CATTLE THE DAIRY. 839 



" For butter making it is essential that cows have an abun- 

 dance of rich and nutritious food. Food should be abundant 

 and easy of access, because much traveling or exercise in 

 obtaining it checks the milk secretion, the food going to supply 

 the waste of tissue lost in extra labor rather than for milk. I 

 know of no better food for milk cows than rich old upland pas- 

 tures, where there is a variety of grasses, and the herbage thick, 

 sweet, and nutritious ; where a cow can get her fill without much 

 labor; where good, sweet water is convenient, and where there 

 is shade, under which she can rest and ruminate. These, in my 

 opinion, will be about the best conditions in which the animal 

 can be placed for yielding much and very fine butter ; and under 

 these favorable circumstances I do not think any profit will be 

 realized by giving grain or meal of any kind as a supplemen- 

 tary food." 



If the pastures are weedy or short so that the cows can not 

 fill themselves readily, it will pay to give additional food, and I 

 have found that a moderate feed of meal is of as much advan- 

 tage to the quality as to the quantity. 



The acreage to a cow varies so greatly on different soils and 

 in different seasons that no rule can be laid down. Our best 

 lands, when well set with a variety of grasses and clover, will 

 in favorable seasons pasture a cow to the acre, but where no 

 provision is made for drought and no extra food is given, it 

 would not be prudent on most farms to stock so heavily, and 

 two and a half acres to the cow would not be too much. It is 

 a matter of interest to ascertain whether it would not often be 

 cheaper to stock heavily, and feed meal and bran regularly 

 through the summer, thus doubling the number of cows and 

 often improving the quality of the product. 



As we are liable to drought at some time during the pasture 

 season, the dairyman should always grow some green crops, to be 

 fed if necessary; and as the dry weather is more frequently 

 late in the summer, and no other crop will yield so much food as 

 corn with the same labor, I recommend this for the main crop. 

 I think the planting of corn for late feeding should never be 

 neglected, for no matter how favorable the autumn, the grass is 



