4r66 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[December, 
good, well decomposed stable-mauure per acre; if 
this costs over $5 per cord, it will probably be 
cheaper to buy chemical fertilizers in part, unless 
the soil is pretty heavy and compact, in which case 
the stable manure will be best, to loosen its texture. 
Do not scatter the manure for one acre over two, as 
it will produce more profit on the smaller area. Cul¬ 
tivate thoroughly and often, and allow no weeds to 
grow. As soon as the vegetables are in proper 
condition for table use, market them; and make 
sure to offer for sale only the best; for these 
prices are easily obtaiued. Henderson’s “ Garden¬ 
ing for Profit ” will afford much useful information. 
The farm is too small for almost any other kind 
of farming, but is large enough and well adapted 
to vegetables in location and soil. One good cow 
to supply the family with milk, is enough ; hogs 
may be kept at a profit for making manure, and 
utilizing the waste. To succeed in farming, as in 
anything else, one must have energy, patience, and 
perseverance ; without these he need not expect 
success, and “ success ” in cases like the above, with 
limited facilities, does not mean large profits, but 
only a good living, independence, and happiness. 
v Cooking Food for Stock. 
As regularly as the seasons, come the queries 
regarding the latest knowledge on the subject of 
cooking food for cattle; whether the practice will 
pay; why it is not more generally adopted, etc., 
etc. A few simple principles lie at the base of the 
practice, which should be understood in order to 
judge fairly in the matter. First —Cooking must 
not be confounded with mere moistening by steam. 
Cooking, proper, is only accomplished at a heat 
nearly or quite equal to that of boiling water, 
or of steam at that temperature. This degree 
of heat breaks up the food particles, especially 
the starchy portion, and renders a considerable 
amount digestible which otherwise might pass 
through the animal and be practically wasted. In 
order to secure the proper temperature in the cook¬ 
ing-box, there must be an engine-boiler, or steam 
generator of sufficient capacity to keep the box full 
of hot steam ; and the box itself must be so con¬ 
structed as to hold the steam when received. Cook¬ 
ing, under such circumstances, is said to render 
coarse food, such as ripe and badly cured hay, old 
eorn-stalks, straw, etc., from one-fourth to one- 
third more digestible— i. e., a saving of $3.50 to 
$3.33 on every $10 worth of such material. 
These simple facts are so imperfectly understood 
that much of the so-called “ steamed ” food is only 
moistened with warm vapor, which merely softens 
the tissues of the fodder, without rendering it ap¬ 
preciably more digestible. It is claimed by those 
who have tried it that cooking is profitable for a herd 
large enough (say 50 and upward) to make the gain 
more than equal the cost of the labor, and interest 
on the investment in apparatus, etc. Mere moisten¬ 
ing does not pay, as nothing is accomplished by it 
which does not take place within the animal. There 
are small cooking steamers, but for operations on 
a large scale, perhaps the most economical steam 
generator is the boiler of a 2 to 4 horse-power en¬ 
gine, which at the same time furnishes power for 
cutting the foddei preparatory to steamiug, for 
threshing, wood sawing, etc. A simple calculation 
will decide the question for each particular case. 
As stated above, hard, coarse fodder, such as 
over ripe hay, straw, corn-stalks, etc., is rendered 
more digestible by cooking. A large part of the 
nutritious portion of such material is so bound up 
in the tissues or cells of the plant that the digestive 
organs of the animal have little effect upon it; but 
under the influence of the cooking the hard tissues 
are broken up, and the otherwise unavailable food 
is rendered available. Experience, experiment, and 
investigation show, however, that properly cured 
hay,—grass cut when green and succulent, and 
simply cured, not dried —fodder corn, Hungarian 
grass and similar fodder, roots and finely ground 
grain, are but little if any benefited by the process 
of cooking; for these are already very nearly or 
quite in the natural condition, and suited to the 
animal’s capacity for digestion. A cow whose or¬ 
ganization has become so artificial as to be unable 
to digest the food provided by nature, had best be 
sold to some man who keeps a large herd, and be¬ 
lieves in and practices cooking; he will fiud that it 
pays in her case. No one would think of steaming- 
grass or any greeu fodder, because his observation 
and experience tell him that nature has made the 
cow’s stomach to digest such food ; and experience 
tells the same story about properly cured fodder. 
The obvious lesson from these facts, is, that cook¬ 
ing of coarse fodder pays, when there is enough of 
such material to be utilized, and the herd of cattle 
is a large one; that mere moistening such feed does 
not pay; and that all fodder should be put into the 
barns in a condition most nearly resembling its 
state when it is most palatable and nutritious 
to the animals feeding upon it while growing. 
Lucern or Alfalfa in Vermont. 
Among the unsettled questions in our agricul¬ 
ture is : can Lucern or Alfalfa be profitably grown 
in the Northern States, east of the Mississippi ? 
There are differing opinions, and evidence on either 
side is welcome. Mr. Albert Chapman, of Middle- 
bury, Yt., having been struck with the productive¬ 
ness of Lucern (or as it is always called there, Al¬ 
falfa,) in California, procured seed from thence, and 
sowed it in 1877, in several patches on different 
parts of his land. It passed through last winter 
uninjured, and this past season he has cut from one 
of his patches three crops, and at the time of his 
writing, Oct. 28tli, there was a fourth crop ready 
for cutting. From this crop he sent a specimen ; 
the stalk was 23 inches high, and thick'!' 7 furnished 
with foliage. Mr. C. estimates that each of his 
four crops was worth muen more than any one 
crop of Red Clover produced from the same area of 
land in his county this year. Two of the other 
patches yielded three crops each, and on the other 
only one crop was cut, the succeeding growth being 
allowed to go to seed. Mr. C. attributes his suc¬ 
cess, in the first place, to the character of his land, 
which has a deep and porous subsoil, that allows 
the long roots of the plant to penetrate deeply. He 
thinks that where there is a hard, compact subsoil, 
the plant will not succeed. He regards as the sec¬ 
ond reason for his success, the sowing of California 
seed. If not all, the majority of the trials with 
Lucern have been with European seed. He learned 
in California that seed from Chiii was always suc¬ 
cessful, while that from Europe, though from the 
same species, did not produce hardy plants. To 
those disposed to experiment with the plant, Mr. 
C. gives the caution to not sow the seed until all 
danger of late frosts is past, for though quite hardy 
when established, even a light frost in the first few 
weeks from the seed, is fatal to it. This is a very 
satisfactory account, as it points out conditions, 
especially that relating to the soil, which probably 
have not been observed in former experiments. 
That Lucern is a most valuable foliage plant where 
it can be successfully grown, seems well established. 
A Simple System of Farm Accounts. 
(first paper.) 
A Farmer who keeps no accounts, works in the 
dark. He knows not which part of his farm or 
labor pays, and which is a loss, and runs the risk of 
having the proceeds of his profitable labor offset 
by avoidable losses, ne does not know whether 
this or that management is the better. With a 
plain and simply kept account book, he may know 
where he makes money and where he loses, and, 
in the words of a noted business man, he may “ cut 
short his losses, and let his profits run on.” The 
first thing in beginning to keep accounts is to make 
a rough map or plot of the farm, and to name or 
number each field, as indicated in the annexed 
plan, to be modified to suit any circumstances. The 
only necessary point is the recognition of each 
field, and the expenditures and receipts from it. 
Two books are required. The complicated systems 
of farm accounts in books prepared for the pur¬ 
pose, are bothersome, and in the end usually come 
to nothing, because they are not suited to the ma¬ 
jority of cases, and are not used. The better plan is, 
for each one to make hiG own method, and use but 
two books—a daily record of events and transac¬ 
tions, and a ledger. The daily record is a most use¬ 
ful book, and if kept with regularity, in a few years 
becomes a history of the farm, if not of the family, 
and of the seasons and weather. A small book, 8 
inches by 5, with 300 rilled pages, but without 
money columns, will serve for many years. These 
books are sold very cheaply now, but it will pay 
to have one of good paper. One can be made by 
stitching together note paper or folded foolscap. 
One of the greatest benefits of keeping accounts 
is, that every thing becomes reduced to a system, 
and the most careless or inexperienced farmer soon 
becomes methodical and observant (if he perse¬ 
vere). In the record is noted the events of each 
day—more particularly the business transactions. 
The following lines will serve as a sample of how 
these may be entered. It will be better to state 
more particulars, to note the weather, etc., etc., but 
such simple records are always of very great value: 
1878. 
Oct. 1. Finished building spring house; cost $28.84. 
“ 2. Hired P. G., at $22.09 per month, to clear swamps. 
“ 4. Finished sowingrye inNo.5. *32busn.seed, $19.20. 
“ 5. Paid T>. P. $4.50, one week’s wages. 7 doz. eggs, 
sold to B. Bros., at 13e.,.91c. 
“ 7. Received from W. A. C., proceeds of sweet corn, 
from No. 5.$181.16 
“ 9. Paid D. I). $600 for 12 cows. Finished cutting corn 
In No. 5, 8 davs’ labor. Began plowing No. 3. 
“ 10. Plowing Nc. 3. Paid for 2 tons of bran.$32 
•• 11. Shipped 60 bushels potatoes to TV. A. C. 
“ 12. Cash for milk sold this week, $32.50.—Began pull¬ 
ing mangels for cows. 10 bushels used. 
“ 14. Finished cistern; cost $30.25. 20 bushels mangels. 
“ 15. Finished plowing No. 3. Sowed 16 bushels seed.* 
“ 16. Finished harrowing No. 3. Husking corn, % day. 
11 17. 9 bushels wheat to mill. 5 doz. eggs to B. Bros. 
In this manner each day’s transactions are acted, 
so that at the end of the week or month, the en¬ 
tries may be transferred to the ledger. It is un¬ 
necessary to do more than give a ilear clue to what 
has been done, so that each charge or credit may 
be made out distinctly, and as these should be en¬ 
tered in the ledger each week, something may be 
trusted to memory. It is also unnecessary to be 
over particular in small matters, or to be so precise 
that it may be troublesome to enter some items. 
The chief thing is to know what is done so nearly 
that the final result can be reached as closely as 
may be. Many persons who begin, soon get hope¬ 
lessly mixed up by trying to be too particular at 
the start. After a beginning is once made, and 
facility acquired, then one may be as exact as he 
pleases. But there are many things in farm ac¬ 
counts where one must “give and take,” and such 
small irregularities are unavoidable and will about 
balance each other in the general result. For ex¬ 
ample, if one goes to mill with a grist, the time oc¬ 
cupied need not be charged to the flour or to the 
house expenses with the flour ; nor need the skim 
milk fed to pigs or calves be charged in accounts 
unless it is desired to know the exact cost of each 
item of work or production. But the grain used 
for feeding cows, fattening cattle, sheep, pigs, and 
poultry, should be measured out and charged to 
each, as it is very important to know what profit or 
loss is made from each kind of stock ; and for each 
crop raised, the cost of labor expended upon it, and 
the value of the seed, and manures, should be noted, 
and the crop measured and its value calculated. 
* The quantity of seed is largo, being 4 bushels per acre, 
as it was sown thickly for cutting for cows in the spring. 
