12 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Jan. 



■WINTERING STOCK. 



Good coimtiy hay is now selling in Boston 

 for thirty dollars a ton, and Eastern pressed 

 hay for twenty-six dollars and upwards. Good 

 English hay sells at twenty-two to twenty-six 

 dollars in the country towns in the vicinity ot 

 Boston, where it had averaged about sixteen 

 dollars per ton for many years previous to the 

 rebellion. Corn meal is now retailed at $2.70 

 a bag, and all other articles ordinarily used for 

 feeding neat stock and horses in the winter, are 

 proportionately high. 



Under this condition of things, two points oi 

 interest to every farmer ought to be carefully 

 considered. 



The first of these is, that farming cannot be 

 profitably conducted in New England without 

 the use of considerable manure, — and that the 

 natural, sure, and economical mode of obtain- 

 ing manure is by keeping stock. Good, pro- 

 gressive farming, ought to enable us to add one 

 animal to our herd of neat stock every year, 

 and feed them all well. This would be evi- 

 dence of progress and thrift. If we kept five 

 last year, keep six this, and so continue to do 

 until every acre is brought to its maximum 

 power of production. Under such a practice 

 of farming, there would be no want of manure 

 after the system was once in operation, and, 

 with careful culture, there would be almost a 

 certainty of good crops, whatever the season 

 might be. Seed time and harvest is promised 

 to us, and the promise has held good for ages, 

 and will so continue. With our part judiciously 

 performed, there should be no apprehension 

 that the result will not be favorable. We have 

 no recollection of a season when the bountiful 

 soil of New England would not produce suffi- 

 ciently for all her children, provided their labor 

 had been given to its cultivation. 



The next point of interest is, how shall we 

 sustain our stock, and still spare some portion 

 of the hay and grain to exchange for cash to 

 meet bills for taxes, groceries, clothing, and a 

 thousand other incidental expenses that come 

 into every family ? Let us see. 



The hay crop of last summer was scarcely an 

 average one, but was generally well preserved, 

 and is, therefore, more than ordinarily nutri- 

 tious. As a partial compensation for lack of 

 quantity, tlie llill feed has bcM3n abundant and 

 good, so that cattle will come to their stalls this 

 fall in good condition. We have rarely noticed 



them appearing so well. The com crop is also 

 good ; the corn fodder, buts and husks, are 

 unusually heavy. 



The fanner can bring his stock to their win- 

 ter quarters this fall, therefore, imder quite 

 favorable circmnstances. It now remains with 

 him so to feed out what he has so carefully laid 

 up, as to take his stock through the winter in 

 a growing condition, on the coarse and less 

 valuable portions of his crop, and leave a sur- 

 plus for market, or to be fed to fattening ani- 

 mals, or milch cows, which would be only 

 another, and perhaps better, form of selling 

 the hay. 



In the first place, we earnestly recommend 

 the cutting of as mucJi of the fodder as possi- 

 ble — the whole of it, English hay and all, as 

 far as it can be done consistently with other 

 circumstances. We will not pause here to give 

 special reasons for this recommendation, but 

 will make them the subject of another article 

 hereafter. 



In most cases the farmer has a variety of 

 fodder, such as meadow hay of two or three 

 qualities, herdsgrass, redtop, oat, barley, or 

 rye straw, and the top stalks of corn, and buts, 

 and husks. Either of these, except the Eng- 

 lish hay, fed alone would soon impair the appe- 

 tite of the cattle, and they would fail to eat it. 

 If the coarse kinds of fodder were changed 

 from day to day, the stock would select the best 

 portions, push about and breathe on the remain- 

 der and then utterly refuse it, unless they were 

 kept very short — too short to grow fat or yield 

 any valuable product. But if all kinds are 

 mingled and run through a hay cutter, the 

 whole will not only be eaten by the stock, but 

 they will thrive upon it in a remarkable degree. 



Our practice has been to use about equal 

 portions of the various kinds, of fodder, cut 

 and mixed, thro^\^l into a heap, sprinkled with 

 water, and then thrown over, adding a little 

 salt as the process is continued. AVlien the 

 weather is so cold as to prevent fermentation, 

 some kind of meal is added when the salt is, 

 and the heap is allowed to remain a day or two 

 before commencing to feed from it. But if the 

 weather is warm, the meal is mixed with it as it 

 is used. 



If thci farmer has raised grain of any kind, it 

 is cheaper to use a portion of it in this way, 

 ground into meal, than to sell it, — selling a 

 portion of the Ibdder instead — if he must dis- 



