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THE ILLIIN^OIS F^RJMER. 



This is essential in making a good milker. By 

 pursuing the above plan I have seldom failed to 

 make fair milkers of all the heifers grown on 

 my form. The practice of letting calves run 

 with their dams, particularly with heifers, as is 

 often the case, is ruinous to thoai as milkers, 

 and of no ])cnefit ix) the calf. 1 he calf that runs 

 at large witli the dam feeds badly, for as soon 

 as the calf f^ets hungry, iny.toad (jf grazing it 

 ■will seek the dam for suck, and that will be live 

 or six times per day, thus preventing the tilling 

 or distending the udder, and lessening tlic ca- 

 pacity of tlu! ba,g to liolil iiiilk. On this plan 

 the udder becomes fleshy, the milk flows slowly, 

 and she becomes a poor anil hard milker. When 

 a calf runs at large with, the dam, and, when 

 weaned, the cow is permitted to dry up her 

 milk, nineteen out of twenty such are worthless 

 as dairy coavs. It is important that every farm- 

 er should have shelter sufficient to house such of 

 his cows as may have calves during the winter, 

 and those that are giving milk. There is cc(m- 

 omy in this, for one well fed cow, under shelter, 

 will give more milk than two equally well fed 

 and exposed on our prairies. Cov.s that have 

 calves in winter must be sheltered to do Avell. 

 When they are not well provided for the cows 

 run down rapidly, and without extraordinary 

 care and attention soon get on the lift, their teats 

 crack open and the result is a spoiled bag, which 

 amounts almost to the loss of the cow as a milk- 

 er. In addition to this calamity, it takes all the 

 milk to keep the calf alive to grass, and the calf 

 is stinted in its growth, and never fully recovers 

 from it. 



I keep my milking cows under shelter at night 

 during winter, letting them out on the pasture 

 during the day. They receive the same amount 

 of food that my dry cows do, which run out day 

 and night. A portion of them have young 

 calves, which furnish my family with milk and 

 butter and some to spare. They are generally 

 fat enough for the butcher, and their calves 

 good veal. A co^v, to be profitable as a breeder, 

 should be in an improving condition while in a 

 state of gestation. When this is done, it is no 

 hard task to keep her in good flesh while giving 

 milk. Calves should be provided with a good 

 grass lot, with plenty of water. A trough sIkhiM 

 be placed in the lot in Avhich salt should be kept, 

 and a few handsful of corn meal, or shorts and 

 Ijran mixed, should be given every day, to leam 

 them to eat. They will begin to feed at four 

 weeks old. Half the milk of the cow, with good 

 grass, Avill keep the calf in fine condition. When 

 only allowed to suck morning and evening, they 

 feed and grow faster, and suffer but little incon- 

 venience when v.-eaned, and never lose any flesh. 

 The first winter calves should have access to 

 good grass, (timothy, blue-grass, or both,) Avith 

 a shed or 'grove to protect them from the storms 

 of winter. The question may be asked, how 

 are we to have a grove on the prairies to protect 

 our farm stock? I answer, almost as easy as to 

 have a temporary- shod. The first day of Ai^ril, 



when the ground is too Avet to ploAV, set out one 

 hundred locust trees at some convenient spot, 

 and keep tlie stock from them three or four years, 

 and you have ,it. If you have not the trees plant 

 the seed in May, four feet apart each Avay, as 

 you would corn, and you obtain the same retiilt 

 in four years, I hope I shall be pardoned for 

 saying that every prairie farmer is too negligent 

 about planting trees. There is no laljor that 

 would pav so well as that applied in planting 

 trees. \V'alnuts should lie planted along our 

 fences. This is rapidly done. Open a furrow 

 in October, and drop the nuts four or five inches 

 apart and c 'Ver Avith the ploAv, and the Avurk, 

 with suitaljle cultivation, is done. Nothing adds 

 so much to the beaut}' and comfort of a prairie 

 farm as clumps and roAvs of trees, saying noth- 

 ing of their ultimate value for timber. 



The best and most successful mode of feeding 

 grain to calves, during the first Avinter, is to use 

 a corn and col) crusher, and feed in troughs, giv- 

 ing to each head two quarts per day, Avith the 



additiiin of hay, corn fodder or clean Avheat 

 straw, Avhen snoAV or sleet Avould prevent the 

 young cattle from getting to the grass. Calves 

 Avjntered in this manner Avill come to grass at 

 one j'ear old fat and sleek, AA-lth a cost of tAvo 

 dollars per head in corn cob meal at tAVCnty 

 cents per bushel. 



All cattle breeders should have tAvo pastures 

 for summer grazing, so as to be able to change 

 their stock frequently through the grazing sea- 

 son from one to the other. By this course stock 

 have fresh pasture, which is very conducive to 

 their rapid improvement, whilst it enables the 

 OAvner to let the gra^ss grow up for fall and Avin- 

 ter use. The land intended for winter grazing 

 should not be grazed in midsummer, for the crop 

 then on the ground should be left to protect the 

 fall groAvth for Avinter. My experience and ob- 

 servation Avarrant me in stating that to make 

 stock groAving as profitable as it should be, good 

 grass for summer and winter grazing is indls- 

 pensal)le. 



Yearlings handled as above stated should be 

 put on rich pasture, (avIW or cultivated,) and on 

 such kept during the grazing season, viz : on the 

 prairie from May to 15th or 20th of Septemljer, 

 and on cultivated grass to the first of November. 

 At the latter date they should go into their win- 

 ter pasture. When Avinter sets in, Avhich is 

 al)out the 15th of December, in this }X)rtion of 

 the State, begin to feed in troughs, give a half 

 peck of crushed corn to each head per day, and 

 gradually increase to one peck per day. If it 

 is impracticable to feed the corn in the above 

 manner, it may be advantageously fed on the 

 grass, from the shock, in like proportion. A 

 sufficient number of hogs should be put after the 

 cattle to take up the offal. ItAvill take 20 bush- 

 els of corn per head second winter, Avliich, put 

 at 20 cents per bushel, will give $4 in grain per 

 head for second winter. Yearlings thus man- 

 aged, Avill, on 1st of 3Iay, when they are tAvo 

 years old, weigh from 1,000 to 1,100 pounds, 

 grt)ss. The tAVO year old cattle should be turned 

 to grass 1st of May, and kept on good pastui'es 

 until the 20th of October, at Avhich time they 

 are ready for stall feeding, and should be put to 

 corn on the grass, with one-fourth of a bushel 

 to the head, per day, for one and a half months, 

 Avhich will bring the 1st of December. At this 

 time they should go into the feed lot, and have 

 all the corn they will eat until the 1st jsf May, 

 which will be a half bushel per head per day. — 

 This Avill give 85 bushels per head for stall feed- 

 ing, which, at 20 cents per bushel, will give $17 

 per head for the third Avinter. Each steer thus 

 fed Avill fatten one hog or winter twowell — thus 

 paying the expense of feeding. The system 

 above given for handling cattle will afford a 

 sufficient amount of offal for hogs to pay all ex- 

 penses for labor in winter feeding, from the time 

 of Aveaning until ready for the butcher. Cattle 

 fed as above Avill be ready for market the 1st of 

 May, but should be well grazed until the 15th 

 or 20th of June, which is the most profitable 

 time for selling, taking one season with another. 

 At this time they should average aljout 1,400 

 pounds each, gross. It Avill cost to produce a 

 steer for market, on the above plan, as follows : 



1st year, grass, $3 00 



" corn, 2 00 



2(1 year, grass 6 00 



" corn, 4 00 



3d year, grass, 6 00 



" corn,, 17 00 



Grass, from 1st May to 15th June, time of sell- 

 ing, 2 CO 



Making the entire cost of raising and fattening.$tO 00 



CosTRA— l,4'i0 pounds beef, at $3 50 perhuud., $50 75 



Deduct cost, 40 60 



And }ou liave, for profit, $10 75 



It Avill thus be seen, that by the above sys* 

 tern it will cost $40 per head to grow and pre- 

 pare a steer for the butcher, or $2 75 per hun- 

 dred, Avhich gives 20 cents for corn on the farm, 

 and pays one dollar per month for grazing, and 

 leaves $10 75 profit. It Avill be seen that cat- 

 tle handled as above go into market at three 



years old instead of four years, as under the 

 common method of handling cattle, and adding 

 to the profit one year's keep. This is no small 

 item, and, in the aggregate, a great gain to 

 growers. 



Dnder the system generally pursued by our 

 farmers in raising and managing cattle, I main- 

 tain that it costs three dollars per hundred to 



produce every pound of beef that is fed in the 

 State, and that no farmer who does not fat his 

 oAvn cattle, but sells, to be fed by others, re- 

 ceives a fair remuneration for food fed in an or- 

 dinary manner in which cattle are handled in 

 Illinois. By examining the patent office reports, 

 it will be found that it costs about about $20 in 

 winter provender to feed a steer, so as to be ready 

 for the stall feeder at four years old. Now, add 

 to this three summer's grazing, at $6 per sea- 

 son, (it is worth this sum, whether obtained 

 from the prairie or from cultivated lands, for it 

 produces it in beef,) and it will give $18 per 

 head. Add to this $17 for stall feeding, and we 

 have $55, the cost of the production of 1,450 

 pounds of gross beef. (A lot of cattle handled 

 in the ordinary manner will oftener fall under 

 1,450 than come up to it.) Placing the beef at 

 $3 50 per hundred, gross, and we have $50 75, 

 the value of the beef. Take this from the cost 

 of production, and there is a loss of $4 25 to the 

 producer, under this common system, whilst 

 there is a profit of $10 75 under the system here 

 recommended. From the best information I 

 can obtain, there are one hundred thousand beef 

 cattle taken to market from Illinois annually, 

 at a loss, in grain and grass, of $4 25 per head. 

 Thus we lose the large sum of four hundred and 

 twenty-five thousand dollars under our present 

 system of raising, managing and feeding cattle, 

 when under a different system, we should have 

 a profit on the one hundred thousand cattle, of 

 one million of dollars — saving to the growers of 

 cattle four hundred and twenty-five thousand 

 dollars, and giving an aggregate profit of one 

 million. The plan suggested would increase the 

 wealth of the state, annually, one million four 

 hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars, and 

 open up a home market for her surplus com 

 Avhich often lies rotting in the pens of the own 

 ers, for the want of a paying market. 



N. B. — For several years past I have provid- 

 ed protection for my outdoor stock in the follow- 

 ing manner and am well satisfied with the re- 

 sult: Take 100 rails, or poles, 10 feet long, to 

 some eligible place: take 3 forks, 4 feet long, 

 made from the fork of a limb, from which the 

 rails or poles are made; set them two feet in the 

 ground, and 14 feet apart; place a pole, 30 feet 

 long, in the forks; then, with a spade, set the 

 rails or poles one foot in the ground, one on 

 either side, alternately, at an angle of 45 deg., 

 and you will have a rail or pole rack, 30 feet 

 long, which will hold five or six wagon loads of 

 hay or straw. This rack I fill with hay while 

 cutting my grass, or with straw while threshing 

 my grain. Five racks will gire good protection 

 to one hundred head of growing stock, during 

 the whole winter, and more food than they will 

 consume, when managed as above. 



Jas. N. Brown. 



«•» 



A Change in tne GoTernment of India. 



The London Times of the 28th ult. states 

 that as soon as Parliament meets for the dis- 

 patch of business, the total abolition of the 

 East India Company's government will be pro- 

 posed by mioisters, and that India will be 

 brought immediately under the control of the 

 Crown and Parliament, with such a machinery 

 of administration as shall be thought condu- 

 cive to its welfare. 



-«•»- 



B^^By a recent statement it appears that the 

 number of Mormons who have emigrated from 

 Europe to this country from 1840 to 1857 hag 

 besn about 27,000. 



