VARIETY OF FOOD FOE MILK. 341 



elements. The error too frequently committed by dairy- 

 men is, in supplying a ration from one kind of fodder, in- 

 stead of giving a variety. If the hay be cut from an old 

 meadow it will have a variety of grasses, and the wants of 

 the system will be fully supplied. There are very few old 

 meadows that contain less than twelve to fifteen species 

 of grass. Old pastures often contain three to four times 

 that number of grasses. It is from this fact that butter 

 has a higher flavor when produced from old pastures. 

 When milk is produced wholly from red clover, one of our 

 best artificial grasses, its flavor is quite inferior to that pro- 

 duced from several varieties. This has been so often ob- 

 served as not to admit of a doubt. Each species of grass 

 or grain has its own peculiar aroma and flavor, and the 

 greater the number of varieties the finer the flavor of the 

 milk, butter, or other product. Every dairyman should 

 therefore study the nature of the foods he uses, that he 

 may produce the best result. The unfavorable opinion ex- 

 pressed by some dairymen of fodder-corn, fed green, has 

 been from not understanding that this is only a partial 

 food, and not adapted to be used as a complete ration. It 

 is very deficient in albuminoids, which are found in so 

 large proportion in milk. Green corn is excellent as part 

 of a ration for milk cows, but it should always be given 

 with more nitrogenous food, such as clover, oats and peas, 

 millet, malt sprouts, oil-cake, bran or middlings. There 

 must always be a variety of food in the milk ration, and 

 with a little study of his resources the dairyman may 

 always give such variety. 



ENGLISH PRACTICE. 



Let us examine the system of feeding adopted with 

 success by Prof. Horsfall, of England, some twenty years 

 ago, and carried out for many years. We may not be able 

 to use the exact foods in his ration, but American dairy- 



