112 TALKS ON MANURES. 



say 8,000 Ibs. of cheese. Increase the productive power cf the 

 farm one half, (I hope the Deacon has not gone to sleep), and kejp 

 20 cows tuat will eat half as much again food, and we should Uen 

 get 21,600 Ibs. of cheese. If chees.) is worth 15 cents per lb., 

 a farm of 80 acres, producing 1 tons of hay, or its equivalent, per 

 acre, and supporting 20 cows, would give us a gross return of 

 $1,204.50. The same farm so improved as to produce 2 tons of 

 Lay or its equivalent, per acre led to 20 cows capable of eating ^ 

 digesting, and a&8Jmilj,ting it -would give a gross return of $3,240. 



In presenting these figures, I hope you will not think me a 

 visionary. I do not think it is possible to get a cow to produce 

 3 Ibs. of cheese a -day throughout the whole year. But I do 

 think it quite possible to so breed and feed a cow that she will pro- 

 duce 3 Ibs. of checs3 per day, or its equivalent in veal, flesh, 

 or fat. We frequently have cows that produce 3 Ibs. of 

 cheese a day for several weeks ; and a cow can be so fed that Lhe 

 will produce 3 Ibs. of cheese a day without losing weight. 

 And if she can extract this amount of matter out of the food for a 

 part of the year, why can not she do so for the whole year? Arc the 

 powers of digestion weaker in the fall and winter than in spring 

 and summer? If not, we unquestionably sustain great loss by 

 allowing this digestive power to run to waste. This digestive 

 power costs us 20 Ibs. of hay a day. We can ill afford to let it 

 lie dormant. But the Deacon will tell me that the cows are 

 allowed all the food they will eat, winter and summer. Then we 

 must, if they have digestive power to spare, endeavor to persaude 

 them to eat more. If they eat as much hay or grass as their 

 stomachs are capable of holding, we must endeavor to give them 

 richer hay or grass. Not one farmer in a thousand seems to appre- 

 ciate the advantage of having hay or grass containing a high per- 

 centage of nutriment. I have endeavored to show that a cow eat- 

 ing six tons of hay, or its equivalent, in a year, would produce 400 

 Ibs. of cheese, worth $60. While a cow capable of eating, 

 digesting, and turning to good account, nine tons of hay, or its 

 equivalent, would produce 1,090 Ibs. of cheese, or its equivalent 

 in other products, worth $162. 



" I am sorry to interrupt the gentleman," said the Deacon with 

 mock gravity. 



" Then pray don't," said I ; "I will not detain you long, and the 

 subject is one which ought to interest you and every other farmer 

 who keeps his cows on poor grass in summer, and corn-stalks and 

 straw in winter." 



I was going to say, when the Deacon interrupted me, that the 



