1880 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
alternately a layer of stalks, and a layer of straw, 
and it will keep bright and sweet until wanted. 
The Eye for Spring Soiling, 
is sown when the sweet com is picked, and stalks 
removed, in drills about ten inches apart. Fine 
manure is spread on the ground after plowing, and 
thoroughly mixed with the surface soil, and one or 
two hoeings being given to keep the ground mel¬ 
low, and to destroy any weeds that may make 
•their appearance. By May 1st, the early sown rye 
will cover the ground with a dense growth, at least 
four feet high, furnishing a large quantity of most 
nutritious green food. On those portions of the 
plot where the latest corn is to be planted, two or 
three cuttings are made ; this makes most excellent 
food for the cow, and the quantity grown on this 
fourth of an acre will surprise any one who has 
never tried it. There is quite a plot of early peas, 
and as soon as the last picking occurs, while the 
vines are green, they are pulled and fed to “ Spot,” 
who relishes them very much. Turnips, or corn, is 
at once sown on the ground where the peas were. 
When our early cabbages are taken up, all the 
leaves, and much of the stalks, are turned into 
milk by taking them to the cow’s manger, and the 
ground at once planted, or sown, to something that 
-will make more food. The beet, carrot, and turnip 
tops, and late cabbage leaves, make quite a quanti¬ 
ty of feed late in the fall, if care is taken in saving 
and preserving them. Possibly there may be some 
better forage crop than “ evergreen,” or sugar 
com ; I think another fall I will try the Minnesota 
Amber Sugar Cane, in a small way. I tried Pearl 
Millet, in one row, this season ; it tillered, or spread 
wonderfully, but did not do so well as the com, as 
the stalks were small, and the millet makes such a 
feeble growth, at first, it requires the whole season 
to make as much fodder as I get from corn sowed 
the fourth of July. I generally manage to have 
the cow come in about the first of September; by 
that means, the six weeks she is allowed to go dry, 
•occurs during the very wannest portion of the sum¬ 
mer, during July and August, when, with the facil¬ 
ities the person possesses who keeps but one cow, 
it is difficult to make good butter ; it is also the 
■season when butter most generally sells the lowest. 
The calf is taught to drink after it is a week or 
ten days old, and fed on a porridge made, from skim 
milk and wheat middlings, or shorts ; by t he time 
it is six weeks or two months old it will be well fat¬ 
tened, and can be sold to the butcher for veal, at a 
good price, for at that time of the season veal is 
scarce and in demand. The cow being in full flow 
of milk all winter, when butter is most always 
high, will pay a good profit for her feed and care. 
A couple of weeks previous to the time the calf 
should be born, I make a box stall on the bam floor, 
and permit the cow to run loose in it until the calf 
is taken away to learn to drink. During this time 
she should have a good bed of leaves, and the stall 
cleaned each night and morning. So far at such 
times I have experienced no difficulty, or trouble; 
should any occur, it is better to apply to an expe¬ 
rienced person, than to try and doctor her yourself. 
After the calf is born, I feed the cow on warm slops 
a day or two, permitting the calf to suck until the 
swelling has gone from her bag, and it has assumed 
its natural condition, then, as before stated, teach 
it to drink, which can easily be done, by inserting 
the finger in its mouth, and putting its head in the 
dish, cautiously withdrawing the finger, a few 
times, and in a short time you will have no diffi¬ 
culty, as it will help itself. 
In conclusion, I can say I have tried to state just 
how our cow is managed and kept. I presume 
there can be improvements made on our system. I 
6hall be glad to take advantage of the experience 
■of ot hers, at any and all times. No record is kept 
of the milk obtaintd, nor the butter made. We 
know we have always plenty for the family’s use, 
and considerable to spare. Bread and milk fur¬ 
nish the children half their food a portion of the 
time; pure milk and plenty of fresh fruits, in abun¬ 
dance, we consider to be one of the principal rea¬ 
sons why our family is so healthy, and we have so 
few doctor’s bills to pay. 
From our acre and a half, all the food has been 
271 
grown for both cow and horse, except the $3 ex¬ 
pended for straw. The “sugar meal” given the 
cow has not cost over $5 during the past year; it is 
safe to say that one half, and probably more, of the 
clover, corn fodder, green rye, etc., has been fed to 
the horse, consequently the keeping of the cow can 
all be credited to the small area of 
About Three-fourths of an Acre 
' of land, in addition to an outlay of not exceeding 
$7 for meal, bran, and straw. This land, about 
one half of it, has also produced, in addition, full 
crops for the use of the family, or market, while 
the sour milk, and buttermilk have largely assisted 
in making COO lbs. of pork. The calf, at less than 
two months of age, was sold for $8, which more 
than paid for the extra feed bought for the cow. 
The family that has never kept a cow can hardly 
realize the satisfaction and benefits derived from 
such a source. Children, whose appetites are often 
capricious, will almost always relish a cup of cool 
milk. Cream, for our coffee at breakfast, is much 
enjoyed by all, but realized by few, and what can 
be more delicious than a nice dish of strawberries 
smothered in rich yellow cream. When we consider 
the small expense, the little trouble and care, con¬ 
trasted with the great benefits derived, it seems sur- 
prisingtliat any family will deprive themselves of so 
great a boon as that of keeping a cow. “Doctor.” 
Novelties are not always New. 
Implements and devices of various kinds are 
from time to time brought out and fully explained 
as new, when the facts are frequently far otherwise. 
An illustration of this came to our notice a short 
time ago, in looking over an old work on agricul¬ 
ture, entitled, “ The English Improver Improved, 
or the Survey of Husbandry Surveyed ” (1653). On 
page 203 of this ancient work, a number of plows 
are figured, among which is, “ The Double Plough, 
ploughing two furrows atone time.” It is not to be 
expected that 228 years of the mo6t progressive 
time in the world’s history has brought no changes 
in the construction of double plows ; but neverthe¬ 
less the fact of their antiquity remains the same. 
The directions for the making of the old double 
plow arc very full, and as a matter of historical in¬ 
terest, we give some of the points, together with 
an exact reproduction of the plow itself. “ The 
double plough shall be as plain as may be, it shall 
consist of one long beam of an ordinary length, and 
another short one, little above half the length of 
the other_I proceed to the making of the hinder- 
most plough, which must be made in all its members 
and branches like the other, except the beam cut 
off three inches before the Coulter-hole.The 
handles upon the last plough you must set to the 
ship lyeth in this, whether it be Dutch or English 
Coulter.If a Dutch Coulter, then the wheel to 
be very well slutted, and about ten incites high, 
and to go as true as possible; for the false cutting 
of the wheel will make you work at a great uncer¬ 
tainty, which Coulter is not useful, neither upon 
stony, gravelly, flinty, broomy, or rooty ground, 
but upon pure turf, or pure 
mould, on which it goeth 
very easily. The midst of 
the wheel had need be an 
inch thick, because of wear¬ 
ing, and so wrought thinner 
and thinner towards the 
edge round, untill it comes 
to be as thin as a knife if it 
were possible, but because 
this Coulter is with many 
of high esteem, and of some 
advantage, and yet not much 
known, I will give you a 
figure of it, as also of the 
best sort of English for its 
compass.” This old instru¬ 
ment for cutting the sod before the plow, in its 
general make-up or “style,” as we may call it, is 
very different from those used at the present day, 
but the principle of construction and action is the 
| same, namely, a revolving cutting edge. Those per¬ 
sons who are of the opinion that the wheel Coulter so 
largely mentioned and generally re-introduced some 
years ago, was entirely new, must on seeing this, feel 
in some measure the basis of truth in the wise-man’s 
saying, “There is no new thing under the sun.” 
SScplacIng a Morse’s SUoe.— - In the busy 
season on the farm there is often much time lost 
and work delayed by frequent journeys to the 
blacksmith shop. Many of these visits are un- 
[ avoidable; but when made for the simple resetting 
of a single horseshoe, it is expensive. A job like 
the replacing of a “ thrown” shoe should be done 
; at home. It is not a difficult one, and the needed 
i tools are few and inexpensive. A light hammer, a 
pair of pincers, a punch, all of which every farmer’s 
work shop should contain for other uses, and a few 
’ horseshoe nails, are all that is necessary. It micht 
be well to add to this a blacksmith’s plane to smooth 
down the face of the foot, but for the simple reset¬ 
ting of the shoe this is not required. If the shoe 
is only loose, it may be tightened by driving up the 
old nails and clinching them anew, but if quite 
loose it had better be taken off, which can bo done 
with the pincers, care being taken to not break the 
hoof. All the old nails should be removed by using 
the punch. The most difficult matter is the driv¬ 
ing of the new nails, which must be so “ pointed ” 
at the end that they may not go into the “ quick," 
Fig. 1. — THE DOUBLE PLOW OF THE 17TH CENTURY. 
placing of it in his place, which 1 discover thus, 
the first plough standing in its working posture, the 
other plough with the handles to it, to be affixed 
on the nearer side, or left-hand, one furrow-breadth 
wider than the other, just in the same posture, 
both for depth and breadth as the other doth, and 
so held off from the first plough-beam, by a lining 
or filling of wood, just that substance as may con¬ 
tinue it firm and fast.All which may be so 
keyed and cramped up, that it may be as one solid 
beam, and so move as the first moves.I for 
present see not but it may be of excellent use and 
expedition, upon many lands in England ; and to 
say much more is needless, in regard of which hath 
been before spoken, and experience of a good 
ploughman will order it at pleasure.”—Both the 
plow, and the language of its description are old, 
but on this account are not the less interesting. 
“ As to the Coulter, (fig.2), his truth of workman¬ 
but come to the upper surface of the hoof an inch 
or so above the sole. This can be learned by watch¬ 
ing a blacksmith, and if he is a good-natured one 
he will willingly show how it is done. A little 
practice will render it an easy matter to drive the 
nails in the proper manner. As the nails are driven 
through, they should be turned down, and after¬ 
wards nipped off with the pincers and curved in to 
hold firmly. The work of resetting a shoe can be 
quickly done, and at a time when no loss is incurred. 
The morning before work, or the hour of rest at 
noon, may be so employed, and a journey saved, of 
miles it may be, to the nearest blacksmith. The 
shoe may come off at a time when replacing it at 
once will save the labor of the team and hands for 
a half a day or more, in which case the ability to re¬ 
set the shoe is a very labor-saving accomplishment, 
and should be possessed by every economic and 
energetic farmer throughout the country. 
