12 ECONOMY OF FARMING. 



give more milk, not more than seven or eight can be milked in an hour. 

 Hence the necessity of men for this work may be estimated accordingly. 



We usually assign one milkmaid to 10 cows, who can be occupied only part of 

 the time, and will therefore be at hand for other work of the household. In the great 

 milk establishments of Lombardy, one man is allotted to 15 cows, who milks 

 them, takes care of their fodder or pastures them, and keeps the stall clean. Cheese- 

 making is assigned to another, and in this country is a separate business or pro- 

 fession. 



[In the Bath papers. Vol. V., Art. VI. p. 73, some experiments of Dr. Anderson 

 are mentioned, by which it appears that the last of a milking or " afterings," " strip- 

 pings," or " stroakings," as they are termed, contain more cream than the first, in 

 the proportion of in some cases sixteen to one, and never less than eight to one ; 

 thus showing the great importance of the cows being thoroughly milked. Besides 

 the difference in quantity, also the difference in quality was still greater, and the 

 same was the case of the milk remaining after the cream had been separated from 



it.-TR.l 



22 The care of young cattle requires less labor, because one man can 

 oversee a greater number of them at pasture ; and in stall-foddering less 

 food is necessary than for full-grown cattle. 



23. Sheep cause the least labor, because they pasture all the summer, 

 and in the winter the clearing out of their stalls is not necessary. One 

 shepherd with one hand can easily tend 500 sheep, and will also be suffi- 

 cient in the winter if he has an assistant at the ewing time. 



So small is the profit which a single sheep yields, that it is usual to have only 

 large flock which gives a considerable profit, because pastures on fields left as fal- 

 low, on the common and on the Alps, costs little ; and because too, in proportion to 

 their size, they need less hay in the winter than cows, and so few men are required 

 to take care of them. If the rams are foddered at home, or separate inclosed pas- 

 tures be allotted to them, a single shepherd can tend the whole flock, even if it 

 exceeds 500. If the pasture ground is not too bushy, he might with a dog keep 

 even 700. 



[On the subjects above-mentioned, the following remarks from Thaer, Vol. IV., 

 pp. 272, 273, may be quoted : " The quantity of hay which is given (to sheep) is 

 very different. In poor sheep-folds it is considered much to allow 3000 or 4000 

 lbs. of hay to 100 sheep for a wintering. In better conducted ones 7500 lbs. is 

 considered the minimum for 100 sheep : 3^ lbs. of dry fodder for a sheep daily are 

 necessary, and the greater proportion of this in nutritious hay, compared with dry 

 straw the better. Where hay is not plenty, it is usual to have recourse to grain-fod- 

 der ; oats, rye, and barley are equally good ; where peas, beans, vetches are largely 

 cultivated, these may be used. The grains are given them either threshed or un- 

 threshed ; more frequently they have the rough grain mixed with chaff and some- 

 what moistened. It is customary also, especially with the kernels of the leguminous 

 fruits to soak them ; others prefer to fodder with the pods strewed on Hacksel, &c." — 

 " Sheep which have daily If lbs. of hay, and 1 lb. of potatoes, or 1 lb. of hay and 

 2 lbs. of potatoes, and straw enough with it, can be kept in a well-fed, wool and milk- 

 producing state." — " Acorns and horse-chestnuts give a very nutritious fodder for 

 sheep afllicted with the rot. They are given 1 lb. a day, either raw or after being 

 soaked some days, and then dried in a bake-oven, when their shell cracks off and 

 they lose their sharp taste." 



Burger in p. 2S4 of his 2d volume says, "In summer stall-foddering, one sheep of 

 80 lbs. weight must have 12 to 14 pounds of clover-grass or vetches." " In winter- 

 foddering, we reckon for the same animal 2 lbs. of hay, or its equivalent in other 

 means of fodder. The experiments of Schlieffen made Avith fodder of hay and rye- 

 straw, potatoes and straw, and potatoes and hay, prove that sheep produce as 

 much wool, if they have I'f lbs. of hay and straw, or If lbs. of hay and straw 

 Hacksel, and 0.11 metzen (about l^gall.) of potatoes. Petri gave a sheep in the 

 morning If lb. of barley-straw ; at noon, 1 lb. of hay ; and in the evening 1^ lb. 

 of r^^e or wheat straw. According to his latest experiments, he holds that 33 lbs. 

 of hay, and 66 lbs. of straw chopped fine, with half a metzen (about 27 quarts) of 

 clover, and a half metzen of oats and 1 lb. of salt, is sufficient daily for 100 sheep 



