82 



THE GENESEE FAEMER. 



IIIANAGEMENT OF DAERY COWS. 



Eds. Gknesee Fakmek: — Much has been written 

 upon this subject, and many rules have been laid 

 down for the winter management of ditferent kinds 

 of stock; and as cows are among the most profit- 

 able stock we have, they should receive a due share 

 of attention. 



As cows are generally kept for profit, they should 

 be well cared for at all seasons of the year, for the 

 ])rofit depends principally upon their management. 

 Keep no more than can be kept well; for a few 

 cows well fed are better than a greater number half- 

 cared for and half-milked. They should be stabled 

 through the winter, if possible, and be properly fed 

 at all seasons. They should be salted regularly, the 

 year round. Twice a week, I think, is enough in 

 the summer. 



Milking is of great importance, and should be 

 conducted regularly, and by the same hands, and 

 as quickly and still as possible. Many tarmers in 

 this section have a very bad practice of letting their 

 cows lie in the yard over night, after milking. It is 

 very injurious to milk cows too late in the winter. 

 At least two months should be allowed before 

 coming in. Toward spring, they should have a 

 little meal or bran every day, but avoid giving any- 

 thing that lias a tendency to increase tlieir milk, 

 before they come in. 



Mr. A. J. Tatloe, of Wyomiug Co., X. Y., speaks 

 very lightly of fastening cows to upright stakes, as 

 he calls them, and crowding them too thickly to- 

 gether; but, notwithstanding all the improved styles 

 of fastening, most of the New England dairymen 

 have again resorted to the old-fasliioned way of 

 securuig to stanchions, Mr. T. says, a stable thirty 

 feet long wiU make nine stalls. Now, allow me to 

 .say thafthis is as thick as I ever sa\v them, in any 

 form. J. o. DAWES. 



Le RaysviUe, Bradford Co., Pa. 



Pigs should be kept cleax. — The pig certainly 

 in hot weather will search out and enjoy any dirty 

 and wet hole, but he is nevertheless a' very cleanly 

 animal, and always thrives fastest on clean straw in 

 a clean sty; he seldom, except liy accident, leaves 

 any droppings of his excrement in his sleeping apart- 

 ment, and his sense of smell is so acute that he has 

 actually been trained to scent game. 



§mmt $mm |ri^c O^ssai)! 



AGEICULTUKAL PAPERS. 



" On the propriety of farmers supportinsr none but purely agri- 

 cultural papers, as sucJv; and ia their publication monthly often 

 enough ? " 



As I understand the above, the question is wheth- 

 er farmers should or should not support newspapers 

 devoted exclusively to agriculture, in preference to 

 t'lose of a miscellaneous character. Tliat farmers 

 need information on many other subjects than agri- 

 culture, is beyond question. They need religious in- 

 formation as much as others, and they should know 

 gomething of politics, and they have also a veiy land- 

 able curiosity to learn the general news of the day. 

 How then are they to get the information they need 

 in the best and most eeonomical manner? 



In the early settlement of a country, when the 

 population is sparse, it often becomes necessary for 

 one man to turn his hand to various occupations. 

 The blacksmith's and shoemaker's are the most im- 

 portant trq,des, and the first to be procured and pat- 

 ronized. The former will mend brass kettles and 

 gun-locks, and the latter harnesses and bellows, be- 

 sides doing the regular business of their trades; and 

 although such men are indispensible in their spheres, 

 we do not exjiect great perfection in their workman- 

 ship. If the country prospers and goes ahead, the 

 coppersmith, gunsmith, and harnessmaker come in, 

 and all mechanics become more perfect in their work 

 and learn to do it in a more economical manner. 



It is an admitted principle in political economy, 

 that the more labor is divided the better and cheap- 

 er it is performed ; consequently the manner in which 

 labor is chvided in any country is a pretty good in- 

 dex to the prosperity, intelligence, and refinement 

 of its people. Fifty years ago we had no agricultu- 

 ral papers, and few if any religious. Our journals 

 then partook more or less of the commercial, politi- 

 cal, religious, and agricultural characters. As we 

 have advanced in civilization and refinement the 

 wants of the reading people could not be met with- 

 out a division of labor in this department, and we 

 now have separate newspapers devoted to all the 

 trades, professions, and occupations, and who will 

 say that this division has not contributed to our 

 progress? Take one of the newspapers of even thirty 

 years ago and comj^are' its articles on agriculture 

 Avith, for instance, the editorials of the Genesee Far- 

 mer of the past year, and you will find abundant 

 evidence of progress. We have, to be sure, many 

 valuable articles on agriculture in journals devoted 

 mainly to other professions, but they are invariably 

 credited to agricultural papers. If there is any one 

 subject which more than any other requires the un- 

 divided energies, mind and attention of a conductor 

 of its journal, that subject is agriculture. The world 

 is just awakening to the flxct that more science and 

 intelligence is necessary in this department than in 

 any othei', and one of the great reasons is that it is 

 incapable of that division of labor which tends so 

 much to advancement in the mechanic arts. We 

 have journals of law, of health, of medicine, and of 

 mechanics. We have miners' journals, farmers' jour- 

 nals, railroad journals, vetrinary journals, and gar- 

 diners' journals — ^iournals hydropathic, homeopath- 

 ic, phrenologic, scientific, and spiritual — and if a man 

 wishes to turn his attention to any particular branch 

 of industry he can make his selection and pay only 

 for what he wants. Surely these journals can be, 

 must be, and are better conducted tlian are the same 

 departments in those which have with agriculture a 

 little of politits, love-tales, casualties, shocking acci- 

 dents and dreadful tragedies, Avith a sprinkling of 

 conundrums, rebuses, and enigmas. By this division 

 of labor newspapers have become very much reduc- 

 ed in ])rice, while at the same time the ability of 

 tlie reading community to pay for them lias been 

 doubled if not quadrupled, and on the farmer's read- 

 ing table instead of the weekly miscellany, which 

 perhaps went the round of the neighborhood, we 

 see the quarterly review, the monthly magazine, the 

 weekly, semi-weekly and perhaps the daily journal. 

 These dailies, semi-weeklies and weekhes, although 

 they perhaps answer well the purposes for which 

 they were intended, must still be got up in somewhat 



