VoL LX. No. 2668. 
NEW YORK, MARCH 16, 1901. 
II PER YEAR. 
PROF. ROBERTS AND AN AVERAGE DAIRY. 
HOW TO COMPETE WITH THE MILLION. 
A GOOD BARN FOR MILK FARMING. Fie. 78. 
whether there was most money and least labor in 
producing milk, horses, lambs or fruit. I should not 
be afraid of getting “too many irons in the fire.’’ Of 
course that is possible, but on the other hand, where 
a man has but one “iron in the fire” he is apt to get 
very careless, and let that one burn, and himself de¬ 
generate mentally. i. p. Roberts. 
Reports from the Ohio maple sugar district Indicate a 
prosperous season. The cold weather of the past few 
weeks has kept the hard maples frozen solid. This will 
cause an increased flow of sap when the season opens, 
and is generally believed to improve the quality. 
Good Cows ; Good Tillage ; Dairy Mares. 
On page 123 of The R. N.-Y. Prof. Roberts tells how he 
would conduct a dairy without a silo. He finishes up by 
saying: “If I were so situated that I could not reach this 
higher market, and had to go on in competition with the 
million, then I would conduct a dairy on quite a different 
plan.” Will Prof. Roberts tell us how he would conduct 
a dairy if he was so situated? Many of us have farms 
some distance from market, and especially this higher 
market that he speaks of, and it is not possible for us 
all to get above each other; we have to meet competi¬ 
tion. I would like to know the best way to conduct a 
dairy under those circumstances. G. a. b. 
Groton City, N. Y. 
If I were to enter into dairy husbandry, and was so 
situated that I would, of necessity, have to compete 
in the general market, my first thought would be to 
try to improve the tillage of the farm—that is, pro¬ 
duce more per acre and at a less cost per unit. I be¬ 
lieve that these results can be reached most cheaply 
by better farming. Second, I would use to a greater 
extent cover crops—legumes where they would suc¬ 
ceed, the cereal grasses, such as rye, where the le¬ 
gumes would not succeed. Third, I would keep ac¬ 
count, so far as I could, with each cow. A little in¬ 
spection will readily give the approximate expense 
for food, and a little more investigation would give 
the approximate yield of milk or butter. This, with¬ 
out doubt, would result in discarding from a quarter 
to a third of the cows. In order to fill their place 
with paying cows I would make a more careful study 
of the milch cow, and if land was abundant enough 
I would try to fill the places made vacant by the dis¬ 
cards with animals bred on the farm. I would use 
selected “nondescript” cows, and if some of the calves 
were to be raised I would see to it that their sires 
were purebred superior animals. 
Having by slow and painstaking ef¬ 
fort increased the yield of grain and 
roughage, and having increased the 
average output per cow, would then see 
whether I could not produce and store 
some of the food in a more acceptable 
form, or in a cheaper form than hereto¬ 
fore. I think I would raise some man¬ 
gels. From 30 to 35 tons per acre can 
be secured, and they help to give variety 
of food, which is so essential to in¬ 
creased production. I would build a silo, 
plant corn thin enough and cultivate it 
well enough to secure not only rough- 
age, but about half to two-thirds of an 
ordinary yield of ears. On some farms 
I would restrict the pastures and feed 
silage a part of the Summer, or at least 
have enough silage in store to tide over 
that part of the season when the pas¬ 
tures are short and the fiies abundant. 
I believe that until the little black horn 
fiy disappears it would pay to keep the 
cattle in the stables for a part of the day 
during the months of August and Sep¬ 
tember. In connection with the dairy¬ 
ing I would raise some horses; that is, 
I would endeavor to get by trade or purchase some 
good brood mares, perhaps having one good driving 
horse or mare, but the ordinary work mare should 
not only do the necessary work of the farm during 
the Summer, but raise a colt during the Winter. A 
dairyman who knows how to feed a cow to make her 
give milk will know, instinctively, how to feed a mare 
that is suckling a colt in the Winter. Or, in other 
words, I would try to diminish the cow dairy if I could 
not largely increase the crop product, and establish 
a small horse dairy. This would save some of the 
.labor of milking, would help to diversify the work 
SAVING A ‘‘LOAFER FIELD. ’ 
Success with Cow Peas and Crimson Clover 
At a farmers’ institute held in this county the past 
month, a question was asked in regard to the value 
of cow peas. I was surprised to learn that only one 
person had grown them, few even knowing what they 
were. Crimson clover is quite well known, and is 
grown by many of the more progressive farmers about 
here. The tendency now with the best farmers is to 
produce paying crops at the least cost of production, 
and this must be the study of every farmer; not 
how much, but how cheap and how good. How to 
build up land at the least cost is the study of the fu¬ 
ture. My experience with Crimson clover dates back 
16 years, and that of cow peas eight, and with two 
exceptions I have had very good success. I have three 
back lots on my farm; my father abandoned their 
cultivation 25 years ago. He said he could no longer 
grow farm crops profitably on such poor soil, and the 
home supply of manure was all needed on the other 
parts of the farm, where mostly small fruits and 
vegetables were grown, and to buy stable manure 
(fertilizers were little known by him then), at $1.50 
per load to put on that poor leaky soil would never 
pay. The soil is yellow sandy loam with a clay sub¬ 
soil. The rotation he practiced was corn, oats, rye 
and Timothy. I never remember his cutting, any 
season, more than two loads of rye or one of hay 
from either of these lots. 
On these lots I have commenced experiments to see 
whether profitable crops can be grown without stable 
manure, and at the same time build up the fertility 
of the soil by the least possible amount of purchased 
fertility. The reader can imagine how these lots 
looked after 20 years’ growth of brush and catbriers. 
Lot No. 1 contains 2iA acres; No. 2 the same, and 
No. 3 2^2 acres. In the Spring of 1897 
I commenced cleaning No. 1 by grub¬ 
bing out the brush and young trees, 
which consisted mostly of White birch 
and poplar. This was a comparatively 
easy job; no stones, and the soil was 
very loose and roots near the surface. 
In April it was plowed five inches deep, 
harrowed with a Cutaway at intervals 
of two weeks until July 20; at the last 
harrowing 100 pounds of muriate was 
applied to the piece, and it was then 
sown to Crimson clover, 15 pounds to 
the acre, with the addition of one peck 
of rye and a quarter-pound of Siberian 
kale seed, and all was covered by going 
over twice with a weeder. The weather 
was favorable for its growth, and by 
December 1 the ground was well cov¬ 
ered. The kale overtopped all with its 
long spreading leaves, making good 
Winter protection for the clover. In the 
Spring they came out in fine condition. 
By the last week in April the kale was 
ready to cut, and 14 barrels were sold 
from the piece, at an average of 85 
cents per barrel. By the latter part of 
May the clover was in full bloom, and 
stood about 18 inches high. The rye I should not 
have sown had I known the clover would be such a 
perfect success. As it was, much of it was fed to 
stock from the heaviest spots in the field, cutting 
above the clover, and later some of the clover was 
used in the same way. 
The first week in June the clover was plowed under 
six inches, harrowed twice with the Acme harrow, 
and sown to cow peas; 1% bushel to the acre, and at 
the same time I had 100 pounds of muriate of potash 
and 500 pounds of dissolved S. C. rock applied to the 
piece, and all harrowed in together. For an experi- 
and result in higher intelligence. 
If breeding horses was not to my taste, and the dogs 
were not too numerous, I would put a few ewes on 
the farm, and try my hand at raising early lambs. 
Again, a wider field of study and activity would be 
opened, and fewer cows would have to be milked. Now 
100 Ft. PLAN or FIRST FLOOR. 
© 
LT 
BAY 24X24 
^ A! 
1 § 
U. 
-la Ft._ 13 Ft. 
u 
BAY 36X36 
b. 
cs 
CC 
la ni 2 12 
© 
Granary 
12X2^ 
_n 
PLAN OF BASEMENT 
V y 
Feed Alley EcMan^rers. xr 
18 Stanchions CO^; 1 - 
a 
Drive 74^ Feet wide ^ 
(1^1 FL\ 
27 Ft 
\DEEiy' 
-—fl iit.t.er— t- -- 
2 6 Stanchions 
Feed Alley & Manners 
PLANS or A GOOD MILK BARN. Fie. 77. 
that we have the woven wire fence pasture may be 
inclosed with it and the sheep protected from dogs. 
At least this is my experience during the past year. 
All these activities I would carry on in the best pos¬ 
sible manner consistent with my surroundings and 
the price received for the products. I m'ght set out 
some fruit, such as berries, peaches and Japan plums, 
and try to keep account so that I could discover 
