A SELF-SUPPORTING HOME 



To return to Cush: It is well to gradually 

 lower the supply of grain feed some six weeks 

 before she is due; but take no severe means 

 of drying up the milk. Rachel, our first 

 cow, would slowly decrease in quantity dur- 

 ing the last two months, but not go dry 

 until within about ten days of the allotted 

 time, which varies from two hundred and 

 seventy-four to two hundred' and eighty- 

 seven days; but her daughter, Daisy, never 

 went entirely dry. Still, I could not discover 

 that it made the slightest difference in her later 

 milking. As the ground feed is diminished, 

 wheat, bran, and oil meal take its place, three 

 parts of the former to one of the latter ; and 

 noon feed consists of chopped vegetables only. 

 For spring calving turn the cow out to pasture 

 as early as possible ; for the young grass and 

 weeds possess medical properties which no 

 mere human knowledge can substitute. Un- 

 less the weather is extremely unclement, allow 

 the cow out-of-door exercise and plenty of fresh 

 air at all times of the year. 



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