1880.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
311 
•would take the entire time of two able-bodied men 
to attend one animal—one to be always on hand 
during the day, Hie other to serve at night. Now 
■common sense is a good thing, even when applied to the 
management of cows, and my experience convinces me 
that the average man wishes to know only the cheapest 
and easiest way to have an abundant supply of rich, 
wholesome, and clean milk, and ivith pride enough in 
the possession of a good cow to furnish a good shelter 
and comfortable quarters. Beyond these, breeders of 
fancy and high-priced stock may go to any extreme, and 
find tt a paying business in doing so, but the village or 
city owner of one or two cows, kept solely for his own 
use, can not afford to indulge in any of this “ upper- 
tendom ” style of cow life—it won't pay him. As 
a row of corn was cut and fed, the land was 
plowed, manured, and more corn (common field) 
■drilled in thick, so that the ground for the whole 
summer presented the appearance of an experi¬ 
mental corn field, with 
Corn at Every Stage of its Growth. 
This was kept up throughout the months of July, 
August, September, and October. Indeed, the half 
of this yield was more than sufficient for keeping 
the cow in superb condition, so that much the 
greater portion was cut in the tasselling stage and 
■cured for winter feed. After September begins, it 
will not do to sow corn here ; the worms destroy 
it, but in our southern Bean, known as the 
“Cow Pea,” 
we have one of the very best of soiling crops. Sown 
either broadcast, or in drills, it does equally well— 
makes a rapid growth, and affords a tempting and 
nutritious food for cattle. It grows until checked 
hy frost, and I know of no plant, save Indian corn, 
that produces more weight to a given quantity of 
land. In this instance, we fed it daily during Octo¬ 
ber and late into November, before a frost put an 
end to its use in its green form. Anticipating a 
frost, it was cut and cured for winter feed ; and 
properly cured, no hay equals it for cattle. 
November 24th our cow went into winter quar¬ 
ters, and for her winter feed there was over 
4,800 pounds of well cured corn-fodder, and 
some 1,500 pounds of good pea-vine hay- 
far more than she could possibly consume. 
Early in December, after spreading over the land 
all the manure on hand, it was plowed again, with 
a two-horse turning plow, and sowed thickly to 
oats, harrowing them in. A seasonable rain gave 
them a good start, so they went into winter quar¬ 
ters in a fine condition—a good stand and vigorous 
growth. The cow now received 
A Daily Ration of Corn-Podder 
and pea-hay, run through the cutter, and after mix¬ 
ing thoroughly three quarts of wheat bran and one 
quart of cotton-seed meal, was wet with water 
(warm in cold weather). This was given her in the 
morning, and the same quantity at evening. The 
corn-fodder and pea-hay for a day’s feed was 15 
pounds of each, more or less. On this food she 
was kept throughout the winter, giving milk of ex¬ 
cellent quality, and in good quantity. 
In February, she was tethered every fair day in 
the oats; and in March, was Ted a good mess of 
fresh cut oats, still, however, keeping up the win¬ 
ter feed of corn-fodder, pea-hay, wheat bran, and 
cotton meal. About the first of April, the green 
oats fed was increased to 
All She would Eat, 
feeding three times daily, and the excellence of this 
diet was shown by a marked increase in the quan¬ 
tity of her milk. Though due to calve again in 
July, she continued to supply a family of ten per¬ 
sons with an abundance of milk. Late in April, 
when the oats were in the milk state, they were cut 
and cured for hay, making a little over a ton of 
good food. 
Upon summing up the result, the following dol- 
lans and cents view of the experiment of sustaining 
a cow on a half acre is submitted. The labor ex¬ 
pended in cultivation is not put down as an item of 
expense, as the carriage horse was used in plowing, 
and the hired man did the rest. 
Dr. 
To 1,500 lbs. Wheat-Bran, at 90c.$13 50 
“ 200 lbs. Cornmeal, at 70c. 1 40 
“ 800 lbs. Cotton-seed Meal, at. $1.00.... 8 00 
“ 300 lbs. Hay, at 75c.. 2 25 
Total.. ..$25 15 
Or. 
By sale of 2,200 lbs. Corn-fodder, at GOc. . $13 20 
“ “ 2,100 lbs. Oats, at 75c. 15 75 
$28 95 
Profit.$3 80 
But the profit above shown, does not express the 
real profit. A year’s continuous supply of rich 
milk, in abundance, for a large household ; cream 
for special occasions, and that best of luxuries, de¬ 
licious home-made butter, and one hundred dollars 
for the little heifer when six months old, aggre¬ 
gates the chief results of the experiment. 
For the best results in soiling, no crop compares, 
as far as my experience goes, with our Southern 
variety of Indian corn ; on rich land it produces 
marvellously. I have raised it at the rate of over one 
hundred thousand pounds (or fifty tons) per acre. 
There is no difficulty in producing three crops in 
one season on the same land. But cattle need a 
variety of food in soiling, as in other forms of feed¬ 
ing. Oats are excellent, and come in early. Cat¬ 
tail Millet (“Pearl Millet”) is a rapid grower, but 
cattle are not specially fond of it; they like German 
Millet better. Garden (or English) Peas make an 
excellent food; coming into use in March, and 
lasting to June. I remember one year I produced 
five crops for soiling, on the same land, in one year, 
namely: oats, three of corn, and one of cow-peas. 
The last named is a superb food late in the year, 
after corn has gone. I have never experimented 
with roots, nor am I aware of any being cultivated 
in the South as a soiling crop. Cabbages set out 
in September and October will be ready for feeding 
in December, and will, next to corn, produce the 
largest weight of green food. One year I fed them 
to a considerable extent, and found my cows were 
very partial to them. By beginning with cabbages 
in December, to be succeeded by oats in March, 
then peas, corn, and millet, to wind up in Novem¬ 
ber with the cow-pea, a cow in our climate can 
be soiled every day in the year. ' “Mobile.” 
Geo. G. Dcffee, Mobile, Ala. 
Whiffletrees, Doubletrees, and Draught. 
It is not always desirable to have both horses of 
a team work equally hard, but when it has been 
decided wliat portion each shall do, the whiffletrees, 
and other means of attachment, should be so ad¬ 
justed that the prescribed work shall be constant, 
with no opportunity for either horse to shirk his 
part. In order to secure this uniformity in the di¬ 
vision of the work, no matter what the position of 
the doubletree, or “ evener ” may be, the draught 
pins must all be in the same line. This principle is 
best shown by diagrams, in which the doubletrees 
are unusually broad. Figure 1 shows a doubletree, 
in which the holes for the whiffletree, and that for 
the main draught pin, are in line. The direction of 
the draught is shown by the arrow. If the wbiffle- 
tree holes are equidistant from the draught pin, it 
is evident that the two horses will have equal work 
to do, when the doubletree is at right angles to the 
line of draught. This equality is shown by the 
lines A and B, which are of the same length. 
When the doubletree is not at right angles to the 
line of draught—see dotted lines in the diagram— 
the whiffletree pins will still be equidistant from the 
draught pin. What one whiffletree loses in distance 
in moving forward of the main pin, the other loses 
in moving backward. The lines C, and D, measur¬ 
ing the vertical distance of the whiffletree from the 
main pin, are seen to be equal. With this form, 
the horse that keeps ahead of his mate, neither 
gains nor loses anything—the position of the pins, 
when all in a row, does not permit of an advantage. 
For the sake of securing the greatest strength 
for the amount of timber used, the doubletree is 
usually made with the main draught pin near the 
front edge, and the whiffletree pins near the rear 
edge of the “ evener.” The working of such a 
doubletree, is shown in fig. 2. It is evident, that 
so long as the doubletree is at right angles to the 
line of draught, there is no advantage for either 
horse ; but the moment one end of the doubletree 
is swung forward, the equality is destroyed. Thus 
the lines E, and F, which represent the proportions 
of draught, are equal. Not so with O, and II; the 
rear whiffletree pin being much nearer the center 
of the draught than the forward one. In this 
arrangement, the horse that keeps ahead of its 
^ 
K 
1 
:L 
J 
Fig. 3.— MAIN PIN IN REAR. 
mate, may not do more than a third of the whole 
work, and yet the distance from the main draught 
pin, to each whiffletree pin, is the same. With this 
form of doubletree, the amount which each animal 
has to do varies with every change in the position 
of the doubletree, and this is a source of annoyance 
to animals of high temper, if not of more serious 
difficulties. The effect of putting the main draught 
pin near the rear edge, and the whiffletree pins 
near the front, is shown in fig. 3. With the pins 
equidistant from the main pin, and the doubletree 
at right angles, each horse does the same amount 
of work, but not otherwise. 
Let the doubletree take the position shown in 
dotted lines, and the perpendicular distance from 
the two whiffletree pins is widely different, as 
shown by the lines K, and L, which also represent 
in inverse order the amount of work each animal 
must do to keep the doubletree in its present posi¬ 
tion. The nearer the line of draught of one of the 
horses comes to the line of draught of both (the 
heavy line with arrow), the more that horse is 
obliged to draw. In this case, the farther ahead 
the horse gets the greater is the load thrown on 
him, and the laggard has a comparatively easy time. 
When it is desirable to give one horse the advan¬ 
tage, that can be done by moving its whiffletree 
pin out, or that of his mate’s in towards the line of 
draught; but it is not best to have the three draught 
pins out of line that the horse may get and keep an 
advantage when he does not deserve it. 
Selecting Seed Corn.— It is as important to 
make a good selection of the seed that is to pro¬ 
duce the next crop, as it is to choose the live stock 
that will grow the future herd. The selection 
should not be left until the time of husking, but 
be done now r . Go through a portion of the field 
and select those stalks that are well eared and un¬ 
usually vigorous—in fact, the best the field affords 
—and give them an extra chance for further de¬ 
velopment by removing the other stalks from the 
hill. Anything that will increase the vitality and 
perfect the development of the grain that is to be 
planted for the next season’s crop, should not be 
