JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
December  20,  1900. 
f)70 
keep  our  young  growing  stock  in  condition,  and  to  keep  up  an 
excellent  supply  of  milk. 
There  is  no  more  delightful  sight  than  a  yard  full  of  well  doing 
beasts,  quiet  and  contented,  with  the  well  filled  tumbril  and  th-  yellow 
straw  plentifully  bestrewn  all  over.  There  are  many  ways  of 
utilising  and  making  the  most  of  food  stuffs,  but  we  do  honestly 
disapprove  of  foisting  on  cattle  any  damaged  commodity.  It  is  poor 
economy  to  give  mouldy  hay,  spoilt,  straw,  t^mutted,  rusted,  or  diseased 
grain,  cake  that  has  gone  w  rong,  and  meal  that  through  damp  or 
other  cause  is  unpleasant  to  taste  or  smell.  It  is  all  very  well  to 
disguise  the  objectionable  food  by  spice  or  treacle,  or  steaming  ;  it  is 
there  all  the  same,  and  though  bad  effects  mav  not  be  directly  visible, 
the  digestion  is  injured  more  or  le-s,  an  i  valuable  time  is  lost.  Time  is 
money,  and  the  clever  feeder  uses  those  stuffs  that  most  quickly 
produce  beef. 
We  heard  recently  of  a  large  north-country  farmer  who  was  feeding 
188  beasts  to  go  off  between  October  and  turning  out  time.  He  is  a 
master  in  his  art,  and  his  plan  was  to  have  the  beasts  split  up  into  lots 
of  eight  or  nine  in  small  open  yards  well  provided  with  shedding.  We 
are  not  sure  that  <  pen  yards  with  shelter  are  not  preferable  to  those 
entirely  covered  in.  The  rations  were  Turnips,  buc  such  Turnips  as 
are  only  grown  in  lands  beyond  the  Tweed,  and  then  only  in  favoured 
spots,  and  meal — no  cake.  The  meal  was  of  various  sorts,  such  as 
could  be  jirofitably  bought  at  the  time.  The  animals  are  w'ell  bedded, 
and  that  by  woiuen  who  carry  the  straw  direct  Irom  tije  machine  tail 
to  the  yards. 
About  this  meal,  we  catjn(  t  help  thinking  that,  good  as  it  is,  it  is 
an  awkward  food  to  deal  with  ;  there  must  be  somewhat  of  waste. 
Cake  is  compact  and  easily  portable,  and  the  dust  from  the  ciushing 
•machine,  which  is  not  excessive,  mak<s  good  porridge.  We  read  only 
the  other  day  that  balls  of  oatmeal  were  the  finest  thing  lor  just 
putting  the  tO[)-dressing  on  prize  fat  stock  ;  that  is  going  back  rather 
to  the  compre  sed  lorm.  We  know  there  is  a  great  objection  in  some 
minds  to  roots  for  fattening  cattle.  Here  again  so  much  depends  on 
the  quality  of  the  roots.  Some  land  produces  a  Turnip  or  Swede  of 
infinitely  better  quality  than  others  will  ;  this  all  has  to  br  taken  into 
consideration,  and  no  hard  and  fast  line  can  be  laid  down. 
Of  course,  on  some  farms  we  find  good  hay  plentiful,  and  it  makes 
of  itself  a  fine  feeding  stuff.  Then  again  take  a  wuld  holding  where 
there  is  practically  no  hay,  what  must  be  done  ?  The  animal 
requires  bulk,  and  that  bulk  cannot  be  supplied  entirely  by  meals  or 
cake.  Cake  and  meal  vary  in  price  almost  from  week,  to  week,  and  a 
farmer  must  study  current  price  lists  if  he  would  buy  to  the  best 
advantage. 
There  is  something  more  than  the  fattening  to  consider,  there  is 
the  value  left  in  the  form  of  n  anure,  and  this  manure  is  influenced  by 
the  tood  given.  Sr  Ji  hn  B.  Laves  laid  great  stress  on  this  point — i.e., 
a  quick  and  ready  feeding  dietary  that  left  the  greatest  possible  value 
•in  the  form  of  manure. 
A  point  of  great  importance  in  feeding  stock  of  every  kind  is 
regularity.  If  the  meal  be  delayed  the  animal  gets  restless  and 
impatient.  Another  point  is  a  clean  crib.  We  should  never  think  of 
taking  dinner  of!  a  dirty  breakfast  plate.  Indeed,  shou'd  there  be  a 
residuum  of  food  in  the  crib  or  manger  there  is  a  fault  somewhere  ; 
either  the  beast  is  out  of  soits  or  the  food  is  not  what  it  ought  to  be, 
or  else  the  yard  man  dt  als  out  victuals  with  too  lavish  a  hand.  There 
should  be  a  variation  in  the  lood,  and  above  all  a  bit  of  salt  ought  not  to 
bo  forgotten.  Decorticated  cotton  cake  is  now  so  well  prepared  that 
there  is  no  danger  attending  its  use.  Linseed  cake  and  beanmi  al. 
Wheat  bran,  dried  grains  are  all  fine  foods  given  in  conjunction  with 
bay  or  silage. 
Young  growing  cattle  are  not  so  expensively  fed,  and  with  them 
we  find  the  great  value  of  pulp  and  cut  meat.  All  sorts  of  g('od  chaff 
cutters  and  pnlpers  are  in  the  market,  and  their  use  conduces  greatly 
to  the  economy  of  straw,  which  certainly  this  yrar  is  a  scarce  and  dear 
article,  while,  at  the  same  time,  the  Turnip  and  Swede  crop  is  most 
abundant.  It  is  a  great  mistake  to“  tender  ’’young  stock  by  too  much 
pampering,  either  of  the  stomach  or  of  the  constitution.  They  have 
to  turn  out  in  May,  and  the  hot,  close,  covered  yard  is  not  the  best 
preparation  for  the  bitter  cold  we  often  expeijence  in  that  month. 
Neither  are  they  any  better  for  a  course  of  rich  concentrated  foods. 
Plenty  of  pi  .in  lo(  d  and  roomy  open  yards  are  what  they  need.  Now 
for  the  cow  question.  Is  it  a  case  for  butter  alone,  or  is  .it  a  case 
of  the  milk  trade  ?  But  why'  need  there  be  any  differencrf  ?  Every 
need — 
For  milk  selling,  quantity  is  required.  It  is  n  t  absolutely 
necessary  to  have  so  much  butter  fat  as  to  have  the  liquid,  an'l  food 
that  will  not  affect  the  flavour  of  the  milk  will  have  a  most  decided 
influence,  and  not  a  nice  one,  on  the  butter. 
Mr.  Smith,  manager  of  Scottish  Dairy  Supply,  furnishes  us  with 
some  excellent  table.s,  and  rati  ns,  and  .we  feel  we  cannot  do  better 
than  quote  him.  He  presupposes  a  good  cross-bred  commercial  cow, 
well  developed,  and  of  strong  constitution. 
To  produce  3  gallons  of  milk  per  diem  he  would  allow  : — 
70  Iba.  brewers’  grains,  well  salted, 
4  lbs.  treacle, 
4  lbs.  bean  or  pea  meal, 
10  lbs.  hay, 
40  lbs.  Turnips,  Mangolds,  or  grass. 
To  produce  2  gallons  per  diem  :  — 
28  lbs.  brewers’  grains,  equal  to  9  lbs.  dried  grains. 
2  lbs.  treacle, 
4  lbs.  pea  or  bean  meal, 
2  lbs.  cotton  cake, 
10  lbs.  hay  or  sound  oat  straw, 
35  lbs.  Turnips  or  Mangolds. 
The  meal,  cake  and  tieacle  should  have  boiling  water  poured  over 
them,  and  afterwards  mixed  with  dried  grains  salted,  and  given  in  a 
sloppy  condition. 
For  first  class  butter  : — 
7  lbs  dried  grains, 
6  lbs.  cotton  seed  meal, 
2  lbs.  crushed  oats, 
2  lbs.  bean  or  pea  meal, 
2  lbs.  wheat  bran, 
7  lbs.  hay  or  sound  oat  straw, 
28  lbs.  cooked  roots.  Mangolds  or  Turnips. 
The  first  four  ingredients  should  be  scalded  with  boiling  water 
and  given  in  a  sloppy  condition.  In  no  case  should  linseed  meal  or 
linseed  cake  be  given  to  cows  for  butter  making;  neither  is  it 
pr.. Stable  to  give  linseed  cake  to  milch  cows  for  any  purpose  except  for 
ihe  butcher.  Tnis  is  Mr.  Smith. 
We  will  give  now  a  milk  ration  from  the  Ex perimautal  Farm, 
New  Jersey,  U.S.A. ; — 
30  lbs.  silage, 
5  lbs.  Timothy  hay, 
4  lbs.  wheat  bran, 
4  lbs.  dried  grains, 
2  fbs.  linseed  meal. 
We  thi'jk  any  words  of  ours  are  unnecessary.  The  last-mentioned 
ration  is  much  approved  by  Professor  Long. 
Work  on  tlie  Rome  Farm. 
The  rain  has  ceased,  apparently  !  Sincerely  do  we  hope  so.  The 
land  is  absolutely  sodden,  and  it  will  be  many  weeks  before  we  see  the 
cultivator  and  harrows  again  at  work.  Even  the  old  seed  land,  whioh 
is  yet  to  be  manured  for  Potatoes,  is  so  soft  that  the  cartwheels  cut 
through  very  deeply,  and  make  very  heavy  work  for  the  horses. 
The  manure  must  be  put  on  and  ploughed  in,  although  the  conditions 
for  ploughing  will  be  anything  but  ideal.  Let  us  hope  that  a  good  spell 
of  frost  will  follow  the  ploughing  and  remedy  all  defects.  Frost  is  a 
wonderful  rectifier  of  shortcomings  on  the  ploughman’s  part. 
The  wet  has  already  had  our  desired  effect  on  the  corn  markets, 
which  are  all  very  firm,  and  Barley  is  quite  Is.  per  quarter  dearer. 
Coals  are  a  little  cheaper,  and  a  good  thing  too,  for  a  farmer  cannot 
afford  to  give  a  quarter  of  Barley  for  a  ton  of  coals. 
We  have  held  off  buying  as  long  as  possible,  but  a  supply  must  now 
be  got  in,  and  leading  the  fuel  is  employing  a  couple  of  carts.  The 
roads  are  heavy,  b  it  it  is  easier  work  for  these  hoi-ses  to  bring  24  cwt. 
of  coals  from  the  Biation  than  for  the  others  to  cart  1  ton  of  manure  on 
to  the  land. 
There  is  still  great  dearth  of  labour,  even  beaters  for  the  pheasant 
shooting  being  very  difficult  to  obtain.  In  an  adjoining  parish  the 
army  of  beaters  assembled  to  drive  the  covers  at  33.  per  day  struck 
for  3s.  6d.,  and  got  it,  the  guns  being  ready  for  the  sport  and  the  host 
not  being  in  the  humour  to  disappoint  them.  Perhaps  he  will  have  his 
turn  at  the  next  shoot  and  get  a  fresh  lot  of  beaters,  but  we  candidly 
confess  that  we  cannot  see  where  he  is  to  find  them.  If  all  the  possible 
men  be  spared  from  farm,  woods,  and  estate  there  would  not  be  half 
enough,  and  the  farm  tenants  certainly  cannot  lend  any  unless  it  be  for 
an  occasional  day. 
Pig  killing  is  an  everyday  occurrence  in  the  parish  now,  but  the 
weather  is  far  too  mild  to  be  favourable  to  good  curing,  and  there  will 
probably  be  complaints  of  bad  bacon  later  on.  Working  men,  however, 
like  to  have  their  bacon  in  the  house  before  Christmas,  and  have  more 
regard  for  tlje  almanack  than  for  the  weather.  Some  country  people 
aver  that  bacon  does  not  cure  well  during  the  fall  of  the  moon,  and  they 
also  have  an  impression  (we' will  call  it  that)  that  bacon  cured  at  the 
rise  of  the  moon  increases  in  the  boiling,  and  is  therefore  more  thrifty. 
Russian  Crop  Reports. — The  Central  Statistical  Bureau  at  St. 
Petersburg  estimate  the  winter  and  spring  crops  in  sixty-four  depart-  • 
ments  of  European  Eussia  for  this  year  as  follows  : — Wheat,  658,800,000 
poods;  Eye,  1,401,700,000  poods;  Oats,  721,600,000  poods;  Barley,  . 
309,500,000  poods;  Buckwheat,  54,500,000  poods;  Millet,  105,100,000 
poods;  Maize,  53,300,000  poods;  Spelt,  15,300,(00  poods;  Peas,' 
43,600,000  poods;  Potatoes,  1,565,000,000  poods.  [A  Eussian  pood  is' 
36 lbs.  in  weight.]  i 
