1906. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
2l9 
SWEET POTATOES DRYING COWS. 
Will feeding a cow sweet potatoes have a 
tendeucy to dry her up sooner than other¬ 
wise. H. C. 
Vineland. N. J. 
It is hard to see why sweet potatoes 
should cause a cow to dry up. Irish pota¬ 
toes have been fed with some success to 
dairy cows in seasons when the crop has 
been very plentiful. About 50 per cent 
of the ration may consist of potatoes. A 
small amount would be better still if 
mixed with dry roughness fed. Of course, 
potatoes will not take the place of grain, 
and a liberal grain ration should be fed 
to cows maintained on this diet. Potatoes 
have a tendency to increase the flow of 
milk, but if fed in large amounts cows 
often refuse to eat them. Sweet pota¬ 
toes are probably more fattening in their 
nature than Irish potatoes, and if fed raw 
it seems as though 20 to 30 pounds per 
day might be fed with some advantage 
without injury to the milk flow. 
Va. Exp. Station. Andrew m. soule. 
COW WITH DEPRAVED APPETITE. 
What causes a cow that is fed well to eat 
manure? What will cure such a cow? 
Marion Station, Md. p. l. g. 
The usual trouble is in the feeding. A 
man may think he is feeding his cow 
“well” when in reality lie is not supplying 
her needs. Suppose a man stuffed the 
cow with cornmeal and fodder or Tim¬ 
othy hay. In the end the cow would 
surely suffer, because there is not enough 
of the mineral or bone-forming materials 
in this ration to supply her needs. She 
might be fat enough, but sooner or later 
her system would crave lime aud phos¬ 
phates, and this craving will drive her to 
gnaw bones or fence rails or to eat dirt 
or filth. The way to cure this is to sup¬ 
ply the bone makers in her food. Feed 
wheat bran and linseed oil, and give a 
handful of fine bone meal in her feed 
three times a week. 
FEEDING RATION FOR EWES. 
Will you give me your opinion upon the fol¬ 
lowing ration, which I am using for ewes? 
A third of them have lambed. Iambs are com-- 
ing strong, and the ewes are giving plenty of 
milk : Cut clover and Timothy hay, one and 
a quarter pound per head per day; wheat 
bran, one-half pound; rye, one-half pound; 
linseed meal, three ounces; brewers’ grains, 
wet, three pints. a. s. 
Westbury Station, N. Y, 
I am not sure whether the questioner 
means that all the roughage he is feed¬ 
ing is the lj4 pound of hay a day per 
head. If it is it is not nearly enough; a 
full-grown ewe should have three or four 
pounds of hay per day. 1 he only way to 
determine is to give them all they will 
eat up clean in two feeds, whether it be 
three or five pounds. Neither would I 
cut it for sheep. They will relish it 
much better whole, and can cut it much 
cheaper than by any machinery; neither is 
it any better for being cut, except if the 
1 imothy were very coarse there might be 
some danger of the stalks pricking 
through the paunch. This could only 
be obviated by cutting extremely fine. Bet¬ 
ter not feed that kind of hay. The grain 
ration i s very good; as I have had occa¬ 
sion to say in these columns, the wet 
brewers’ grains are excellent for breed¬ 
ing ewes. I presume the rye is grown 
nn ^ le farm; it is not one of the best 
sheep feeds, and unless home grown 
would rather feed a like amount of corn, 
which is cheaper and better. However, 
one-half pound per day will do no harm, 
and help furnish carbohydrates, which are 
rather lacking in this ration. The ration 
' s * 00 heavy for ewes that have not 
lambed. For such I would cut out the 
'}e, two ounces of the linseed meal and 
one-half of the brewers’ grains. Then 
come to the full ration as indicated, as 
die lambs were able to take the milk, and 
die increased drain on the ewer called 
t( ’i a heavier ration. This implies that 
the ewes with lambs should be separate 
from the ewes that have not yet had 
lambs. 1 he above change of more hay 
and less grain will cheapen the ration and 
certainly give better results in the long 
run with both ewes and lambs. Too 
much milk is nearly or quite as bad as 
too little. It is not often that there is 
need for one to advise lighter feeding, 
yet in this case it is certainly wise. 
edw’d van alstyne. 
SHEEP THAT GNAW TREES. 
Can you give me a recipe for a good wash 
that will prevent sheep from eating the hark 
from apple trees? I keep sheep in an or¬ 
chard In Winter that adjoins my barn, and 
they have got so they will gnaw the bark 
from the trunks of trees 10 inches in diam¬ 
eter. I think they might never have learned 
the trick if 1 had uot cut down some worth¬ 
less trees and left limbs for them to gnaw. 
Barboursville, Va. a. r. i,. 
If you will make a thin whitewash and 
stir in it some fresh cow manure I do not 
think the sheep will trouble the trees 
again; if you will give their trunks a 
good swabbing with the mixture, or you 
can stir in some fresh blood, which will 
be distasteful to the sheep. Perhaps a 
better way would be to wrap the trees 
around with chicken wire that has a small 
mesh. If this is done, place some slats 
between the tree and the wire, so the lat¬ 
ter will not get too tight about the tree. 
The wash would have to be renewed; the 
wire will last for years. While the eating 
of the limbs of the fallen trees was per¬ 
haps the immediate cause of their gnaw¬ 
ing the bark, the main source of trouble 
lies back of that. I have had sheep in 
orchards for nearly 30 years, and while 
there have been many broken limbs and 
trees that they have eaten—for they are 
natural scavengers—I never had one 
touch the trunk of a tree of any size. 
The difficulty is that the sheep lack min¬ 
eral matter in their food. This is more 
likely to occur where the sheep are pas¬ 
tured in the orchard, for this grass grow¬ 
ing in the shade is particularly lacking 
in nutrients. Some years ago I had a 
similar trouble with a lot of cattle. I 
thought it a bad habit, and took them out. 
The next Winter, about February, the 
same trouble occurred. I then began to 
study conditions, and realized that I had 
little bone material in my feed. I was 
feeding large quantities of silage and wet 
brewers’ grains; little or no bran or 
clover hay. I gave them some ground 
bone for immediate relief, and since have 
never failed to have plenty of ash in the 
feed, and though the same cows were 
turned in the orchard the next Winter I 
never have had any further trouble, 
neither have I protected the trees in any 
way. I would suggest a liberal feed to 
the sheep of oats or wheat bran, not so 
much to protect the trees as for the good 
of the sheep. edw’d van alstyne. 
GIVE YOUR COWS 
A SQ UARE D EAL 
The owner of but three, four or five cows as a rule keep^s 
them simply for the purpose of supplying the home table with 
milk, cream and butter. He claims it does not pay to keep cows 
for the dollars and cents they will earn. Why he makes this 
claim is only because he has never given the cows a “ square 
deal.” It is a case of the pot calling the kett.e black. The cows 
are well fed, milked daily and the milk set away in crocks or 
pans for the cream to rise by natural processes. Here is where 
the cow receives her bad reputation. From twenty to fifty 
per cent, of the cream never rises and is thrown away 
with the skimmilk. This twenty to fifty per cent, of lost butter 
represents a snug little sum at the end of the year—all lost, 
just thrown away, and the cow is considered unprofitable. A 
DE LAVAL CENTRIFUGAL CREAM SEPARATOR 
will stop this waste and at the same time produce purer and 
sweeter cream from which butter can be made that will sell for 
from five to ten cents more per pound than the gravity skimmed 
product. In addition the skimmilk is left fresh and warm for 
the calves. Are not such savings as this worth investigating ? 
Our illustrated catalogue of DE LAVAL machines is sent free 
upon request. Write for it to-day and learn the many benefits and 
advantages to be gained by the use of a DE LAVAL machine. 
The De Laval Separator Co. 
Randolph & Canal Sts. 
CHICAGO. 
1213 Filbert Street 
I’UIIjADELPHIA 
9 & 11 Drumm St., 
SAN FRANCISCO. 
General Offices: 
74 Cort/andt Street, 
NEW YORK. 
109-113 Youville Square, 
MONTREAL. 
75 & 77 York Street 
TORONTO. 
14-16 Princess St., 
WINNIPEG. 
What You Gain 
In a few words, you gain this by using 
Tubular: (1). One-quarter to one-half more 
cream, because Tubulars skim by centrifugal 
force, which is thousands of times stronger than the force of gravity that makes cream 
rise in pans. (2). One-half to twice as much for butter, because Tubulars remove dirt 
and bacteria, thus making gilt-edge butter possible. (3). Half the work saved, because 
you finish skimming five minutes after milk¬ 
ing, feed warm skimmed milk at barn, and 
ha ve only the can of cream to care for. Write 
today for catalog W-153. It tells all plainly. MM • ] 
THE SHARPLES SEPARATOR CO. 
WEST CHESTER, PA. ... 
T0R0HT0, CAH. CHICAGO, ILL. 
WHAT DO YOU SAY? 
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BEATS THE 
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Grind any tool, knife to mower 
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3,000 revolutions of 
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ROYAL MFC. CO„ 228 E. Walnut St., Lancaster, Pa. 
-‘- 4 - 
vvuuuuuuuw"um(( 
"Your Milk. 
We want you to put Dr. Hess Stock Food to a test. We know what it will do 
but we want you to know it. We know that Dr. Hess Stock Food given with the 
regular ration will make more milk of a better quality, and in sufficient quantity 
to leave a surprising margin above the extra cost. Just take two cows giving 
approximately the same pounds of milk; add to the ration of one the small doses 
of Dr. Hess Stock Food as prescribed. Let the other drag along in the same ole 
way. Now we guarantee that 
uifL 
HESS STOCK F) 
will positively produce a big profit. Besides making cows give more milk Dr. Hess Stock 
hood increases the digestive capacity of market stock, shortening the feeding period 30 
days at the very least, besides curing and preventing many forms of stock disease. 
Stockmen must remember that it is not the amount of food consumed but the amount 
digested that produces the profit. Increasing the powers of digestion and assimilation 
accord mg’ to the best medical authorities can only be produced by the action of bitter 
k tonics, iron, aud other medicinal ingredients such as are contained in Dr. Hess 
Stock Food, the prescription of Dr. Hess (M. D., D V S.). The ingredients 
of Dr. Hess Stock Food are recommended by the Veterinary Colleges and 
1 the harm Papers. Recognized as a medicinal tonic and laxative 
by our own Government, aud sold on. a. written guarantee at 
hiiihiiim 
I 
fZ(i per pound in 100 lb. sacks; f Except In Canada 
25 lb. pail $1.60 t 1 wts l tanl r South. 
A tablespoonful per day for the average hog. Less than a penny a 
day for horse, cow or steer. 
If your dealer cannot supply you, we will. 
Fomember.thut from the 1 st to the 10th of each month, I)r. Hess will furnish 
veterinary advice and prescriptions free if you will mention this paper, state wliat 
stock you have, also what stock food you have fed, and enclose two cents for re- 
p * n <>very Package of Dr. Hess Stock Food there is a little yellow card that 
entiHes you to this free service at any time. 
luweand 8 whatkmdo*^mi^f«5. 0 you l lS,ve^iMd. Pa * >er,Btate h ° W 8t ° Ck y ° U 
DR. HESS & CLARK, Ashland, Ohio. 
Also Manufacturers of Dr. Hess Poultry Pau-a-ce-a aud Instant Louse Killer. 
Instant Louse Killer Kins Lice 
crE 
