FARMS. 81 



as a milk farm, thirty cows being generally kept. They are fed 

 mostly in the barn, at all times. He relies on green corn-fodder, 

 chiefly, as feed in summer, and hay and roots in winter. He 

 had eight acres in fodder corn and ten in roots, at the time of 

 our visit. He had also a patch of rape, tried as an experiment. 

 Its appearance was pretty good, but we cannot report the result. 

 Some of his root crops — which consisted of carrots, sugar beets, 

 mangold wurzel, and kohl rabi — looked well for a large yield, 

 but the wetness of the season had rendered it difficult to keep 

 the weeds down as fully as would have been desirable for the 

 benefit of the roots. 



Mr. Andrews' mode of cultivating fodder corn is somewhat 

 peculiar. After being ploughed, the ground is furrowed, leaving 

 spaces of about three feet. The cultivator or horse-hoe is then 

 drawn lengthwise over these spaces, and the corn sown at the 

 rate of three to four bushels per acre. A light plough is then 

 run on each side of the beds, followed by a bush harrow in the 

 same direction, which sufficiently covers the corn. This leaves 

 the crop in broad rows, and it is cultivated with the horse-hoe. 

 Once going through — as the corn, from the land being heavily 

 manured, grows rapidly — is generally sufficient. 



Mr. Andrews has made some experiments in spaying cows, 

 having operated on thirteen. He commenced in April, 1859, 

 with three ; most of the others were operated on six to eight 

 months previous to. our visit, at which time ten of the spayed 

 ones were giving milk. Several others had been fattened and 

 sold. All those we saw, appeared healthy and in good condi- 

 tion. Two which were spayed a year ago last April, were 

 giving an average of seven wine quarts of milk each, per day. 

 These, of course, afford the best example of the effect of spay- 

 ing, as the others have not had so long a trial. But it is hardly 

 probable that any of the cows which Mr. Andrews has operated 

 on, will show the effects of spaying to the best advantage. They 

 were generally too old when operated on — many of them being 

 ten years or more. Still Mr. Andrews is confident that those first 

 operated on give more milk by the year than they did previous 

 to being spayed. As to the quality of the milk, there has been 

 no opportunity of testing it ; it goes in with that of the other 

 cows and is sold in Boston. Mr. Andrews thinks that by spaying 

 good cows at five or six years old, an average of eight quarts 

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