FULL-FEEDING IN SUMMER. 283 



of June-grass (Poa pratensis), 10 Ibs. medium clover. 6 Ibs. 

 Alsike clover, should be sown. 



We have given only a few of the grasses that may be 

 used in pasture ; but deem it better to give a few that may 

 be easily obtained than a larger list, many of which are not 

 in the market. Pastures being the general reliance for 

 feeding cattle in summer, particular attention should al- 

 ways be given to their condition and the quality of the 

 food they furnish. We wish to point out the great error, 

 too often committed by farmers, of compelling cattle to 

 take what they can get in the pasture, whether it affords 

 sufficient nutriment to keep up a full and steady growth 

 or not. It often happens, in very dry seasons, and some- 

 times in very wet ones, that the grass is quite inadequate 

 to produce a vigorous growth ; and, lacking their full 

 ration, the cattle make so little progress, that this most 

 favorable season is practically lost the gain being much 

 less than the value of the pasture. Every consideration of 

 economy demands 



FULL-FEEDING IN SUMMER. 



That this statement may be fully understood, let us con- 

 sider the circumstances. Much of the food of support is 

 required to keep up animal heat ; and when the tempera- 

 ture is 70 degrees, it requires only food enough to raise 

 this temperature to 100 degrees, or to overcome a difference 

 of 30 degrees between the atmosphere and blood-heat. 

 Now the fall and winter seasons will average a temperature 

 of about 40 degrees in the Northern and Western States, 

 and, consequently, the temperature must be raised 60 de- 

 grees to reach blood-heat; thus requiring as much again 

 food to keep up animal heat in the cold as in the warm 

 season. This is a large margin in favor of summer- 

 feeding, and every farmer should make the most of it. 

 How short-sighted, then, is that policy which keeps cattle 



