24 Our Farming. 



doing chores without any coat on, in the coldest weather. I 

 patched the roof as well as I could, and put straw overhead on a 

 temporary floor to catch the rain that came through. The ani- 

 mals were given a comfortable he'd of either straw or swamp grass 

 or sawdust. The swamp grass was mowed in the winter on the 

 ice. The land had overflown and frozen, and this gave me a nice 

 chance to cut it and draw it off with my horse and sled. Pretty 

 big business, \vasn 't it, for a man w r ho had given up a position in 

 town with a salary of more than $1000 a year? Well, I had 

 practically no experience in farming, but I do think I had ordi- 

 nary common sense, and this told me that any animals to thrive 

 must be comfortable ; and then I do not think I could have slept 

 well unless my animals were taken care of reasonably well. 

 When the straw and the marsh hay gave out, I drew sawdust, 

 load after load, for bedding. On a bed of this a foot deep the 

 cows were very comfortable. It cost nothing but the w^ork of 

 getting it, and I enjoyed this, my stock seemed so comfortable on 

 the soft bed. In after years I used many loads of sawdust for 

 bedding, and never saw any bad results from the application of 

 so much to the soil. I found the best way to get it- was to draw 

 in the summer time, when no one else wanted it, and I could 

 always get plenty. It was stored in a mass in a shed and would 

 heat and dry itself out, so it was entirely dry like dust by winter. 

 It thus made a drier bed for the stock and would absorb more 

 liquid manure. I had some fears that the heap might take fire 

 from excessive heating, but probably they were groundless. Our 

 shed would hold some 2000 bushels, so there was bulk enough to 

 heat, perhaps, as hot as it could. The actual value of the saw- 

 dust as a fertilizer, I think, is not enough to pay for hauling it. 

 Of course, there is some fertility in it, but I would not consider 

 this of much practical account by itself. It is only when it will 

 make the stock more comfortable and absorb liquid manure that I 

 would go after it. We have plenty of straw now for bedding and 

 do not need to use sawdust. This first year on the farm, and for 

 several years following, we did not have plenty of home-grown 

 bedding, and sawdust helped us out. Further, feed was worth 

 more then than now, and as I was situated I made money by 

 feeding out my straw with oil-meal and w r heat bran and going 

 after sawdust for bedding, and absorbent to use in the place of the 

 straw. 



When I had this comfortable stable ready the cows were put 

 in and kept in, except just long enough to go to a hole cut in the 

 ice in a frog pond nearby, to get water. In fact, very soon one 

 couldn't keep them out a moment longer than this, if the door 

 was open, unless he fairly pounded them with a club. They 

 were just crazy to get back. Their actions showed very plainly 

 that they fully appreciated the efforts made for their comfort. 

 But they showed appreciation also, in another way, that was 



