No. 12. Before and after Calving. — Broad-Leaved Plantain. 



381 



but which I put at 20 per cent. — and strike 

 the balance of profit and loss between this 

 system of farming and that which I have fol- 

 lowed for many years. I vow it is ridiculous 

 even to think of it. 



While I was looking over these handsome 

 steers, I could but ask myself, supposing they 

 were three old cows that had been fed fat for 

 the butcher, even at the same expense and 

 labour, what would be their relative value? 

 which I leave your readers to fix, after the 

 trouble of finding a market for them. Now, 

 I mean to go into the same plan of stock- 

 farming at once, and shall therefore thin off 

 my dairy cows, many of which have seen 

 their best days ; but you will not catch me 

 making beef of them ; I will never undertake 

 that labour, but dispose of them to those who 

 are more fond of hard work ; and purchase 

 with the money young cattle, which will 

 make themselves ; and if I give two for one, 

 I know who -will in the end reap the profit. 

 I have heard there has been a proposal to in- 

 troduce into this country the Scotch Kyloe 

 breed of cattle, for the supply of fat beef in 

 the market at this season of the year; but to 

 those who have seen two-year old animals of 

 this particular Scotch breed, and have had 

 opportunity to compare them with those of 

 the breed here recommended, there will be 

 no longer a question as to the expediency of 

 such importation ; in a single "dip" with the 

 Durham or the Devon, will be found all that 

 can be desired, with an early maturity that 

 sets all competition at defiance. 



The engraving of the bull Patriot, in 

 your number for June, is splendid ; and the 

 accompanying remarks from Youatt's work, 

 are highly interesting, as particularly eluci- 

 datory of the plan proposed for adoption by 

 your correspondent: the weights and prices 

 of the two-year old thorough-breds there enu- 

 merated would, if not vouched for by such 

 testimony, appear bordering on the marvel- 

 lous — but I intend to put them to the proof 

 by experiment. I have a neighbour who will, 

 in all probability, join me in carrying out the 

 plan recommended by J. Neal. We should, 

 therefore, have to purchase a first-rate bull 

 for our use, and perhaps the use of the neigh- 

 bourhood around us. Do you know of any 

 person who has such an animal to dispose of, 

 on decent terms 1 B. 



June 26, 1841. 



" One load of manure housed, is worth two 

 loads which are left out to be drenched by 

 the rains, and to undergo the action of the 

 frosts. It will pay as well to house our ma- 

 nure as our cattle, and those who have no 

 convenient place to put it, should build tem- 

 porary sheds." 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Cows, before and after Calving. 



Mr. Editor, — A youthful writer in the 

 New England Farmer has the following ju- 

 dicious remarks on a subject that has obtained 

 but little consideration from older and more 

 practised hands. True it is, that to the rising 

 generation we are to look for observation. 



" My father's practice until last autumn 

 was, to feed his cows for a short time before 

 calving higher than they had previously been 

 fed, in order to have their bags well filled at 

 the time of calving, when it was his practice 

 also to give them warm water thickened with 

 meal. The consequence was, this extra feed- 

 ing caused the udder to fill too soon, and the 

 milk continuing to press in, produced inflam- 

 mation, and the cows were much troubled 

 with hard and swollen bags. Observing this, 

 I last spring requested my father to try an 

 experiment on a cow that the year before 

 had given us much trouble, by reducing the 

 quality of her food, instead of increasing it, 

 and the result was, she calved before her bag 

 was full. At first she gave but little milk, 

 but in a short time her milk increased, and 

 the udder remained soft and pliant. We have 

 had no trouble on this score since, except 

 with a heifer which calved about the first of 

 July, when the grass was abundant; and this 

 would probably have been prevented, had she 

 been fed at the barn for eight or ten days with 

 hay before calving, and she would then have 

 been saved much pain, and we much trouble. 

 This subject has received but little conside- 

 ration ; but who can tell what efl^ect one week 

 of pain and sufl^ering, arising from an inflamed 

 udder, might have upon the health of the cow, 

 and the quantity and quality of the milk dur- 

 ing her whole life after 1" Q. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 



Broad-Iieaved Plantain. 



In the catalogue of noxious weeds, there ia 

 none more insidious in its approaches, and 

 repulsive of valuable vegetation, than the 

 Broad-leaved Plantain. This pest to grass 

 fields, owing to its medicinal qualities, ap- 

 pears to have been formerly indulged in the 

 immediate vicinity of the homestead: hence 

 its seeds have been borne oflfj attached to the 

 moistened shoes or feet of every one who 

 came in contact with them ; and by these 

 means they have reached the barn and dairy 

 yards ; and then, having been dropped in the 

 manure, have been carted, with that precious 

 substance, and spread over the fields : hence, 

 after maturing, they are again transferred 

 with the crops to the barn and dairy yards, 

 as well as being conveyed from place to place, 



