CATTLE. 67 



althougn on a principle of economy I have always recommend- 

 ed the house feeding of a cow (as one acre of good clover will 

 support three cows during the summer, whereas an acre of pas- 

 ture will but barely suffice for one during the same period, irre- 

 spectively of the manure saved by the former management), I 

 make a decided exception where there is no necessity for 

 minutely regarding economy at the expense of the discomfort 

 of the cow, and the inferiority in flavor, if not in quantity, of 

 cream and butter. Yet, even with liberty, and the animal's 

 enjoyment of picking her food as she pleases, there will be 

 necessity in summer for some artificially grown grasses, to sup- 

 ply any deficiency that may occur in the pasture, and provide 

 for the house feeding, when the heat of the sun, the stinging 

 of flies, or the bursting of a storm may render the shade and 

 security of the cow-shed very grateful to your cows. In the 

 early and cold spring, and before the grass has sufficiently 

 sprung up, it is not any kindness to the cow, and it is a decided 

 injury to the ground and vegetation to turn her out ; at that 

 season she requires the warmth which her stall affords, and the 

 nourishment that nutritious hay and roots and bran impart." 



The following hints from the pen of Henry Colman should 

 be well heeded by every farmer. It is their own fault if Amer- 

 ican agriculturists do not profit by such truthful warnings. 



" The farmers prejudice very greatly their own interest in 

 suffering their milch cows to come out in the spring in low 

 condition. During the time they are dry, they think it enough 

 to give them the coarsest fodder, and that in limited quantities ; 

 this, too, at a time of pregnancy, when they require the kind- 

 est treatment and the most nourishing food. The calf itself 

 under this treatment of the cow is" small and feeble. He finds 

 comparatively insufficient support from his exhausted dam ; 

 and the return which the cow makes in milk during the sum- 

 mer is much less than it would be if she came into the spring 

 in good health and flesh. It requires the whole summer to 

 recover what she has lost. The animal constitution can not be 

 trifled with in this way. 



