FEEDING CATTLE. 187 



business of cutting up straw and coarse hay to be 

 mixed with their grain. With us the poorer kinds of 

 hay should be cut, or horses will not relish the food. 

 Our correspondent objects to the expense of a cutter. 

 We have seen cutters sold in Baltimore at eighty dol- 

 lars apiece, and have been told of some for which 

 ninety dollars were demanded! We do not think 

 many of our farmers could aftbrd that sum for one ; but 

 this is not the only cost ; the labor of working the 

 machine for a stock of cattle of forty head, through 

 the winter, would much exceed the interest of the cap- 

 ital laid out for it, — probably six to one. 



But the more simple cutters may be had for a far 

 less price, and we think the simplest ones best. We 

 have never seen one that would feed itself well ; and 

 the best mode of cutting up fodder is to employ two 

 workmen at a time, — one to feed and one to cut. 

 Such men as we usually hire would be engaged not 

 less than an hour each day m cutting up fodder for 

 forty head of cattle. Then they must be fed, and 

 must have tight mangers for their chopped fodder. 



One hundred and eighty days — our foddering sea- 

 son — require three hundred and sixty hours extra 

 labor for cutting up the fodder. Here are forty days 

 extra labor ; and we cannot count this less than thirty 

 dollars in money. This sum will buy three or four tons 

 of good stock hay ; and the question is, have we saved 

 enough by cutting to pay the labor ? 



Corn-stover ought to be cut up fine, for cattle can 

 eat but a small part of it imcut. The top stalks and 

 the husks are rich food when well secured, and ought 

 not to be lost. When we have none but the poorer 

 quality of hay, we may see our account in cutting it 

 up for the cows in the spring, and mixing a little meal 

 with it ; but cows and horses will eat up clean our 

 good hay without our chopping it, and we much doubt 

 whether in such case we ever get pay for our labor of 

 chopping. 



On the subject of feeding we have intimated, in a 



