158 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Afril 



ton's barns, ■which Avere for hay, and this he sold 

 out at a great rate. They were tight, with cellars 

 underneath in nearly all of them. It was strange 

 he should sell his hay. 



Mr. Wetherell hoped barn cellars would be 

 well considered, for he believed that they injured 

 the grain and hay, and he had no doubt a miller 

 could discover much injury to the grain. He ad- 

 vocated barns for cattle, and hay in stacks, and 

 had his doubts as to large barns for the latter. 

 He had heard of a hog-pen that cost $2,000 ! Mr. 

 W. also slightly touched upon a few other kindi'ed 

 matters before closing. 



Mr. QuiNCY rose to say that he turned his cat- 

 tle out every day, probably excepting the severest 

 weather. 



Mr. Proctor said Mr. Sutton's stock bam was 

 open on the north side ; the manure is moved out. 



Mr. Moody, of Enfield, advocated barn cellars, 

 and said his own did not affect the hay. In liis 

 stables he sows plaster. 



The time for closing having now arrived, Mr. 

 Wetherell moved that the same subject be retained 

 for further discussion at the next meeting, wliich 

 being assented to, the meeting adjourned. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 HO-W TO BAISE CALVES. 



Mr. Editor: — It is doubtless a very simple 

 matter to raise a good calf, if you allow him to 

 suck the cow six months or more, but except in 

 cases of thorough bred stock, which Avill command 

 fancy prices, this is too expensive for the majority 

 of New England farmers, and is, in my opinion, a 

 serious injury to the cow. 



The opposite extreme of commencing to feed 

 skimmed miW, when a calf is a few days old, I 

 consider equally unprofitable, because good calves 

 are seldom raised in this way, and we can purchase 

 western cattle so cheaply that it does not pay to 

 raise a poor animal, if, indeed, it does under any 

 circumstances. 



The object with most of us, I suppose, is, not to 

 raise stock to any great extent specially for beef, 

 for that can be done cheaper where land is worth 

 less for other purposes, but to keep up our stock 

 of cows and working oxen l)y raising our most 

 })romising calves, and to adapt these to our not 

 {dways over-luxuriant pastures, in the point aimed 

 at, -while, at the same time, we must avoid dwarf- 

 ing the animal to such an extent as to injure its 

 constitution. 



The greatest obstacle in the way of substituting 

 skimmed milk, grain, Sec, for new milk, is the li- 

 ability to produce "scouring," and this Is so diffi- 

 cult to avoid, that even S. lOdwards Todd, with all 

 his skill and experience, abandoned that method 

 of raising calves, but after trying almost all ways 

 and kinds of feed with various success, I have at 

 last so far "learned the trade," that with good 

 stock to begin upon, I think I can raise good, 

 thrifty animals in nineteen cases out of twenty, 

 without any scouring at all, and will give my 

 method for the benefit of others. 



I do not allow the calf to remain ■nith the cow 

 more than from twenty-four to forty-eight hom-s, 

 because I think it easier teaching him to drink, 

 and the cow is less likely to be uneasy. In teach- 

 ing him to drink, I insert my fingers in his month 

 and hold the kettle of milk with the other hand 

 for one or two feedings, after wliich I have a place 

 made to hold it from tipping over, and teach him 

 gradually to take his^fness without the finger. It 

 the fingers are crowded into the mouth, sometimes 

 he will refuse to suck them, to avoid wWch I pre- 

 fer to begin upon them when lying doM'n, patting 

 and rubbing the head gently, which generally re- 

 moves all fear. Perhaps I should say here that no 

 r on gli treatment should be allowed, even if ^jro- 

 voldng awkwardness is manifested. The amount 

 of milk given depends on the size of the calf, but 

 two and one-half to three quarts will do for our 

 common native cattle, which I gradually increase 

 to four or five. I prefer to tie them, because it 

 prevents them from sucldng each other's ears, — ^is 

 the first lesson in learning to lead — and they can 

 then be watched separately to see the eff"ect of 

 their food, an important item, as I shall show 

 presently. I feed entirely on new milk for two 

 weeks, and then change gradually to skimmed 

 milk two weeks longer, gradually increasing, but 

 being verij careful to majce no sudden change. A 

 little rowen is fed as soon as they will eat it, and a 

 few oats or a little oil meal is sometimes added at 

 five or six weeks, but I would not feed much meal 

 until nine or ten weeks old. 



While increasing the feed, I always rvatch the 

 excrements carefullg, and if at all too thin, give 

 them a little salt pork sHced very thin (winch they 

 will swallow readily if put in their mouths and the 

 head held u^) a few moments,) and diminish the 

 feed. The milk should be continued until three 

 or four months old, and then taken away gradu- 

 ally. I feed but twice a day, and consider this suf- 

 ficient. Plenty of litter should be supplied, and a 

 little wood ashes and yellow earth are, without 

 doubt, beneficial, but not indispensable. I have 

 heard scouring attributed to the saltpetre collect- 

 ed under old buildings, and that calves could not 

 be raised in such places ; but although neatness is 

 quite important, plenty of litter wUl secm-e it al- 

 most anywhere. 



You will perceive that the points wliich I con- 

 sider most important are gradual change of feed, 

 careful watching, and no grain except oats or oil 

 meal, and very Utile of that, until they are old 

 enough to he able to hear heavy feed. 



Wm. F. Bassett. 



Ashficld, Fehniary 13, 18G2. 



Fine Wool. — Mr. Solomon Bixby, of War- 

 ren, N. H., has sent us some beautiful samples of 

 wool from his Spanish Merino Sheep. We have 

 seldom seen any of finer quality. He says, "The 

 Spanish Merino Is a patient and docile animal, as 

 well as hardy and prolific, bearing much confine- 

 ment without injury to health. Accurate experi- 

 ments show that tliis sheep requires only about 

 two-thirds the fodder that it does for the large 

 breeds. Their fleece is fine, and of good size, av- 

 eraging about six pounds per head." 



