VALUE OF A SMALL PLOT OF GROUND. 9 
paid for purchased kitchen scraps was $2.57 per hog. The value of 
the home kitchen wastes fed was not included in the feed cost. The 
feeding period extended over an average of ten months. These 
data indicate that it is profitable for the mill operative to fatten a 
pig when all feed does not have to be bought. Some of the families 
fatten only one hog and buy little feed, depending largely on their 
kitchen wastes. Other families fatten two or more pigs and rely 
more on materials bought for feed. 
THE FAMILY COW. 
In most of the cotton-mill villages the operative is encouraged to 
keep a family cow. Pastures adjoining the village proper are 
available for the free use of the families having cows. These pas- 
tures are fully utilized. In some instances the mill company has put 
up substantial stalls for housing the cows, and in other villages the 
operatives build cheap, temporary structures for this purpose. 
The cows invariably are bought in the immediate neighborhood 
from farmers or neighbors. The quality of the cows is good. It is 
not uncommon for the operative to buy his cow on the basis of actual 
production at the beginning of the lactation period. The cow is 
bought as a " two, three, or four gallon " cow. 
The practice in making butter in this regon is to churn the whole 
milk. The buttermilk, of which there is a quantity nearly equal to 
the quantity of whole milk produced, is used for drinking purposes. 
The large families use all the buttermilk produced, and the smaller 
families sell their surplus to neighbors. It commonly sells at 10 cents 
a gallon. 
Eecords of the cost of feeding and of the value of buttermilk and 
butter produced were obtained from 74 cows. The data are given 
in the following table: 
Record of 74 family coivs owned by operatives in cotton-mill villages of the 
western parts of North Carolina and South Carolina. 
[Value per cow, $46.] 
Feed and yield per cow. 
Quantity. 
Value. 
Feed: 
Roughage (pea- vine 
hay, alfalfa hay, 
Pounds. 
1,000 
4,535 
1,700 
140 
170 
$9.88 
33.60 
32.04 
2.20 
Millfeed 
2.77 
Total 
80.49 
gallons.. 
Yield: 
605 
270 
60.50 
pounds.. 
59.40 
Total. 
119. 90 
The records are for the year 1915. The cows have the run of free, common pasture all summer, but the 
pastures are kept closely cropped. 
