1881 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
517 
none at all have been made with products of 
American soil, not even the hay. But never¬ 
theless we will not be led far out of the way 
in applying such results as have been obtained 
to our case : and our subsequent calculations 
for a suitable return for milk will, at any rate, 
have a much greater practical value than 
would be possible if we should entirely dis¬ 
regard this fact of the partial indigestibility 
of the fodder. The table shows the number* 
of pounds of organic substance, digestible 
protein, fat, etc., in 100 lbs. of the fodder in 
its natural condition : 
In 100 lbs. of 
Organic Digestible 
substance. Protein, 
lbs. 
| Carbohy¬ 
drates, in- 
Fat. clud’g Di¬ 
gest’e. fiber. 
Hay. 
80.0 
4.3 
0 9 44.0 
Clover. 
79.0 
6.5 
1.1 i 40.6 
Bran (wheat). 
81.0 
12.2 
2.8 1 44.0 
Cotton-seed Meal. 
86.0 
34.3 
15.5 1 13.7 
Brewer’s Grains.. 
22.4 
4.2 
1.1 10.4 
Wheat Straw. 
81.8 
I 0.8 
0.3 1 30.0 
The importance of some kind of concen¬ 
trated fodder for milch cows is easily shown 
by this table ; even clover, if used alone, and 
much more hay from grasses, would give an 
unsuitable ration by the standard which we 
have proposed to follow. The 2.5 lbs. of pro¬ 
tein required would be yielded by 38 lbs. of 
clover hay, but this quantity of the hay 
would contain 30 lbs. of organic substances 
instead of 24 lbs., and nearly 15.5 lbs. of car¬ 
bohydrates instead of 12.5; the digestible fat 
would amount to .42 lb., which is nearly 
right. But though the ration is not so bad as 
it might be, yet nobody wants to feed cows 
on clover alone. English hay must ordinari¬ 
ly constitute a large share of their means "of 
subsistence, and meeting this condition of af¬ 
fairs, the following ration comes close to the 
German standard, excepting as to the fat: 
Organic 
Substance 
DIGESTIBLE. 
Protein | Fat. , Carbohy's 
Hay, 20 lbs., con'".. 
10 lbs. 
0.80 
0.18 1 
8.8 
Straw, 5 lbs., “ .. 
4.1 
0.04 
0.015 
1.8 
Brew’s Grns.. 20 lbs. 
4.4 
0.84 
0.22 
2.0 
Oot.-seed me'l, 2 lbs. 
1.7 
0.68 
0.31 
0.3 
Totals . 
20.2 
2.42 
0.73 i 
12.9 
The following ration gives nearly the same 
result in digestible matters : 
Organic 
DIGESTIBLE. 
Substance 
Protein. 
Fat. 
Carbohy's 
Clover, 10 lbs.. 
COIl’g 
7.9 
0.65 
0 11 
4.1 
Hay, 10 lbs., 
8. 
0.43 
0.09 
4 4 
Straw, 5 lbs.. 
4.1 
0 04 
0 015 
1.8 
Bran, 4 lbs., 
Cot.-seed me'l. 
3.2 
0.48 
0.11 
1.8 
25 lbs 
2.2 
0.86 
0.38 
0.3 
Totals.... 
25.5 
2.46 
0.71 
12.4 
Against both rations it must be allowed 
that, judged by the German standard, they 
are too rich in fat; but when the quantity of 
cotton-seed meal that must be added to bring 
the protein up of itself contains nearly the 
full amount of fat required, it is manifestly 
difficult to keep the proportion of this ingre¬ 
dient low enough ; the superabundance does 
no harm, but so much of it may "not be so 
profitably utilized by the cow as would be the 
case if it were accompanied by more portein 
and carbohydrates. In favor of both rations 
it can be said that they contain articles of 
concentrated fodder which are generally ac¬ 
cepted as being specially good for milk ; this 
is certainly time of bran: there is often a 
prejudice against brewer's grains, and very 
justly if fed too freely, or in a fermented con¬ 
dition ; but those who have used them with 
moderation, and while fresh and sweet, al¬ 
most universally praise them. Cotton-seed 
cake meal is a much more concentrated food, 
and from its greater cost it is less liable to be 
used in excess ; the testimony is all in its fa¬ 
vor as milk-producing fodder, in respect to 
its excellent effect on both yield and quality. 
Farming as an Occupation.—I. 
BY HON. GEORGE GEDDES. 
From time to time I have received letters 
asking advice in regard to Farming as a busi¬ 
ness—and very many personal applications 
which I have been compelled to refuse, have 
been made to me, to take young men to 
teach them something of practical fanning. 
Having had more than half a century of 
farm life—most of the time as manager, as 
well as owner of several hundred acres of 
grain-producing land, it may not be assum¬ 
ing too much for me to give my view to the 
public at large, m regard to some of the in¬ 
ducements and hindrances that should be 
considered by a young man who may per¬ 
haps think he would like to be a farmer, and 
who lacks personal knowledge of just what 
farming really is. I rush into print, some¬ 
what moved thereto by the notion that no 
one better qualified for the work is likely to 
undertake it. 
Natural bias or inclination, is first of all to 
be considered in deciding on the business of 
life. I knew two brothers, born and raised 
on a farm—one of them took no interest in 
any of the work going on, unless some ma¬ 
chinery was connected with it. He was 
made for a mechanic, and after he had fin¬ 
ished a school course, and had made a trip to 
Europe, he informed his friends, that his de¬ 
sire to build steam engines was overpower¬ 
ing, and that he would consider it to be doing 
him no favor to give him the farm. So he 
went into a machine shop and, in the old 
way, learned a trade. The other brother, 
from early youth, took the greatest interest 
in all the operations of the farm, and during 
vacations from school, was with the men in 
the fields. He knew the places for all the 
tools, and the names of all the animals. In 
his case the inclination to be a farmer was as 
decided as was that of his brother to be 
a worker in iron. Each was allowed to adopt 
the desired business, though it is not often 
that views of boys in their teens are thus de¬ 
cided—it is generally easy to find out some¬ 
thing of the biases and adaptations—and 
generally, when a boy thinks he knows what 
he wants to do, it is well to let him try to do 
it. If he has had no experience of actual 
farm work, except such as has been derived 
from summer vacations from city life—and 
thinks he would like to be a farmer—I would 
advise following the example of a well 
known New York merchant, who had one 
among his somewhat numerous flock, who 
felt that he must be a farmer. This did not 
meet the views of the father, and much was 
said to induce the boy to -follow his brothers 
into the store, but it availed nothing. It so 
happened that there was in the family an 
ancestral farm of many acres—and fine build¬ 
ings that made the summer home—and on 
which lived a “ farmer," who conducted mat¬ 
ters, so as not to have the balance of dis¬ 
bursements and receipts too heavy on the 
wrong side. 
The father proposed to the son that he 
should go to the house of the “ farmer ” and 
spend the winter, in all respects living with 
and sharing the food and work of the hired 
men, eating his five o’clock breakfast, and 
doing his part of pig-feeding, stable-cleaning, 
and all other unpleasant chores—and report 
how he liked it the next spring. This plan 
was strictly carried out, and in due time the 
youngster was clear in his mind, that he 
was made for a farmer, and farmer he be¬ 
came, and in a few years his name was 
known throughout the whole land. If I 
should give any more of his history, I would 
tell everybody who he is, if indeed I have 
not already. 
Boys raised in cities and surfeited with 
schools, often imagine that they would like 
to be farmers. Let them follow the example 
I have given, only extending it through a 
whole year, taking the same relative posi¬ 
tions that they would be forced to take in 
learning any other business. Begin at the 
bottom, stepping on the lowest rounds of the 
ladder, and touching every one, until the 
top is reached. This is the way to qualify a 
man for managing a farm. Young men who 
have taken this way of learning farming, 
though their early years have been passed 
along paved streets, and in schools, have 
made some of our most successful farmers. 
There is another road that is often taken, 
but not often with lasting satisfaction. Buy, 
or otherwise acquire a farm, subscribe for 
several agricultural papers, purchase books 
on farming, hire a farmer, purchase a full 
set of tools and machinery.—Learn by ex¬ 
periment, and if your money and zeal last 
long enough, and you work hard, you will 
finally make a good farmer, but your edu¬ 
cation will be a costly one. I knew a case 
quite like this: A farmer’s son was “edu¬ 
cated,” as people say. He had his four years 
of classical study allowed him by a rule of 
the Court, and spent nearly his three years 
in a lawyer’s office, when circumstances 
made it necessary for him to go to his father’s 
house, and assume the management of nearly 
one thousand acres of land—perhaps one- 
third of it called “improved”; that is, it 
had been partly cultivated. Log heaps, piles 
of stones, clumps of bushes, and swampy 
places adorned the fields. The owner was 
just twenty-one years old—without other 
knowledge of practical farming than such as 
he had acquired in observing the rude pro¬ 
cesses of that long ago time, during vaca¬ 
tions, and one summer with the hired men 
when a lad of sixteen years. He found his 
lands in the occupancy of tenants, who must 
remain for one season. He went into the 
fields with these tenants and worked without 
other compensation, than instruction in the 
use of tools, and devoted the season to try¬ 
ing to learn enough to justify his attempting 
the management of the farm. The next year 
he assumed direction. Foremen were not 
yet invented to help incompetent farmers. 
He had a team, plow, etc., for his own use, 
and for a while worked with his men, but 
soon learned that seventy-five cents a day 
would pay a better man than he was for 
holding a plow, and that his eyes to overlook 
the whole work, were worth more than his 
hands driving a team. 
But the perplexities he suffered, that came 
of the ignorance of this “educated” man, can¬ 
not be recounted. No one so well as himself 
realized how little he knew of farming, and 
he looked among his neighbors for advisers. 
It so happened that there were three very 
successful farmers, living in different direc¬ 
tions, but all within a few minutes’ ride of 
his home. They were very unlike in their 
ways and tastes, but all able men. Each of 
these men was freely consulted ; not all at 
