386 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
June 12 
discount. He stands at the door of the consumer. It 
is a sultry morning in June. The market is flooded. 
There are lusty voices down the street proclaiming, 
Fresh strawberries for $1 per bushel! But at his quiet 
statement of, “ Ten cents per quart—six for fifty ! ” 
he and his “ little business friends ” part company. 
Why ? F. H BALLOU. 
Ohio. 
AN OHIO DAIRY PROBLEM. 
CLOVER ROTATION AND PASTURE FOR COWS. 
A farmer in Wayne County, Ohio, makes this state¬ 
ment about his business and plans : 
I want to establish a rotation which will give me the greatest 
amount of protein or muscle-makers. Oil meal and bran cost too 
much, and I do not wish to raise oats to exchange for them. We 
have 54 acres for the plow, and are thinking of corn, wheat, 
clover and clover for our rotation. This would give 27 acres in 
clover each year. We expect to feed our cows in the stable the 
year ’round, on the ensilage of corn and clover mixed, and clover 
hay. As 27 acres of clover are more than we think we can make 
into hay at the proper time of ripeness, we, therefore, expect to 
put half of the first crop into the silo, and also half of the second 
crop. Another three-year rotation suggested is corn, wheat and 
clover, 18 acres each; but this does not give quite enough of 
nitrogenous substance. Now, if I adopt the four-year rotation, can 
I raise corn on a two-year-old clover sod, on account of cut and 
grub worms ? Another problem : I cannot pasture to any great 
extent. At a distance of 1^ mile, we have 18 acres of bottom 
land, which is at present a good pasture. I consider it too far 
from home to pasture cows continually, but it would keep 20 cows 
for six months. Will it be more profitable to save all our home¬ 
grown feed in winter, and pasture the cows on this lot in summer? 
We might make a cheap summer home for them there, milk, 
stable in the daytime, and take the milk directly to the factory. 
My idea of stabling is on account of flies in hot weather. 
In answer to this statement, the following advice 
is given : 
Corn and Clover for Cows. 
I am in the same boat with your correspondent. 1 
would like a four-year rotation—two in corn and two 
in clover—but I have not got a practical plan of secur¬ 
ing it. I consider corn king and clover queen of 
crops ; the two crops combined make the cows laugh. 
I can grow 20 per cent more corn after clover than 
any other crop. My land is too rich for oats ; they 
lodge and kill my seeding. I do not like rye as a feed; 
it is good to seed with. Corn and clover are good for 
the land and for the cows. I have had good success 
in seeding rye and Timothy in the fall, and clover in 
the spring, and I pasture it the first season (the rye 
and Timothy and clover). I think I shall try that 
next fall again. h. b. gurler. 
Illinois. 
Don't Hesitate to Buy Grain. 
The inquirer seems to invite discussion of his entire 
project. He seems certain only of his determination 
to beep cows. From the conception I get of his 
situation from his statements, I suggest a combina¬ 
tion of the plans proposed. During May, June, July 
and October, pasturing is the cheapest and easiest 
way in which to keep cows. I believe that the silo 
has not proved very satisfactory for summer storage, 
except for ice. I know that it is very difficult to feed 
them ensilage fast enough in very warm weather to 
keep it from spoiling near the surface. Then I be¬ 
lieve that ensiloing clover has not proved a success, 
not in the same degree as with corn. With a neigh¬ 
bor of mine, it was almost a total failure. It seems 
to me entirely within the range of possibilities for 
one team and two men to put up 27 acres of clover in 
the average season before any of it should get too 
ripe. It is in line with advanced farming to have a 
definite plan and system for cropping, but no plan 
can be strictly adhered to on account of failure of 
some crop, usually the seeding. Then clover can not 
be depended upon to give two crops of hay. It will 
freeze out, on most soils, every third or fourth win¬ 
ter so as to render it unprofitable to retain the field 
for mowing. The wheat not infrequently meets the 
same fate. In such cases, the oat crop would be the 
most profitable catch crop, in my judgment. Indeed, 
in my own system, oats have about displaced wheat. 
We can rely upon getting a crop with more certainty 
than from wheat. It is also a better crop with which 
to sow clover. For the clover, it is best to sow as 
early a ripening variety as possible. 
Twenty cows can not eat 18 acres of ensilage in six 
months. There is the other fatal weakness in the 
plan proposed. When ensilage is made a very large 
factor in the ration, as I think it may be to profit, it 
is not possible to “ balance ” the ration with clover. 
I think that the inquirer makes a mistake in thinking 
he can not afford to buy bran or oil meal. The latter 
was too high in comparison with other feeding stuffs 
the past winter, but I am convinced that the corn 
crop put into the silo and wheat bran purchased, per¬ 
haps from Chicago, make the cheapest ration for the 
Ohio dairyman. I think that, as a rule, protein can 
be bought in bran more cheaply than it can be se¬ 
cured, even in the indispensable clover. Grow clover, 
yes, grow all you can in connection with corn. Those 
two are the crops for the Ohio dairyman. To get the 
clover, sow oats or wheat as circumstances and your 
soil determine best. If wheat, sell it and buy bran, 
if oats, you can come nearer making a balanced 
ration from your own farm Cut it before thoroughly 
ripe, cure well, store in barn or stack, and run 
through an ensilage cutter. Feed with ensilage and 
clover hay, and a fairly good ration can be made, 
even for cows. 
Regarding the distant 18-acre pasture, I would sug¬ 
gest that, if circumstances make it convenient to go 
there to milk them, the cows be kept there during 
the months I have named, and that they be brought 
to the home stable during August and September, 
and soiled with green corn and second-growth clover. 
The 18 acres would have to be remarkably good to 
support 20 cows for that length of time There will 
always be some dry cows that might be left at the 
pasture. I recommend the planting of sweet corn to 
feed during August and September. 
Try the two years of clover in the rotation ; when¬ 
ever it fails the second season, sow oats and clover, 
turning the clover under the following spring for 
corn. This will avoid any serious interruption of 
your rotation. I should not hesitate to adopt this on 
account of the cut and grub worms. They will inter¬ 
fere sometimes just as frosts sometimes come in June, 
but, probably, no more frequently. Though not 
asked for advice upon the point, I want to advise 
that the manure be hauled directly from the stable, 
and spread upon the field. I think farmers are slower 
to realize the advantage in this than almost any other 
point of advanced farming. h. p. miller 
Delaware County, Ohio. 
Buy and Feed Some Grain. 
I should keep no less than 30 good business cows, 
and have them freshen from September to January, 
besides a small number of young stock and horses. I 
would use the bottom land for a pasture for the milk¬ 
ing stock only about six weeks, or would bring them 
to the barn before hot weather, flies and short feed 
THE DALE VIEW PICKING STAND. Fia. 168. 
make them shrink. I would turn them on to this 
pasture as early as the ground was sufficiently dry 
and weather would allow, leaving them out only a 
few hours each day, at first; feed them all they will 
eat while at the stable, gradually increasing the grass 
feed and, after 10 days or two weeks, they could be 
left in the pasture continuously. Build a convenient 
yard and drive there to do the milking The inquirer 
would get most of the good out of this pasture before 
July 1, but it would keep some young stock and dry 
cows through July and August, and in September 
would make a fine run for the cows that are soon to 
freshen. A small pasture near the barn for them to 
run in nights in hot weather, is almost a necessity. 
If a few acres of the clover after the first cutting 
could be used as a night pasture, it would be capital. 
For summer stabling, it is very important that the 
stable be roomy and cool, with good ventilation, while 
windows are darkened. On this account, a “cheap 
summer home” at the pasture is hardly practicable. 
I would practice the three-year rotation ; 18 acres of 
good clover will produce, the first year, nearly as 
much nitrogenous substance as 13% acres of new 
seeding, and 13% acres two years old ; not much 
clover will show the second year. Besides, every 
acre will get the benefit of the clover crop once in 
three years instead of once in four years, 4% acres 
more corn and 4% acres more wheat would be 
raised, and the land would be in better condition 
for these crops. I would try seeding some with 
oats and peas in place of wheat, or if the land 
is prime, an excellent seeding can be had after 
cutting oats and peas for early forage. The ground 
should be thoroughly prepared. But I do not 
think it possible to produce a properly balanced 
ration from the farm alone in this way. It will not 
supply sufficient protein the year around, for cows to 
make milk economically. I think from §80 to §90 
invested in cotton-seed meal, gluten or buckwheat 
middlings, and a little bran, for 30 cows, and fed to 
them for the first five or six months of lactation, in 
addition to the ensilage and clover hay, will produce 
milk and butter at a lower cost per pound. I would 
feed about two pounds of cotton-seed meal or its 
equivalent daily, mixed with the ensilage. If his 
cows calve in the fall, he can get along very well 
after April without grain, by feeding considerable 
clover in some form to the cows that are milking well 
in July and August. Good cows, fresh in the fall, 
fed a properly balanced ration, a small, good pasture 
for early spring, a summer silo and a short run at 
good pasture while dry, will make money if the 
product do sell low. g. b. tallman. 
Wyoming County, N. Y. 
Oats Will Buy the Bran. 
It is to be feared that this answer will not be of 
great assistance to this man, as he starts out with 
the proposition that bran and oil meal cost too much, 
and raising oats to exchange for them is out of his 
calculation. I have never known successful dairying 
carried on without purchased protein in addition to 
that raised on the farm ; neither has it ever been 
shown that a cow could get all the protein she needed 
out of a clover ration, as with the best clover hay, 
the ration would be 1 to 5.9. and with the usual farm 
curing of the crop, it would be nearer 1 to 6.5. Then 
again, the corn is so largely carbonaceous that it 
would widen out the ration certainly to unprofitable 
proportions. Instead of the bran and oil meal costing 
too much, they actually cost very little, as their 
manurial value after having been tolled by the cow, 
is close to the purchase value, that is, if water¬ 
tight gutters and plenty of absorbents be provided 
so that none of the liquids are lost, and the ma¬ 
nure be drawn daily and spread upon the land. 
Corn ensilage—a starchy food—is itself low in fer¬ 
tilizing value—a trifle over §5 a ton—while a ton of 
bran fed to a cow increases the value of the manure 
made during the time of its feeding, if the above pre¬ 
cautions be observed, about §11. Cows must have, to 
do their best—and only in doing their best do they 
longer pay to keep—fully 2% pounds of digestible 
protein per day. It would be possible for a cow to 
eat clover hay and ensilage enough to supply that 
want, but it would be at the same time out of the 
power of the cow to digest the great mass of food, so 
that the end sought would not be attained ; I hold 
that it is as essential to buy some bran and oil meal 
to help out the farm fodders, and so save the manure 
that the gain in fertility has about balanced the ac¬ 
count, and leaves the milk as a profit, or nearly so. 
Then he will not succeed every year in putting 
clover into the silo, and I am in some doubt whether 
it pays to attempt to make ensilage of it as it is very 
strange in its behavior in the silo. Fill the silos with 
corn that will keep, and make the clover into hay, and 
feed with it. I should by far prefer the three-year 
rotation suggested, and add to the fertility of the 
farm by adding bran and oil meal to the rations, and 
buy less phosphate. If 1 had a pasture of 18 acres 
which would keep 20 cows through a summer of six 
months, I should build a feeding shed there, and milk 
as suggested. 1 followed such a plan on a farm two 
miles distant for several years, and found it in every 
way better than to attempt to drive the cows. 1 can¬ 
not see any objection, however, to the raising of oats 
enough to exchange for the bran, and this leaves a 
nice clover catch, makes a fine lot of feeding straw— 
with oil meal—and bedding galore for the stock, and 
more, one year with another. A ton of oats exchanges 
for 2,800 pounds of bran, which as an all-’round cow 
feed, excels any other grain, or protein in any form 
for assimilation into milk. jobn gould. 
Ohio. 
Keep an Eye on Alfalfa. 
I do not think that clover can often be profitably 
mown the second year. I suggest a variation in the 
plan proposed, leaving out wheat from the rotation. 
Sow clover with oats, on 18 acres. Mow the oats and 
either make into hay or put in the silo when in bloom. 
This relieves the clover of the heavy competition of 
the oats, and it will at once grow vigorously, if not 
too dry a season, and make quite a good cutting the 
same year, which may be cut in August or September. 
The earlier the oats are removed, the better for the 
clover. The second year, the clover will be in perfec¬ 
tion, and next season will be plowed under for corn. 
Insects are certainly likely to give trouble in corn on 
clover sod two years old. Apparently, corn does not 
prove so good on sod of this age as on clover turned 
under one year earlier. By all means, pasture the 18- 
acre field and milk the cows on the ground. I sug¬ 
gest that the cows be given the freedom of a dark 
shed, but be not confined thereto in the day time. It 
is probable that you have over-estimated the capacity 
of this pasture. Better experiment carefully with 
Alfalfa if you wish the greatest amount of nitrogenous 
forage possible. If it will grow with you, adopt the 
four-year rotation, sowing Alfalfa with oats. 
Central Ohio. s. s. staley. 
