172 THE dairyman's manual. 



nitrate of sodium, from the slowness with which it be- 

 comes available for the plant's use." — The greater per- 

 manence in the soil of this element of the manure, how- 

 ever, is a poiut worthy of high consideration. 



As giving some practical results of actual dairy prac- 

 tice, the following instances of successful feeding of dairy 

 cows by some prominent dairymen in Xew York State 

 may be usefully mentioned here. They were -given by 

 Mr. Scoville of New Hartford, N. Y., at a meeting of 

 the New Y'ork State Dairymen's Association. 



Mr. Scoville visited a few farms in the vicinity of ' 

 Syracuse, among which were the Avery farms, conducted 

 by the Skiff Brothers. They had at that time sixty cows 

 in milk. The cows were fed morning and evening, two 

 quarts of middlings, three quarts of shorts, with a half- 

 bushel of corn ensilage. The shorts and middlings were 

 thrown upon the ensilage when the latter was given to 

 the cows. About eig'ht pounds of cut hay is fed to each 

 cow at noon. About a half-acre of pasture range is ay- 

 portioned to each cow in summer, with one feed at even- 

 ing of green clover, green oats and corn to follow as the 

 season advances. The milking is regular at five o'clock 

 in the morning and five at night. In summer there is 

 no grain feed. In winter the cows are bedded with cut 

 straw and watered once a day at about ten o'clock in the 

 morning, usually in the yard, but in stormy weather in 

 the stable. The yield of milk from this dairy, as gath- 

 ered from the books of the Onondaga Milk Associa- 

 tion, for the twelve months ending December, 1886, was 

 188,070 quarts, an average to each cow of 2,756 quarts, 

 or about 5,900 pounds average. 



The George Grouse farm has forty-three cows in milk. 

 Steaming the fodder was formerly practiced on this farm, 

 but has been abandoned. The feed now used is all cut. 

 Ensilage forms the base of winter feeding. The ration 

 to each cow twice a day is a half-bushel of ensilage, 



