SOILING CATTLE. 53 



land used was six acres. It may be well to state the following 

 particulars in regard to the soiling crops. 



One acre of the land which was in turnips was sowed with 

 rye, a cultivator being passed between the drills to cover the 

 seed. The other acre of rye followed potatoes, and was 

 sown so late that it barely sprouted before winter. It came 

 to maturity late, as was expected, and was withal a poor crop. 

 The acre of oats received six cords of manure. On one side 

 it was ploughed in, but on the other side of the piece it was 

 harrowed in. Three bushels of seed proved to be the right 

 quantity. We found the best looking clover where the harrow 

 was used to bury the manure, but the oats were the best on 

 the other side. The first corn was planted at the rate of two 

 bushels of Northern corn per acre, in drills three feet apart, 

 which were manured with three cords of manure in the drill. 

 Sweet corn was used entirely for later planting, with the 

 exception of a little Southern corn, which was planted July 

 20. We commenced cutting rye and oats as soon as the 

 first heads began to appear. As the crop approaches matu- 

 rity, it becomes woody, and the same bulk produces less 

 milk. It is therefore an object to select a dry day and mow 

 a quantity, which after it is wilted may be made into small 

 cocks, where it can remain a number of days until needed. 

 Neither of these crops should be allowed to blossom. Corn 

 should be planted, as some of our countrymen are charged 

 with doing their voting, early and often. We have found 

 sweet corn to come on a little later than the common variety, 

 but it produces more fodder, and is always eaten up clean. 

 The management of our stock during the summer has been 

 as follows : they are fed in the barn at night and in the 

 morning following with fodder which was cut in the middle 

 of the day so as to avoid the dew. The cows are let out into 

 the pasture, where they spend the middle of the day. We 

 have found that cattle, like their owners, tire of one kind of 

 food, and if allowed to feed by the roadside, as we sometimes 

 did for an hour, it gave them a relish for their ordinary diet. 

 The cows were confined in the stables by stanchions. In 

 their rear was a water-tight gutter, two feet wide and one 

 foot deep; this usually received, every second day, ten 

 wheelbarrow-loads of dry muck. This was just equal to the 



