried 

 hay will also at times be highly relished, and may be essential to 

 allay any excessive looseness of the bowels, which may be pro- 

 duced by the succulent food. 



During the time of eating, the milking and other necessary work 

 may be done about the cow house, so that time may be thus econ- 

 omized. 



As to the requisite amount of food, it may be taken as a safe 

 rule, that a milch cow demands hi food, three per cent of her 

 weight. An average cow, then, will require from eighteen to 

 twenty pounds of hay, in addition to a peck or two of roots per 

 day, or the equivalent of this amount in green food during the 

 summer months. 



If the hay is good, and has been properly cured, or if rowen can 

 be given, then there will be little or no demand for grain in any 

 form. If otherwise, from one to two quarts of Indian meal, with 

 two quarts of shorts per day, should be fed out, if we are to ex- 

 pect a good flow of milk. We have found excellent results to fol- 

 low the practice of stirring the meal and shorts, or a portion of 

 these, into a bucket of warm water, and offering this mixture im- 

 mediately after the animal has consumed her dry food, and before 

 any roots are eaten. This extra amount of fluid will be greedily 

 taken, in this way, without any interference with a liberal supply 

 of water at the end of the meal. Salt, at all times, should be ac- 

 cessible to the cow, and perhaps this article may be best supplied 

 by placing a large lump of rock salt m the manger, to be licked as 

 her wants may require. 



Taking Central New England, as before remarked, as the lati- 

 tude of experimentation, it will be found that one square rocl of 

 oats, Hungarian grass, barley, rye, and similar grasses, in proper 

 condition, growing on land in a high state of cultivation, is amply 

 sufficient for a cow for one day. Or m other words, to be within 

 perfectly safe bounds, and considering the chances of partial fail- 

 ure, we may say, that under the conditions above mentioned, forty 

 square rods, or one quarter of an acre, will produce ample food 

 for one cow for thirty-five days. On this basis, upon one acre 



