344 



NEW ENGLAND FARIMER. 



July 



load among eight cows. And the first time I 

 olfL-red it (Irv in winter tliey did not seem to 

 like it, but after a few days they ate it better, 

 and before it was all fed out some of them ate 

 it as well as Englisli hay. 



I think all animals like some change in their 

 feed, and didi-rent animals like dillerent 

 kinds of food. Some cows eat coarse hay 

 best, while others prefer fine. I found my 

 young cattle and dry cows ate the millett 

 better than those that were giving milk. I 

 shall try to raise a larger field of it this year 

 for winter feeding. It grows quick, and can 

 be grown after it is too late for corn. So 

 nmch grass was killed last summer by the 

 drought that an extra effort must be made 

 this year to raise forage crops or the cows 

 will be hungry next winter. 



I do not wish to be understood as opposed 

 to millett or Hungarian grass. I believe them 

 both very valuable crops to raise on certain 

 kinds of land, and for putting in after it is too 

 late for corn. 



Mr. Charles Smith, of Attleboro, raised a 

 very good piece of Hungarian grass last sum- 

 mer on green sward turned over after taking 

 off" a crop of hay. I hope to do the same 

 this summer. 



Last fall I sowed a piece of rye to be cut 

 and fed green this spring. It was put in af- 

 ter early potatoes, and although the season 

 was dry it made such a growth that it had to 

 be mowed to prevent it from smothering in 

 the winter. On the 8th of this month (May) , 

 it had begun to show its heads, and I com- 

 menced cutting and feeding it to all my stock, 

 young and ohl. They all took to it at first, 

 and still seem to like it as well as anything I 

 ever feed. And the cows in milk have in- 

 creased their ([uantity wonderfully. I only 

 wish the field had been four times as large. 

 I shall try rye on a larger scale another year 

 for soiling. I suppose it will get too hard 

 before long, but I think by sowing it at two or 

 three different times from the first of Sep- 

 tember to the last of October, it might be 

 made to last four or five weeks ; and it 

 comes when no other green food can be had. 

 Orchard grass on rich moist land can be cut 

 before the first of June, and if rye can be fed 

 through the whole of May it will make the 

 winter seem shorter than if only hay is fed 

 fi'om fall till new grass comes. 



Ever since I have had the management of 

 farm stock, I have kept more or less definite 

 accounts ; enough at least to allow of making 

 very close guesses at the profit or loss. 1 find 

 it impossible to« keep exact accounts with 

 dairy stock. I can buy a pig for .$10, feed 

 him -SI worth of meal and sell him for $2.5 

 and know that 1 have made a profit of $o, al- 

 lowing th(! value of the manure to be ecjual to 

 the cost of la])or of taking care of him. 



Cows are not bought and sold at the be- 

 ginning and end of each trial, but an esiimate 

 must be made of their value at each end of the 



year. Allowance must be made for growth, 

 if any, and also for the condition of the cow, 

 whether farrow, dry, or fresh with calf, — all 

 of which require considerable guessing. 



1 believe this is the first year I have ever 

 kept a stock of cows without making either 

 purchases or sales, or having some farrow 

 ones among them. This year, ending March 

 31, 1871, I have had just eight cows and heif- 

 ers, that have all had calves within the year. 

 I have had them come in at different times, so 

 that I could make about the same quantity of 

 butter each month through the year. Four of 

 the number were from four to ten years old. 

 The other four were two-year-old heifers with 

 their first calves. 



Two calves were fatted for veal, four were 

 raised, and the others killed when a day or 

 two old. Those which were raised had new 

 milk two or three weeks, and then milk 

 skimmed at twelve hours old for two or three 

 weeks longer. 



I should not have thought of making these 

 statements had I not seen in the IMarch num- 

 ber of the AgriruUurist, Col. Warring's ac- 

 count with his Jersey cows for the past year. 

 He says "he has bought and sold a number, 

 so that he cannot give an exact average, but 

 the amount of butter made will not be less 

 than 200 poiands for each cow oi full age; 

 and he is willing to compare their produce 

 with that of any native herd with which he is 

 acquainted." 



By looking over my books I find that I have 

 sold during the year 1534 pounds of butter 

 from my eight not ices, four of which were two- 

 year-old heifers. I have also sold one quart 

 of new milk every day, and all the night's 

 milk skimmed at twelve hours old one day ia 

 every week, and during the winter months the 

 morning milk has been sold new one day in a 

 week. This does not include the milk, cream 

 or butter, used in a family of from three to 

 four persons, which would have carried the 

 amount of butter made considerably above 

 two hundred poimds per cow, and this from 

 natives, grades, or scrubs, as some call them, 

 and half the number only two years old at that. 



What the full age of a cow is I do not 

 know. Mine are all under seven except one, 

 and she is giving now at eleven years, two or 

 three quarts more than she ever did before. 

 She is giving at this time eighteen (juarts per 

 day. When they all get to maturity I shall 

 hope to show still better results. 



A. AV. CiiEErER, 



Sheldonville, Mass., May, 1871. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 HEAVY MANUBINa. 

 In an article of mine, published in the Far- 

 MEK some weeks since, I used the term ^ ^heavily 

 manured,'^'' in speaking of a field jirepared 

 for corn. 



A correspondent of yours, J. II., of Shrews- 



