1868. 



NEW ENGLAND FAEMER. 



147 



This is "experience." I did not learn it from 

 books and papers alone, but from the looks of my 

 milk pails and my stock. His grass and his cattle 

 may have the salmon color, but I should think 

 they would look more like the last run of shad. 



Under the head of "barns," our Pcpperell far- 

 mer says, "have the roof tight. On the sides and 

 ends where the hay and grain are kept, let there 

 be a space between each board, equal to the thick- 

 ness of your hand. Then your hay and grain 

 will be sweet and good, and your animals will have 

 good lung food and be healthy." I have seen 

 barns of the above description in which the rain 

 and snow blew across the hay, the snow melting 

 and running dov.'n through the hay, turning it 

 yellow and musty. This he calls good lung food. 



By what he says, it appears ventilation is neces- 

 sary. I agree with him there; but he probably 

 forgets that we usually have ventilators on our 

 modern Itarns, and if this does not prove an ade- 

 quate conveyance for the extra steam of the barn, 

 we can have recourse to the holes the carpenters 

 left. G. 8. 



Bradford, Mass., Jan. 11, 1868. 



RAISING CALVES. 



"Will you please repeat the statement made in 

 your paper a few months since, giving the cost of 

 raising calves until two years old ? Please give all 

 the items for hay, grass, meal, &c. Also the best 

 method of salting beef with sugar and little or no 

 saltpetre ? g. e. h. 



Shrewsbury, Mass., Dec. 26, 1867. 



Remarks. — After considerable time spent in 

 looking over the files of the Farmer we find the 

 following, which we presume is the statement al- 

 luded to. It was copied from a report of a discus- 

 sion by the Herkimer county, N. Y., Farmers' 

 Club, on the cost of raising stock, and was pre- 

 sented as the estimate of one of its members. The 

 opinion of the club appeared to settle upon fifty 

 dollars as about the cost of raising two-year-olds 

 in central New York. In other sections, we pre- 

 sume that the value of several of the items of feed 

 mentioned would be much less, and that cheaper 

 ones might be substituted. 



Value of calf if slaughtered for hide or rennet . $] 50 

 Seven quarts of milk per day for a month, esti- 

 mating cheese at 15 cents 7 20 



One hundred poumls oil meal fed during summer 2 00 



Whey fed during summer 1 00 



Pasturage first season 2 00 



Wintering first winter, hay $12 per ton 10 00 



Pasturage second summer 8 00 



Hay second winter 18 00 



Total $49 70 



Mr. C. D. Curtis, of Fond Du Lac, Wisconsin, 

 raised ten heifer calves for his dairy in 1864. He 

 furnished the following statement to the Country 

 Gentleman. 



At three or four days old they were learned to 

 drink. Up to :he middle of May the ten calves 

 had the milk of five cows, two hundred weight of 

 corn meal, and what hay they would eat. Milk 

 and meal were then discontinued, and for the next 

 two months they had about ten quarts sweet whey 

 each per day, and what fresh clover and orchard 

 grass they would eat, fed three times a day — of 

 which they consumed half an acre. The next 

 sixty-three days they were fed the sowed com 



that grew on half an acre, and the same allowance 

 of whey as at first. About the 20th of September 

 they were turned into wheat stubble ground, seeded 

 to grass last spring. When six months old, the 

 heaviest one weighed 430 lbs., live weight, and the 

 whole lot averaged four hundred pounds each. The 

 expense of cutting and feeding the grass and corn- 

 stalks, was about the same as harvesting and 

 threshing an acre of wheat. 



The milk fed, if made into cheese, would have 



sold at $55 CO 



Two hundred weight corn meal at $2 4 03 



Hay, estimated i 00 



One acre land to wheat would have brought . . 30 00 



Value of whey, say 10 Oi) 



Eight tons hay is a great plenty to winter them, 



worth 40 00 



Total for one year $140 00 



Equal to $14 per head for yearlings, which is about 

 double the cost of "peace prices." 



ARE WE IMPROVING OUR STOCK ? 



This is a very important question, as we look 

 about us and see what we are doing with our stock 

 and ourselves. What class of horses is it that has 

 given Vermont her credit ? I think the Woodbury 

 Morgan. Others may not agree with me. I think 

 that class is the Ijcst, all things considered, and 

 should like the opinion of others. What class of 

 sheep has done the most for Vermont, Native, 

 Cotswold, Spanish or Merino ? It costs but very 

 little more to raise a lamb that will bring ten, 

 twenty-five, or fifty dollars, than it does to raise 

 one for two dollars. . Too little attention is paid 

 to the improvement of cattle. It is surprising to 

 see how indifferent farmers are on this subject. 

 Anything that can raise a bellow will do for many 

 of our farmers. Is it not surprising how their 

 eyes are blinded against their interest in this 

 respect. It is little better with three-fourths of the 

 farmers in respect to horses. They look at the 

 first cost of improved breeds and jog on in the old 

 track. But there is no standing still in this busi- 

 ness. We are either going ahead or falling back. 

 So long as our farmers will sell their best cows, 

 mares and ewes, and breed from plugs, so long 

 must we look in vain for improvement ; so long 

 shall we go from bad to worse. I hope I may live 

 to see this state of things change for the better. I 

 want to hear from others on this subject. 



Rochester, Vt., Jan., 1888. v. m. h. 



DUTCH CATTLE. 



Permit me to say that the New England Far- 

 mer has been of gi-eat advantage to me, as the 

 past year has been the first of my farm experience. 

 It keeps us posted on the markets, and the expe- 

 rience of the best farmers in the country. We 

 consider it indispensable. 



Be good enough to inform me through the Far- 

 mer in relation to the Dutch or Holstein cattle. 

 Are the cows as likely to be good milkers as any 

 other kind ? Are they large and well formed ? 

 Are they good workers ? H. T. Cummings. 



Shelburne, N. H.,Jan., 1868. 



Remarks. — Thank you for the good opinions 

 expressed of the Farmer. We shall spare no 

 reasonable pains to make it even better than it is 

 now. 



The Dutch cows are large and handsome, and as 

 far as our knowledge goes, give large quantities of 

 milk. But as is usually the case, where cows 

 yield a large amount of milk, it is not so rich in 



