100 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



providing a sufficiency of fodder corn to eke out tlieir pasture 

 feed during the months of August and September. I bring the 

 cows up at six, P. M., when they are milked and remain in the 

 barn all night. I milk again at five, A. M., and then let the 

 cows out for the day. 



There is a cellar under my barn into which the manure is 

 dropped through scuttles, and from time to time I throw 

 through these same scuttles, sandy loam, in the proportion of 

 two loads of sand to one load of manure. On wet days in the 

 fall, this is thrown over into the front of the cellar and thor- 

 oughly mixed, and after standing a short time to drain, is drawn 

 out and spread on my reclaimed meadow. The cellar jfloor is 

 then covered about three inches deep with well seasoned peat 

 muck, and receives the manure of the cows during the winter ; 

 and also dry mud, as nearly as I can estimate, a load of mud to 

 a load of manure. This last manure, when thrown over and 

 thoroughly mixed, I spread broadcast and plough in in the spring, 

 for planting ; and, used in this way, I consider the compost 

 nearly, if not quite as valuable, load for load, as clear manure. 



About the time the fodder corn fails, the pumpkins begin to 

 come in ; and with these, of which I give each cow about half a 

 peck a day, and the after-grass on my mowing land, I keep my 

 cows in good heart and milking condition till I take them into 

 the barn for the winter. After this, being earlier or later in 

 different seasons, my practice is to feed with good English hay, 

 corn-stalks, and the remainder of the pumpkins and a few small 

 potatoes, till about the middle of January, when I begin to dry 

 up the cows which are to calve early in the spring. 



I have hitherto usually milked my cows till within a month 

 or six weeks of their time of calving ; but from some experi- 

 ments I have made, I am inclined to think it will be found more 

 profitable to allow them a longer rest. At the same time I 

 think it advisable to milk a heifer nearly up to the time of her 

 having her second calf; believing that if allowed to go dry a 

 long time the first season, she might wish a still longer rest 

 afterwards ; whereas, if milked nearly up to her time of calving 

 again, she will in subsequent pregnancies give milk a shorter or 

 longer time, according to her food and treatment. 



In the winter I milk at six, A. M. ; then give a foddering of 

 hay, (the poorest I am feeding ;) at about eight, I feed again, 



