66 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
February 1 
kins and bushels of small potatoes. This method of 
dealing with the cattle makes them return me a gross 
income of 8100 per cow. My butter is made by the 
Cooley cold-setting process, is packed in tubs and one- 
pound prints, and is mostly sold to the Fifth Avenue 
Hotel, New York City, and the remainder to 
the Delevan Hotel, Albany, N. Y. The prints 
are in the form of a square, marked thus: 
wrapped in parchment paper, shipped in 
special cases, and are sold for a very fancy price.” 
A COLD-COUNTRY H0GH0USE. 
In building a cheap pen for pigs, a few days since, I 
hit upon a plan which I have never seen described 
elsewhere. The walls are made by tacking tar felt, 
well lapped, on each side of the 2x4 studding. Over 
the paper are nailed inch boards of a cheap grade, as 
close together as practicable, thus making a dead-air 
space in the wall. The roof is treated in the same 
way, and both walls and roof are shingled outside 
over the boards. The side walls are only 33 4. feet 
high, and the roof has only a very moderate pitch, so 
that the height above the floor in the middle, is only 
about nine feet. An alley, four feet wide, runs 
through the center, with four 8 x 10 feet pens on each 
side, the building being 24 x 32 feet in size. This con¬ 
struction insures a warm and dry building ; but the 
peculiar feature is the skylight windows, which are 
placed in the roof. The frames are made so that 
double windows may be used in winter, while in sum¬ 
mer the second sash can be removed, and the remain¬ 
ing sash raised so as to secure the best of ventilation. 
These windows have two advantages : The light and 
sunshine are both admitted where needed, the build¬ 
ing being as light as day ; yet the walls may be low, 
resulting in a warm building at the least possible 
cost. Of course so warm a building would not be 
necessary for many of your readers, but the plan of 
lighting will serve them well. 
Fig. 26 gives a clear idea of the building and 
yards attached. The sides of the building face east 
and west. If it be desired to have all the pens and 
yards face south, the same construction may be used, 
with a roof sloping south and an alley along the north 
side, with a single row of pens south of the alley. 
Hugo, Minn. A. G. w. 
M 
M 
M 
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WHAT THEY SAY? 
Sowing Millet. —In this latitude (Allegany County, 
N. Y.), it does not do to sow millet earlier than the 
first of J une. I did so once, and lost the crop by frost 
June 6. I would not sow Medium clover alone in 
August; dry, hot weather soon after germination 
often kills it. I have had good success in seeding 
down with millet. One peck of clover seed per acre 
is enough when no grass seed is used. c. A. w. 
Free Mail Delivery ; Fractional Currency.— 
There is a paragraph on page 8, January 4, which 
should be printed every week in capital letters until 
heeded, especially the little clause about fractional 
currency. When you strike a keynote like that, goon 
with your music, and continue to strike long and 
loud until our legislators hear and heed. If they could 
know what a convenience it would be to one little 
woman (that’s I), they would pass such a law with¬ 
out delay. Why not ? Uncle Sam is willing, and 
knows that we cannot safely send silver in a letter. I 
wish very often to send a fraction of a dollar in a let¬ 
ter for bulbs, seeds, or to a magazine or something 
similar, and must needs go to the barn, harness my 
horse, drive to the village (for there is no man here), 
and get stamps or pay extra for a postofiice order ; oi 
else go without the things I desire and could have, had 
we the good old rag money of war times. m. e. p. 
Wayne County, N. Y. 
Making Farrow Cow Beef.—I have had consider¬ 
able experience in making beef from farrow cows¬ 
having frequently fed a car-load at a time. By all 
means milk the cow. If she is giving six quarts of 
milk per day, she will increase it by increase of feed. 
Her milk will more than pay for any ration fed her 
from now to grass growing. At the same time, she 
will put on flesh rapidly, especially as the days grow 
longer, and warmer. I would suggest a daily ration 
of 30 to 40 pounds of ensilage, four quarts of corn 
meal, six pounds of wheat bran and two pounds of 
oil meal. I have never fed cotton-seed meal. Give 
this, in two feeds, the grain fed on the ensilage. 
After each grain ration, feed what hay she will eat 
up clean. Do not feed at noon. Give a little salt 
daily, and a chance to drink twice a day. The milk 
from a farrow cow will make more and better butter 
than the same amount of milk from a cow in calf. If 
the butcher does not offer a good round price for the 
cow before May 1, take away her grain feed and after 
a few days dry her, by stopping milking, except now 
and then to keep the udder from spoiling. After she 
is dry, turn her to grass and feed her three quarts of 
corn meal and bran, half and half, twice a day. Let 
her run in good pasture four weeks, and one will be 
surprised to see how fat she is. It will then be the 
time when winter-fed beef is scarce, and grass-fed 
cattle are not fit for the market, and the cow will be 
wanted at nearly twice as much per pound as she 
would have sold for the first of winter ; her milk and 
added pounds of beef will give a profit above the cost 
of feeding her. chas. r. beach. 
Wisconsin. 
Some Cow Notes. —In a recent R. N.-Y., I noticed 
a complaint of cows eating fences and boards. Sev¬ 
eral years ago, my cows had the same habit, and in 
the summer, would chew bones. I bought 10 pounds 
of good bone meal, and gave a small handful every 
other day, covering it with meal, as they would not at 
first eat it clear. Some of them were very fond of it. 
They soon quit their fence eating, and I have had no 
further trouble in that way, or with hunting for 
bones, as I occasionally give them a little bone meal. 
If those farmers who keep a few cows and during 
the winter are so troubled to churn their cream, will 
have a new milch cow or two, and have the milk and 
cream properly cared for, they will have no trouble 
to have their butter come. Winter is the nicest time 
in which to raise a calf, as with many after the hogs are 
killed, there is plenty of skim-milk, which should be 
warmed and some middlings added. The calf will 
soon learn to eat hay, and in the spring will be ready 
to turn to grass and will grow right along, farmer. 
Treatment of Pear Trees. —In regard to further 
treatment of C. A. G.’s 1,000 pear trees, page 19 (why 
in rows only one way ?), I would object decidedly to 
sowing corn, believing that such a course of mulching 
would be of more injury than benefit to the trees. I 
have in mind a pear orchard that, for a series of years, 
has produced abundantly where mulching heavily 
with straw or coarse barnyard manure has been prac¬ 
ticed, cultivation of the soil having been entirely dis¬ 
continued. On my own grounds, where a similar or¬ 
chard of 1,000 dwarf pear trees was planted last sea¬ 
son, beans were grown, and thorough cultivation 
given. After the beans were harvested, the soil was well 
worked, and two bushels of oats per acre were drilled. 
Notwithstanding the severe drought, a fair growth 
was attained, sufficient to form a mulch that, I believe, 
will be a source of fertility, and also a protection to 
the soil during the present winter. A similar course of 
treatment will be followed during the coming season. 
Western New \ r ork. irving d. cook. 
Hen Ration Suggested. —If W. J. A., page 47, will 
feed his flock of 60 hens the following, I think that 
he will get eggs : Give for the morning feed, two 
quarts of potatoes, boiled and mashed, in milk if he 
has it, if not, the water in which they are cooked. 
Add two quarts of wheat bran, and two quarts of 
wheat middlings, with a little salt and one-half tea¬ 
spoonful of red pepper. This mixture should not be 
too soft, something of a crumbly nature will suit the 
hens better. The noon feed should be raw cabbage, 
beets, onions, or sweet apples. The last two need to 
be cut up fine. A handful of small grain should also 
be scattered in the straw or chaff, so as to keep them 
busy and give an appetite for supper, which may be 
whole corn, peas and wheat, well warmed if the 
weather be cold. Do not forget warm water three 
times a day, also a good feed of fresh meat three times 
a week. The meat should be cooked. I am feeding 
horse meat, steamed. By the way, this is a good use 
to which to put the old horse, and then you know 
that he is not being swapped off at every turn of the 
road. It’s evident that \V. J. A.’s hens are too fat. 
As to the quantity of the night feed, he can soon learn 
what they will pick up clean. Keep grit, old mortar 
and oyster shells before them all the time. That’s 
my bill of fare, and I get eggs. w. n. h. 
Charlotte, Vt. 
Width of Cow Stall. —I find that a five-foot stall 
floor gives the best satisfaction. The measurement is 
made from the stanchion to the drop to the manure 
gutter. In one cow barn, I put in three lengths, 
five feet three inches, five feet, and four feet ten 
inches. After 10 years' use, the proprietor says that 
when the floor fails, he will have them all of one 
length, and that will be five feet. As he keeps no 
small cows, I think that he is right. If a stable is to 
be used for young stock, or stall-feeding steers, to get 
the best results it would be well to lengthen and 
shorten, to suit the average stock to be fed. For the 
benefit of those who may wish to put in stanchions and 
stalls, I give the dimensions that I use, and which 
have given good satisfaction to the users : Length of 
floor from stanchion to drop to manure gutter, five 
feet. From center of stanchion to center of stanchion, 
3^ feet; neck space between bars, 6% to 7 inches. In 
one barn, I put in an equal number of stanchions and 
stalls. The stalls have a low manger, 18 inches high, 
the floor five feet, partitions three feet long from the 
manger, and three feet high ; width of stall, three 
feet ten inches. The proprietor thinks that the cows 
are more contented in the stalls than those kept in 
the stanchions, and do better. t. l. h. 
Fairfield, la. 
That Leather Chewer. —If J. R. E., page 19, will 
mix some aloes or quinine with a little grease, and 
rub the mixture into the hitching strap and bridle 
reins, his horse will probably forget chewing them 
while he ponders over the mean trick played by his 
master. But no one thing is a “sure cure ” for differ¬ 
ent animals of similar morbid habits. Carelessness or 
inattention is only too often the cause of a so-called 
morbid habit, which, after all, may be only a natural 
craving. I half way suspect that that saddle horse 
would be grateful for a more ample allowance of salt 
than he now gets. At all temperatures, moisture of 
a saline taste exudes from the hands and is imparted 
to the leather, and it may be this that the horse is 
trying to get. But he may be a “ keener,” and know 
that gnawing the straps will give him his liberty. 
If such is the case, he may not mind a little ob¬ 
noxious taste in pursuit of his object. A strong, light 
chain would have to be used for tying purposes, and 
that part of the reins to which he has access should 
be wrapped with soft, flexible wire. To make a neat 
job, make a small hole through the rein at the start¬ 
ing point, insert one end of the wire, fasten, wrap the 
wire the desired distance, keeping it tight, and fasten 
by passing through two small holes and bending back 
and under. Give a liberal supply of salt, and try the 
bitter grease before resorting to metal. By so doing, 
you may do yourself and horse a favor, j. c. sengkr. 
Virginia. 
More About “Corn Hay.”— Some eight or nine 
years ago, the ordinary grain thrasher was first used 
hereabouts for shredding corn fodder, and has been 
used to a limited extent up to this time. But I never 
knew of the same farmer using the method twice. 
The cost is too great for the amount of work done, 
although somewhat more rapid work is done than 
with the husker and shredder. Then the shelled 
corn is so split and broken, that it is unmarketable. 
A neighbor used a thrashing outfit one day, and the 
result was seven tons of corn fodder, 200 bushels of 
shelled corn. The cost was, for the thrashing outfit, 
812 ; for four teams, 810 ; for three extra men, 83 ; 
one boy 50 cents ; a total of 825 50. Clover hay is sell¬ 
ing on the farm for 84.50 per ton. Where does the 
profit come in on the shredded fodder ? Another 
farmer purchased a shredder and husker, built an 
immense shed to store the shredded fodder, and filled 
it in the fall of ’94. The result is fodder almost ruined 
by heating. This year he has filled his shed with 
the whole corn and stalks. He used a corn binder, 
and as soon as cured, the corn was hauled to the shed, 
using a rope sling connected with a carrier, which 
dropped it wherever desired. In this way, there is 
no danger of heating, or of damage by storm, and he 
can shred as needed, using only his own help. With 
the present capacity of shredders and corn-thrash¬ 
ing machines, it requires close calculation to get any 
profit out of them. There certainly is none when the 
shocks of corn are left standing in the field until late 
fall or mid-winter, to be damaged by the fall rains and 
winter snows, as a large part of them are. 
Northern Illinois. dwight herrick. 
Self-Cleaning Stalls. —On page 303 of the year 
book of the Department of Agriculture, 1894, Mr. 
Alvord says, in regard to cow stables, that self-clean¬ 
ing stalls and gutters have not proved successful. Is 
that so ? I would like to hear from those who have 
tried them. I have three stalls of my own designing, 
made entirely of wood, that give fairly good satisfac¬ 
tion. I intend to put up half a dozen additional 
stalls in the spring, and had thought to put in an iron 
grating over a cement gutter. Now I wish to know 
wherein that will fail, if fail it will. e. b. watson. 
