1867. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



239 



some of the poorest of your mowing, perhaps 

 you will be able to keep ten with what pasture 

 you will then have, by reedinjr hay in the stall 

 night and morning as needed, till the first of 

 July. Then feed new hay or grass cut every 

 day, till the first of August, letting the cows 

 get their dinner in the pasture. By this time 

 you will have corn fodder ready to cut, if V'ou 

 will i)lant it early enough this spring. If 

 planted at suitable times and in sulKcient 

 quantity, you ought to have that as a principal 

 feed for two months or longer. At this time 

 you might perhaps keep the cows entirely out 

 of the pasture, saving all the manui-e they 

 will make. If, by the time the fiost has ended 

 the green fodder season, the pastures have 

 thrown up a last bite for the cows, they may 

 be turned in again for a short time for their 

 dinner, feeding plenty of good hay night and 

 morning. If no grass is in the pasture at this 

 time, you may as well call the soiling season 

 ended, unless you can find in the mowing some 

 spots iVom which you can cut rowen. 



If you adopt this plan, you will need a cel- 

 lar under the stable, into which the manure can 

 be dropped. Shovelling fresh manure in sum- 

 mer out of a stable window, fi-om cows fed on 

 green food, is not a pleasant kind of employ- 

 ment. You ought also to provide yourself in 

 some way with dry muck, loam, or sand 

 enough to absorb all the liquid part of the 

 manure. The opportunity you will have of 

 making from two to four times the manure you 

 now do, you will find to be one of the princi- 

 pal advantages of the soiling system. 



Without plenty of manure very little can be 

 accomplished in this part of the country, at 

 the present time, but with it almost anything 

 can 1)0 done that may be desired in the way of 

 farming. 



You ask how much and what kind of grain 

 is best for bvitter cows. This is yet an open 

 question. Some good fiirmers are now con- 

 tending that earUj cat English Jiay is the best 

 feed, next to grass, a cow can have. But with 

 such hay as most fiirmers use, and especially 

 when feeduig green ibod, like corn fodder, I 

 believe some grain is necessary in order to 

 keep the cows in good tiesh mIuIc giving a large 

 amount of milk. I usually i'ecd two quarts of 

 Indian meal and from four to six quarts of 

 •wheat shorts, per day, to each cow, varying the 

 quantity somewhat according to the age and 

 condition of the animal. 1 believe a fleshy 

 cow may be allowed all the shorts she will eat 

 without being injured. A lean cow must be 

 brought to a lull grain diet very gradually. 

 One thing I have noticed about feeding shorts 

 is, that cows will never touch a bone, or ever 

 be caught gnawing boards or old leather, 

 if they have long been fed with plenty of 

 shorts. 



Y''ou ought to obtain Mr. Quincy's little 

 work on soiling, and you would do well to 

 spend a day or more in visiting farms where the 

 system has been adopted. 1 have never yet 



known a man to adopt the soiling system and 

 afterwards go back to pasturing. 



To your last question, "Does the soiling 

 system pay ?" I answer, that where grass do(;s 

 not grow spontaneously all through the sum- 

 mer season, in sufiicient quantities lor the full 

 needs; of the stock, this system of soiling, or 

 stall feeding in a greater or less degree, is the 

 only resort, and if it won't pay, it must be be- 

 cause the whole business of dairying won't 

 pay. If it will pay to keep stock at all, it will 

 pay better to keep it well. Believe me. Sir, 

 very truly yours, A. W. Chekvkii. 



Sheldonville, Mass., March 20, 1S07. 



For the JVeiP England Farmer. 

 GHAPES. 



IMessrs. Editors : — The article on grapes 

 by S. S. Chamberlin, and your remarks upon 

 his vines, their fruit, and the home of the owner, 

 and its location, are very interesting and sug- 

 gestive. 



That part of IMr. C.'s article in which he 

 speaks of wine — its value and cost, and its use 

 to the poor and the sick, I nuist confess myself 

 unable to appreciate, as I have never used a 

 quart of wine in my life ; but his remarks on 

 growing grapes for their fruit are certainly 

 tunely and excellent, and will, I hope, be very 

 useful. He certainly understamls growing 

 grapes ; and though many will call his state- 

 ment an exaggeration, I accept it as a sober 

 truth ; because I can name others who have 

 come so near to him in the weight of their 

 grapes, per vine, on an average, of the same 

 variety, that I have no reason lor being sur- 

 prised. The secret of his success lies in the 

 location and aspect, and in the care he takes 

 of his vines. Under the same conditions, 

 many other varieties now generally discarded 

 would well repay the owner. But, as Mr. 

 Chamberlin says, so I say, I wish it to be un- 

 derstood 1 am not referring to '■vineyard modes.'' 



In my articles on "Grape Fever," I did 

 have reference chiefiy to "vineyard modes," 

 yet, as then, I now say, "no doubt all these 

 varieties are cultivated with much satisfaction 

 by persons of taste and experience, and in 

 many cases the fruit is worth double the cost 

 of raising it." It is, however, none the less 

 true that tiiose varieties, including ihe Isabella, 

 are not safe vines for open or field culture ; — 

 they must be well sheltered and the aspect 

 good, and the location high and free i'rom 

 early frost. On this point Mr. Chamberlin 

 observes, "I am satisfied that these vines 

 would often fail to ripen their fruit by the frost 

 striking them, if they had been out in my 

 fields." But under the condition he names, 

 "the frost does not have a chance to injure 

 them so early by three or four weeks." The 

 time, he says, "they usually ripen, is about the 

 middle of September." 



Mr. Chamberlin has an unusually favorable 

 location, or his Isabella grapes would not 



