WINTERING DAIRY STOCK - THE FOD¬ 
DER-CORN QUESTION, 
During the past few years some very 
warm discussions have been had at, the Agri¬ 
cultural Conventions concerning the value 
of fodder-oora as food for dairy stock. It 
ha3 been denounced by some well-known 
dairyman as pbor in nutritious stuff, expen¬ 
sive in its production, and hence should be 
discarded by every good farmer in nniking 
up his list of cattle foods. It is proper to 
state, however, that this opinion is not gen¬ 
erally held by the great mass of farmers; 
but so warmly and so persistently have the 
opponents of fodder-coru urged their views 
that many people, having little or no experi¬ 
ence in its use, begin to doubt ns to its util¬ 
ity and economy for dairy stock. Questions 
of this kind can not be satisfactorily settled 
by reasoning from some mere theoretical 
standpoint, but rather from the experience 
of practical men in their feeding of cattle 
from the manger in the stall. 
On our return from the New York State 
Dairymen’* Convention, recently held in 
Chautauqua Co., we met Mr. A. B. La Mont 
of McLean, Tompkins Co., an intelligent and 
well known dairy farmer, who gave us some 
items m regard to his experience in the use 
of fodder-corn, which we think will not be 
without interest to many of our readers. 
Mr. La Mont’s form is located two miles 
west of McLean, and consists of l'.)0 acres, 
and upon which ho has at the present t ime 
forty cows, nino head of young stock, eight 
sheep and four horses. During the past year 
about thirty-five ucres of this farm was in 
grain, thirty-three acres in meadow and the 
rest is in pasture and woodlands. Meadows 
were light in Tompkins Co. the past year, 
nud the yield of hay on La Mont’s farm, he 
estimates, was about one ton to the acre; 
but Mr. L. believes in fodder-corn, and says 
ho can grow it cheaper than hay, while lie 
considers it equal to hay, and indeed prefers 
it to hay as a feed for milch cows for early 
winter feeding, or up to, say, the lUth of 
January. 
WHAT CORH FODDER WILL DO. 
Mi’. La Mont lias grown this year five 
acres of fodder-corn, and he estimates the 
yield to have been at least forty tons of 
cured fodder. His entire herd of honied 
stock has been kept on this fodder since it 
left the pasture, about the first of Novem¬ 
ber, until the present time, and there is suf¬ 
ficient of the fodder left to carry the stock 
on without hay until the 10th of January. 
Mr. La Mont’s practice, late in fall aud 
early winter, after the cheese making season 
is over, is to give his cows all the sour milk 
resulting from his butter making, and a 
quart of short® to each animal dally. The 
shorts are put into a large tub and the sour 
milk turned on. aud the whole thoroughly 
mixed and then apportioned to each animal 
in equal quantities. This is the only addi¬ 
tional food which, the cows receive, and the 
stock, ho says, is in as line, thrifty condition 
as any fanner could wish to see. This plan 
of wintering stock in part on corn fodder 
has been practiced by Mr. L. for several 
years, and always with the best success 
METHOD OF GROWING THE FODDER. 
The usual practice is to break up green 
sward—lands that have laid in grass from 
ten to twelve years. The land referred to 
was plowed about the 25th of May, to the 
depth of eight inches. It was immediately 
harrowed thoroughly to get agood seed bed, 
and then the corn (‘Western variety) was 
drilled in with the machine known as the 
“Farmer’s Favorite,” two and one-half 
bushels of seed being used per acre. This 
makes the rows about si x inches apart. The 
whole was finished about the 1st of June, 
and no manures or other fertilizers were 
used on the crop. 
CUTTING AND CURING THE CROP. 
About the last of August or first of Sep¬ 
tember the crop will be lit to cut. The 
stalks will have attained a hight of from six 
to eight feet, and the rows on the outside 
will be “eared out’’ more or less, though of 
course such ears will be small, immature 
aud may be classed with what is commonly 
called “soft corn.” 
Mr. L. cuts the fodder with a reaper, and 
says for this purpose a strong and rather 
heavy machine is required. He uses the 
Buckeye, which does the work in the best 
manner. After cutting, it is preferred to 
leave it a day or so to wilt, when it is tied 
up in bundles and Immediately set up in 
shocks. The shocks are made larger than 
one man can conveniently handle, and hence 
two men are employed for thia part of the 
work. From fifteen to twenty bundles are 
placed in a shock. Set so as to make it Of 
round shape. Then the men take out suffi¬ 
cient stalks for the band, lapping them to¬ 
gether aud twisting them—a man at each 
end of the band. The tops of t he bundles or 
shock are now drawn together and tied with 
the. band, and another band is tied around 
about midway of the shock, and the work is 
complete. These shocks are left standing in 
the field until wanted for use. when they 
are hauled to the barn as required from time 
to time and fed to the cattle. 
Mr. La Mont says that fodder-corn prop¬ 
erly bound and shocked, as we have de¬ 
scribed, will cure out nicely in the field, and 
is not injured on account of standing out, 
during the time named, except perhaps on 
some of the outside stalks and leaves of the 
shock. The fodder which he is now (15th 
of December) hauling from the field opens 
clean and bright, and is highly relished by 
stock, and lie esteems it in all respects equal 
to hay. nis stock appear well satisfied with 
their rations—the animals keeping in as good 
condition as to flesh, health and vigor as 
those which have been kept on hav. He , 
thinks if corn-fodder is such poor, innutri¬ 
tions food as some have represented, lie I 
must have observed the result long since in 
his stock, both as to loss of flesh and in the 
depreciated quantity of milk yielded. On 
the contrary, his cows have made a good 
yield <>f milk iu November, and their condi¬ 
tion as to flesh and vigor are as heretofore 
described. In 1872 the stock was kept iu 
the same manner, and the yield was at the 
rate*of 450 pounds of cheese aud 10 pounds 
of butter per cow, besides supplying- what 
milk and butter was used in a family of 
seven persons. His experience in feeding 
corn fodder dates back through a period of ( 
ten years. He uses fodder-eorn as a soiling 
crop for stock in summer, when pastures 
are short, and he esteems it highly for this 
purpose, as it keeps, up the flow of milk and 
the cows are held in fine condition. 
Other farmers in Tompkins County prac¬ 
tice t he same system as that adopted bv Mr. 
La Mont, and one of his neighbors, Air, 
PETER Mulks, who is somewhat noted as a 
“ fancy butter maker,” has raised some years 
as much as twenty acres of com fodder. 
INFERENCES. 
Wluit, then are wo to infer from this state¬ 
ment. Here we have forty-uine head of 
cattle kept upon the corn - fodder of five 
acres for a period of neaily two months and a 
half, or up to the 10th of January. Practi¬ 
cal dairymen can Very well estimate whether 
such a crop as that raised by Mr. La Mont 
is a profitable crop. We do not know the 
price, of hay in Tompkins County the lire 
ent season, but iu Herkimer County it has 
been sold at from £20 to £25 per ton. It lnvs 
been estimated that a good, fair-sized cow ; 
will consume on ail average in winter twen¬ 
ty-five pounds of hay per day, and putting 
hay at. £20 per ton, the money value of tin- 
food consumed per cow would be. at, the rate 
of twenty-five cents per day. But. say in the 
ease of La .vfo.vr’s herd it is but twenty 
cents per day for each animal, and we have 
the following;—Forty-nine head of cattle at 
twenty cents per day is £9.80, which, inulti- ! 
plied by seventy days, the time they were i 
fed on t he stalks, we have SONti as the value 
of the five acres of com fodder. What crop, 
considering the labor involved, has been 
more profitable) But say that the animals 
consumed food to tile amount of only ten 
cents per day per head, and we .-till have the 
five acres of corn fodder, amounting to £342. 
Truly a very valuable crop for five acres. 
Again the question may be solved in an¬ 
other way. How much hay will a cow con¬ 
sume in seventy days! At twenty pounds 
per day — a low estimate — wo have ],4lJ0 
pounds; but to get our figures down low 
enough we will suppose theunimals consume 
but half a ton of hay in the seventy days. 
Then we have the total consumption of the 
La Mont herd up to the 10th of January, if 
represented in hay, amounting to 2 Py tons, 
and this at $20 per ton comes to £400 as the 
product of the five acres. 
in svlmtever way the question may be 
viewed we t hink there can be no doubt but 
that Mr. La Mont’s fodder-corn crop has 
been a very profitable one, and the statistics 
given cannot be without value to dairymen. 
-- 
PREVENTING TURNIP FLAVOR IN BUT¬ 
TER, &c. 
Turnips fed to milch cows impart, ns is 
well known, a disagreeable flavor to the 
milk, and if the milk is employed for butter 
making the turnip flavor is also carried to 
the butter. Various methods have from 
I time to time been suggested for arresting or 
i destroying this flavor in the butter made 
from turnip-fed cows, and one of the most 
efficient, we are informed, is that practiced 
by the Irish dairymen. This consists in 
mingling sour milk with the new or freshly 
drawn milk, and then setting it aside to 
cream. By this procedure the sourness of 
the new jnilk is hastened, thereby prevent¬ 
ing the flavor, which is greatly caused by 
allowing the milk to sour slowly. Iu mauy 
of the Irish dairies the whole milk is 
churned, as the butter made from whole 
milk is considered to have a better colon and 
flavor than butter produced by churning 
cream. Tf the turnip flavor can thus be de¬ 
stroyed, as it is confidently asserted by those 
who have tested the plan, it is well worth 
knowing, und may prove of value to some 
of our dairymen who may have turnips to 
feed to cows in milk. Among some of the 
best butter-dairymen of Ireland it is custom¬ 
ary to give cows grazing on pasture in 
summer “ a daily drink,” which is composed 
of bean meal, crushed oats and bran—tlireo 
and one-half pounds to each cow—mixed 
with water. The “ drink” is said to have a 
very decided effect on the milk and butter. 
■--- 
CHEESE DAIRYING IN WISCONSIN. 
WisroNstN is coming to be a dairy State 
of some importance, for, according to the 
Jefferson County Union, the make of cheese 
in the State duriug t.lie past y r ear (1873) will 
not vary far from 10.000,000 pounds. Con¬ 
sidering the recent date that dairying was 
introduced in Wisconsin, the progress of this 
interest through the State is remarkable. 
It is only a few years back that Ohio, which 
is next to New York in I he amount of cheese 
produced, made only 10,000,000 of pounds, 
and Ohio must now look well to her laurels 
or siie will be surpassed in this interest by 
the younger States. 
The Union states that the cheese product 
of Wisconsin has been sold and shipped down 
to about 2,000,000 pounds, a quantity no 
more than will be needed for her’ home con¬ 
sumption. Wisconsin cheese has been im¬ 
proving from year to year, and of late has 
been highly commended for its excellence. 
The State, is well adapted to dairying, and 
we are glad our Western friends are making 
a success of this specialty. 
Horseman. 
DRAUGHT HORSES. 
It is gratifying to read the practical and 
sensible remarks and information under this 
heading iu the Rural, of Dec. 27, 1*75, for 
discussion leading to extensive breeding of 
such animals us are always in demand, and ! 
especially such ns are useful and necessary j 
to the business community, is calculated to 
do an infinitely deal more good than the ar¬ 
guments going on in some quarters about 
the action of one particular pace and the 
means of transmitting it to progeny, and | 
more sense and sound logic, may be printed 
in advocating the breeding and marketing 
of valuable draught horses than on any sub¬ 
ject. relative t.o the equine race. 
it appears the animals depicted cost 20 per 
cent, duty, in addition to “the expense of 
transportation,” &e.; consequently, on re- 
lleet/ion, how very inapplicable that agricul¬ 
ture should be deemed so unprofitable in the 
United States, where climate is much more 
favorable for cheaply raising horse® than 
Canada; and if it pays to breed in Canada 
and send to New York for a market, why 
cannot the same kind bo brought to the sala¬ 
ble age by farmers near at hand, or by those 
further South, who could winter the brood 
tnares and the colts at less than half the cost? 
I have* bred heavy draught horses exton- j 
sively in England, and the vicinity of my ex¬ 
perience supplied a great number annually I 
for the London market, dealers in horses 
coming to the country markets to buy up 
showy, sound, young horses at good prices; 
however, the stylo in fashion at the present 
day is lighter and more active, although be¬ 
fore I left that country quicker stepping cart 
horses were being bred for use by the farm¬ 
ers themselves, as well as for sale. 
The Suffolk horses were at that time, and 
had been for years before, highly thought 
of, and the Scotch were famed, as now, for 
their superior working and lasting qualities. 
The crossing of light, thoroughbred racing 
stallions with the great heavy cart mares 
produced a heavy carriage horse or van 
horse, which hud a ready sale; and doubt¬ 
less by using first class, large, imported stal¬ 
lions, or any breed here from imported stock, 
on mares which are too light for heavy work, 
a veiy salable offspring would result; for 
the general run of farm horses are superior 
in almost every respect to the English, ex¬ 
cepting as to weight and ability to move 
very heavy loads. 
Pennsylvania is fast improving the farm 
horses in that State, and with judicious 
selection of mares there I do not think it at 
all necessary to import any. Had I the cap¬ 
ital to commence, I am sure an immense 
fortune could be made by breeding horses, 
which would all sell for good prices, ns this 
kind of breeding is exactly opposite, com¬ 
pletely different to producing or trying to 
produce trotting; tar almost every colt of 
the heavy draught horse breed wiil grow 
into a valuable horse, whereas nearly all of 
those raised for trotters disappoint expecta¬ 
tion, as so many worthless animals result 
from the best stnfls that the one or two now 
and then brought out as fast and making 
great sums, do not cover the loss sustained 
by the numerous failures. 
Here is Maryland, and for two or three 
hundred miles further South, horses could 
be bred for as little as oxen; for colts can 
run out with no care or shelter excepting 
for the nights in the short spells of cold, 
which seldom last more than three or four 
days at a time. L have a colt at the present 
time, bona last April, which is in first-rate 
condition, which jumps about and plays like 
a kitten, yet lias never had a mouthful of 
grain or aught but hay and the run of a 
closely eateu-down (mature lot, unless it was 
during a few very snowy, bad days. When 
lie could not go out’beyond the yard, he had 
a small bundle of oat straw until reshed. 
By-the-by, I have fed some bright oats un¬ 
til resiled, just as they came from the har¬ 
vest, without cutting into chaff, and as the 
mules and horses only have them in turn 
with hay, they eat up every bit of straw, 
and really do better than they ever did on 
chopped feed and chaff. 
In England, cart horses, or heavy draught 
horses, are bred more or les^ everywhere; 
but Yorkshire is the great breeding county 
for the best class of stylish carriage horses, 
such as arc used by tho nobility and also 
many of tho fine fox hunters, or “hunters,” 
aa they are called, which have Buch immense 
power, although nearly thoroughbred, that 
they can carry 250 lbs. across the country and 
Ifeaji every fence in the line ridden over. Of 
course there are not many of such a charac¬ 
ter, and they command a groat price as 
“ weight carriers.” The average weight of 
gentlemen riding with hounds in the regular 
chase ia probably about 170 pounds; and 
wit h such a rider a run of ten miles is often 
gone over without particularly distressing 
the horses, which shows what extraordinary 
good condition these animals are in. 
It often amuses me to hear people talk 
about condition in horses in this country 
which are fed on ground meal and soft feed 
wetted find mixed up like the food of stall- 
fed oxen or cows being fattened for beef; 
and also to see these good gentlemen coax¬ 
ing the horses to drink all the water possible 
just at the starting on a journey. Although 
the Americans can beat the world iu trots of 
a mile or mile heats, the general traveling 
on the v./ad is nowhere near the customary 
pace in England. But 1 am going from tho 
subject, and have to apologize and come 
bacl< tobea vy draught horses, which, though 
slower in pace, are surer in remunerating the 
breeder, and, most decidedly, as a general 
rule, the owners and employers of fine, use¬ 
ful and potent horses are a more Useful and 
solid elnas than those who make a great 
dash with fast horses; though hero again it 
must be in fairness stated that, all lovers of 
fast horses arc not fast men of fond of fast 
women. 
All hail ! then, .to the breeding of good 
draught horses. It is a safe speculation—a 
profitable business! A Working Farmer. 
NOTES FOR HORSEMEN. 
Wild Horses of Ike West. —Large numbers 
of wild horses are seen on the prairies, be¬ 
tween t he Arkansas and Smoky Hill Rivers. 
J They arc of all sizes and colors, and arc the 
wildest of all wild animals. They usually 
i roam in bands of from six to twenty, and 
1 will run at sight of a man two miles away. 
A great many domestic horses, as well as 
mules, which nave strayed away from their 
owners have taken up, with -the wild ones. 
After running with them* for awhile they 
become as wild a® their untamed compan¬ 
ions. Various methods have been adopted 
to capture these aboriginal horses, but they 
have general!,; proved fruiUes.-. — Turf, 
Field, and Farm, 
fiecipes for Worms in Horses,—A corre¬ 
spondent of tile Maine Funner furnishes the 
following:—1. Take of alum, sulphur and 
copperas one-fourth pound each; mix and 
give one tablespoon full every alternate day, 
for a few days, or longer if necessary. No. 
2. Give nux vomica in every feed ; 10 or 15 
drops, according to age. Give it for three 
days, or every other day for «, week. No. 3. 
Linseed oil, 1 pint, spirit® of turpentine, 1 or 
2 teaspoon nils, according to age. Give ev¬ 
ery other day for a week. If No. 1 fails to 
effect a cure, after a fair trial, try No. 2. 
Use No. 3 as a last resort, especially if the 
patient be a youngster. 
