THE CULTIVATOR. 
Sept. 
and above all, not giving up with one or even half-a- 
dozen failures, nor throwing on to “ book-farming” the 
blame of their iil-success, when circumstances so 
“ alter cases” as to render impracticable for them what 
others have found highly expedient. 
These remarks however, are scarcely called for here ; 
the way in which the crop spoken of was obtained, it 
would not perhaps be advisable to recommend for gen¬ 
eral practice. The corn was drilled, in four feet apart 
rows, a stalk growing about once in seven inches. The 
season was an extremely favorable one, so that as thick 
as it was, all came to maturity well. In a different 
season, there might not have been an average yield. 
Mr. Douglass feeds between 30 and 40 cattle and 
about 60 sheep. One of the axioms most insisted on by 
Mr. Clayton, was that no hay or straw should be sold 
from a farm, and I believe he always lived up to the 
rule. There was probably some connection not very 
remote between the use made of these crops, in feed¬ 
ing them to stock, and the productiveness of his corn¬ 
fields; the reader will doubtless trace it for himself- 
Lime may do to start the clover, and the clover will 
serve admirably to enrich the ground, but there are 
very few localities* where all the barn-yard manure 
that can be made, will not pay for the making, and 
prove the most certain guaranty of the fertility of the 
soil. 
But I shall be as late in coming to the end of my 
story, if all these reflections are to be admitted, as I 
was in keeping an engagement that evening, with Mr. 
G. G. Lobdell, —an engagement which was not exe¬ 
cuted until morning, when at last somewhat brighter 
skies were promised for the day. 
Mr. LoMell’s Short-Horns, Barn, &c. 
His herd includes 16 females and no less than 10 
young bulls, this sex having predominated the past 
year or two among the calves. The bull “ Lord Bar¬ 
rington 4th,” was bred by Dennis Kelly, and will be 
three years old next month. “ Red Rose ” and “ Val¬ 
entine 2d ” have been illustrated in the Am. Herd 
Book, and we give the portrait of the latter in another 
column. The chief object of Mr. L. in breeding ani¬ 
mals for his own use, is to secure good milkers, and he 
thinks he has made choice of the best breed for the 
purpose. His experience so far only leads him to de¬ 
sire to extend it further, and he means to give the 
Short-Horn a thorough trial as a Dairy animal. He 
keeps for milking purposes 40 cows in summer, and 60 
in winter, (when milk brings a higher price.) He has 
tried soiling quite extensively, and proposes I under¬ 
stand to resort to it at length entirely. He now sows 
rye, which is ready to begin to cut for the purpose by 
April 15th, and lasts until oats are ready in May, and 
they furnish a supply until corn is far enough advanced, 
a succession of crops which serve until the frosts come 
in fall. Mr. L. let the stock out during the day, but 
fed morning and night at stable, and thought the time 
of one man wholly devoted to taking care of them 
would be sufficient to cut green food for a hundred head 
if they were not pastured at all, while it might be 
equal to twice the number if he had an old horse to 
help in bringing the cut fodder. The hay the cattle 
leave, Mr. L. cuts to be mixed with other food. 
Mr. L. has five fields of 22 acres each, of which one 
is this year in oats, one in wheat, one in corn, and two 
* Perhaps I should say, out of Onondaga county. 
in meadow. About 20 acres are devoted to soiling and 
garden crops, and 25 are in a pasture never broken up. 
The past two years, both very good ones, the yield of 
the 44 acres mowed have been each season 120 tons; 
one of the two fields, 22 acres, exceeding considerably, 
while the other did not quite equal three tons per acre. 
The large barn is a building 120 feet by 48, with a 
wing 45 by 17, and another on the same side 25 by 17, 
and a tool-house attached, with a root cellar under it, 
20 by 30. The stables below accommodate 68 head, and 
Mr. L. has provision, including adjoining buildings, 
for 76 head of grown cattle, 24 calves, and a dozen 
horses. The stables throughout are kept very neat 
and clean, plaster being freely sprinkled about as an 
absorbent. A large manure cellar adjoins, 78 feet 
long, 18 wide and 14 deep, and receives all the solid 
and liquid deposits from the stalls, and thence they can 
be removed by carts. The cattle are kept in their 
places by stanchions, and this method of fastening has 
given the best satisfaction here, and is thought far su¬ 
perior to any other. I noted down the dimensions, as, 
although similar particulars have been often repeated 
in our columns, they may not be readily accessible to 
all. In front of the row of stalls, runs a trough 3 feet 
wide insido measurement, the outer half of the bot¬ 
tom being somewhat inclined toward the animal, while 
the rest of it is flat. The back of the trough is three 
and a half feet high. The feed being placed in the 
troughs when the animals are about to come in, they 
instantly put their heads in to go to work, when the 
stanchions are secured in a moment. They are three 
by two inches in size, rounded next to the cow’s neck, 
and are fastened to the front of the trough which is 
15 inches high, one permanently, and the other by a 
pin so as to be movable a few inches side ways. They 
are 20 to 22 inches long and the upper end of one is 
fastened, while that of the other which is movable, 
opens as we have seen, to receive the animal’s head 
and horns, and is then closed upon them and secured 
by a peg. The distances apart of the two are graduat¬ 
ed according to the size of the animal. Each stall is 
occupied by two animals with no division between 
them, and is from three feet to three feet eight inches 
wide, acccording to their size. Alley ways between 
the rows of stalls admit of feeding with little labor, 
and it was Mr. Lobdell’s intention to carry a water 
trough as well as one for feed in front of them all, to 
be filled by pipes and obviate the necessity of their 
going out to drink. When the experiment was tried, 
however, the trough became full of the seeds and bits 
of hay, &c., and the matter was given up. There are 
separate and enclosed calving stalls five feet wide. 
“Up-stairs” we find a feed box that will hold 25 
bushels, in which the feed is mixed about in this pro¬ 
portion : One-third straw or chaff, one-third corn¬ 
stalks, one-third clover-hay cut; with a bushel of this 
is mixed about three-quarters of a peck of mill feed, 
or half a peck of oats and corn ground together in 
equal proportions, the hay, &c., being salted before the 
feed is wetted. This passes into one or two big tubs, 
each holding about 50 bushels, where it is steamed 
from four to six hours. A tub full is prepared night 
and morning—about a bushel of the steamed food be¬ 
ing intended for each full grown animal, besides which 
it has all the hay required. There is also a large re¬ 
servoir of water received from the roof, the overflow of 
which is made use of below. 
