HAY CAPS— REARING CALVES. 



147 



one week of the above period was 37 fts. lOJ oz., 

 from five cows, or an average of 7 tbs. 8 oz. to each 

 auimal. This was also upon pasture solely. 



Should the committee be of opinion that this di- 

 vision of the dairy is not in compliance with the 

 spirit of the oBer, the average period of time of 

 be milkinn; the cows comprisinEt tlie whole dairy, will 

 four months and a little more than twelve days, 

 with a total yield, for said period, of 119 lbs. 8J oz. 

 to each cow. • 



In addition to this product, 9 calves have been 

 raised, and 3 sold to be fatted; !> shoats have been 

 sold for SlO; 2 pigs at $10, and there are now on 

 hand 5 late spring pigs, 3 old hogs and 4 sucking 

 pigs. The swine were kept exclusively upon the 

 wash of the dairy and house till the last of August; 

 since that time a snndl qukutity of refuse apples 

 have been added to their food. 



The pasturing wa.s good, early in the season, so far 

 as quantity weat But although its quantity was 

 sufficient, it was of poor quality for the purpose of 

 the dairy. 



My pastures are upon the south slope of a hill, 

 early to start, but e.isily affected by drouth. 'J'his 

 year the feed has been unprecedently short, and for 

 weeks my animals might almost be said to suffer. 

 There was no green thing in the pastures, nor would 

 the mowing-Belds afford a bite. I had no corn fod- 

 der till about the fifth of August, and then so limited 

 a supply that it was consumed in about three weeks. 



The season as a whole, has been a bad one, lielow 

 the average, for the production of butter. Addition- 

 al to this, my own dairy has suffered from a change 

 of milkers. Men to work on a farm have been scarce, 

 of actual help there has been none. Early in the 

 spring I was incapacitated from milking, and contin- 

 ued so for raonth.s. My cows were badly treated, 

 and worse milked. As an instance, the week after I 

 was compelled to give up milking, although one more 

 cow was milked than before, the yield of butter was 

 diminished eight pounds and a fraction. 



I ought also to state that from the first of August 

 one milking of one of the cows has been taken from 

 the dairy for family consumption, thus diminishing 

 what would have been the actual yield of butter 

 from the whole dairy. A sample of butter as ordi- 

 narily made is submitted for the examination of the 

 committee. Wm. S. Lincoln. 



CoMMOy^VEALTH OF Mass.vchuSetts. — "Worcester, September 25. 

 18-34, then .ippeared the above namfd William S. Li.vcoln, and 

 made oath that the foregoing statement, bv him subscribed, is true. 

 Before me, Jon.v A. Da.va, J. P. 



Omitting fractions, my dairy of si.x cows, had they 

 been milked the full period of five months, at the 

 rate of yield for the time of actual milking, would 

 have given 920 lbs. 4J oz. of butter. It will be re- 

 membered that that this was upon pasture feed alone. 



Different families in this city, and at Boston and 

 Dorche.ster, have been supplied by me the past sea- 

 son; and the average price of the butter has been 

 two shillings" per pound, amounting to $396.75 ; or 

 S61.58 per cow for the five months. W. S. L. 



There are more than fifty places of Protestant 

 worship in the Turkish empire, protected by govern- 

 ment, where the gospel is statedly preached. 



Most farmers are doulitless aware that on an av- 

 erage one-fourth of the value of all hay gathered, is 

 lost by its exposure to rain and heavy dews. This 

 loss may be saved by simply being provided with a 

 supply of hay caps. These are made of pieces of 

 cotton sheeting, say a yard and a half square, with 

 the torn edges hemmed, and a loop of tape or string 

 sewed upon each corner. They would be rendered 

 more effectual if slightly coated with oil; or by dip- 

 ping in water made quite milky with chalk, or whi- 

 ting, and after drying, dipping them into alum water. 

 If prepared in the latter manner they will shed water 

 quite freely. 



When grass is cut down and put up in small stacks 

 of two to four hundred pounds each, it can then be 

 protected by one of these cloth coverings, the cor- 

 ners of the cap being fastened down bj- thrusting 

 little wooden pins through the loops into the sides of 

 the stacks. Protected in this way, hay can stand in 

 the field unharmed through rain and dews till it is 

 thoroughly cured. Let us estimate briefly the cost 

 and profit of this process. 



If we allow one of these caps for 200 pounds of 

 hay, ten will be required for a ton. As the cloth 

 may be quite coarse, the expense of each will not 

 exceed fifteen cents. The caps may be used two or 

 three times in a season, and if taken care of they 

 will last for five or six years, or longer, and then the 

 paper makers will buy them at one-fifth of first cost; 

 so that every two caps, costing twenty-five cents, will 

 serve for curing at least a ton of hay. No one will 

 deny but that hay thus cured will on an average be 

 worth at least a dollar more on the ton, than if sub- 

 jected to the usual damage of rain and dew. We 

 advise every person raising hay to prepare a few dol- 

 lars' worth of these caps during this leisure month, 

 and have them laid away in readiness for the haying 

 season. The same caps may be used to protect 

 shocks of wheat and other grain. They will very 

 often pay for themselves in a single season. If not 

 quite satisfied as to their utility, prepare twenty or 

 thirty of them and try them one season, and see if 

 they do not pay. If they do not, the cloth will not 

 be lost. There is no particular necessity for any pre- 

 paration added to the cloth, as a piece of simple cot- 

 ton thrown over a rounded hay-cock will generally 

 conduct off the heaviest shower of rain. — Americam 

 Jigricultvrist. 



EE4KING CALVES. 



The almost unprecedented prices of beef, have in- 

 duced more attention to the rearing of cattle. The 

 scarcity of beef is owing to various caases which 

 have been operating for some time. A considerable 

 portion of the countiy in which cattle have formerly 

 been fattened to a great extent, has for two years or 

 more suffered much from the effects of drouth. In 

 consequence of this, the farmers have been under the 

 necessity of selling their stock — often at large sacri- 

 fices — the scarcity of hay permitting them to keep 

 but a small portion of their usual herds. In the 

 Western states, large numbers of cattle have been 

 driven to California and Oregon, instead of being 

 fattened and sent to the eastern markets. In some 



