194 



Feeding Stock — Edtication. 



Vol. III. 



proper care of. In fact, the labors of llie fall 

 montlis resemble the preparations for a seipc; 

 they have to be extended not only to the win- 

 ter, but much has to be done in anticipation 

 of the succeeding spring-; the oats and corn 

 grounds should be ploughed, so as to give them 

 the benefits of the meliorating influence of 

 the winter frosts, and the garden grounds 

 should be tiirovvn up and trenched for the same 

 reason. Now where is the person who will 

 venture to say that the man who conducts all 

 these various processes effectively, has not a 

 necessity for a double dose of sound discretion 

 axiA forecast. Agricola. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 



Fcediiij; Stock. 



"A hungry belly and a filthy hide profit not." 

 A farmer's interest is greatly promoted by 

 carrying his stock through the winter and 

 spring months in a good and thriving condi- 

 tion. Those that are pinched for want of 

 proper sustenance during the feeding season 

 seldom fully recover from it during the sum- 

 mer; and the profit from milch cows is much 

 les.sened by it. On the 1st of February a 

 good farmer should always have at least one 

 half of his winter stock of provender on hand. 

 February and March, are the months when 

 stock requires the most care and attention ; 

 animals appear to suffer more from wet and 

 the frequent transitions of weather at this 

 season of tlie year than at any other ; and 

 consequently should be well protected and 

 supplied liberally with plenty of nutritions 

 and wholesome food ; a portion of which 

 should, if possible, be of a succulent charac- 

 ter, as sugar beet, steamed or boiled potatoes, 

 or a small quantity of Indian corn which has 

 been reduced to a jelly by boiling; a portion 

 of salt should also be given to each animal at 

 least twice a week. 



Cut hay put into hogsheads or troughs, and 

 a couple of buckets of boiling water poured 

 upon it, immediately covering it up close, and 

 permitting it to remain for six or eight hours 

 before feeding, will be found to be a very 

 grateful and nutritious food for milch cows, 

 who will amply repay their owner, principal 

 and interest, for his additional labor and care 

 in furnishing them with such a delicious re- 

 past two or three times a week. It is taken 

 for granted that those who take due care to 

 see that their cattle are duly and properly 

 sheltered and fed, also extend the necessary 

 care to keep them clean, for without this, the 

 work is only half done, as neither man or 

 beast can thrive when covered with filth. 



O. 



Gladness of heart, is the life of a man; but 

 envy, wrath and sorrow, shorten his days. 



Analogy l>et\vc«'ii Medical iiiitl Agricultu- 

 ral Kducation. 



The physician and surgeon, to qualify them 

 for their profession of preserving life, are re- 

 quired to study the anatomy of the human 

 frame, the functions of every part of the sys- 

 tem, and the nature and quality of whatever 

 is requisite to adminij-ter to its wants, or to 

 remove the ills which flesh is heir to. With- 

 out this knowledge he can but guess at the 

 cause or seat of disease, and of course hia 

 prescriptions must be questionable, and often 

 a knowledge of these matters cannot be ac- 

 quired by bare practice. It must be obtained 

 from the teaching of ages — in schools of med- 

 ical science — in the dissecting room. Hence 

 the laws of every civilized people require in 

 the pupil this preliminary study before he is 

 permitted to practice the art professionally. 

 And no intelligent man, who justly appreciates 

 the necessity of the science to perfect the 

 art, likes to trust his health and his life in 

 the hands of a pretender, who knows nothing 

 of the great principles of the business which 

 he professes to practice. 



So with husbandry. It embraces principles 

 of science, upon which good modes of prac- 

 tice must necessarily be based ; and without 

 a knowledge of these principles, the labors of 

 the farmer, like the prescriptions of the quack, 

 must be either guess work or confined to the 

 routine in which he has been instructed. His 

 soil and his animals are liable to sterility 

 which he is ill qualified to cure. Unless he 

 knows something of the compositions of the 

 one, the anatomy of the other, as branches of 

 natural science, he is not likely to discover 

 the true cause of an evil, nor to apply to it 

 the right remedy. We will give a single 

 illustration of farm crops. It is now univer- 

 sally admitted, that the alternation of crops 

 is highly conducive to good husbandry. But 

 why is it so] Science, which expounds the 

 laws of the Creator, in regard to inanimate 

 matter, not only furnishes a satisfactory an- 

 swer to the question, but suggest the classes 

 of farm crops, and the order of succession, 

 that ought to alternate and follow each other. 

 Again, — gypsum, lime, marl and ashes, are 

 beneficially applied to some soils, to some 

 crops, and in some seasons, while they are not 

 beneficial upon other soils, to other crops, 

 and in other seasons. Science can only 

 explain these seeming contradictions. Jn 

 schools of scientific and practical agriculture, 

 in which a series of experiments should bo 

 continually going on, these problems would 

 ere long be solved ; rules of practice would 

 be laid down; the results, and the natural 

 causes of these results, would be explained, 

 and the community, and every member there- 

 of, who had a latoiit spark of improvement, 

 or the ambition to improve his condition, would 



