JAN.] COWS. 13 



mixture of straw, instead of feeding in the com- 

 mon way with hay, is to be recommended, at all 

 events, to as great a degree as can be effected ; for* 

 the saving is unquestionable. Nor is it to be prac- 

 tised for the teams only, but also for all other stock 

 that eat hay. Mr. Page, of Cobham, ifi feeding 

 his stock, gives no hay or straw but what is cut 

 into chaff. At the expence of only 5l. he added a 

 mill-wheel to his chaff-cutter, by which means a 

 boy and a little poney cut 20 bushels per hour. This 

 practice he finds so profitable, that he earnestly re- 

 commends it*. 



For sheep, attention must be paid to the troughs 

 in which it is given, to see that they be so boarded 

 as to prevent the wind from blowing the chaff out : 

 this is effected in Lord Clarendon's sheep-yard, in 

 Hertfordshire, by a semicircular boarding, which 

 covers the sheep's heads while feeding in the troughs. 



cows. 



Several cows will probably calve in this month ; 

 about a month before which, they should be tak- 

 en into the cow-house from the straw-yard, and 

 be baited twice a day with green food ; turnips, 

 cabbages, carrots, potatoes, or whatever is the field 

 winter food. After they calve they should be kept 

 quite separate from the lean stock, either in the 

 house or in another yard, and be fed upon those arti- 

 cles and hay, or very good straw. Cabbages will 

 maintain cows in the cheapest manner, and make the 

 butter perfectly sweet ; but the decayed and yellow 



* Annals of Agriculture, vol. xyyiii. p. 107. 



leaves 



