the first time over. The manure has been 
drawn and spread on the ground to be used next 
Summer for corn and roots. 
From numerous experiments we are fully 
satisfied that two loads of manure spread 
now on a clover sod to be used for corn next 
Summer, will produce as good results in the 
crop as will four loads applied just as the 
ground is to be plowed for planting. 
There are many reasons in favor of draw¬ 
ing and spreading manure as fast as made; we 
have more time than in the Spring: a day now 
when men can be had at low wages, is made 
to save a day then of higher wages; a team 
can draw now, when the ground is frozen, two 
or three times as much as on the soft or 
muddy fields then. The manure being evenly 
spread while containing all its richness, fresh 
from the stables, much more evenly distributes 
this plant food, and it is a fact that a better 
result always follows the winter application, 
.STOCK-FEEDING IN THE WEST. No. 5. 
PROF. J. W. SANBORN. 
Improved farming in the West demanded; 
great value of corn fodder; need of rota¬ 
tion of crops; advantages of it; lessons of 
10 years' experiments; straw and corn 
fodder in, combination; examples; colossal 
wastes in the West; recapitulation. 
Although I may have, in years before, 
writteu in fragments for the Rural something j 
of the following views, it is appropriate to 
complete a scheme of stock-feeding in the 
West with a method of handling the farm and 
the fodder. These remarks will be quite 
general. 
In the consummation of a more profitable 
system of stock-feeding, the method of farm¬ 
ing pursued here will have to undergo a radical 
change. I am often told by my friends that 
the system of conservation of straw and com 
fodder, which I have advocated here in season 
and out of season, is adapted only to the small, 
pains-taking farmers of the East. What are 
small farmer's? Let us see. The farms of 
Vermont, a well-settled State, average 137 j 
acres each, while those of Missouri average 
139 acres, and those of Kansas 157 acres. Our I 
bigness in fanning is bigness in single erops 
and not in area tilled. A distribution of crops ! 
on the farm by a six years’ rotation will 
immensely change our views regarding our 
ability to save our wasting corn-fodder and 
straw. The nutrition of an acre of well- 
preserved fodder-corn is but little short of that 
of the corn grown upon that acre, and the 
neglect of this involves a waste of nearly as 
much as is saved under our system of farming. 
Under rotations, the 100-acre field of corn, 
whose fodder goes to waste from supposed or 
real want of time to handle it, may all be 
easily saved when 16% acres of corn, 10% 
acres of oats for hay or grain. 16% acres of 
clover, 16% acres of wheat, and 33 1-3 acres of 
Timothy ai'e grown. The labor under such a 
system of farming is distributed throughout 
the year, and leaves no pressure at any point 
of the year’s work. Under such a system, the 
corn-fodder can be easily put into little shocks 
of 34 to 30 hills in September, when going out 
of the dough state, and can be quickly husked, 
and by the :30th of October, all of the fodder 
may be stowed in its green-colored condition 
away in the barn, where an acre of it is better 
than the wintering of a steer, in lieu of the 10 
acres needed per steer under the present 
primitive plan. 
The question asked by my Kansas correspon¬ 
dent regarding the disposition of surplus corn 
will then have disappeared, for no surplus Corn 
will be on hand, but rather the contrary. It 
will also settle the question of winter feeding 
to use up the corn which now, as before stated, 
is not so profitable as summer feeding or 
rather making beef on grass. 
Again, we have to note other advantages: to 
wit: The greatly increased crops, through ro¬ 
tations, that inevitably follow such a system. 
It also affords opportunity to give better tillage 
and t(> perform all work much better, thus se¬ 
curing a higher standard of farming. Again, 
it gives as much labor in Winter in barn feed¬ 
ing of stock, etc,, as is required in Summer 
by a judicious system of rotations. This uni¬ 
form need of labor brings the cottage house 
for the laborer, removes his burdens from the 
fanner’s wife, and converts a vagrant, farm 
laborer into a householder on the farm and 
into a party interested in the farm. 
By this system we shall not reduce the 
number of cattle that the farm will carry, but 
shall double the capacity of the farm for stock, 
and increase the profits per animal. 
The barn, noted in No. 4, opens up the oppor¬ 
tunity for food combinations, as well as for 
food conservation. Most readers of the Ru¬ 
ral know that for ten years I have been 
engaged in testing food rations, and particu¬ 
larly food combinations, to ascertain the 
economy of such combinations, and the ratio 
of carbohydrates to albuminoids needed. The 
outcome of this work has led me to place great 
value upon straw and corn fodder when right¬ 
ly fed, and no value upon them when wrongly 
handled. Their observed inadequacy as foods 
arises from the small amount eaten, and does 
not closely cover their nutritive value. When 
put into a food combination wherein enough is 
eaten, a pound of stover or of corn fodder 
often, with me, becomes the equivalent of a 
pound of Timothy. In other words, many 
average trials with clover and oat straw fed to¬ 
gether. have given as good result as Timothy 
hay. 
Eleven tests of “roughness,” and three 
pounds of various nitrogenous foods furnishing 
I, 18 pound of digestible albuminoids, 7.71 
pounds of digestible carbohydrates, and .37 
pound of digestible fats per day, gave .88 
pound of growth per steer. 
Five tests for five years with Timothy hay 
furnisliing one pound of digestible albuminoids, 
II. 8 poimds of digestible carbohydrates and 
.30 pound of digestible fats daily, gave on 
average growth of .80 pound daily. 
These figures, the answers of steers in care¬ 
ful tests, arc well worthy of our stockmen’s 
study, and I may well suggest again the ques¬ 
tion: “Is our colossal waste of fodders neces¬ 
sary and is it profitable ?” In the West more fod 
der is wasted than is consumed, and upon food 
wasted more cattle could be kept than are now 
kept in the West. 
Finally, the positions taken in these brief 
papers are as follows: 
First, that the hog should disappear, 
and the sirring shote should go to market in 
the Fall, being fed on mixed foods and cut 
grass, corn being a loss prominent food aud 
shipstuff a more prominent one. Second, 
that grass beef should supplant winter-fed 
beef; third, that shelter is profitable and in¬ 
dispensable to the best farming and feeding: 
fourth, that manuring is now demanded very 
generally; fifth, that rotation is of pronounced 
importance in profitable stock feeding; sixth, 
that food combinations in which our “rough¬ 
ness” should be fed, will cheapen the cost of 
our beef. 
Columbia, Mo. 
[Remarks. —We cannot too strongly in¬ 
dorse the position taken by Prof. Sanborn in 
the foregoing papers, and which he so clearly 
puts in the paragraph above. The sooner 
the farmers and stock-growers of the West 
learn these truths aud come to farm accord¬ 
ingly, the more money they will make.— Eds.] 
TURNIPS AS A "CATCH” CROP. 
I like what was said by the Rural in re 
gard to using turnips as a “catch” crop, or for 
supplementing the corn,bean and potato crops. 
I sow them at the last cultivation of these 
crops, and have usually a fine yield. I pull 
the largest and best, feed off the balance; in 
Spring plow in what may be left and the 
droppings of the animals while eating off the 
crop grown. I have practiced this for years, 
and find much profit in it. a. s. b. 
Grand Rapids, Mich. 
Pairij ijusbaniinj. 
DAIRY NOTES. 
T. D. CURTIS. 
BAD VENTILATION OF STABLES. 
It is a singular fact that in nine-tenths of the 
cases, the fresh air is let into the stable at the 
rear of the cows, instead of in front of them, 
The result is that the cold air drops down be¬ 
hind the cows, in its way to their heads, and 
sweeps along with it the odors from the smok¬ 
ing droppings, added to the constant exhala¬ 
tions from the cows’ bodies, for them to inhale 
at every breath. Some have even argued that 
this is the correct way of introducing pure air 
because animals turn their tails to a beating 
stoj-m! They forget that the annual seeks to 1 
protei t. its eyes, and to avoid a stroug current 
which interferes with breathing, while its head 
is still in the midst of plenty of fresh air. The 
cases of a cow in a storm and a cow in a stable 
are not the same. Any animal closely confined 
will instinctively turn its face to the light and 
its nose to the- fresh air. Usually there is some 
upward draft in front of the cows, but often 
there is none, while few make a free use' of 
absorbents or deodorizers. On entering, the 
air is loaded with offensive effluvia aud almost 
suffocating. And then the dairyman wonders 
why his milk tastes and smells of the stable! 
No amount of careful milking and handling 
of the milk will prevent this mishap under such 
circumstances. The odors and flavors which 
have been inhaled by the cows have mingled 
with their blood and poisoned their bodies, and 
the milk secreted from the blood is loaded with 
these odors aud flavors before it is drawn. See 
that ventilation is perfect.. 
HEADS TO THE CENTER OR TO THE WALL? 
Which is the more convenient, to turn your 
cows’ heads to the wall and feed at the sides, 
letting the droppings gather in a passage-way 
between them in the rear, to lie taken out on 
a sled or cart driven through, or to have the 
cows face together, so that all are fed from a 
single passage-way. wliile the droppings are 
scattered along the two sides, occupying twice 
the space needed? Or do you want to shovel 
them out through the window-holes in piles 
against both sides of the stable, to stand until 
they are drawn out in the Spring, when you 
are in a hurry with your work, or be left all 
Summer rotting and leaching, while your crops 
suffer for Jack of them ? Would it not be better 
to put the cows’ heads to the walls, giving 
them the benefit of fresh air, with proper ven¬ 
tilation from their rear up through the roof of 
the barn ? IVouldn’t it make the cows health¬ 
ier and the product sweeter? Then would it 
not lie better to haw the droppings all together 
behind aud between the two rows of cows, aud 
haul them out at least ouee a day, either 
spreading them “where they will do the most 
good,” or piling them on your manure heap, 
under the manure shed to rot? 
CLEANLINESS VS. FILTHINESS. 
Gov. Seymour once said, before the Ameri¬ 
can Dairymen’s Association, that “cleanliness 
is a comparative term,” and be requested the 
speakers to be exact in stating what was neces¬ 
sary to be done to secure cleanliness. This 
was a good idea. But I have observed that 
while everybody has some idea of cleanliness, 
there are some who appear to have no idea of 
filthiness! To them everything is clean. These 
are the ones that make a good share of the 
store butter, so much of which has gone into 
the market as grease. They keep t heir cows 
in the reeking atmosphere of a dirty stable, 
milk in a slovenly way, and never half clean 
anything that is used about the dairy. But 
how can they be reached aud instructed? 
They think they are cleanly, and it will not 
do to tell them they are filthy, The cream- 
gathering or almost any system that will pre¬ 
scribe exact rules for managing the cows and 
handling the milk is a blessing to such dairy¬ 
men and the commuuit v. This class of dairy¬ 
men do not attend dairy conventions or read 
agricultural papers, yet they are a numerous 
class and need enlightening. 
WHY DON’T THE CREAM CHURN? 
1 have just received a communication from 
a correspondent in East Saginaw, Michigan, 
asking why it takes three to six hours to 
churn his cream. I confess I don’t know. 
The puzzle to me is why the butter comes at 
all, if it takes so long. Sometimes no butter 
eau be churned from cream. Dr. Sturtevant 
mentions an instance where the cows had gone 
faraow a loug time. Two eases of cream that 
could not lie made to yield up its butter to the 
pei-suasions of the chum were mentioned at 
the convention of the Iowa State Dairymen's 
Association in 1884. Nobody was able to ex¬ 
plain the reason why. It was a condition that 
came on suddenly, without any apparent 
cause. My con'espondent’s trouble came sud¬ 
denly on the 38th of November last, just after 
the churniug had been done in 15 to 20 min¬ 
utes. The temperature of the cream was 60 
to 04 degrees. He wants to know if it is in 
the food, which is "some oats, carrots, barley- 
meal, corn-stalks, and millet for hay.” At the 
time of writing. 18 churnings had acted in 
this way. The cream is probably viscous aud 
ropy, though he says nothing of its appear¬ 
ance. But if the butter refuses to separate in 
two or three hours, why should it. separate at 
the end of five or six, if there is no change of 
condition but wbat the churn produces? Per¬ 
haps some of the readers of the Rural New- 
Yorker can explain the matter. I confess, 
with Dr. (Sturtevant, that I am every day 
puzzled with unexpected results, and “feel I 
do not know so much about dairying as 1 
used to think I did.” 
A GOOD DAIRY. 
John Allen, of Lyndouville, Vermont, says, 
through the Manchester Mirror, that his dairy 
herd has for years averaged “300 pounds of 
butter per cow or a little better.” There are 
other such herds in the country, and there is 
still profit in such dairies, notwithstanding 
low prices. The marvel is that so many dairy¬ 
men are content with 150 poimds of butter i*?r 
cow, wlieu it is possible to double the yield 
without materially increasing the expense. 
Many' cows are kept at a loss. Is not here a 
hint as to one of the best ways of eheai>euiug 
production? 
EFFECT OF BUTTER STANDING IN BRINE. 
Mrs. Mina Holmes says, in her essay which 
commanded the prize at the last Minnesota 
State Dairymen’s Convention as the best trea¬ 
tise on butter making, that when granulated 
butter is washed wit h brine it must not be al¬ 
lowed to stand long in the brine as it will make 
the butter greasy and shiny. This is an im¬ 
portant fact, to know, since washing in brine 
is a recent practice aud not as well understood 
as it. may be. As over-working gives butter a 
similar appearance, perhaps the effect of soak¬ 
ing in brine is sometimes wrongly attributed 
to this. It is generally supposed that, no un¬ 
favorable results could follow letting butter 
stand in brine any length of time. Butter 
makers will please pay careful attention to 
this point, and give the result of their obser¬ 
vations to the public. 
TOO BIG AN ESTIMATE. 
Some one figures the creamery aud cheese 
factory as saving nine-tenths of the labor. 
This is too steep. The gathering of cream aud 
carrying of inilk are evidently overlooked. 
These are quite a tax on the producer of milk, 
especially in the case of the cheese factory, and 
the greater the distance the greater the tax. 
When all is figured in, the dairyman does 
not make a saving *f 90 per cent, in the manu¬ 
facture of his milk into cheese. 
ADVANTAGE OF BUTTER DAIRYING. 
There is a marked advantage in butter 
dairying in the. fact that it enables the farmer 
to consume on the farm what is produced on 
it, thus returning to the soil what, is taken 
from it, while sending off a product that is 
drawn almost entirely from the atmosphere— 
butter being highly carbonaceous. Beef and 
cheese draw largely on the phosphates and ni¬ 
trates—two substances quite difficult to supply, 
while fruits and grains draw still more heavily 
on the minerals and nitrogenous elements. 
True, the latter, like the carbon, comes from 
the atmosphere, but it is vastly more difficult 
to capture and utilize. Hence there is n profit 
in butter dairying that is not secured by any 
other line of farming to the same extent—the 
Constant enrichment of the soil and increased 
productiveness. 
HOLD YOUR GRIP. 
Don't be in a hurry to throw up dairying 
because of low prices. It pays now as well as 
any other branch of farming. But weed out 
your stock. Make a careful test of every cow, 
and keep none that does not. pay a profit. Get 
a male with a good pedigree, if you do not 
have onealready, and breed from these selected 
cows. This will put you in the best possible 
condition to meet present and future contin¬ 
gencies. 
DEVICE FOR SALTING BUTTER. 
Our friend, D. L. Roberts, of Royalton, N. 
Y., sends us a sketch of the device shown at 
Fig. 20, which he finds a great help in accurate 
Fig. 29. 
salting. An ordinary steelyard is hung under 
the stairs, in the manner shown. A staple fits 
over the outer end of it so that it eau play up 
uud down one inch. The rack upon which 
the butter bowl rests is made of two cleats, 29 
inches long, with two cross-pieces ten inches 
, long, forming a square of about ten inches. 
( This rack is fastened by means of wires to 
i another cleat of the same length, os shown in the 
illustration. This cleat is, in turn, fastened 
to the hook in the steelyard. In arranging 
for an even salting of butter, Mr. Roberts 
l states that, he first placed the empty butter 
bowl in the rack and balanced it with a small 
bag of nails hung at A. As he wished to use 
1)4 ounce of salt to the pound of butter, he set 
the poise at eight pounds ten ounces, and bal¬ 
anced the bowl by pouring gram into it Then 
he placed the poise back to eight pounds, and 
placed on it a small piece of lead. B, just 
large enough to balance the steelyard. This 
was fixed with a knife so that it would slip 
over the poise. Tn salting, the butter is first 
weighed and then the piece of lead is placed 
on the poise and salt sprinkled on the butter 
until the beam of the steelyard comes up. In 
this way the proportion of salt is the same, 
every time. The arrangement has been in use 
over two years and has never varied. 
