158 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
May, 
Before the Erie canal was built, the farmers east, de* 
pended upon selling rye and corn, and feared the intro¬ 
duction of western wheat would ruin them; but instead 
of being injured, they bought their own bread, and made 
more money than before by selling beef, butter, eggs, 
&c. Ev C> Frost. Seneca Lake Highland Nurseries, 
Catharine , March, 1849. 
Weaning Calves. 
Eds. Cultivator— 1 The practice of weaning calves, 
which has been handed down from time immemorial, 
by separating them from their mothers, is almost inva¬ 
riably attended with a vast deal of hellowing , by both 
cow and calf; and not unfrequently it is the case, that 
calves, in a very thrifty condition, when taken from the 
cow, refuse to eat a morsel of grass,—but keep up an 
incessant bellowing, and continue to pine away until 
they can scarcely make a loud noise, or move about. 
I have seen calves, many times, taken from their mo¬ 
thers in full flesh, and growing rapidly, and immedi¬ 
ately stop growing, become poor, and very much ema¬ 
ciated, simply because the proper course is not pur¬ 
sued, with regard to so important a branch of cattle 
husbandry. 
If such a course of management were denounced as 
not only unwise , but exceedingly detrimental to young 
animals, “ and as a relic of barbarism,” it might be 
done, in our humble opinion, without any apprehen¬ 
sions of incurring the odium of a calumniator. Such a 
course appears, upon reflection, contrary to the dictates 
of nature and of reason. And besides all this, who, 
that possesses any sympathy-—any of the tender feelings 
of humanity, toward the brute creation—can listen to 
such mournful looing, as is generally heard from calves, 
and remain unmoved? Should I raise a thousand 
calves,^ never would resort, save through dire neces¬ 
sity, to the practice which is generally adopted, of 
weaning them by separating them from their mothers ; 
for it is not only inhuman, but most miserable economy. 
When calves have arrived at an age suitable for 
weaning, it is taken for granted, that they are then in 
a growing and thrifty condition; and it is, or ought to 
be, the desire of every one who raises stock, to keep 
his young animals advancing: for it requires one-third 
more feed to regain a pound of flesh, which an animal 
has lost, than would have done to produce that flesh, 
providing it had never been suffered to grow poor. 
The mode of weaning calves, which I would advo¬ 
cate as being the most proper, the best and economical, 
and which I have practiced for two years past, with 
perfect success, I shall give in a few words;—and let 
those farmers who have been in the habit of separa¬ 
ting their calves from their mothers, for the purpose of 
weaning them, try the experiment, the ensuing season, 
with one calf, and then cast the arguments, for and 
against such a course, into the balance of “ common 
sense,” and see which will preponderate. 
After the calves have sucked about six weeks, I keep 
them, if possible, in fresh and tender pasture, and di¬ 
minish from day today, their usual allowance. By pur¬ 
suing this course for one week, the calf will learn to eat 
grass enough to supply the place of milk which has been 
withheld. During the next week, I let him have a cer¬ 
tain allowance, once in two days. The next week, once 
in three days. I then put on them a leather halter, 
with eight or ten tenpenny nails, with sharp points, dri¬ 
ven through the nose piece, pointing outwards from the 
nose of the calf. The inside of the nose piece should 
have a piece of thin leather sowed to it, covering the 
heads of the nails, in order to prevent their hurting the 
calf’s nose. 
The calf is then turned into the same field with its 
mother;—and as we naturally suppose, it makes every 
effort to suck. But the cow feeling the prick of the 
nails against her udder, quickly whirls about, and re¬ 
pels the little fellow. After a few unsuccessful at¬ 
tempts, it will “give up the chase,” and feed quietly 
by the side of its mother. 
This practice with regard to weaning calves, posses¬ 
ses several commendable advantages when compared 
with the common practice of separating them from the 
cows. 
When calves are weaned by the side of their mothers 
they are always more docile and tame—-they learn to 
feed sooner—they learn to be driven sooner—they thrive 
much better—they do not utter such pitiful moanings, 
as when alone;—and by the side of their mothers, they 
pass their time in quiet rumination and rest. 
Calves always need, and should have the best pasture 
which the farm affords. But it not unfrequently occurs, 
that the field which we would appropriate to the calves, 
contains twice as much feed as is needful for them. 
Now, if the calves are weaned by the side of their mo¬ 
thers, the cows are allowed to go into the same field; 
and eat the grass which, under other circumstances, 
would have been of no profit, save as a fertilizer of the 
soil. 
Another consideration worthy of notice is, when 
calves are weaned by separating them from their mo¬ 
thers, special care must be taken to keep them sepa¬ 
rated during the winter; and many times it becomes 
necessary to make an extra yard and an extra shed; 
whereas, if they had been weaned, after the mode re¬ 
commended, they might be allowed to remain in the 
same enclosure, during the day—but at night, should 
be stabled. 
Farmers, who raise but a few head of cattle, as is 
the case with myself, experience great inconvenience, 
by being obliged to keep their cows and calves sepa¬ 
rate when they turn them from their stalls to go to 
water, or to exercise. 
I have practiced weaning calves with the halter, for 
two seasons past, with perfect success ; and although 
my calves, both seasons, lost the halter from their head, 
before they had worn it a week, they never, after the 
first day when they were turned together, made any at¬ 
tempts to suck. 
Perhaps some may think, as I at first did, that shin¬ 
gle nails in the nose piece, would subserve a better pur¬ 
pose than ten-penny nails—but they are too short. I 
have tried both kinds; and I find that long nails only 
will answer a good purpose. S. Edwards Todd. 
Lake Ridge, Tompkins Co., N. Y., March, 1849. 
Potatoes Exhaust the Soil. 
Eds. Cultivator —I was taught when a boy that 
potatoes were not an exhausting crop, drawing but lit¬ 
tle strength from the ground. I have always taken this 
for granted, and I have made no experiment on the sub¬ 
ject ; more than to satisfy myself that they would not suc¬ 
ceed well a second year on the same ground. If you 
should conclude that I have been indiscreet in taking 
any thing for granted and passing on forty years with¬ 
out examination, I could not find much fault with your 
conclusion. But to the subject. In the summer of 
1847, a neighboring farmer requested me to go into his 
lot and look at his clover. On reaching his lot, he 
showed me a field of clover, one part of which was of 
a vigorous growth, while the other part was small—not 
more than half, if more than a third as large as the 
other, and the line distinctly marked through the lot. 
The clover was sown with oats the previous year. The 
year before that, my friend informed me, that the part 
of the field where the clover was best, was planted 
with corn; while the other part was devoted to pota¬ 
toes. The whole, he said, was manured and cultiva- 
