44 



unless drained and cultivated. It is too strong, also, to be worth 

 reclaiming for pasture alone. 



On this account we have for several years been trying to work 

 into a course that would leave us less dependent on pasture for 

 support of our stock. As a preliminary step, Ave set apart a 

 number of acres as imimprovable ; where the growth of wood 

 should be encouraged, instead of our former practice of mowing 

 the bushes, and pulling up the young pines every year or two. 

 We then devoted a liberal share of our mowing lots to pasture, 

 and commenced making thorough work with the remaining mowing 

 and tillage land — such as draining, clearing off surface rock, and 

 removing inside stone walls. In this way we are now fast getting 

 our tillage land into one entire lot, which very much reduces the 

 cost of cultivation. After having cleared and drained our tillage 

 land, at very considerable expense, it seemed that we ought to 

 make it produce larger crops than it had done before. This could 

 not be effected, of course, without manure ; and of this v/e found 

 it impossible to make a sufficient supply during the winter season. 

 We have, therefore, fed our cows this summer on green food more 

 than usual, always in the stall. Let me here say, by the way, 

 that I am convinced that much of the prejudice against corn 

 fodder for cows is owing to the fact that most of those farmers 

 who think green cornstalks will dry up cows and lessen the quan- 

 tity of milk, or, at any rate, can do them no good, are in the 

 habit of feeding their cows in the pasture — throwing the corn 

 over to them directly from the field where it grows — thus tempt- 

 ing them to hang around the field the remainder of the day, 

 instead of going off and feeding contentedly. 



We have fed, this summer, green oats, clover, southern corn, 

 and the tops of turnips and mangolds. We have made no accu- 

 rate experiments by which to determine the comparative value of 

 each sort of feed. We prefer a variety and change of feed, and 

 are inclined to the opinion that good English hay may well form a 

 large part of the food of milch cows in summer — perhaps with as 

 much economy as any of the green food. It ought always to be 

 on hand, to be fed when the days are rainy, and when the cows 

 have become too much relaxed by the use of green food. Our 

 cows have run in the pasture a part of every day through the 

 season. They are put into the barn and milked at five o'clock in 

 the afternoon, and turned out again at from eight to twelve o'clock 

 in the morning — according to the weather and the amount of feed 

 in the pasture. We have also given to them a mess of shorts or 

 meal every morning until fall, when pumpkins took the place of 

 grain. 



Our cows lie on a floor, four feet eight inches in length, back of 

 which is a gutter, twenty inches wide and six inches deep, where 



