'I.. XXII. NO. 33. 



AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER. 



259 



iininor. Last season, I fed my cows, 17 in 

 ber, IVDm the lOltj of M;iy to the 10th of June, 

 le proihice of one nnro of rye, cut fjrren anJ 

 '.o tliciii in the barn, tniji't'icr with iiboiit 3 lbs. 

 alt liay and one <|ijart of meal each per day 

 ig ti'jat lime. Part of the same piece of vye 

 cut a second lime, and served the same nnm- 

 jf COW3 five days. This piece of rye was 

 !d about the first of August of the year pre- 

 |s, at the rate of two bushels of seed per acre. 

 . quantity was not cun'^idered quite sunicient, 

 in my next year's sowing, I used 2 1-2 bush- 

 if rje per acre. After the rye was consumed, 

 were kept upon clover, cut and (ed in the 

 9 way, until the latter part of July. Part of 

 clover was the Southern variety for enrly use, 

 part Northern, which is a few days later. I 

 commenced upon preen corn fodder, sowed 

 !iat purpose, and fed them upon that until the 

 He of September : after that, they were turned 

 my mowing fields until the hard frosts came, 

 ng the time they were in these fields, they 

 1 partly kept upon the tops of beets, ruta baga 

 turnips. These tops were not gathered into 

 3, but were scattered over the ground at the 

 they were cut, and permitted to remain there 

 ral days, to be used as wanted. No more 

 was wanted (or one day, were carried to the 

 at a time. When tops are kept in this way, 

 will remain good for 8 or 10 days, and cows 

 eat them readily ; and if dealt out to them 

 ' in moderate quantities, lliey do no harm to 

 milk. 



raise for winter use, ruta baga and turnips. 

 se will not afi'oct the taste of the milk, if kept 

 , cool cellar, where they do not heat. My 

 lice im taking them from the field is, to place 

 he liarn floor as many as my cattle will con- 

 e up to the middle of December: after that, 

 lys to keep at least one week's supply there, so 

 any unpleasant flavor they may have imbibed 

 le cellar, may have a chance to escape. In 

 way of feeding, you may be sure they will 

 I no unpleasant taste to the milk. 

 Ir President, I will say a few words in regard 

 ny manner of raising corn fodder. Last year, 

 wed half an acre the first of May, for early use. 

 'ed Northern corn, which yielded one-lhird less 

 1 the Southern. The imiii crop for late autumn 

 winter use, was planted on the 7th of June, in 

 Is three feet apart, and scattered pretty thick 

 le drill, so as three bushels of seed per acre 

 used, of the Southern yellow. flat. The ground 

 broken up a few days before ; manured upon 

 surface and harrowed ; after which q furrow 

 made with a one-horse plow, the corn dropped 

 covered. After it came up, a cultivator was 

 !ed between the rows twice, and hoed twice. 

 Jy cows ate what they wanted until the 7th of 

 tembc.-, at which lime I had rather more than 

 icre standing. It was then cut up at the bot- 

 I and suffered to lay upon the ground two days, 

 vas then tied into bundles of a convenient size, 

 put up into shocks that would weigh about 300 

 nds when dry. It remained in this state about 

 ie weeks, when it was dry enough for winter ui^e. 

 measured one square rod of the ground on 

 ch this corn grew, and carefully weighed the 

 duce: it weighed 404 lbs. at the time it was 

 , wliich is more than 3'i tons to the acre. It 

 ) again weighed when perfectly dry, and wcigh- 

 160 lbs. to the rod, which is nearly 13 tons to 

 acre. 



I think ihat rye, lucerne, clover and corn fodder, 

 are the best and most economical arliclcs for feed- 

 ing to cattle green, — Ihnt corn fodder, in particu- 

 lar, both for summer and winter use as fond fnr cows, 

 can be raised, on gooil land, at less expense than 

 either hiiy nr vegetables. 



Mr President, at our meeting hero last week, 

 much was said upon the importance of watering 

 cows frequently. Many of the speakers said ihey 

 should liave water four or five times a day. 



Soon after I commenced farming, I observed that 

 cows would drink quite often in summer, when at 

 pasture, and when water was handy; and although 

 a stream of water is very near my barn, I found in 

 ivinler they would frequently refuse to drink, and 

 sometimes would go without the whole day, be. 

 cause of the difficulty of getting to the water on 

 account of the jcc ; and in stormy weather, some 

 of them would drink only once a day. Tliis led 

 me to adopt some way of watering them in the 

 barn. Several years ago, I had a trough made the 

 whole length of tho manger, about 5 inches deep 

 and G inches wide, and placed against the frame of 

 the stancliel. It is made of common inch board, 

 and is water tight. At one end of this trough is a 

 pump, with which the cows are supplied with wa- 

 ter, summer and winter. The cost of this pump 

 was not more than five or six dollars, and the well 

 was not expensive, as it is but six feet deep. 



Mr President, although manure is not the sub- 

 ject of discussion this evening, yet with your per- 

 mission, I will state my manner of saving the ma- 

 nure of cows. 



I have a cellar under the barn where my cows 

 stand : the manure they make is dropped down 

 twice a day, when it is immediately covered wiih 

 rotten peat or meadow muck, placed near for that 

 purpose — two or three parts of muck to one of ma- 

 nure. Such is the large quantity of urine voided 

 by them when kept upon green corn feed, that I 

 have no doubt it would saturate thoroughly five 

 parts of dry muck with one of the mixture of dung 

 and urine. 



I have had some experience in applying manure 

 thus saved, and have no hesitation in saying that 

 this mixture of two or three parts of meadow muck 

 with one of the droppings from the cows, is worth 

 more than tho same weight of clear cow manure, 

 for any kind of crops I raise. I know it is worth 

 more when applied to corn. 



Hon. Allen Dodge said, in regard to soiling cat- 

 tle and feeding with corn fodder, he had some ex- 

 perience. He had tried Southern corn, but found 

 by (he time he wished to use it, that it had grown 

 so rank that the cows left a large portion of the 

 hutis ; he therefore discontinued the use of the 

 Southern corn and planted the Northern. Last 

 summer he tried sweet corn, and if he could judge 

 by the avidity with which the cows ate it, he 

 thought it must be better for milk than any other 

 variety. He had made no experiment to test its 

 comparative value with other varieties, and sliould 

 like to know if any gentleman present had any ex- 

 perience with it. He said it was a general prac- 

 tice among the farmers in Essex County, to feed 

 their cattle on corn fodder at night in dry weather, 

 when the feed in their pastures was short. He 

 had weighed a rod of Southern corn, cut up green, 

 and found it weighed at the rate (as we understood 

 him) of about 20 tons to the acre. 



(Concluded on editorial page.) 



AGRICULTURAL READF.RS. 



In the early part of our experience as publisher 

 of an agricultural paper, we found that the readers 

 of such journals could be divided into two classes, 

 one of which read with profit, the oilier with very 

 little if any. Of course we do not include in eilh- 

 er of these classes, those fanners who already know 

 every thing, despise all agricultural reading, and 

 treat the idea of any improvement in husbandry 

 with the most profound contempt. The number 

 belonging to this class is much reduced, but spe- 

 ciinous are occasionally met with. 



l'"arincr A. belongs to the class of rcadrrs that 

 receive and peruse agricultural papers with liltle 

 profit. The reason is, he does not sullicienlly ex- 

 ercise his own judgment in reference to the de- 

 tails of farming. He reads a statement that such 

 a farmer was eminenlly successful in the cultiva- 

 tion of such a crop; the growing or fattening of 

 such or such an animal ; or the management in 

 general of a farm on the principles of rotation ; 

 and he determines at once to do tho same. He 

 does not slop lo inquire whether his soil is suited 

 to the particular crop he wishes lo grow, whether 

 it is too wet or too dry, too light or too heavy, 

 rich or poor — but pursuing the course pointed out 

 by the successful farmer, he miserably fails in his 

 crop, or his animals, and frequently throws on the 

 publication or its correspondent, the blame wliich 

 fairly belongs to himself. 



Farmer B., on the contrary, is one of a class of 

 readers that find a decided [profit in the perusal of 

 agricultural papers. He takes the same papers as 

 A., but wholly escapes the mislakes into which A. 

 is constantly falling. The reason is to be found 

 in the fact that he exercises his judgment in man- 

 aging his farm ; and is fully aware that a course of 

 husbandry that would be successful on one kind of 

 soil, or one particular location, would be ruinous 

 on another. Because a great crop, or fine animals, 

 have been produced under certain circumstances, 

 he does not go on to infer that they will be so in 

 all ; and it is in this discrimination and adaptation, 

 that the cause of his success is found. He reads, 

 compares, reflects, and decides whether a course is 

 suitable for him, his soil, or circumstances, before 

 he adopts it. His agricultural reading furnishes 

 him the means of doing this correctly, and in that 

 he finds a great advantage. 



Agricultural publications are not intended to su- 

 persede the use of the judgment in matters of prac- 

 tice, among those who receive them ; their great 

 office is to enable the farmer to judge correctly as 

 lo ihe proper course for him to pursue ; lo bring 

 lo his notice all improvements in husbandry and 

 agricultural implements, that he may clioose wisely 

 for himself; to show what has been done by oth- 

 ers, and the way it has been done, that if in the 

 same circumstances, and it is desirable, he may do 

 so too ; and lo excite to improvement by showing 

 it is practicable and profitable. The farmer must 

 do as do men in other cases — obtain all the light 

 and information possible by reading, and tin n re- 

 flect, reason, decide, and practice for himself. — 

 Mb. Cult. 



Good thoughts, like good company, will never 

 stay where they aro not civilly entertained ; while 

 bad thoughts, like ill-mannered guests, press for 

 admission, or, like nightly robbers, lurk secretly 

 about, waiting for an unguarded nioinenl to creep 

 in and destroy. 



