Agriculture is the most ke&ltkfuL, the most useful, und the most noble employment of ma,n.-~~ Washington, 
VOL. V, NEW YORK, FEBRUARY* 1840* NO, JK 
A. B„ Allen, Editor. 
TO SUBSCRIBERS. 
You will confer a particular favor upon the 
editor of this paper by remitting your subscriptions 
direct to Saxton & Miles* instead of A. B. Allen* 
unless you wish to address the latter on some busi¬ 
ness connected with his store, or as editor of the 
paper. The subscription books of the Agricul¬ 
turist are kept at the office of Saxton & Miles, 20'5 
Broadway, and this is the proper place to address i 
■all orders for the paper and bound volumes. 
Nevertheless, when more convenient to subscribers,; 
names and subscriptions will be taken at 187 Water ‘ 
Street, although it is much to be preferred that they 
go to 205 Broadway. 
STALL FEEDING COWS. 
We have recently noticed articles from. English , 
agricultural publications, which would go to prove 
the diminished quantity and quality of milk pro-; 
duced from stall-fed cows. The results are so i 
largely at variance from anything which has fallen 
within our own observation, that we must be 
allowed to withhold Gur faith either in their accu¬ 
racy or fairness. The conclusions reached are, 
that cows, w r hich had been allowed to glean their. 
own forage from a lean pasture, when put up in a i 
yard where they were well supplied with fresh cut 
grass, gave but about two-thirds their former quan¬ 
tity of milk, which was of a quality so much infe¬ 
rior, as to yield but half the former aggregate quan¬ 
tity of butter. Such a result w y e do not question, 
but if so, the whole premises which gave such a 
conclusion have not been stated. 
That there is a wide difference in the comparative 
value of the different kinds of grasses does not ad¬ 
mit of doubt, even among those of the same species. 
Some contain much more nutriment than others, 
which have grown under other circumstances of 
Saxton & Miles, Publishers, 205 Broadway. 
quality of soil, difference in moisture, &c. Nothing 
is better settled than that a crop of hay in some 
seasons is worth from TO to 25 per cent, more for 
use, pound for pound, than in others ; owing to ex¬ 
cess of moisture, imperfect elaboration of the juices, 
and other circumstances. To such a difference be¬ 
tween the cut herbage, and such as was cropped by 
the animals in the pastures, allowing it was of the 
same species, must be added, the probable difference 
of the kinds of grass. On old pastures, there are 
usually a large number of valuable minor grasses, 
which gradually intermix with the original ones 
sown, and which add much to their value as food 
for stock. In addition to this, a highly beneficial 
effect on the health and thrift of animals is pro- 
duced, by their being enabled to procure a suffi¬ 
cient variety of food. This effect is more con¬ 
spicuous perhaps in the sheep than in any other 
quadruped. For them a frequent change of pas¬ 
ture is essential to thrift, unless an extended range 
at all times enables them to glean what is best 
suited to their tastes and the various demands of the 
animal economy. Some plants are more highly 
charged with fatty matters ; others with resinous ; 
some saline ; others with aromatic, hitter, and astrin¬ 
gent principles. This variety, which if the animal 
be allowed to select from its own, and generally 
unerring instincts, not only yield their due propor¬ 
tion of nutriment, but wffien properly associated 
with others, and taken into the stomach at the pro¬ 
per time, their benefit is largely augmented. This 
is probably the true cause of the greater yield of 
milk of cow r s while pasturing than while stalled 
The true principle of soiling consists, in our 
opinion, in a combination of both pasture and stall 
or rack feeding, and where circumstances will 
justify it, both should be united at the same time. 
An abundance of succulent grasses, clover, pea- 
