264 Our Farming. 



Instead of driving them into the stable with a whip, as I know 

 many do, I used to put a little bran in the mangers always, and 

 the moment I went to the door and called they came on a run, and 

 one almost needed a whip to keep them out. I let in one at a time 

 and as soon as she had taken her place, the door was opened just 

 enough to admit another, and they would go by me kicking up 

 their heels. A contented animal will gain faster than an uneasy, 

 unsatisfied one. Blows and unkind treatment, besides being cruel, 

 cost one money every time. And then these cows always had a 

 dry, comfortable bed, and it never froze in the stable. The usual 

 winter temperature was near 50. Their life was as regular and 

 systematic as clockwork, and they were always comfortable. I 

 did not have any covered yard then, but they were never out in 

 the yard only long enough to drink, and a few at a time at that, 

 so that if it was cold it no more than made them appreciate the 

 comfort within. They knew nothing about standing in a cold 

 wind, humping up their backs for hours at a time. If we were 

 having a very bad storm that would wet them, water was given 

 them inside. Now, do you wonder those cows came to me with 

 the first snowstorm if they were not watched ? 



One winter I fed a stable full of steers of my own raising. 

 They were mostly coming three years old. They were choice 

 animals, all of them, that one could take delight in caring for. 

 I could not then afford large stock of such quality, but bought 

 the little calves of William Ellsworth, who had about the finest 

 stock in town, paying about $5 a head for them, such as he did 

 not want to raise, and really I had better have paid $10 than 

 raise the calves from common stock. Well, I sold these 

 steers about the first of February to the late M. Chapman, 

 another man who prided himself on his fine stock, and he was 

 one of the best feeders in town. I was to keep the stock until 

 April, and they were to be weighed and paid for then by the 

 pound. He told me, in answer to a question, that I might feed 

 them just as high and well as I pleased, and I detected a smile on 

 his face and knew he was thinking: "Why, bless you, young 

 fellow, you cannot take care of cattle as well as I with my long 

 experience ! You may do your best, and then they will come to 

 my place and do better ! ' ' My reason for asking him was that I 

 knew cattle I bought from a man who only fed them fairly well, 

 did better for me than those that had been unduly pushed like 

 the single cow of some town man. And I knew I had sold fine 

 animals to a farmer who failed to care for them as well as I, and 

 they run down fast. But after his consent was given, with the 

 smile thrown in, I went to work with a will. They were fed 

 what grain each one could safely eat (I knew them all) some four 

 or five times a day, and then a wisp of dried grass to each one, 

 and then the manger was swept clean while they dropped 

 down and chewed their cuds. A clock was in the barn, actually, 



