1009 . 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
347 
LIMA BEANS AS COW FEED. 
Some weeks ago a reader in New Jersey 
told of a cow which died after eating green 
Lima beans. A report from Europe men¬ 
tions a case where cattle were poisoned 
by eating the vines. Now we have the 
following statement from California. 
We are in a Lima bean section; raise 
Limas and sugar beets. The Lima 
straw is practically all fed to milk cows 
and horses, and several thousand cattle 
arc brought in here annually to fatten 
on bean straw and beet pulp. We stack 
it, bale it or “any old way” to get it. 
There is hardly a farmer’s cow in this 
or Santa Barbara County that does not 
make most of her living—and keep fat— 
on Lima bean straw. We consider it 
about the best dry feed we have for 
cows. Horses arc all right if they do 
not get any grain feed with it, in which 
case it causes impaction, very often 
fatal. Our green feed is usually Alfalfa, 
so perhaps there is some chemical com¬ 
bination formed. But as far as the bean 
straw for cattle is concerned it is all 
right. With regard to green Limas, I 
do not know, but our stock get out 
once in a while, and the worst results 
I ever saw from green Limas was a 
set-to at post office between two of my 
neighbors, who could not agree on the 
amount of damage the cows had done 
the beans. No one claimed any dam¬ 
age that the beans had done the cows. 
Of course our beans are grown under 
different conditions from yours, as we 
seldom get a rain on crop. But straw is 
often rained on and fed same as any 
other, barring usual deductions for that 
too moldy to use. You will find that 
the Lima straw will harden up the but¬ 
ter from cows better than any dry feed 
we have. I mean during Summer, when 
butter is apt to be oily. g. e. s. 
Oxnard, Cal. 
COW QUESTIONS; BULLETINS. 
TT. D. F., Perkasie, Pa .—What is the 
proper method to make a milch cow dry, 
preparatory to calving? Would you feed 
rye (the grain) to milk cows? Are the 
bulletins of the various experiment stations 
free to non-residents of the State in which 
they are located? 
Ans. —To dry off a cow shorten her 
feed and stop milking clean. Cut the 
grain feed down gradually, and leave a 
little at each milking, taking care not 
to leave enough to make the udder hard. 
Finally milk only once a day. It is im¬ 
possible to dry off some cows. A rest 
of six weeks before calving will help 
them. We do not like to feed rye to 
cows. It may contain ergot, which 
causes abortion. Regarding the bul¬ 
letins, here are two notes from readers: 
Regarding experiment station bulletins, 
and referring to the query of V. L. L., 
Kingston, R. I., on page 257, and your 
answer thereto, I desire to state that I am 
a graduate of one of the large State uni¬ 
versities, at which is maintained an agri¬ 
cultural experiment station. I am an en¬ 
gineer by profession, with my office in a 
city; I am also an agriculturist or farmer, 
for I own and operate a farm upon which 
I reside, some 20 miles from the city. For 
a time, at my request, I received the ex¬ 
periment station bulletins issued from my 
university, but finally was informed by a 
red ink notice printed upon the last bul¬ 
letin received, that because I lived out¬ 
side the State, I could not be carried upon 
their free list but could have the bulletins 
by paying for them. I have received no 
bulletins from that station since though 
abundantly abe to purchase them. The 
university is richly endowed by private 
Uinds, National grants and possibly draws 
State funds and its seat of government Is 
not 1,000 miles from New York City. 
Massachusetts. l. e. w. 
I disagree with V. L. I,., Kingston, R. I. 
I have never written to any station and 
asked for a bulletin that I did not receive 
it. I wrote to Tiie R. N.-Y. asking them to 
give me a list of the stations which you 
kindly did so that when I see anything 
that I would like to get information on I 
write to the director and as stated above 
I have never failed to receive the bulletin. 
(Jeorgia. j. c l 
Sulphur fob Rats and Micb.- 
tne sulphur on my corn for rats a 
which proved a total failure, for 
have shelled and cut it oquallv f 
as before, and as for the statenr 
cerning the sulphur keeping the cc 
molding, mine molded about c 
v h eh was about worthless. t 
P ennsylvania. 
tried 
mice, 
a rats 
badly 
t con- 
from 
i-third, 
. R. 
SHEEP IN ORCHARD. 
If B. A., page 261, will put 10 sheep 
to the acre in his orchard early in 
Spring apd keep them there all Summer, 
feeding them enough wheat bran to 
keep them thriving, and do this every 
year, he need not have any thought 
about cultivating every other year. Nor 
will there be any trouble with ground 
washing. More than this, he will find 
his orchard making an abundant growth 
of the healthiest wood and plenty of 
fruit. If trees are no more than 10 to 
15 years old it will be very necessary to 
protect them from the sheep. This he 
can do by putting wire netting about 
the trees, or by making out of wire and 
laths, something like a picket fence to 
set up about each tree. Further than 
this he must provide plenty of drinking 
water for the sheep. Of course the 
sheep will eat limbs, leaves and fruit as 
high as they can reach, but this will not 
do any harm, and there will be just as 
much fruit, and better fruit, than if no 
sheep were kept in the orchard. The 
sheep will do another thing; they will 
eat every apple that falls, as soon as it 
falls, and in this way will do very much 
towards keeping Codling moths out of 
the fruit. Just how much wheat bran 
will be needed will depend upon the 
amount of growth of grass and weeds, 
but the more the better for the orchard, 
and the growth and maintenance of the 
sheep ought to be worth the cost of 
feed, and thus leave manure as clean 
profit. No, do not think of ever plow¬ 
ing the orchard. If he wants to do any¬ 
thing, after the sheep are taken out at 
apple-picking time, go in with a Cuta¬ 
way or spading harrow and run over 
the ground two or three times, and sow 
two bushels of rye per acre, cultivating 
it in to cover ground, hold the leaves 
from blowing away and forming early 
pasture for the sheep in Spring. In this 
way his orchard will do far better than 
by any system of cultivation, and at no 
expense in comparison, j. s. woodward. 
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