270 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
[July, 
Keeping One Cow. 
[second prize essay.] 
[The judges who patiently went through the task 
of reading over 70 essays of various lengths, inform 
us that there were many of these that in some one 
particular were superior to all others, but that in 
awarding the prizes they were governed solely by 
the conditions of the offer. We here give the essay 
to which the second prize was awarded. It was 
signed “Doctor,” and was found to be by W. L. 
Battles, Gerard, Pa. The prize essays, together 
with several of the most desirable of the others, 
will soon appear in a pamphlet or book form.— Eds.] 
Instead of writing on how a cow might be kept, 
I propose simply to tell just how we manage our 
cow, what we feed her, how we procure that food ; 
in fact, everything relating to her care, so that any 
one can go and do likewise. 
“ Spot,” we call her, for she has a beautiful white 
spot in her forehead, is not a Jersey, for we can 
not afford to buy one at the prices at which they 
are held with us ; nor is she a thorough-bred of any 
kind ; yet she is a good cow, of medium size, fills 
a twelve-quart pail each night and morning, when 
her milk is in full flow, that raises a thick coat of 
rich cream, which, after being churned, furnishes 
all the butter needed for a family of six, and some 
to spare. Our place is small, only two acres, and a 
portion of this is covered by the dwelling, barn, 
poultry-house, etc. The fruit garden occupies 
about one-fourth of an acre, and from this portion 
nothing is grown to furnish food for “ Spot.” Ad¬ 
joining the barn there is 
Half an Acre in Grass, 
or mostly clover; fine manure is liberally spread 
over this each spring and fall, and every spring a 
quart of clover seed is sown, so as fast as the old 
plants die out, young ones take their place. A 
bushel of land plaster is sown on this when the 
grass begins to start in the spring. This plot pro¬ 
duces a very heavy growth of grass and clover, 
enabling us to cut it three times each season ; 
about the first of June, August, and October. A 
coat of fine manure is always spread over the ground 
immediately after each mowing. The gnfss is most¬ 
ly cured, and makes fine hay for winter feeding. 
Occasionally a small portion of the crop is used 
green for soiling. Besides the land occupied by 
buildings, fruit garden, and clover plot, there re¬ 
mains about one acre, which we call the garden. 
Here are grown all the vegetables for the family’s 
use, besides some to sell. About one-fourth of it 
is planted to Early Rose potatoes, and as soon as 
these are sufficiently ripe for use or market, they 
are dug, and sweet corn, in drills, for fodder, is 
sown upon the land. Another fourth of an acre is 
planted to sugar-beets ; the ground being very rich, 
the yield is always large; this season (1879), al¬ 
though very dry, I harvested 178 bushels. Our cow 
is very fond of the beets, and I think there is noth¬ 
ing better to keep up a flow of milk, and they give 
it no bad flavor, as do turnips. An additional 
fourth of an acre is planted to sweet, or evergreen, 
corn ; as fast as the corn is picked for use or mar¬ 
ket, the green stalks are cut up, run through the 
cutting-box, and every particle of them consumed. 
As soon as the corn is all harvested, the ground it 
occupied is thoroughly fitted and manured, and 
then sown to winter rye, to be used for soiling the 
next spring, after which the ground is again pre- 
pared'for corn. The remaining fourth acre is de¬ 
voted to early peas, beans, cabbages, and other 
garden vegetables ; as soon as one crop is off, the 
ground is prepared, and something else is almost 
always planted or sown ; consequently, on the most 
of this acre, two crops are produced each season, 
except where sugar-beets are grown, or late cab¬ 
bages, which require the whole season to mature. 
With the clover on the half acre, and the forage 
crops and roots on the.acre, we have not only had 
sufficient food for the cow the entire season, but 
have also kept our family horse, with the excep¬ 
tion of one load of oat straw purchased for three 
dollars, to mix in with the fodder com ; this is 
hard to cure sufficiently to keep bright and sweet 
through the winter, but by mixing a layer of corn- 
fodder, and a layer of straw, it all comes out nice 
and bright. Besides keeping both horse and cow, 
we have marketed from this little farm, in berries, 
vegetables, butter, eggs, poultry, and one fat hog 
weighing, dressed, over 300 lbs., $468 dollars worth 
of the above produce, keeping enough for our own 
use, and salting down one barrel of pork. 
The barn is 25 by 30 feet, with the stable on the 
south side. The stall for “ Spot ” is five feet wide, 
and the floor on which she stands is five feet long, 
with a manger two feet wide in front, one and a 
half foot high next to the cow, and three feet next 
to the barn floor. She is fastened with a wide 
strap around her neck, attached to a chain eighteen 
inches long, which is fastened to a staple driven 
into a post at a corner of the stall adjoining the 
manger ; this gives her room to turn her head so 
as to lick any portion of her body. The floor is 
made of two-inch plank, battened on the under 
side with thin boards, raised from the ground ten 
inches in rear and one foot in front; all the drop¬ 
pings and urine fall into the four-foot alley behind. 
This alley has a clay floor beaten perfectly solid 
and level. Next to the stable door is a large bin, 
10 by 7 feet, for storing road-dust or muck ; at the 
other end of the stable is another bin, 10 by 11 feet, 
for storing leaves for bedding. My great object is 
not only to make “ Spot ” comfortable, and have 
her stable free from all bad odors, but to save all 
the manure, both liquid and solid. I find the 
Best Absorbent to be Dried Muck, 
pulverized, or road-dust from clayey roads. As it 
is easier to procure the latter, I generally make use 
of that, and always keep from two to three inches 
of it in the alley; this effectually absorbs all the 
liquid portions and all offensive odors. Twice each 
day this is thrown out through a window closed by 
a sliding shutter in the rear of the stall, under a 
shed, where it remains until wanted for use. In 
the fall I go to the woods and procure a sufficient 
quantity of leaves to last until spring; a liberal 
use of these not only makes a nice, soft, clean bed, 
but lamely increases the quantity of manure. The 
stable opens into a small yard, across one comer of 
which runs a small brook. Each morning the cow 
is permitted to go out and drink ; if the weather is 
pleasant, she is allowed to remain out an hour for 
exercise. She is let out the same at night, after 
sunset in warm weather, so that she will not be 
annoyed by flies. The barn is well battened, and 
is warm in winter; it is well ventilated by two 
windows, but these, in summer, are darkened by 
blinds, with wide slats to keep out the flies. Each 
morning, while “Spot” is eating her breakfast, 
she is well curried with a curry comb or card, and 
if any filth is observed on her bag or teats (which is 
very seldom), it is carefully washed off, if in win¬ 
ter, with warm water. She is 
Always Treated Pleasantly, Never Scolded, 
nor whipped ; consequently she never kicks over 
the pail, or holds up her milk. She is fed in win¬ 
ter with a peck of sugar-beets cut up, both morn¬ 
ing, noon, and night; also a bushel of cut feed, 
either corn-stalks or clover hay, wet with a pailful 
of hot water, with two quarts of “ sugar meal ” or 
bran, thoroughly mixed together, with a little salt 
sprinkled over it. I generally use what is known 
here as “ sugar meal ” to mix with her feed; it is 
com meal from the factory after the sugar or 
glucose has been extracted; it costs from 10c. to 
12ic. per bushel, and I prefer it to bran, and “Spot” 
likes it very much. We consider her a machine 
for converting the food we give her into milk, and 
the more we can get her to eat and digest, the more 
milk is obtained, and the greater the profit. It is a 
good plan to change the food occasionally, substi¬ 
tuting carrots for beets, clover hay for com fodder, 
for brutes, like mankind, are fond of a variety. 
There are root-cutters that can be procured for 
cutting up roots, but I have always used a common 
spade, ground sharp, and an empty flour barrel to 
hold the beets. It takes but a few minutes to cut 
up a mess of beets in that way. With one bin full 
of road-dust, and the other full with leaves, a win¬ 
ter’s supply of litter is secured, and it is surprising 
what a pile of manure we have in the spring. An¬ 
other valuable source of manure is the pig-sty, 
with plenty of leaves for a warm bed, and sufficient 
road-dust to absorb all the liquids, it is astonish¬ 
ing how clean our pigs are, and the sty is free from 
all bad odors; the big potatoes, and mammoth 
beets, show the richness of the pig-pen fertilizer. 
I think our fifty hens pay for all their food with 
the droppings the poultry-house furnishes. The 
roosts are over a slanting platform, which is kept 
covered with road-dust both summer and winter, 
the droppings fall on this floor, and roll down into 
a large box twdve feet long, three feet wide, and 
three feet deep. The dust the chickens work down 
with the droppingB is sufficient to absorb all the 
ammonia and preserve all the fertilizing qualities 
of this most valuable guano. A large box of road- 
dust is always kept in the water-closet, a liberal use 
of which furnishes a quantity of most valuable 
fertilizer, besides freeing the closets from all nox¬ 
ious smells. The wash water and slops from the 
kitchen are utilized by being thrown on a pile of 
sods and other rubbish, which are forked over, and 
as soon as decayed, carted to the manure pile. 
From so many sources we are enabled to give our 
small farm a 
Most Liberal Supply of Manure 
each spring and fall, so that even with the double 
cropping most of it gets, it continues to improve, 
and yields more bountifully each succeeding season. 
For sugar beets, the ground is first manured heavily, 
plowed deep, and thoroughly pulverized with the 
cultivator, then marked out in rows with a garden 
plow, two feet apart. Manure from the poultry- 
house is scattered in each furrow, which should be 
lightly covered with soil, so the seed will not come 
in contact with it; drop the seeds about six inches 
apart, covering lightly with the garden rake. 
When theleaves are about four inches long, thin out 
to one plant in a place, and fill any vacancies with 
the plants pulled out, Hoe them thoroughly, de¬ 
stroying all weeds, which can easily be done by 
cultivating each time before hoeing, with a narrow 
cultivator. Keep the ground mellow, and cultivate 
three or four times, after which they will take care 
of themselves and soon cover the ground. With 
ground in good condition, and a fair season, 600 to- 
800 bushels per acre can be easily produced. Let 
them grow until frost comes, when they should be 
dug with a garden fork, the tops cut off, and stored 
for winter. Those to be used before the first of 
March, are stored in the cellar, the others are- 
buried in a long pit, digging out'a shallow place, 
piling up the roots about three feet high, and three 
feet wide, covering well with straw and sufficient 
soil to keep them from freezing, putting in a drain 
tile about every four feet in the top of the pile, 
with one end to project a little through the cover¬ 
ing, for ventilation. If the weather becomes very- 
cold, lay a turf over the tile, and remove when> 
pleasant. I grow carrots after the same plan, and' 
store in like manner. I prefer beets, as they are 
so much larger, it is less trouble to gather and: 
take care of them, and the crop is generally larger, 
still I always grow some carrots for a change. I 
plant sweet corn in drills, always put some fertili¬ 
zer along the furrow, dropping the kernels about 
eight inches apart, with the rows three feet wide, I 
commence planting soon after May first, and con¬ 
tinue at intervals until about July 1st, so I can 
have a fresh supply for use, and market, all the 
season. The sweet corn being grown on the plot 
sown to winter rye, for soiling, enables us to cut 
some portions of it twice, before the ground is 
needed for corn. When sowing corn for fodder, 
which is done as soon as we commence digging the 
early potatoes, I sow it in drills two feet apart, and 
drop the kernels about one inch apart in the drills, 
manure from the pigsty is first dropped in the 
furrow, and covered with soil at least two inches 
deep, or the corn will not come up. This fertilizer 
is so strong, if properly used it causes a most ex¬ 
traordinary growth of stalks. While the com is 
small, cultivate it two or three times with a narrow 
cultivator, when it will take care of itself, and there 
will be a surprising growth of stalks ; I have them 
often six feet high. Just before time for frosts, 
cut it with a scythe, and set up in small bunches 
bound around the top, and leave to cure until cold 
weather. When it is to be put in the mow, spread 
