52 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



SOILING CATTLE. 



HAMPDEN. 



From an Essay by A. L. McKinstry. 



How Six Acres can Summer Twelve Cattle. — My stock 

 consists of ten milch cows, a three-year-old bull, and a year- 

 ling calf, all more or less of the Alderney breed. They were 

 first turned to pasture May 15th last, in a lot that was being 

 ploughed, and they received a little meal each day. 



May 25, commenced mowing and feeding green rye, and 

 so continued till 1| acres had been fed, or till June 15, when 

 it being too tough to be relished, the balance was hayed. 



June 15, the cattle were turned into a two-acre pasture 

 near the barn, and this was used for a pasture through the 

 summer. June 24 to July 7, mowed and fed three-fourths 

 of. an acre of green oats, when they became hard, and the 

 balance, one-fourth of an acre, was hayed. From July 7 

 to 14, green grass was mown and fed. Commenced on 

 fodder-corn July 14, and this, with the help of an acre of 

 clover, mown from the oat stubble, lasted till October 5. 

 From this last date till they went into winter quarters, rowen 

 hay, cabbage-leaves and turnip-tops were given them. 



To make this more plain I will state that one and three- 

 fourths acres of rye lasted twenty days ; two acres of pasture, 

 nine days ; three-fourths of an acre of oats, twelve days ; and 

 one-half acre of grass mown and fed, seven days. The first 

 acre of corn was consumed in twenty days. 



From the 25th of May to the 5th of October, a period of 

 one hundred and thirty-three days, the crops from nine acres 

 were consumed, which showed as follows: 1|- acres of rye, 

 three-fourths acres of oats, 3 1 acres of grass, including the 

 pasture and three acres of corn. But as all but three acres 

 produced two crops during the season, the actual amount of 



