THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
270 
'<% Hfrirsman. 
HISTORY OF A POOR FARM-NO, 8. 
Tuk practice uf soiling stock is one that 
specially comineuds itself to the owner of a 
poor farm. In no other way can the same 
area of land feed so many animals, and in no 
other way cau so much manure he saved from 
an equal number of cattle. With artificial 
fertilizers to begin with, it is not difficult to 
grow such crops as will furnish feed for cows 
in succession throughout the season, so that 
they may be kept in stables and yards, aud all 
the manure be saved. 
With this end in view, I sowed fall rye from 
early in October up to the end of November, 
and now when the warm spring weather has 
started growth, the earliest sowing looks very 
thrifty and the latest is already covering the 
ground with green. As a test of the permanent 
or possibly evanescent effects of artificial fer¬ 
tilizers, this is valuable. This ground has 
received no manure of any kind since 600 
pouuds per acre of the Mapea* potato and corn 
fertilizers were used last year on those crops. 
I sec no better rye upon any of my neighbors’ 
fields, and my friend, .Mr. Martiu, who is well- 
to-do, aud a forehanded farmer who manures 
liberally, confesses my early-sown plot is as 
good as his best. By invitation of Mr. Martin, 
our usual little coterie visited him at his pleas¬ 
ant home across the road. A plain, white- 
painted house, with the usual green blinds 
common to New Eugland aud by N<iw England 
people introduced even into the western eoun- 
try, was cosily shaded by evergreens of differ¬ 
ent kinds. A tasteful lawn Jay in front of the 
house, with winding paths bordered by flower¬ 
ing shrubs, of which the yellow-flowering Cur¬ 
rant and the frequent Forsytliia or Yellow Bells, 
were already showing their heads. It was 
here that we fell into conversation on fodder 
crops. My old neighbor, averse as he gener¬ 
ally seems to be to what he calls new-fangled 
notions, thought the practice required too 
much labor for profit. 
" Soiling cattle, and cooking food for them, 
are played out.’ said he. “ How many farmers 
are there now who cook the food for their 
cows, as we heard so much of, some years 
ago? Here’s Mr. Martiu himself has his steam- 
boiler in his barn basement aud his steam chest 
is now a house for his Pekin ducks, I believe.” 
“ That is so.” laughingly replied Mr. Martin. 
I confess I tried steaming food for my cows 
aud gave it up, because I thought the advan¬ 
tage did not warrant the expense, and the 
steam chest was put out ol the way in a corner 
of the basemeut where the ducks found it. and 
appropriated it for their quarters at night.” 
“What has this to do with soiling cattle ?” 
I asked. * In this ease one lias no choice, it 
seems to me; while with regard to cooking 
or not cooking, the case is otherwise. When 
there is no pasture, what is one lo do? All 
the pasture possible for me is a few acres 
of clover which would be eateu down iu 
two weeks, and I expect to make it to last 
two mouths by cutting it aud feeding it in the 
stable ufter the rye lias been eaten and before 
the oats are ready. Here is my plan: The rye 
from present appearances will be ready to be¬ 
gin cutting in a month or less. There are six 
acres. If two square rods will feed a cow a 
day, the six acres will teed 10 cows 48 days. 
In less than 30 days from the middle of May 
the clover will be ready to cut. Five acres 
will lust 10 cows 40 days, hut before that time 
has expired a second cutting will be ready on 
a pai t of the ground. By the time the clover 
is finished, or before, the oats I have been sow¬ 
ing to-day, will be in ear aud may be begun. 
After these have been used, the next sowings will 
come in, and then sweet corn sown on the 
rye ground first cut, will be ready. A suc¬ 
cession of this crop will furnish feed until late 
in September, with Hungarian-grass sown on 
the first cleared oat grouud, and Long Early 
Blood beets on the second eluared rye ground for 
a change. You see there will be two or three 
crops on some of the grouud aud a large por¬ 
tion of these that caunot be used, will be left 
to cure for winter feed. Then there will be 
several acres of sugar beets and mangels for 
next winter. There will be six acres in rye; 
live in clover; five iu oats and live in roots, and 
the rye ground will he planted in corn and the 
oat ground as well, and there will be some 
second crop of clover to be cut. 1 do uot 
doubt I can feed more than 10 cows the entire 
year on those 21 acres, considering that all the 
manure that will be tnudo will go on to the 
laud aud some artificial fertilizer besides. 
Ihe 10 cows bring in $8.50 a day, counting 
among the 10 the dry ones as well, aud will 
continue to do that. Two men costing together 
$45 a month, and three horses, will do all the 
work of the farm and the dairy, and there are 
44 acres left to he made available for such 
other crops as can be grown. 1 caunot say 
as yet what can he done, but at present, 1 see 
no reason to doubt that the plan will pay aud 
leave something in addition. How it may 
turn out will be a matter for future report.” 
“ Let us change the subject," said Mr. Mar¬ 
tin. “ I see Fred has got into hot water about 
his Ayrshires, and that Mr. Iloxie is 1 giving 
him fits’ for saying that animals consume food 
in proportion to their live weight. Here is 
the Rural for last week, iu which Mr. Iloxie 
gets mad " because his favorite nolsteins (he 
ought to call them Dutch, I believe) are ‘ sat 
upon’ as you might say, iu favor of the Ayr¬ 
shire cows. Let me read what Mr. Hoxie says: 
“ Well, what of it ?” remarked the old gen¬ 
tleman. “Fred is right. Mr. Hoxie does not 
fight fair. He compares well-built Short-horns 
with ‘ coarse-headed gothic-ribbed’ ones. I 
don’t know what • gothic-ribbed’ means; but I 
suppose lie means pinched-in, unthrifty ones. 
That is hardly honest, because if Mr. Hoxie 
knows anything about cattle, he knows a fitie- 
headed, fine-honed, well-built animal, will con¬ 
sume less food iu proportion, than a coarse 
unthrifty one. There was no comparison of 
that kind made by Fred. On the contrary, 
it was of a well-bred, heavy Short-horn or a 
Dutch cow, with a smaller but equally well- 
bred Ayrshire. There is no grouud for any 
fair objection iu this case. As for my opinion 
that the Jerseys have ruined the stock of cat¬ 
tle here. 1 know it to he true aud scores of 
farmers who were induced to change their na¬ 
tives for light grade Jerseys, are uow very sor¬ 
ry for it. I think the Rural should give farm¬ 
ers an opportunity of stating their opinions 
as well as those who breed cattle to sell to 
them. We do not want to be led too much by 
breeders of stock, and I should doubt the 
judgment of any man who thinks any one 
breed is the best for every place and every 
use.” 
“Mr. Hoxie breeds Dutch cattle for sale," I 
replied, “and of course he feels more inter¬ 
ested in them than he docs in any other breed. 
Like many men who have strong convictions, 
he fails to give others credit for having equally 
strong ones which differ from his. and that 
leads him to criticise unfairly. I know very 
well, for instance, that ‘ Jerseys arc among our 
most valuable breeds, etc.,’(I excuse the bad 
expression because the gentleman w r as a little 
“ mad,” no doubt) but to say that they are not 
the best for milk is not a * childish attack ’ nor 
is it devoid of truth. No milk dairy can use 
Jersey milk, for good reasons, aud it is a 
question whether Jerseys or Ayrshires are the 
bettei for butter ; while there is no question 
at all that no experienced butter dairyman can 
easily be induced to keep Dutch cows for that 
purpose, aud especially ou a poor farm. But 
where is Fred? Let him come aud defend 
himself." 
“Never mind Fred,” said his grandfather 
“he is discussing dairy matters with Miss 
Martin in the kitchen, and I guess he won’t 
care about Mr, noxic’s criticisms just at 
present. He lias something in his red book 
that will meet the case some other time." 
“ Mary is my dairymaid,” said Mr. Martin, 
“aud sbe lias something to say on these matters 
one of these days. She milks the cows, cares 
for the milk, makes and packs the butter, aud 
doesn’t think it hurts here in the least- She is 
uot compelled to do it iu any way, but she 
chooses to do it, aud 1 have no objection. It 
is useful knowledge aud if a girl faucies it, 
there are certainly loss useful aud more ob¬ 
jectionable ways of speuding time.” 
- ♦ ♦ ♦ -- 
Critiques on Cattle. Cattle breeders and 
owners are irimiemorially sensitive lo dispar¬ 
aging remarks made on their favorite uuimals 
or breeds. In this connection a friend writes: 
“ You cuu’t touch a breed without all its friends 
assailing you; and you can’t befrieud one, 
without all Us enemies attacking yon, too. The 
more criticism the better; for in a diversity of 
opinions there is often much instruction. I can 
show you a pure Ayrshire heifer, two years 
old, that milks 14 quarts a day and makes 
eight pounds of butter a week besides giving 
cream for tea, coffee, pies and things. The 
best Ayrshires in the country are the herd of 
W. Crozier, of Long Islaud. Oae of his cow’s 
milk was carefully tested the other day and it 
beat in quantity of cream that of a Jersey cow 
which he sold a few days afterwards for $1000 
—there were 34 inches of cream on 10 inches 
of milk. But much of the partiality for differ¬ 
ent breeds is merely a matter of liking; for a 
man is often apt to look ou his own favorite 
cow or breed as the best, just as in his honey¬ 
moon he is likely to consider his own wife the 
best woman in the world, while regarding his 
neighbor’s as a very ordinary “ critter”—though 
afterwards he sometimes changes his opinion 
both as regards wives aud cattle.” 
Bairn gustaiir|i. 
ROOTS FOR QOWS IN MILK. 
M. OAKET. 
A counterblast against their use; objections lo 
them; an excellent substitute; the two com¬ 
pared. 
No more roots for me. From this time hence¬ 
forth I will grow no more of them for feeding 
cows in milk. From first to last my experience, 
is against their employment, despite the belief 
in their merits uf the agricultural world. They 
have, in my opinion, usurped a place which of 
right belongs to another kind of feed ; for cot- 
ton-sced meal has the right to the supreme 
affections of the dairy public, which roots have 
usurped and are striving to maintain. Here 
are the counts of the indictment against them. 
First; roots are a bother to keep, causing 
some expense, much inconvenience and some¬ 
times loss. It. is a nuisance to dig them out of 
the frozen pits in which they must be kept, 
unless one builds a cellar especially for them. 
Second ; it is an expense of time always, and 
of either muscle or money, or perhaps of all 
three combined, to properly prepare them for 
feediug. 
Third; they are dirty aud gritty, injuring 
the teeth aud the feed, aud hurtful to. the meiu- 
hraneous lining of the stomach, while to cleanse 
them requires so ranch labor, and Is so dis¬ 
agreeable a job in cold weather, as to be a 
serious objection. It is generally uot attempted. 
Fourth ; they are so cold wheu takeu into 
the stomach of the cow as to be wasteful of 
flesh aud milk, because the chill they oecasiou 
requires considerable vital heat to counteract, 
and a certaiu amount of nutriment consequent¬ 
ly is lost. 
Fifth; they are too watery, aud though 
water is good, too great a dilution of the nutri¬ 
ment iu any article of diet is objectionable, re¬ 
quiring too great an expense of vital force to 
separate the little nourishment it contains, and 
to east off the great amountof worthless matter. 
Sixth ; I have derived very little benefit from 
their use. If I did uot use ground feed, of 
course there might be more protit iu them, but 
my experience when feeding half a bushel per 
day ot beets or carrots is, that there is hardly 
a perceptible difference in the yield of milk; 
That is, it has not increased materially over 
the yield I obtained from ground feed alone— 
corn, oats and bran. 
Seventh ; they do uot “ pay,” for the extra 
expeuse is not returned iu milk, while they 
cost more than cotton-seed meal which does 
pay both iu milk and butter, and which 
also answers the same purpose usually as¬ 
signed to roots, with far better results and 
with none of the drawbacks stated above. The 
meal is not a nuisance to keep ; is not trouble¬ 
some to prepare; is not dirty ; Is uot cold aud 
wasteful, but warm and economical; is not di¬ 
luted, but concentrated and easily digested; 
and, furthermore, it returns more than its 
value in milk. In addition to this, it may 
also be said that it requires no cultivation to 
bother oue wheu other farm crops demand at¬ 
tention. 
The best statement of beet-growiug I can 
find gives an average yield of 900 to 1,600 bush¬ 
els to the acre, costiug 10 cents per bushel. 
This beats my efforts “by a long shot,” but I 
accept it as au average in order, in the com-, 
parieon, to lean as much as possible to the 
weaker side. Feeding a half bushel per day is 
an outlay of five cents per cow—result, a little 
more milk, certaiuly not over a piut, worth 
here four cents which do not pay the cost. 
Cotton-seed meal costs me 2J cents per pound. 
I feed three-quarters of a pound in the morn¬ 
ing and the same at evening, mixed with the 
same quantity of ground feed used with the 
beetH or carrots. Cost of 1 j pounds, 3| cents 
per day—result, one cow yields au increase of 
three quarts ; another, 2j quarts ; and this is a 
pretty uniform average increase. The profit 
is a saving of 1J cents per day iu expense aud 
a gain of from 16 to 20 cents in milk. This 
may be more than the milk is worth elsewhere. 
Perhaps I am a very poor root grower. Very 
well, that would be objection number eight 
against roots. I am not the first writer, how¬ 
ever, who has declared beets have been of no 
benefit. It would he too cruel to mention the 
extra value added to the manure, for then 
think how harassing it would be to the “ au¬ 
thorities” who support the use of beets for 
milch cows, so I refrain from saying anything 
about it. But uo more roots for me. Cotton 
is king. 
Middlesex Co., N. J. 
VAN’S VIEWS. 
Claims unit Ferfonuaucex of Dairy Cows. 
In the recent lively discussion in the Rural 
concerning the merits of dairy cows, many 
statements are made anent the large yields of 
milk and butter given by some of them. But 
I am tempted to ask whether any reader of the 
paper ever bought a cow, of which it was said 
that she gave a barrel of milk or two pounds 
of butter a day. If auy one has made such a 
purchase, didu’t she deteriorate suddenly after 
the transfer? I bought a cow that was in 
prime condition according to the statement of 
the man who sold her to me ; liis wife, he de¬ 
clared, made ten pouuds of butter a week 
from that cow’s milk. 
As none of our cows was able to give milk 
which would make over seven pouuds iu that 
time, I thought the new-comer would prove a 
bonanza. We kept her nearly one year, and 
her product during that time was ouly about 
four pouuds of butter per week for the time 
she was giving milk. A neighbor who bought 
a two-pounds-of-buttcr-a-day cow from a kid- 
gloved farmer who had sold his farm to be laid 
out iu building lots, paying $100 for her, when 
commou cows were selling for $25, was also 
disappointed. His cow had a pedigree like 
that of a race-horse, a broad, straight back, a 
fine milk mirror, etc., etc. ; but she did not 
perform as well at the pail or churn as some 
of his “scrubs." Now, both of these cows 
were put on feed as good or better than they 
were used to; they were bought of men of 
good reputations for integrity, so it’s charita¬ 
ble to suppose that these men did not accurate¬ 
ly weigh their butter hut “ judged it." 
1 owned and milked a cow that would fill 
a fourteen-quart pail (I have measured the 
pail, it is called a fifteen-quart pail) twice a 
day from calving time in April till July 
drought. She was as poor a butter cow, how¬ 
ever, as I ever milked. Now, it may be a con¬ 
fession, but I have never kuown a cow that 
would uverageone pound of butter per dry 
for uiue mouths in the year, and among the 
Short-horns I have known, I never knew one 
which would do half that. We bought a cow 
once, which was a well-bred, large, fine-look¬ 
ing animal. Sbe was seven-eights Short-horn ; 
she was from famous stock : the man who 
owns her now brags of her—but we had na¬ 
tives which were much better cows. 
Now, my friends, these Short-liorn breeders 
out here iu Wisconsin are able to control our 
State fairs. It is impossible to get a fair prem¬ 
ium or coiupeteut judges for any other breed. 
One of the judges of Jerseys at our State fair 
remarked that he knew nothing about Jerseys, 
aud the more Short-horn and the less Jersey 
a cow had iu her, the better he liked her. 
These breeders are rich and with their fine 
catalogues aud splendid displays (numerically) 
at our fairs, they manage to keep up a fac¬ 
titious interest in their ponderous auimals. 
Many a farmer has ventured some uf his hard- 
earned dollars iu this breed, only to find, after 
years of patient, skillful feeding aud care, that 
his butler yield v. hh growing less and lues, and 
that nothing was sure but disappointment. 
It is worth one’s time to go forty or more 
miles to look over a herd of this breed. You 
will be surprised, or at least I was, to find how 
often the “show” auimals fail to breed, and 
the number of three-teated and otherwise 
deformed cows that are among the breeders. 
PLAN OP SECOND FLOOR.—(SEE FIRST PAGE.) 
