i89i 
THE 
great quantity of honey it gathers; but it is exceedingly 
scarce. Some species are very nice in shape and color. 
About one half of them, or more, do not stiDg. I have 
noticed that some of these are armed with a weak sting, 
which they never use. A few other species sting more or 
less seriously. I have never seen a country so favorable 
for bees as some sections of this. C. wenkle. 
San Jos6. 
FROM BARN TO GRASS. 
How Cows are Trained for Pasture. 
Practices of leading dairymen; great value of ensilage 
as a “tonic;" keeping roots; save the choicest hay 
for last feeding; several soiling systems; what shall 
the pasture he ? 
A Slow Breaking-in for Pasture. 
My plan in changing the feed of dairy cows from dry feed 
in the barn to grass, has been to feed as usual in the barn, 
hay and grain, and then turn out in a tolerably fair past¬ 
ure ; 15 minutes the first day, the next day 15 more mln- 
utes and so od, giving them all the dry food they will eat 
before turning them out, till they will eat none, this 
usually taking about two weeks. I soil my cows in addi¬ 
tion to pasture. My first crop is rye, followed by peas and 
oats, clover and then fodder corn. E. F. bowditch. 
Middlesex Co., Mass. 
More Mill Feed; Soiling Crops. 
I feed my cows the same at this time of the year—when 
they are to be soiled—as I do when they go to pasture 
Just at present I feed more mill feed and less corn meal 
than I do in cold weather. The cows go to pasture in bet¬ 
ter condition than when fed on heavy food and do better. 
My first soiling crop is Red Clover, followed by peas, oats 
and barley mixed in about equal proportions. That is fol¬ 
lowed by some early sweet corn planted the same as though 
for the grain. I commence feeding that as soon as it is 
large enough to use for the table. My pastures are Blue 
or June Grass with some Orchard Grass. I turn my cows 
out as soon as they can get a fair bite of grass, feeding 
them ensilage or hay morning and night, and get them 
used to pasture by degrees. I do not like to let them have 
full grass rations at first. wm. H. gilbert. 
Oswego Co., N. Y. 
Best for Cow or Best for Pasture? 
I make no special preparation in the matter of feed for 
turning on pasture. The cows having ensilage all winter 
are not so ravenous for grass. We do not practice soiling, 
except to feed some green corn in the fall when the grass 
is short. It is considered better for the pasture to keep 
the cows up until the grass gets a good start. It is better 
for the cows to turn them out as soon as the ground is dry 
enough and they can get half a bite. We turned them out 
this spring on a Blue Grass sod, with some mixture of 
Orchard Grass and White Clover, April 10. There was not 
nearly enough grass, and their hay and ensilage withgram 
are continued. Our ensilage is about gone. In a few days 
we will throw open another field of Timothy and clover. 
This will afford a good bite, and the hay will be discon¬ 
tinued. We feed some grain all summer, according to the 
condition of the grass. Our land is too high-priced to de¬ 
pend entirely on pasture. If cows are full fed on grain, 
and the pasture consists of mixed grasses, they are not 
likely to injure themselves from over-eating. 
Montgomery Co., Ohio. j. m’lain sm.th. 
Nothing Like Ensilage In Winter. 
In my judgment the best way to get cows from winter 
to spring is to feed ensilage in the winter. The change to 
grass will hardly be noticed. I find this to be true upon 
the two farms where I have silos. Where I do not have 
silos I turn the cows into the pasture as soon as the ground 
is solid enough—when the grass has advanced enough to 
give them a bite, keeping up the feed of Timothy and 
gluten meal until the grass gets good and strong. This is 
hard on the pastures, but the best for the cows. By this 
process the change is so gradual that the life is not scoured 
out of the cows. This treatment keeps up a good flow of 
first quality milk. Our pastures are clover or Kentucky 
Blue Grass. lovejoy Johnson. 
Ogle Co., Ill. 
From Winter Feeding to Pasture. 
To place milch cows on the fresh growth of the first 
rich pasture, requires some forethought and pre Duration, 
and skillful reserving of foods grown the year previous. 
When I grew mangels, my use of them differ ed from the 
practice of my neighbors somewhat. Now that I rely on 
pitted corn from the silo we differ still. In the last case 
largely because they will not build silos. 
When relying entirely on hay, one should carefully put 
aside on a separate scaffold or mow the richest early-cut 
hay of fine mixed grasses—the most fragrant, succulent 
product of the early fields. Better than this even is rich, 
Medium Clover cured under hay caps. If one has no roots 
or green feed from the silo, and not enough clover for the 
entire winter’s feed, give on one day each week all they will 
eat of the clover hay. But save, for the four weeks pre¬ 
ceding pasturing time, and a few days after they are 
turned out, enougn to feed freely even though they have 
little before then. Just at this time the new coat of hair 
is growing and the skin should be mellow. This will not 
be the case if they are “tight as a yearling steer in March.” 
Clover will prove a laxative, and all glands, whether of hair, 
udder, liver or kidneys will respond. 
Should I have roots, they are put in earth pits. They are 
covered with litter and earth—more straw and much earth 
again—with drain tile three or four feet apart in top of 
pile, extending from litter first above the beets, through 
other covers to the air. These, in extreme frost, are stuffed 
with hay but late in winter they are open, that the mois¬ 
ture ot the pile may escape and not cause rot. Thus I have 
kept them to the 10th of May or till moved into the cellar 
RURAL- NEW-YORKER. 
to give the ground to the plow. No root cellar I ever saw 
would give such a plump unwithered product with only 
two per cent or less of waste by rot and rats. That is about 
what I expect to lose for that late time. My neighbors 
use their beets almost as soon as harvested and regret that 
they are all gone by February. I use them after they have 
ripened, for I think they improve for two months after 
harvesting—like winter apples. I reserve for April and 
May enough to give a good daily feed, however much or 
little I may feed earlier. 
Experience with my pasturing shows that I get more 
feed during the season if the grass has a three or four-inch 
growth before the stock is turned on it for anything more 
than an hour a day. The choice reserved hay has been 
accessible for feeding calves up to a year old. One can 
never feed good shorts and hay to more advantage than 
during the first 12 months of a heifer’s life. In the first 
days of pasturing, before the cows go out in the morning, 
they have what hay they can eat. In this condition they 
cannot gorge themselves. In from one to three hours they 
return to the stable. We gradually lengthen the pastur¬ 
ing hours In fine weather. The object of good keeping Is 
to get sufficient flesh under their skins to supply stamina 
and fat for large and rich milking. “Well Novembered 
is half wintered,” and should neglect and frost bitten feed 
bring your stock at 1st of December to a low condition, 
there is a long up-hill route before them. 
At this season of pasturing—the most economical feed¬ 
ing of the year for most owners—every pound of fat and 
flesh lost is taken out of the churn or cheese vat. Why, 
then, allow your stock to purge and gorge and purge 
again until, in a week, 20 pounds of good weight are gone 
from under the hide 7 Prepare the system by use of suit¬ 
able foods so that the change will not be a shock, and use 
hay to fill the paunch before they go out on new feed. If 
the hay is to be had, I would feed at night all they will 
eat after they have come in from grass for several weeks. 
Where ensilage is fed the whole system is kept in a normal 
condition. The hair does not shed prematurely, and the 
poor beasts shiver—with bare skins—watting a new coat. 
I aim to reserve the last feeds of ensilage to lap on to the 
pasture. 
Where soiling crops are grown, rye has been the first to 
cut with me; clover next, spring-sown oats next, then 
some of the dwarf sweet corns; then the regular growth 
of fodder corn up to the time of heavy frosts. Just before 
this time I have, in repeated seasons, topped the mangels 
as they stood in the field with a knife. The roots remain 
as grown, and an inch or so of top cut square across takes 
all the succulent leaves in one piece. Many bushels should 
not be taken in at once, only enough for one night and 
next morning, as they will sweat and heat in piles. The 
cut root sears over the top with a cork-like surface, and 
does not rot as quickly as those from which leaves are 
wrung off with twist of hand. 
343 
Thus I answered for myself the statement “ If I could 
utilize the tops of my mangels I could grow more feed to 
the acre with them £han with any other crop.” Some of 
my mangels have stood three weeks in this condition be¬ 
fore harvesting. The first topped may suffer an infinites¬ 
imal stoppage of growth but the great mass of valuable 
feed secured far more than compensates for it. Every 
soiling crop, until corn in the milk can be had, has been 
far more valuable for bsing wilted—especially clover and 
green oats. Immature corn before the silk is well pushed 
out of the husk seems to be alkaline and will purge stock 
about as effectively as Epsom salts. After that stage 
sugar and starch seem to be formed so that freshly cut corn 
may be fed. I can starve a cow to a skeleton on green 
corn fodder, by giving all she will eat. Hinc illce lac- 
rlmce! j. francis qulliver. 
Essex Co., Mass. _ 
FROM A CALIFORNIA DAIRY RANCH. 
This ranch contains 274 acres, all under cultivation, and 
Is one of the oldest settled places in this county. The 
present owner moved on it in 1852, and it has been his 
home since. The original tract contained 160 acres; the 
balance was added a few years ago. Until 1879 the place 
was devoted to grain alone and since then has been a dairy 
and stock ranch. Everything is fed out on the place. The 
ranch is divided info eight parts, 20 acres in Alfalfa in 
three fields; two fields are for late and early pastures, 
the late is sown in Amber Cane. The early in grain about 
one-third each of oats, barley and wheat. Two fields of 20 
acres each are used for beets and corn, alternate years to 
millet for hay; three acres are used for garden and ex¬ 
periment grounds; 15 acres are in orchard and small fruits. 
The remainder of the place is used for hay and barley. 
The estimated yield of beets was 500 tons on 20 acres; the 
last season we secured 150 tons of grain hay from 60 acres. 
For the year ending January 31, we paid for help $1,935.55. 
We bought 50 loads of straw, 78,576 pounds of bran, 17,507 
pounds of crushed wheat, 10,582 pounds of crushed corn, 
77,716 pounds of hay, and 25 tons of pumpkins. The cash 
sales were as follows : 
Milk, butter and cream .$3,818.05 
Veal. 21 >11.40 
Beef. 298.90 
Fruit, almonds, etc.1,282,75 
Hny and barley. 178.50 
Team hire. '87.50 
Miscellaneous articles. 373.65 
Total.$6 296.75 
Received for our labor $1,017.22 above firm expenses. 
We keep 30 cows in the dairy the year round ; 75 head of 
stock were on the place during the year, including seven 
teams of horses. Fruit brought an unusually good price. 
Live stock of all kinds were low. 
Our stock are 20 purebred and the rest graded Short-horn 
of the milk strain with a few common cows. The origi¬ 
nal herd of 17 cows and one bull, all pedigreed stock, were 
driven across the plains from Howard County, Mo., by my 
father in 1860. We still have two daughters and several 
granddaughters of the original herd, and at one time had 
over 100 direct descendants. From want of range here, we 
moved them to Modoc County, and after four years there 
we found 59 head left, a few of the old stock and the rest 
grades. The sales and hard winter of ’75-6 thinned them 
out. In ’78 we moved the descendants of the old stock 
back to this ranch, where they have been served to good 
bulls of herds of this and neighboring counties; but no 
attention has been paid to pedigree of late years. Only 
the sires from noted milkers are used for breeding pur¬ 
poses, and only the heifers from choice cows are kept for 
the dairy. The original herd were red-roan ; we have used 
the Short horns for crosses several times, but the red- 
roan is good enough for anybody. We have filled in the 
dairy several times with common cows, but only till we 
could replace them with our own heifers. We breed for 
size as well as for milking qualities. The calves we sell 
for veal have weignt and do not cost much more than a 50 
or 60-pound veal. The average yield, April 1, was 28 pounds 
each for 30 cows, with two fresh cows In the lot. The 
calves are not allowed to suck, but are fed new milk for 
about two weeks, and then put on skim-milk until they 
are old enough to eat mixed feed alone. When there is a 
surplus of skim milk it is fed to hogs and chickens. 
The milk left over from our retail trade is set in one and 
two gallon open pans. The weather is too warm for a 
creamer, and ice is too high to use with profit. We do not 
have enough surplus milk to justify us in using a separa¬ 
tor. All we aim to do is to keep two men busy in the 
dairy. They commence milking at mid-night and mid-day 
—a poor idea, but it is the custom here for customers to 
have their milk before breakfast. We use the square 
churn. “ LOCUST GROVE.” 
Chico, Cal._ 
RICH SOIL A SAFE FOUNDATION. 
GREINER VS. SMITH. 
As a soil tiller, Mr. J. M. Smith of Wisconsin has no su¬ 
perior. America has every reason to be proud of the man. 
As a teacher of farming methods, also, he stands In the 
front rank. Still he meets the common fate of all—he is 
not infallible. His criticism in The Rural of April 4, of 
my article on the value of rich soil, which appeared in the 
American Agriculturist, was evidently inspired by the 
unfortunate inclination (which he has in common with 
many others of our shining lights among soil tillers) to for 
get that there are other conditions besides cultivation and 
good management, which deeply affect the farmers’ welfare 
and chances of success. The one aim I had in view in 
writing the article in question was to impress the young 
land buyer with the truth that rich soil is a safe founda¬ 
tion for even the average farmer to build his hopes upon. 
The great mistake that thousands of farmers have been 
making, and are] constantly making, is to attempt with 
