74 



Farm Accomodations for Cattle. 



Vol. II. 



whom he is accustomed goes and sits down 

 upon him, and strokes him over the face, he 

 will turn round, and put his head on their 

 lap, and lie there contentedly as long as they 

 please. 



Mr. Perkins very properly observes, that 

 the chief advantages of these Brahmin bulls 

 would probably consist in their speed and 

 strength, in both of which they surpass any 

 of our breeds. 



The cow (lb) is at grass with the milch 

 cows, and comes up with them morning and 

 evening, when they are driven to be milked ; 

 but Mr. Perkins has not ventured to have her 

 milki^d, on account of the probable danger of 

 the attempt : the value of these cattle for the 

 pail is therefore unknown. Two calves have 

 been bred from them, and a milch yow is 

 now in calf by the bull. 



Farm accommodations for Cattle« 



Farmers differ so nmch in their opinions, 

 situations, pursuits, resources, &c., that it is 

 quite impossible to lay down any general plan 

 with regard to the arrangement of accommo- 

 dations for their stock. 



In Pennsylvania, there is a laudable emu- 

 lation among the farmers in building good 

 barns, which accommodate their stock com- 

 fortably. In them they stow away hay and 

 grain. When the wheat is threshed out, the 

 straw is replaced, ready to litter the stable 

 and feed the cattle. The provender is so 

 convenient, that a boy can feed the stock of 

 a considerable farm in half an hour, without 

 going out of doors; and as all the hay and 

 straw is in one place, consequently all the 

 manure, without much attention, centres in 

 one body, and is by that means preserved, as 

 they have mostly a cow-yard with a fountain 

 of water in it ; in this the manure is kept, 

 and the cattle run during the day to get 

 water. 



These barns are so constructed that the 

 lower story holds all the stock, and frequently 

 have granaries and carriage houses, with 

 room for all the hay, wheat, &c., produced 

 on one or two hundred acres. This building 

 is much more convenient, costs less, takes 

 less room, and the business is more easily 

 conducted, than by building corn-house, sta- 

 ble, carriage-house, hay and straw sheds, all 

 separate, as some of our farmers do, requiring 

 four times the roof, which is the most costly 

 part of the building, some of which are fre- 

 quently of a temporary cliaracter, and are 

 often a disgrace to a handsome farm ; whereas 

 the barn is a convenient, substantial, cheap 

 building, considering the accommodation it 

 affords. 



Robert Smith, Esq., of Baltimore, gives the 



following account of his dairy farm arrange- 

 ments : 



" The barn is constructed according to the 

 best Pennsylvania models. The yard is to 

 the south of it. On the east and west sides, 

 are cow stables containing 110 well-made 

 stalls, and well ventilated by a sufficient num- 

 ber of windows and double doors. In these 

 stables, in summer as well as in winter, seve- 

 ral ranges of cattle, duly littered and properly 

 secured, each by a chain and halier. At the 

 tails of each range of cows, there is a drain 

 made of strong planks, so fixed as to receive 

 all their dung and urine. These several 

 drains have a sufficient declivity to carry all 

 the fluid matter to iheir southern termina- 

 tions, where they intersect similar drains, 

 which convey all this liquid manure into a 

 cistern fifty feet long. This cistern is so 

 placed and constructed as to receive not only 

 the urine of the stables, but also the liquid 

 matter of the farm-yard. In it there is a 

 pump, by means of which, its contents are 

 pumped into a large hogshead, fixed on a 

 pair of wheels, drawn by oxen. To the end 

 of this hogshead is attached a box pierced 

 with holes, into which this liquid manure 

 flows through a spigot and faucet, and is then 

 sprinkled over the ground, as the oxen move 

 forward. 



" For the purpose of augmenting the quan- 

 tity and improving the quality of the food of 

 my stock of every kind, I have established 

 a steam apparatus. It consists of a boiler and 

 two wooden boxes, in which boxes is steamed 

 the food. These boxes contain each eighty 

 bushels. By this simple apparatus, every 

 species of coarse vegetable ofial^ is converted 

 into nourishing food, and all the ordinary pro- 

 vender is rendered more nutritious." 



The common cattle stalls of our country, 

 says Col. Pickering, are so ill contrived and 

 so straightened in their dimensions, that the 

 cattle are constrained to lie down in part of 

 their own dung. This dries and forms a thick 

 coat on their hind quarters, from which they 

 are not relieved till they shed their hair in 

 the spring. They are thus rendered uncom- 

 fortable. To be uncomfortable is to suffer 

 some degree of pain ; and no one will sup- 

 pose that animals in 'pain can thrive, or pre- 

 serve their plight with the same food, equally 

 with others perfectly at ease. 



The practice of stacking hay and fodder in 

 the fields, and feeding the cattle round the 

 stacks and fodder houses, cannot be too much 

 condemned. The disadvantages of which 

 are, a wasteful use of the provender; the 

 dung lying as it dropped, without straw or 

 any other vegetable substance brought to it, 

 the manure is little in quantity, and that not 

 lying ifl heaps, is reduced abundantly by ex-- 



