86 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



second time. Pasture it down as the first year, and 

 cultivate in corn the tliird year. 



By following this course, the land will continue 

 to improve year by year. A field may be treated 

 as above to great advantage on a farm. Last spring, 

 gi-een food for stock was very scarce in this country; 

 the fields were very bare until late in the spring. 

 Passing through Shaker Village, (Mercer county, 

 Ky.,) I saw a field of rye three times as tall and 

 more than twice as thick as any I had seen. I asked 

 them how their rye came to be so much better than 

 any I had seen. They told me that was the second 

 year the field had been in rye, and they had plowed 

 and harrowed the land for the second crop, and 

 they designed pasturing it until the 15th of April, 

 after which they would let it grow up. This must 

 have been a very improving crop on clayey land, and 

 very remunerative. Three fields will be required 

 for this rotation. They will stand thus : first year, 

 •corn ; second year, rye ; third year, rye. This will 

 be a very good rotation where a part of the farm is 

 clay. But some say rye does not thrive well on a 

 clayey soil. Let the ground be in good condition, 

 and the rye put in well, and my word for it, it will 

 gi'ow. The large amount of straw left upon the 

 land has a good mechanical effect when turned 

 under, loosening the soil and making it easy to pul- 

 verize. Of course, all the manure should be appHed 

 that can be, and that in its unfermented state. 



Where circumstances permit, I much prefer the 

 first rotation. For this country, for improving the 

 soil and making it easUy cultivated, I do not believe 

 it can be exceUed, on our clay lands. a. g. m. 



OheiTur's Store, Ky., Jan'y, 1858. 



BEST SYSTEM OF ROTATION ON A SANDY FAEM. 



For such sandy soil as we have on the plains, 

 here in Michigan, where wheat and wool raising go 

 hand in hand, the following rotation I consider 

 "about right:" 



Divide the farm into six principal lots, reserving 

 land enough for several small lots, for orchard, 

 special pasture, and the raising of root and other 

 fancy crops, which do not enter tho system of 

 rotation. 



Commencing with clover sod, 



FiKST Ykak. 

 I-(>t. No. 1. lot No. 2. 



Pl.int to corn, among which Plow In clover, and sow to 

 sow r)e at the last cultivation, wheat in the fall, 

 and harrow in with a one-horse 

 harrow. Pasture with sheep in 

 fall, both before and after com 

 harvest. While tho rye pasture 

 is good, the sheep will not touch 

 the corn. 



Second Teak. 

 Seed to clover ; harvest rye. | Seed to clover; harvest wheat. 



TiiiuD Year. 

 Pasture clover. | Mow clover. 



The rotation commencing again the fourth year, 

 may be varied, by sowing wheat on No. 1, and 

 planting corn on No. 2, so that wheat will come on 

 llie same lot once in six years only, and the same 

 of corn and rye ; while clover, the great renovator 

 of sandy soils, comes on the same lot every third 

 year. 



By tliis system we have fields of wheat, rye, corn, 

 clover meadow, clover pasture, rye pasture, and 

 summer fallow, every season. 



The green rye is excellent pasture in fall and 

 s])ring, when it is death to clover to pasture with 

 siieep. And rye and wheat straw, corn stalks, 

 clover hay, rye and corn meal, and a few roots 

 from one of the small lots, will feed the sheep, team 

 and other necessary stock, during the winter. 



Apply the manure of the farm to the spring crops, 

 and remember that plaster is as necessary to tho 

 growth of clover, as the clover seed itself. 



Four Towns, Mich., FeVy, 1858. SOLON COOLET. 



EXPERIMENTS IN FEEDING CATTLE CUT STRAW 

 AND HAY. 



TnE first day of last December I purchased fou) 

 cows of the common breed. They had all giver 

 milk seven months or more at the time I purchase*' 

 them, and then, gave only about eight quarts of mill; 

 per day, 



I began to stable them and cut buckwheat straw 

 for them, which I scalded with water in which f 

 quart of fiax seed had been steeped for four or mori 

 hours. I also put four quarts of buckwheat brai; 

 on the mess at each feed. They were fed this twice 

 each day, morning and evening. At noon they wero 

 fed on cut hay with half allowance of bran, making 

 two and one hah" quarts of bran each cow receive?; 

 per day. They doubled their milk in a very short 

 time, and trebled the cream and butter. I have fed 

 tliem separate. Charged them five dollars per ton 

 for the straw, and seven for the hay ; seventy-five 

 cents per hundred for the bran, and one dollar per 

 bushel for the flax seed, which I purchased at that 

 price. Of course they all fail of their milk now, as 

 they will be new milks in the spring, and one is now 

 nearly dry. 



I have milked them regularly twice each day. 

 Up to January 23, they had given by measure five 

 hundred and seventy-one quarts of milk, (571); and' 

 from that we have made thirty-eight pounds and 

 nine ounces of butter, besides using a good deal of 

 cream in the family. So the account stands thus : 



FOUK COWS, DK. 



To one and a half tons buckwheat straw — 15, $7.50 



To one half tons hay — $7 3.50 



To one and one- fourth bii. flax seed — $1, 1.25 



To 716 pounds bran — $0.75, 5.37 



$17.f>2 



CB. 



By 571 quarts milk — 2 ct-s., $11.42 



By3S9-16 pounds butter — 18d, T.25— $18.67 



Leaving a profit of $1.05 to pay for extra trouble. 

 But that is not all the profit, for by following this 

 course with all my cattle I have made them gain in 

 flesh, and used up the buckwheat straw, whicli 

 hitherto has gone for litter only. I now cut feed 

 for all my cattle, and shall continue the pi'actice. 

 It is a matter of importance to make the cows give 

 milk enough in winter to ])ay for their keeping, and 

 at the same time gain in flesli. Buckwheat bran is 

 one of the best things a cow in milk can be fed. 



I am building barns and stables in which I can 

 carry on the operation on a large scale with economy, 

 believing it pays fifty per cent, on cost of sheds and 

 time, to stable every hoof of horses and neat cattle, 

 and cut all the feed and grind the grain. 



I wish other readers of the Farmer would report 

 progress in this matter, as it is a thing but little un- 

 derstood. G. o. 1. 



Lynn, Siisq. Co., Pa. 



