1871. 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
379 
eath full-grown animal (yearlings may be 
counted as two, and spring calves as three, for 
one full-grown). Hogs will eat the fodder 
Teadily, and poultry will pick out much of the 
finer shreds. On farms where heavy and fancy 
stock are kept, of course this feed would not be 
sufficiently rich; but we refer to the generality 
of farms, where stock receive ordinarily good 
fare. A cow or ox that has been used to win- 
ter in the shelter of a hay or straw stack, would 
improve wonderfully on the fare here recom- 
mended ; and stock that have been used to re- 
ceive bay ad libitum would present a better 
appearance, especially in smoothness and mel- 
lowness of skin, if fed on fodder thus prepared. 
Iu the present condition of our farms, when we 
Deed to increase as much as possible the amount 
of live-stock kept and fed though the winter, 
every means of economizing fodder is of value. 
Here is one most important item of economy, 
and we are able to assert from experience that 
if corn fodder is used in the manner here de- 
scribed, two head of stock may be fed where 
before only one could be. 
~-* ^mm *-~* — 
Bones.— A Great Waste. 
Bones are a very important agricultural pro- 
duct, for they remove from the soil a very large 
amount of its most valuable mineral constitu- 
ent. Consisting largely of phosphate of lime, 
they abstract from the farm that which we find 
it most difficult and most expensive to replace. 
The extent of this abstraction, too, is something 
considerable. The number of animals brought 
into the city of New York during 1870 was as fol- 
lows: 356,044 oxen, 889,616 swine, 1,463,852 
sheep, and 116,480 calves. Estimating the aver- 
age weights of these as 700 lbs. for beeves, 150 
lbs. for swine, 75 lbs. for sheep, and 100 lbs. for 
calves, dressed weights, and the bones at 20 per 
cent of the weights of the carcass, there would 
be over 50,000 tons of bones. The consumption 
of New York is probably one twentieth of that 
of the whole United States. There would be 
therefore one million tons of bones produced on 
our farms and pastures in a year by means of 
animals raised for food alone. Fifty-five per 
cent of this consists of phosphate of lime, or 
550,000 tons. Now it is a question worthy of 
consideration how much of this is returned to 
the soil in the shape of bone-dust or superphos- 
phates, or whether it is possible ever to recover 
the greater portion of it. Vast quantities of 
bones are used in the arts, for the purpose of 
manufacturing handles of brushes and knives, 
rings, umbrella and parasol handles, buttons, 
and an infinite variety of other "notions," the 
material of which is lost to agriculture. Then 
there are exported to foreign countries over 
72,000 tons per annum, in the shape of bone- 
black or raw-bone, which is also lost to us. 
Then the large quantity uncollected and left to 
waste all over the country would probably bring 
the total lost to agriculture to a half of the quan- 
tity produced. Therefore it is pretty certain 
that not more than one half of the amount of 
phosphates abstracted from the soil is returned 
thereto in the shape of bone-dust, superphos- 
phates, and other artificial manures. "We do 
not take into account the loss by means of the 
milk of ten million cows, which in 1869 were 
fed on our farms, which would equal 15 lbs. of 
phosphates per cow per annum; nor that con- 
tained in the vast quantity of grain raised and 
shipped away and sold. That the average yield 
of grain is each year diminishing, that pastures 
are no longer able to support the former stock, 
or that our agricultural population at the East 
are fast removing to "fresh fields and pastures 
new" in the far West, is no longer surprising, 
when we consider the steady drain to which our 
lands have been subjected for a period now 
measured by centuries in some districts, but by 
scores of years in almost all the eastern parts 
of the country. 
But when we understand the cause of a thing, 
the remedy becomes apparent. And a remedy 
must be applied forthwith. We are abundantly 
warned in the lessening fertility of our fields 
that we must restore something of what we have 
for so many years been occupied in abstracting, 
and that, if possible, no particle of bone be suf- 
fered to escape the service for which it is so 
much required. That a large quantity is irre- 
coverably wasted each year is a fact beyond dis- 
pute, all of which would be gladly utilized if 
it could be secured. Hundreds of tons are 
annually wasted by farmers themselves, who, if 
they do not care to use them on their own 
farms, should feel it to be their duty to put 
others who would gladly use them in the way 
of procuring them. In most towns and villages 
of the United States, there are dealers who 
would gladly purchase them, at a price equal 
to or approximating a cent a pound; and if those 
who make a business of crushing bones, for the 
purpose of manufacturing them into manure, 
could procure them, there would be made a 
large addition to the available amount of fer- 
tilizers iu the market, all of which would ulti- 
mately find its way back to the soil whence it 
was originally abstracted. Great Britain im- 
ports a large quantity of bones for agricultural 
use, and exports none, gathering from almost 
ever}' country in the world; and the conse- 
quence is that crops there have reached and 
are maintained at an average quantity equal to 
the maximum ever reached in the most abun- 
dant periods of American agriculture. Here is 
a lesson for us that we should not hesitate to 
learn, and we shall guide ourselves accordingly. 
Raising Calves for Milkers. 
It is not sufficient that we save all the good 
calves from the knife of the butcher, but we 
must give them wise and judicious treatment. 
Having chosen the animals to be raised, it is 
necessary to feed with generosity, and at the 
same time with caution, that a well-built frame 
may be established. A young animal intended 
for the dairy may be spoiled iu the outset by 
improper feeding ; or one that has been mis- 
takenly selected, will take on fat in spite of all 
care, and may be discarded. It is not fat that 
we want. We want growth of bone and mus- 
cle, and all fattening food must be avoided. 
Good pasture through the summer, and feed of 
which wheat or rye bran and buckwheat meal 
are the principal constituents, are all that are 
needed, besides a regular supply of salt and 
free access to water. At the season when pas- 
turing is over, the period has arrived which 
makes or mars the young beast. The cold rains 
and piercing winds of autumn have arrived, 
and one exposure to them will give the calf a 
check which can be overcome only with much 
care. No young animal should be permitted to 
suffer from cold or wet to such an extent that 
its back is drawn upwards like a bow. When 
this occurs, dangerous effects will surely follow. 
Immediate steps should be taken to remedy 
these evil effects. Laxative food, with warm 
drinks and dry, warm quarters, will pre- 
vent hide-bound and loss of condition, which 
would hinder growth throughout the whole oi 
the ensuing winter. Prevention would be the 
wiser course; therefore, let proper shelter be 
prepared in time. This should be closed against 
piercing winds, and have a roof that will 
shedVain, open to the sun on the southern side, 
and with good ventilation. No expensive shel- 
ter is required. When colder weather has ar- 
rived, and a new drain is made on the system to 
maintain the animal heat, more fattening food 
is required, and a half-pint of oilmeal or cottou. 
seed meal may be fed in addition to the other 
feed. We have always fed our calves, for con- 
venience' sake, in the same manner as our cows; 
had them similarly tied in stalls, and the feed 
prepared for the whole stock was given to 
them in proportionate rations. We have found 
that three calves would consume an equal 
amount with one cow. In addition, each calf 
has been fed a daily ration of half a pint of 
wheat bran, with half a pint of oil or cotton- 
seed meal, and a small quantity of salt. Feed- 
ing thus, we have had no difficulty in bringing 
our heifers into profit at two years old. Having 
passed through the winter thus cared for, the 
heifers will come out in the spring thrifty and 
in a growing condition, and when turned on to 
the grass in spring will push right along. Dur- 
ing this time, and until they come in, no falling 
off in care should be permitted, and during the 
second winter it must be remembered that a 
new draft is made on the still growing animal 
that must be abundantly met. Feed rich in 
phosphates, such as coarse bran, should be well 
supplied, as well as such stimulating feed as 
corn-meal, and laxative feed like oilmeal. Dur- 
ing the three months previous to calving, the 
future milking qualities of the cow arc formed, 
and, as a matter of precaution, this period should 
be put off until grass has become the main feed. 
No inflammatory action is likely to take place 
while the animal is fed mainly on grass, and 
care and judgment must be exercised, as the 
important crisis approaches, that the system 
shall be in as natural a state as possible, all ex- 
citing feed being gradually withdrawn for a few 
weeks before the heifer produces her calf. When 
this event occurs, and all is well, the feed may 
be gradually restored and increased according 
to circumstances. 
In raising milch cows, we aim to build up a 
healthy frame and sound constitution, with a 
facility for turning a large supply of food into 
a corresponding amount of milk or cream, and 
when we have raised an animal that is able to 
do this, and also able to transmit the same 
qualities to her offspring, we have a good cow; 
and her calves are worthy of good care. 
Fences. — As a general rule, it is too costly 
a practice for any farmer to permit his young 
grass or clover, or the aftermath of his meadows, 
to be pastured. Then the fences dividing the 
fields thus occupied are really worse than use- 
less, because they take up land that might be 
otherwise employed. As a specimen we would 
refer to one farm in particular that we know of. 
There are sixty acres of land, divided into six 
fields (one of which is an orchard), that are un- 
der the plow, and thirty acres in permanent 
pasture. Now, as cattle are in no case ever ad- 
mitted into these fields, of what use are the in- 
side fences, which take up three fourths as many 
rails as are required for the outside fence, and 
occupy an acre and a quarter of ground ? This 
ground would, if put in roots or corn fodder, 
furnish feed for all the stock kept on that farm 
for two months, or possibly double that time. 
