AND RURAL ECONOMIST. 361 



rally agreed that cattle should eat no straw, unless it be cut in- 

 to chaff mixed with hay ; but, on the contrary, that they should 

 be fed with something better, and have the straw thrown under 

 them to be trodden into dung:' and I am much inclined to be- 

 lieve, that in most, if not in all cases, this maxim will prove a 

 just one. See that your cows are of the best breed. Page 40. 

 Give them roots as well as hay, and they will give you more 

 than an equivalent in milk for their extra keep. Pages 42, 43. 

 Provide pure water for your milch cows, and not oblige them 

 to go a mile, more or less, after it, manuring the highway, and 

 running the gauntlet of dogs, teams, the horse and his rider, 

 the sleigh and its driver, with more annoyances than Buona- 

 parte met with in his retreat from Moscow. See also that the 

 master-beasts do not tyrannize over their weaker brethren, 

 and if any are inclined to domineer, take them into close custo- 

 dy, and deprive them of the liberty of the yard, till they will 

 give indemnity for the past, and security for the future. Cut 

 or chaff your hay, straw, corn-tops, bottoms, &c., with one of 

 Wiihs' or some other straw cutter, to be found at Newell's 

 agricultural warehouse, No. 52, North Market street, Boston, 

 or some other place. You may also make use of colonel Jaques' 

 mixture, (page 51,) without charge for the prescription. If you 

 give your cows good hay, roots, and comfortable lodging, you 

 may make as good butter in winter as in summer, and become 

 rich by sending to market the product of your dairy. Pages 

 55, 89, 90, &c. 



FEBRUARY. 



Attend particularly to cows which have calved, or are about 

 to calve, as well as to their offspring. You know, or should 

 know, what time your cows may be expected to produce their 

 young, by means pointed out page 45, where you may find a 

 recipe for those cows which need to be doctored, that they may 

 stop giving milk. You will find observations on rearing and 

 fattening calves, pages 57, &c. to page 64. Your ewes and 

 lambs will now require that care and attention which is indis- 

 pensable to make sheep husbandry profitable. Page 222. The 

 way to doctor lambs to advantage is to give good food, and a 

 plenty of it, to their mothers. Half a gill of Indian corn a day 

 to each ewe before yeaning, and about two quarts per day of 

 potatoes, turnips, or other roots, when they have lambs to 

 nurse, will make your sheep and lambs healthy, as well as 

 their owner wealthy. But if you half starve your sheep, you 

 will quite kill your lambs. You will continue to cut, split, and 

 pile wood in your wood-house, till you have enough to last 

 at least two years. It is very bad economy to be obliged to 

 leave your work in haying or harvesting to draw every now 

 and then ahttle greenwood to cook with, which is about as fit 

 for that purpose as a brickbat for a pincushion, or a lump of 

 ice for a warming-pan. 

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