12 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[January, 
can get a new tubular four-horse-power-boiler, for 
$150; firewood is $3 per cord. Now, will it pay 
to cut the hay and mix the other mill stuff, and 
steam ? I am aware that some who have tried it 
say they save thirty-three per cent; then again, we 
are told that it costs more than the gain. 1 am 
rather inclined to buy the boiler and try it, but 
shall wait until next month’s paper comes to hand. 
“ Hay is worth here, $11 per ton, oats 30 cents 
per bu., bran $15 per ton, butter 30 cents per lb.” 
My principal experience in this direction, has 
been with hay from $16 to $20 per ton, oats at about 
60 cents per bushel, corn 75 cents per bushel, bran 
at $30 or more per ton, and fuel at about double 
the cost stated above. Milk has been worth less than 
twice the price given, and butter rather more than 
twice. Under the circumstances,! have found steam¬ 
ing to be decidedly advantageous. We have never 
made any distinct trials to determine just the amount 
of the saving. Indeed,such trials are always difficult, 
and require the con¬ 
sideration of physio¬ 
logical influences to 
an extent, for which 
few practical farmers 
are prepared. We 
do much less steam¬ 
ing now, than when 
we bought nearly all 
our forage, for the 
reason that our own 
hay is early-cut, and 
of excellent qual¬ 
ity, and doubtless 
very easily digested. 
The profit of steam¬ 
ing such hay as this, 
is, of course, much 
less than when the 
cooking is applied 
to late-cut, coarse 
forage, whether hay, 
straw, or cornstalks, 
containing a large 
amount of vegetable 
fibre, which cook¬ 
ing renders more 
or less digestible. 
Steaming is espe¬ 
cially important as 
a means for curing mustiness, or stale flavor in im¬ 
perfectly cured fodder, and in diffusing throughout 
the mass the flavor of the grain cooked with it. 
In view of all the circumstances described in the 
above letter, I should not hesitate to recommend 
the regular use of steaming throughout the winter. 
Whether the result will be a saving of thirty-three 
per cent, or more or less, will depend on the con¬ 
dition of the food in its natural state; all will be 
benefited, but the poorer the original qirality the 
greater the advantage of steaming. 
Feeding a Family Cow. 
I have received from Athens, Penn., a request to 
answer the following questions, which are asked 
with reference to a fine four-year-old heifer, recent¬ 
ly calved, and kept to provide milk and cream for 
a family. They are applicable to the circumstances 
of such a large number of people, and are so much 
in the tenor of other letters frequently received on 
the same subject, that it seems worth while to 
answer them at length_1st. Shall I keep her 
in a shed thoroughly protected from north, east, 
and west winds ? or in a stable, lighted with win¬ 
dows on the west side, and no sun unless double 
doors in south side are kept open (stalls face the 
East, and have no windows) ?_2nd. Would you 
advise to feed good timothy, or clover hay? cut? 
or in rack ?-3d. Of corn-meal, wheat bran, 
ground oats, buckwheat bran, ground buckwheat, 
(not separated), linseed-oil cake, cotton-seed cake, 
which ones, and in what proportion, alone or mixed, 
would you advise ? dry ? or wet with warm water ? 
....Object, health and good condition, and good 
yield of good milk throughout the winter_4th. 
Would you season food with salt; if so, how 
much ? If alone, how often, and in what quan¬ 
tity ?_5th. How often should she be watered ? 
_6th. Where can I buy cotton-seed or linseed 
meals in New York ? In what shape is it sold, in 
bags, or any weight you wish, and at what price ? 
-7th. I do not wish her to be served until July, 
1875. Am I right?_8th. Can she be milked 
with safety until a month before calving, in 1876 ? 
My desire is to have good general rales for feeding 
milch cows through the winters.” 
Replies: (1) In a modera te climate, or during 
mild weather in any climate, the shed described 
would be better than the stable; but in severe 
weather it would be insufficient, and if one or the 
other must be selected for the winter quarters, per¬ 
haps the stable would be best. (2) Clover hay 
“every time.” If of good quality, not too coarse, 
and not smoky, it may as well be fed long. Unless 
it is first-rate, it will be more completely eaten if 
cut; so far as the cow herself is concerned, it 
would be better to feed it uncut, and let her reject 
all but the best, but for economy of feeding, the 
cutting is preferable. (3) Buckwheat bran, and 
probably buckwheat meal, while stimulating the 
flow of milk, make it less rich than it should be 
for family use. Buckwheat bran is considered a 
very good milk-dealers’ feed. Linseed-oil cake, 
and cotton-seed cake, are both excellent for certain 
purposes, and when fed in moderate quantity; I 
should hesitate to give a family cow more than half 
a pint of either per day, for the reason of their 
tendency to give a tallowy character to butter ; a 
very small quantity can not have this effect, and is 
every way beneficial as an element of the feed. If 
all the articles you mention are equally available, I 
should say decidedly, that ground oats should form 
the staple food; they are more costly, but in every 
way better than corn meal; but if the cost is an 
important object, corn-meal may be added in the 
proportion of one-half or less, w'itliout material 
disadvantage ; wheat bran of good quality, I would 
feed once a day, but not more than two quarts. If 
the hay is cut and wetted, the ground feed should 
be mixed through it, but if dry hay is fed, it is 
better to feed all grain dry, (in a deep tub, so it 
will not be thrown out and wasted), because it 
must be eaten more slowly and masticated more 
thoroughly ; it can not be swallowed until it is 
thoroughly moistened, and it has to be well chewed 
before it is moistened. (4) No. Get a good lump 
of rock-salt, and place it where the cow can lick it 
at pleasure. If fine salt is used, feed it to .the 
animal in small quantities, and at decreasing 
intervals, until her greed is satisfied, and after this 
keep a box of salt within her reach. (5) The 
oftener the better, provided, which is very im¬ 
portant, that it be not with too cold water ; nothing 
will help more too keep up the winter yield of a 
family cow, than a little hot water poured into her 
drink, raising it to 70° or more. (6) Linseed meal 
can be bought in any considerable town, from feed 
dealers. Cotton-seed meal would perhaps have to 
be procured through an agricultural warehouse. 
Both are sold by the hundred-weight, in bags. (7) 
I think she is too young to be allowed to go so long. 
She calved in September, and your plan would 
allow 10 months before she is served, which I fear 
would be injurious. You had better let her take 
the bull now, or when she will, which will bring 
her in late next year; then let her go farrow until 
June, ’76; and then, if you like, until July, ’77; 
this will bring her around gradually to the period 
you desire. (8) She can, perfectly—if she will— 
but I would make sure that she should be dry for 
the full month if possible. 
Great Yield of Mangolds. 
In the Agriculturist for April, 1873, (page 139), I 
gave an account of 
my visit to the Earl 
of Warwick’s Sew¬ 
age Farm, near 
Leamington, to 
which it may be in¬ 
teresting to the read¬ 
er to refer. In a 
recent number of 
the “ Agricultural 
Gazette,” there is 
an account of the 
mangold crop of this 
year. It occupied 
twenty acres, partly 
Orange Globe, and 
partly Intermediate 
Globe. The crop 
was probably larger 
than has ever before 
been grown. One 
acre was measured, 
and the produce 
carefully weighed, 
amounting to 82 
tons of 2240 lbs. 
each, (about 367.7 
bushels.) The field 
had been in Italian 
rye grass in 1871 
and 1872, and wheat in 1873. During the past 
four years it has received no other manure than 
the sewage, applied as described in a previous 
article. The rows were twenty-four inches apart, 
the plants being thinned out to twelve inches. Tho 
Gazette says : “ The roots are of a very large size, 
and tons and tons of them could be selected, which 
should not exceed 100 roots per ton.” 
This crop indicates, as well as anything can, the 
advantage of thoroughly high farming and good 
manuring, with the added improvement of irriga¬ 
tion. In our climate it would perhaps rarely be 
practicable, to make a profitable use of town sew¬ 
age for agricultural purposes ; but it is practicable 
to give thorough cultivation, to manure heavily, 
and in very many cases there are facilities for irriga¬ 
tion which are neglected, to the great detriment of 
our crops. It may, perhaps, not be possible, in 
many cases, to achieve such a remarkable success 
as here described, but the fact that such a growth 
of mangolds is possible, should stimulate our 
dairy-farmers to the production of very much 
larger crops, than have thus far been known this 
side of the Atlantic. 
T;iu for YI la3c!«i»i".—H. Sackersdorff. 
There is a great difference of opinion as to the value of 
tan as a mulch. A recent writer in Remit Ilorticole cites 
several instances in which upon fruits and vegetables its 
effects were disastrous. Several market gardeners near 
Paris lost all their winter lettuce by covering the beds 
with tan. Any ill results must be due to the fact that the 
bark was not thoroughly exhausted. When the soluble 
matter is all extracted from it, the effect of the tan can 
only be a mechanical one. Where there are such differ¬ 
ent experiences, it will be safe to expose the tan to tho 
action of rains for some months before using it. 
carr & hobson’s double furrow plow. — (j For Description see page 20.) 
