KEEPING OF CATTLE. 



By Judge Van Wtck. 



This question, the keeping of cattle, especially cows, ought to be 

 considered in reference to our whole country; and the first study is 

 economy.. The cost of labor always weighs heavily on the farmer; 

 it is an incuhus on all his operations. In seven years past, the tall 

 of our farmer's prices have been from fifty to an hundred per cent. 

 It requires great economy to make both ends of the year meet. I 

 think grazing is the most profitable business, and it costs not more 

 than half the labor of general farming. A farmer can do much 

 with the labor of himself and family alone. If he hires a proper 

 hand, he must pay him $100 in money, and board him at the cost of 

 another $100. If he has 200 acres of land, and can get it in fit 

 condition as to grasses, &c., he and his family can take care of his 

 forty cattle and cows. Some persons prefer the soiling system, others 

 grazing. I think the latter best, if things are in proper order. Soil- 

 ing requires rich grasses and the culture of root crops, although a 

 smaller number of acres will suffice. Let a grazing farmer labor to 

 enrich his land; and the dung of the cattle dropped in the grass is 

 not lost by evaporation, part of its value sinks in the soil, and the 

 residue becomes mixed in the grass. In grazing, the cattle have the 

 benefit of pure open air, while in soiling they are necessarily too 

 much confined; and they must, even in this soiling system, be often 

 driven out on the fields for exercise and for water. Grazing fields 

 ought to have good shades for cattle in hot weather, and good water 

 too. The cattle must not be permitted to be made restless by flies 

 or other causes. Quiet is very important to their health and condi- 

 tion. 



As to manure, theoretical as well as practical men admit that the 

 best manure is that which is found on the field, from the decomposed 

 grasses which grow there, returning to the soil like for like: and 

 this runs through all nature. In a densely populated country, soiling 

 may be proper, or even necessary. Milch cows should be carefully 



