1871. 



NEW ENGLAOT) FARMER. 



97 



serted between them and the plants. Be sure 

 to water with warm water — quite warm to the 

 hand. These frosty mornings, the earth will 

 be chilled enough, to bear warm with profit ; 

 but don't water so plentifully that the roots 

 decay, nor yet allow the soil to become too 

 dry, and crack open. Give a goodly supply 

 every morning, when, by digging down with a 

 hair pin, you find the soil dry half an inch 

 down. Choose a southeastern or western ex- 

 posure — give all the light and fresh air possi- 

 ble. Stimulate occasionally as we have given 

 directions in previous numbers and loe know 

 that you will derive much pleasure and profit 

 for the time and labor you expend ; — far more 

 than you can gain by fiUing your brain with 

 many o^ the "novels" of the period ; for the 

 flowers will speak to you of the land beyond 

 the sun where sin and sorrow are unknown. 



For the Kew England Farmer. 

 BEST FEED FOR COWS, 



Inquiries of Mr. Hart — Shorts and Corn Meal in con- 

 nection with Oil Meal and Cotton Seed Calie — Value 

 of Manure from various Feeds — To Drive Lice from 

 Cattle. 



I have been greatly interested in looking 

 over the last nuvnber of the Farmer, and very 

 many of the articles have received two good 

 thorough and careful readings, as well as being 

 made the subject of more or less conversation. 



The article written by T. L. Hart, and tak- 

 en from the Germantown Telegraph, is worthy 

 of a careful reading by every farmer that 

 keeps a cow. I would like to have IVIr Hart 

 make some of his statements a little fuller. 

 "Last winter," he says, "I found that heavy 

 feed, such as corn, wheat and rye shorts, fed 

 to twelve cows, pound to pound, did not make 

 as much milk as wheat-bran, into nine quarts 

 a day." And then he says he would not dare 

 to feed so heavily with shorts on account of 

 their weakening effects. 



Now I want to know the quantity of corn meal 

 and shorts fed to each cow per day ? Also how 

 many charts or pounds of shorts, will suffice 

 as an ec^uivalent for his mixed feed ? This 

 year he is feeding one bushel of cob corn 

 meal to two bushels of shorts. Is this the 

 amount fed in a day, or only half the amount ? 

 As he says he feeds twice a day. 



A friend to whom I have just read the arti- 

 cle says that he has been feeding to his cows, since 

 the middle of October twelve pounds of shorts a 

 day, with two small feedings a day of hay or 

 straw ; generally one feed of hay, and one of 

 either oat or wheat straw. His cows have done 

 well and are in prime condition . One of them 

 has laid on so much fat, that she is in good 

 condition for the shambles, and he has stopped 

 feeding her shorts, and, instead, is feeding 

 three quarts of corn meal to her. She calves 

 next summer. 



I am feeding four cows with shorts, at the 



rate of ten quarts daily, to each, with good 

 results so far, and yet I think a feed of 

 eight quarts of shorts and one quart of meal 

 would be better. Still my cows are in fine 

 condition. Ten quarts of such shorts as I am 

 feeding will weigh 7| lbs. Will that amount 

 affect the cows injuriously ? My neighbor does 

 not complain of its weakening his cows, with 

 a feed of twelve pounds to each ; although he 

 thinlvs that they walk as though they were a lit- 

 tle stiff, which he attributes to the fact that he 

 keeps them constantly in the stable, excepting 

 that he lets them out just long enough to drink. 

 I would like to know if any of your readers 

 have ever fed, in connection with shorts, eith- 

 er cotton or linseed meal? Would not a 

 mixture of either of these be advantageous 

 with shorts ? The manure, with us, is one of 

 the great objects of feeding grain, as we want 

 it to be rich, so as to produce the best effects 

 on our tobacco. One ton of decorticated cot- 

 ton seed cake will produce manure that is 

 worth $27.8G — and Hnseed cake $19.72 ; while 

 one ton of corn gives manure worth only 

 $6.65, meadow hay $6.43 and clover hay 

 $9.64, and carrots and roots generally run be- 

 low $1.00, gold value. Is there any danger" 

 in feeding rich cotton or oil meal to cows ? 

 We know that if your Maine subscriber who 

 inquires 



How to get Kid of Lice on Cattle, 



Would feed his cattle and calves oil meal for 

 a few weeks he would drive the lice all off 

 his animals, and then his cattle will ''laugh'''' 

 to see them scamper. We have also used 

 Kerosene. The dregs from a cider barrel, or 

 even vinegar, sopped into the hair is said to 

 kill them. All these remedies, however, are 

 temporary with me, while oil meal is the sure 

 cure. Feed a calf a handful a day and there 

 will not be a louse found near him, and the 

 calf will grow enough faster to more than pay 

 the outlay. Valley Farmer. 



Whately, Mass., Jan. 2, 1871. 



OlSr BREEDING HORSES. 



The severe work to which young horses are 

 now subjected is the chief cause of the present 

 great liabihty to disease. If they were well 

 fed, and allowed to matm-e their constitutions 

 before being trained, they Avould, in all pro- 

 bability, remain sound for a considerable time. 

 This, we fear, is not hkely to be attended to. 

 The farmer has so many demands on his purse 

 that 'he can scarcely afford to allow his horses 

 to roam at large till they reach their fourth 

 year ; and the turfite finds it more profitable 

 to race his colts at two years' old, than to keep 

 them over, at heavy expenses, until such time 

 as humanity, and a due regard to the sound- 

 ness of the animals, would point out as the 

 proper period for their first appearance on the 

 turf. The necessities of the one, and the 

 avaricious disposition of the other, thus ren- 



