£j/Try h 
PHOTO'ENeTGO 
Vol. LXVII. No. 3046. 
NEW YORK, JUNE 13, 1908. 
WEEKLY, $1.00 PER YEAR. 
TESTING A HOLSTEIN COW. 
Eating Her Weight in Food. 
Fairmount Farm, belonging to Mr. John Arfman, 
and adjoining the exhibition grounds of the Orange 
County Agricultural Society at Middletown, N. Y., 
is the home of one of the cows that have helped to 
place the Holstein-Friesian breed of cattle more 
prominently to the front during the past Winter. 
About two years ago Mr. Arfman attended an auction 
where Dichter Calamity 62412 was bid off to a man 
who for some reason failed to comply with the terms 
of the sale, so that she was thrown back into the 
ring the second time. Mr. Arfman made a bid of 
$60, and she was knocked down to him. During the 
first Winter she proved a very erratic milker, holding 
her milk back much of the time. Knowing that she 
was being officially tested for the advanced registry, 
and that she was doing some wonderful work, I ac¬ 
cepted Mr. Arfman’s invitation to come out and see 
her milked and fed last February. Readers of The 
R. N.-Y. will be interested in learning just how these 
great milk machines are fed and cared for to secure 
such wonderful results. February 10 
was the day selected, and the snow was 
falling so that it was almost impossible 
to keep to the road before I reached my 
home that afternoon. We found the 
wonderful cow (Fig. 224) about 11 a. m. 
lying in an ordinary box stall well lit¬ 
tered with hay, quietly chewing her cud, 
with C. W. Gaylord in charge of the 
official test. Both he and Mr. Arf¬ 
man expressed a willingness to an¬ 
swer all questions freely, Mr. Arfman 
saying that there are no secrets in con¬ 
nection with the records or methods of 
Fairmount Farm. The cow is only five 
years old. 
“When did she last freshen?” 
“January 9, 1908.” 
“How long had she been dry?” 
“Since December 12, 1907.” 
“Had she any grain 'ration while 
dry?” 
“Yes.” 
“What was fed after freshening?” 
“Nothing but bran mash and hay the 
first day.” 
“When did forcing for a record be¬ 
gin ?” 
“On the second day after freshening.” 
“How much grain has been fed to her during the 
test ?” 
“We began with 16 pounds per day, and gradually 
increased until at the maximum she ate 40 pounds 
per day.” 
“Of what does the grain ration consist?” 
“Our regular grain mixture is as follows: Ajax 
feed, 200 pounds; ship feed (or wheat bran), 150 
pounds; hominy meal, 150 pounds; gluten, 250 pounds; 
oat feed, 100 pounds; oil meal, 150 pounds, making 
in all 1,000 pounds. This is all mixed and fed to¬ 
gether, while cotton-seed meal and boiled oats are 
added to it in varying proportions, according to her 
apparent relish for them and the condition of her 
bowels. If her bowels seem too loose, more cotton¬ 
seed meal seems to check the looseness. If she seems 
to be losing relish for her feed more boiled oats 
seems to restore it.” 
How much cotton-seed meal does she get per 
day ?” 
From two to four pounds, and from four to six 
pounds boiled oats.” 
“Do you mean dry oats or wet oats after they are 
boiled?” 
“I mean wet oats. She also gets beets and hay.” 
“How many beets per day?” 
“We began at 40 pounds per day, and increased to 
100 pounds at one time; she is now eating 90 pounds 
of beets and 36 pounds of grain, with all the hay she 
wants, and she eats a lot, but I cannot tell how many 
pounds. We let her pick out what she wants from 
good mixed hay, and use the refuse for her bedding.” 
“How much water does she drink?” 
“From 60 to 100 quarts a day, cold water right 
out of the hydrant. She does not have water before 
her all the time; every six hours she is fed and 
milked, and then watered and foddered hay, and 
sometimes groomed, but oftener not.’ 
“When did your official test begin ?■” 
“One week after freshening. On the first day she 
gave 63.7 pounds of milk, testing 3.7 butter fat; on 
the thirty-first day, the best thus far, she gave 91.7 
pounds, testing 4.1 butter fat.” 
The day of our visit was the thirty-fifth day of 
the record, and at just 15 minutes before noon Mr. 
Arfman roused the cow from her comfortable bed 
and got his milking stool, while the representative of 
the cattle club handed him an empty pail and en¬ 
joined perfect quiet. Mr. Arfman then drew her 
milk into the pail and handed it back to Mr. Gaylord. 
It tipped the scales at exactly 24 pounds. She had 
been last milked just six hours previously. After 
being well stirred samples were taken for analysis 
and the remainder returned to owner. The cow was 
given her ration of grain and roots before milking 
began, and was engaged in eating her dinner while 
being milked. After we humans had disposed of our 
dinner the sample just taken was tested with the 
Babcock test and found to contain 4.2 butter fat. 
Figured on the 80 per cent basis this is at the rate 
of a little over five pounds of butter a day. Returning 
to the barn we found that the cow had “cleaned the 
platter” and was ready for her water and hay. It 
was noticeable that such liberal feeding of beets gave 
the droppings quite a reddish color. 
The official record of Dichter Calamity credits her 
with 631.2 pounds of milk and 32.40 pounds of butter 
in seven days, and 2,579.9 pounds milk and 128.85 
pounds of butter in 30 days. This makes her the third 
highest officially tested Holstein-Friesian cow for 
both seven days and 30 days. The appearance and 
record of this cow confirms me in my good opinion 
of mangel-wurzel beets as succulent feed for dairy 
cows. Judging from my own experience as well as 
from that of Mr. Arfman and others they are better 
and cheaper than corn silage. I raised 10 tons last 
season on less than a half acre of land, and a neigh¬ 
bor of mine, D. L. Decker, raised 45 tons on an acre. 
He used 1,500 pounds of high grade fertilizer, sowing 
in drills 16 inches apart, on black dirt such as is 
largely used for onions and celery. Mine were raised 
on rather stony upland in drills three feet apart. I 
found that harvesting can be extended over half of 
October and November in this latitude, gathering a 
few each day, and that the tops fed to cattle each 
day as gathered are easily worth the whole cost of 
labor in harvesting. This is an advantage over silage 
which must be rushed into the silo just before frost 
at heavy cost for labor and machinery. The beets 
can be stacked up like cord-wood in the barn cellar 
or any other moderately warm place. They do not 
heat and spoil when placed in a big bin or pile as 
turnips sometimes do. Ours kept in perfect condition 
until the last were used near the end of April. While 
most of ours were used as feed for hens, 
a few cows fed at the rate of a peck 
a day from December to April, indicated 
a feeding value of from 30 to 40 cents 
per bushel. The milk was carefully 
weighed for a week before the beets 
were fed, and again for two weeks 
after, also for a week before the supply 
of beets was exhausted, and again after. 
A bushel of beets a day fed to four 
cows gave a gain in milk of just 20 
pounds. The shrinkage in flow was just 
about the same when the beets were 
gone, four months later. I am planting 
an acre this season. o. w. mapes. 
GROWING MONTREAL MUSK- 
MELONS. 
Some of our readers may have heard 
of the famous muskmelons grown near 
Montreal, Canada. Mr. R. Brodie is a 
well-known grower, and the following 
statement from him appeared in the 
Canadian Agriculturist: 
“While we grow fewer muskmelons 
than are grown in Rocky Ford, Colo¬ 
rado, we consider that we make up in 
quality to some extent at least what we 
fall short in quantity. Our first melons 
go to market about July 1, and bring $12 a dozen 
wholesale. In other words, we get more for a single 
melon than the southern usually get for an entire crate 
of thirty to forty-five. My neighbor says he has sold 
$3,000 worth of melons from three acres. It will be 
seen, however, from the following statement of our 
methods, that we put ourselves to much greater ex¬ 
pense than the southern grower. 
“Seeds are sown the end of March in a hotbed, in 
four-inch pots, strawberry boxes, or inverted sod, 
buried in the earth in rows close together. Five 
melon seeds are planted to each pot, or box, and the 
seeds are buried about half an inch deep. When the 
plants come through the ground air is given by rais¬ 
ing the sash when the sun shines during the day, 
closing and covering it at night to retain the heat and 
keep out the cold. By the end of April, the plants 
should be large enough to set out in the permanent 
hotbeds. Any light soil, that will give a good crop 
of corn or potatoes, should grow melons. Trenches 
should be dug the previous Autumn eighteen inches 
deep and thirty inches wide, and as long as required 
for the number of hotbed frames. The action of the 
frost through the Winter pulverizes the soil, and puts 
DICHTER CALAMITY NO. 62412. Fig. 224. 
