Robert Jennings

Feeding and Management

No branch of dairy farming can compare in importance with the management of cows. The highest success will depend upon it, whatever breed be selected, and whatever amount of care and attention be given to the points of the animals; for experience will show that very little milk comes out of the bag, that is not first put into the throat. It is poor economy, therefore, to attempt to keep too many cows for the amount of feed one has; for it will generally be found that one good cow well-bred and well fed will yield as much as two ordinary cows kept in the ordinary way; while a saving is effected both in labor and room required, and in the risks on the capital invested. If an argument for the larger number on poorer feed is urged on the ground of the additional manure—which is the only basis upon which it can be put—it is enough to say that it is a very expensive way of making manure. It is not too strong an assertion, that a proper regard to profit and economy would require many an American farmer to sell off nearly half of his cows, and to feed the whole of his hay and roots hitherto used into the remainder.

An animal, to be fully fed and satisfied, requires a quantity of food in proportion to its live weight. No feed is complete that does not contain a sufficient amount of nutritive elements; hay, for example, being more nutritive than straw, and grains than roots. The food, too, must possess a bulk sufficient to fill up to a certain degree the organs of digestion of the stomach; and, to receive the full benefit of its food, the animal must be wholly satisfied—since, if the stomach is not sufficiently distended, the food cannot be properly digested, and of course many of the nutritive principles which it contains cannot be perfectly assimilated. An animal regularly fed eats till it is satisfied, and no more than is requisite. A part of the nutritive elements in hay and other forage plants is needed to keep an animal on its feet—that is, to keep up its condition—and if the nutrition of its food is insufficient for this, the weight decreases, and if it is more than sufficient the weight increases, or else this excess is consumed in the production of milk or in labor. About one sixtieth of their live weight in hay, or its equivalent, will keep horned cattle on their feet; but, in order to be completely nourished, they require about one thirtieth in dry substances, and four thirtieths in water, or other liquid contained in their food. The excess of nutritive food over and above what is necessary to sustain life will go, in milch cows, generally to the production of milk, or to the growth of the foetus, but not in all cows to an equal extent; the tendency to the secretion of milk being much more developed in some than in others.

With regard, however, to the consumption of food in proportion to the live weight of the animal, it must be taken, in common with all general principles, with some qualifications. The proportion is probably not uniform as applied to all breeds indiscriminately, though it may be more so as applied to animals of the same breed. The idea of some celebrated stock-raisers has been that the quantity of food required depends much upon the shape of the barrel; and it is well known that an animal of a close, compact, well-rounded barrel, will consume less than one of an opposite make.

The variations in the yield of milch cows are caused more by the variations in the nutritive elements of their food than by a change of the form in which it is given. A cow, kept through the winter on mere straw, will cease to give milk; and, when fed in spring on green forage, will give a fair quantity of milk. But she owes the cessation and restoration of the secretion, respectively, to the diminution and increase of her nourishment, and not at all to the change of form, or of outward substance in which the nutriment is administered. Let cows receive through winter nearly as large a proportion of nutritive matter as is contained in the clover, lucerne, and fresh grass which they eat in summer, and, no matter in what precise substance or mixture that matter be contained, they will yield a winter's produce of milk quite as rich in caseine and butyraceous ingredients as the summer's produce, and far more ample in quantity than almost any dairyman with old-fashioned notions would imagine to be possible. The great practical error on this subject consists, not in giving wrong kinds of food, but in not so proportioning and preparing it as to render an average ration of it equally rich in the elements of nutrition, and especially in nitrogenous elements, as an average ration of the green and succulent food of summer.

We keep too much stock for the quantity of good and nutritious food which we have for it; and the consequence is, that cows are, in nine cases out of ten, poorly wintered, and come out in the spring weakened, if not, indeed, positively diseased, and a long time is required to bring them into a condition to yield a generous quantity of milk.

It is a hard struggle for a cow reduced in flesh and in blood to fill up the wasted system with the food which would otherwise have gone to the secretion of milk; but, if she is well fed, well housed, well littered, and well supplied with pure, fresh water, and with roots, or other moist food, and properly treated to the luxury of a frequent carding, and constant kindness, she comes out ready to commence the manufacture of milk under favorable circumstances.

Keep the cows constantly in good condition, ought, therefore, to be the motto of every dairy farmer, posted up over the barn, and on and over the stalls, and over the milk-room, and repeated to the boys whenever there is danger of forgetting it. It is the great secret of success; and the difference between success and failure turns upon it. Cows in milk require more food in proportion to their size and weight than either oxen or young cattle.

In order to keep cows in milk well and economically, regularity is next in importance to a full supply of wholesome and nutritious food. The animal stomach is a very nice chronometer, and it is of the utmost importance to observe regular hours in feeding, cleaning, and milking. This is a point, also, in which very many farmers are at fault—feeding whenever it happens to be convenient. The cattle are thus kept in a restless condition, constantly expecting food when the keeper enters the barn; while, if regular hours are strictly adhered to, they know exactly when they are to be fed, and they rest quietly till the time arrives. If one goes into any well-regulated dairy establishment an hour before feeding, scarcely an animal will rise to its feet; while; if it happens to be the hour of feeding, the whole herd will be likely to rise and seize their food with an avidity and relish not to be mistaken.

With respect to the exact nurture to be pursued, no rule could be prescribed which would apply to all cases; and each individual must be governed much by circumstances, both regarding the particular kinds of feed at different seasons of the year, and the system of feeding. It has been found—it may be stated—in the practice of the most successful dairymen, that, in order to encourage the largest secretion of milk in stalled cows, one of the best courses is, to feed in the morning, either at the time of milking—which is preferred by many—or immediately after, with cut feed, consisting of hay, oats, millet, or cornstalks, mixed with shorts, and Indian linseed, or cotton-seed meal, thoroughly moistened with water. If in winter, hot or warm water is far better than cold. If given at milking-time, the cows will generally give down their milk more readily. The stalls and mangers should first be thoroughly cleansed.

THE FAMILY PETS.

Roots and long hay may be given during the day; and at the evening milking, or directly after, another generous meal of cut feed, well moistened and mixed, as in the morning. No very concentrated food, like grains alone, or oil-cakes, should be fed early in the morning on an empty stomach, although it is sanctioned by the practice in the London milk-dairies. The processes of digestion go on best when the stomach is sufficiently distended; and for this purpose the bulk of food is almost as important as the nutritive qualities. The flavor of some roots, as cabbages and turnips, is more apt to be imparted to the flesh and milk when fed on an empty stomach than otherwise. After the cows have been milked and have finished their cut feed, they are carded and curried down, in well-managed dairies, and then either watered in the stall—which, in very cold or stormy weather, is far preferable—or turned out to water in the yard. While they are out, if they are let out at all, the stables are put in order; and, after tying them up, they are fed with long hay, and left to themselves till the next feeding time. This may consist of roots—such as cabbages, beets, carrots, or turnips sliced—or of potatoes, a peck, or—if the cows are very large—a half-bushel each, and cut feed again at the evening milking, as in the morning; after which, water in the stall, if possible.

The less cows are exposed to the cold of winter, the better. They eat less, thrive better, and give more milk, when kept housed all the time, than when exposed to the cold. A case is on record, where a herd of cows, which had usually been supplied from troughs and pipes in the stalls, were, on account of an obstruction in the pipes, obliged to be turned out thrice a day to be watered in the yard. The quantity of milk instantly decreased, and in three days the diminution became very considerable. After the pipes were mended, and the cows again watered, as before, in their stalls, the flow of milk returned. This, however, must be governed much by the weather; for in very mild and warm days it may be judicious not only to let them out, but to allow them to remain out for a short time, for the purpose of exercise.

Any one can arrange the hour for the several processes named above, to suit himself; but, when once fixed, it should be rigidly and regularly followed. If the regular and full feeding be neglected for even a day, the yield of milk will immediately decline, and it will be very difficult to restore it. It may be safely asserted, as the result of many trials and long practice, that a larger flow of milk follows a complete system of regularity in this respect than from a higher feeding where this system is not adhered to.

One prime object which the dairyman should keep constantly in view is, to maintain the animal in a sound and healthy condition. Without this, no profit can be expected from a milch cow for any considerable length of time; and with a view to this, there should be an occasional change of food. But, in making changes, great care is requisite in order to supply the needful amount of nourishment, or the cow will fall off in flesh, and eventually in milk. It should, therefore, be remembered that the food consumed goes not alone to the secretion of milk, but also to the growth and maintenance of the bony structure, the flesh, the blood, the fat, the skin, and the hair, and in exhalations from the body. These parts of the body consist of different organic constituents. Some are rich in nitrogen, as the fibrin of the blood and albumen; others destitute of it, as fat; some abound in inorganic salts, phosphate of lime, and salts of potash. To explain how the constant waste of these substances may be supplied, a celebrated chemist observes that the albumen, gluten, caseine, and other nitrogenized principles of food, supply the animal with the materials requisite for the formation of muscle and cartilage; they are, therefore, called flesh-forming principles.

Fats, or oily matters of the food, are used to lay on fat, or for the purpose of sustaining respiration.

Starch, sugar, gum, and a few other non-nitrogenized substances, consisting of carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen, supply the carbon given off in respiration, or they are used for the production of fat.

Phosphate of lime and magnesia in food principally furnish the animal with the materials of which the bony skeleton of its body consists.

Saline substances—chlorides of sodium and potassium, sulphate and phosphate of potash and soda, and some other mineral matters occurring in food—supply the blood, juice of flesh, and various animal juices, with the necessary mineral constituents.

The healthy state of an animal can thus only be preserved by a mixed food; that is, food which contains all the proximate principles just noticed. Starch or sugar alone cannot sustain the animal body, since neither of them furnishes the materials to build up the fleshy parts of the animal. When fed on substances in which an insufficient quantity of phosphates occurs, the animal will become weak, because it does not find any bone-producing principle in its food. Due attention should, therefore, be paid by the feeder to the selection of food which contains all the kinds of matter required, nitrogenized as well as non-nitrogenized, and mineral substances; and these should be mixed together in the proportion which experience points out as best for the different kinds of animals, or the particular purpose for which they are kept.

Relative to the nutrition of cows for dairy purposes, milk may be regarded as a material for the manufacture of butter and cheese; and, according to the purpose for which the milk is intended to be employed, whether for the manufacture of butter or the production of cheese, the cow should be differently fed.

Butter contains carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen, and no nitrogen. Cheese, on the contrary, is rich in nitrogen. Food which contains much fatty matter, or substances which in the animal system are readily converted into fat, will tend to increase the proportion of cream in milk. On the other hand, the proportion of caseine or cheesy matter in milk is increased by the use of highly nitrogenized food. Those, then, who desire much cream, or who produce cream for the manufacture of butter, select food likely to increase the proportion of butter in the milk. On the contrary, where the principal object is the production of milk rich in curd—that is, where cheese is the object of the farmer—clover, peas, bran-meal, and other plants which abound in legumine—a nitrogenized organic compound, almost identical in properties and composition with caseine, or the substance which forms the curd of milk—will be selected.

And so the quality, as well as the quantity, of butter in the milk, depends on the kind of food consumed and on the general health of the animal. Cows fed on turnips in the stall always produce butter inferior to that of cows living upon the fresh and aromatic grasses of the pastures.

Succulent food in which water abounds—the green grass of irrigated meadows, green clover, brewers' and distillers' refuse, and the like—increases the quantity, rather than the quality, of the milk; and by feeding these substances the milk-dairyman studies his own interest, and makes thin milk without diluting it with water—though, in the opinion of some, this may be no more legitimate than watering the milk.

But, though the yield of milk may be increased by succulent or watery food, it should be given so as not to interfere with the health of the cow.

Food rich in starch, gum, or sugar, which are the respiratory elements, an excess of which goes to the production of fatty matters, increases the butter in milk. Quietness promotes the secretion of fat in animals and increases the butter. Cheese will be increased by food rich in albumen, such as the leguminous plants.

BUYING CATTLE.

The most natural, and of course the healthiest, food for milch cows in summer, is the green grass of the pastures; and when these fail from drought or over-stocking, the complement of nourishment may be made up with green clover, green oats, barley, millet, or corn-fodder and cabbage-leaves, or other succulent vegetables; and if these are wanting, the deficiency may be partly supplied with shorts, Indian-meal, linseed or cotton-seed meal. Green grass is more nutritious than hay, which always loses somewhat of its nutritive properties in curing; the amount of the loss depending chiefly on the mode of curing, and the length of exposure to sun and rain. But, apart from this, grass is more easily and completely digested than hay, though the digestion of the latter may be greatly aided by cutting and moistening, or steaming; and by this means it is rendered more readily available, and hence far better adapted to promote a large secretion of milk—a fact too often overlooked even by many intelligent farmers.

In autumn, the best feed will be the grasses of the pastures, so far as they are available, green-corn fodder, cabbage, carrot, and turnip leaves, and an addition of meal or shorts. Toward the middle of autumn, the cows fed in the pastures will require to be housed regularly at night, especially in the more northern latitudes, and put, in part at least, upon hay. But every farmer knows that it is not judicious to feed out the best part of his hay when his cattle are first put into the barn, and that he should not feed so well in the early part of winter that he cannot feed better as the winter advances.

At the same time, it should always be borne in mind that the change from grass to a poor quality of hay or straw, for cows in milk, should not be too sudden. A poor quality of dry hay is far less palatable in the early part of winter, after the cows are taken from grass, than at a later period; and, if it is resorted to with milch cows, will invariably lead to a falling off in the milk, which no good feed can afterward wholly restore.

It is desirable, therefore, for the farmer to know what can be used instead of his best English or upland meadow hay, and yet not suffer any greater loss in the flow of milk, or in condition, than is absolutely necessary. In some sections of the Eastern States, the best quality of swale hay will be used; and the composition of that is as variable as possible, depending on the varieties of the grasses of which it was made, and the manner of curing. But, in other sections, many will find it necessary to use straw and other substitutes. Taking good English or meadow hay as the standard of comparison, and calling that one, 4.79 times the weight of rye-straw, or 3.83 times the weight of oat-straw, contains the same amount of nutritive matter; that is, it would take 4.79 times as good rye-straw to produce the same result as good meadow hay.

In winter, the best food for cows in milk will be good sweet meadow hay, a part of which should be cut and moistened with water—as all inferior hay or straw should be—with an addition of root-crops, such as turnips, carrots, parsnips, potatoes, mangold-wurtzel, with shorts, oil-cake, Indian meal, or bean meal.

It is the opinion of most successful dairymen that the feeding of moist food cannot be too highly recommended for cows in milk, especially to those who desire to obtain the largest quantity. Hay cut and thoroughly moistened becomes more succulent and nutritive, and partakes more of the nature of green grass.

As a substitute for the oil-cake, hitherto known as an exceedingly valuable article for feeding stock, there is probably nothing better than cotton-seed meal. This is an article whose economic value has been but recently made known, but which, from practical trials already made, has proved eminently successful as food for milch cows. Chemists have decided that its composition is not inferior to that of the best flaxseed cake, and that in some respects its agricultural value surpasses that of any other kind of oil-cake.

It has been remarked by chemists, in this connection, that the great value of linseed-cake, as an adjunct to hay, for fat cattle and milch cows, has been long recognized; and that it is undeniably traceable, in the main, to three ingredients of the seeds of the oil-yielding plants. The value of food depends upon the quantities of matters it contains which may be appropriated by the animal which consumes the food Now, it is proved that the fat of animals is derived from the starch, gum, and sugar, and more directly and easily from the oil of the food. These four substances, then, are fat-formers. The muscles, nerves, and tendons of animals, the brine of their blood and the curd of their milk, are almost identical in composition with, and strongly similar in many of their properties to, matters found in all vegetables, but chiefly in such as form the most concentrated food. These blood (and muscle) formers are characterized by containing about fifteen and a half per cent. of nitrogen; and hence are called nitrogenous substances. They are, also, often designated as the albuminous bodies.

The bony framework of the animal owes its solidity to phosphate of lime, and this substance must be furnished by the food. A perfect food must supply the animal with these three classes of bodies, and in proper proportions. The addition of a small quantity of a food, rich in oil and albuminous substances, to the ordinary kinds of feed, which contain a large quantity of vegetable fibre or woody matter, more or less indigestible, but, nevertheless, indispensable to the herbivorous animals, their digestive organs being adapted to a bulky food, has been found highly advantageous in practice. Neither hay alone nor concentrated food alone gives the best results. A certain combination of the two presents the most advantages.

Some who have used cotton-seed cake have found difficulty in inducing cattle to eat it. By giving it at first in small doses, mixed with other palatable food, they soon learn to eat it with relish. Cotton-seed cake is much richer in oils and albuminous matters than the linseed cake. A correspondingly less quantity will therefore be required. Three pounds of this cotton-seed cake are equivalent to four of linseed cake of average quality.

During the winter season, as has been already remarked, a frequent change of food is especially necessary, both as contributions to the general health of animals, and as a means of stimulating the digestive organs, and thus increasing the secretion of milk. A mixture used as cut feed and well moistened is now especially beneficial, since concentrated food, which would otherwise be given in small quantities, may be united with larger quantities of coarser and less nutritive food, and the complete assimilation of the whole be better secured. On this subject it has been sensibly observed that the most nutritious kinds of food produce little or no effect when they are not digested by the stomach, or if the digested food is not absorbed by the lymphatic vessels, and not assimilated by the various parts of the body. Now, the normal functions of the digestive organs not only depend upon the composition of the food, but also on its volume. The volume or bulk of the food contributes to the healthy action of the digestive organs, by exercising a stimulating effect upon the nerves which govern them. Thus the whole organization of ruminating animals necessitates the supply of bulky food, to keep the animal in good condition.

Feed sweet and nutritious food, therefore, frequently, regularly, and in small quantities, and change it often, and the best results may be confidently anticipated. If the cows are not in milk, but are to come in in the spring, the difference in feeding should be rather in the quantity than the quality, if the highest yield is to be expected from them during the coming season.

The most common feeding is hay alone, and oftentimes very poor hay at that. The main point is to keep the animal in a healthy and thriving condition, and not to suffer her to fail in flesh; and with this object, some change and variety of food are highly important.

CALLING IN THE CATTLE.

Toward the close of winter, a herd of cows will begin to come in, or approach their time of calving. Care should then be taken not to feed too rich or stimulating food for the last week or two before this event, as it is often attended with ill consequences. A plenty of hay, a few potatoes or shorts, and pure water will suffice.

In spring, the best feeding for dairy cows will be much the same as that for winter; the roots in store over winter, such as carrots, mangold wurtzel, turnips, and parsnips, furnishing very valuable aid in increasing the quantity and improving the quality of milk. Toward the close of this season, and before the grass of pastures is sufficiently grown to make it judicious to turn out the cows, the best dairymen provide a supply of green fodder in the shape of winter rye, which, if cut while it is tender and succulent, and before it is half grown, will be greatly relished. Unless cut young, however, its stalk soon becomes hard and unpalatable.

All practical dairymen agree in saying that a warm and well-ventilated barn is indispensable to the promotion of the highest yield of milk in winter; and most agree that cows in milk should not be turned out, even to drink, in cold weather; all exposure to cold tending to lessen the yield of milk.

In the London dairies, in which, of course, the cows are fed so as to produce the largest flow of milk, the treatment is as follows: The cows are kept at night in stalls. About three A. M. each has a half-bushel of grains. When milking is finished, each receives a bushel of turnips (or mangolds), and shortly afterward, one tenth of a truss of hay of the best quality. This feeding occurs before eight A. M., when the animals are turned into the yard. Four hours after, they are again tied up in their stalls, and have another feed of grains. When the afternoon milking is over (about three P. M.), they are fed with a bushel of turnips, and after the lapse of an hour, hay is given them as before. This mode of feeding usually continues throughout the cool season, or from November to March. During the remaining months they are fed with grains, tares, and cabbages, and a proportion of rowen, or second-cut hay. They are supplied regularly until they are turned out to grass, when they pass the whole of the night in the field. The yield is about six hundred and fifty gallons a year for each cow.

Mr. Harley—whose admirable dairy establishment was erected for the purpose of supplying the city of Glasgow with a good quality of milk, and which has contributed more than any thing else to improve the quality of the milk furnished to all the principal cities of Great Britain—adopted the following system of feeding with the greatest profit: In the early part of the summer, young grass and green barley, the first cutting especially, mixed with a large proportion of old hay or straw, and a good quantity of salt to prevent swelling, were used. As summer advanced, less hay and straw were given, and as the grass approached ripeness, they were discontinued altogether; but young and wet clover was never given without an admixture of dry provender. When grass became scarce, young turnips and turnip leaves were steamed with hay, and formed a good substitute. As grass decreased, the turnips were increased, and at length became a complete substitute. As the season advanced, a large proportion of distillers' grains and wash was given with other food, but these were found to have a tendency to make the cattle grain-sick; and if this feeding were long-continued, the health of the cows became affected. Boiled linseed and short-cut wheat straw mixed with the grains, were found to prevent the cows from turning sick. As spring approached, Swedish turnips, when cheap, were substituted for yellow turnips. These two roots, steamed with hay and other mixtures, afforded safe food till grass was again in season. When any of the cows were surfeited, the food was withheld till the appetite returned, when a small quantity was given, and increased gradually to the full allowance.

But the most elaborate and valuable experiments in the feeding and management of milch cows, are those made, not long since, by Mr. T. Horsfall, of England, and published in the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society. His practice, though adapted more especially, perhaps, to his own section, is nevertheless of such general application and importance as to be worthy of attention. By his course of treatment he found that he could produce as much and as rich butter in winter as in summer.

His first object was to afford a full supply of the elements of food adapted to the maintenance, and also to the produce of the animal; and this could not be effected by the ordinary food and methods of feeding, since it is impossible to induce a cow to consume a quantity of hay requisite to supply the waste of the system, and keep up, at the same time, a full yield of the best quality of milk. He used, to some extent, cabbages, kohl rabi, mangolds, shorts, and other substances, rich in the constituents of cheese and butter. "My food for milch cows," says he, "after having undergone various modifications, has for two seasons consisted of rape cake five pounds, and bran two pounds, for each cow, mixed with a sufficient quantity of bean-straw, oat-straw, and shells of oats, in equal proportions, to supply them three times a day with as much as they will eat. The whole of the materials are moistened and blended together, and, after being well steamed, are given to the animal in a warm state. The attendant is allowed one pound to one pound and a half per cow, according to circumstances, of bean-meal, which he is charged to give to each cow in proportion to the yield of milk; those in full milk getting each two pounds per day, others but little. It is dry, and mixed with the steamed food on its being dealt out separately. When this is eaten up, green food is given, consisting of cabbages, from October to December, kohl rabi till February, and mangold till grass time, with a view to nicety of flavor. I limit the quantity of green food to thirty or thirty-five pounds per day for each. After each feed, four pounds of meadow hay, or twelve pounds per day, is given to each cow. They are allowed water twice a day, to the extent which they will drink."

Bean-straw uncooked having been found to be hard and unpalatable, it was steamed to make it soft and pulpy, when it possessed an agreeable odor, and imparted its flavor to the whole mass. It was cut for this purpose just before ripening, but after the bean was fully grown, and in this state was found to possess nearly double the amount of albuminous matter, so valuable to milch cows, of good meadow or upland hay. Bran or shorts is also vastly improved by steaming or soaking with hot water, when its nutriment is more readily assimilated. It contains about fourteen per cent. of albumen, and is rich in phosphoric acid. Rape-cake was found to be exceedingly valuable. Linseed and cotton-seed cake may probably be substituted for it in this country.

Mr. Horsfall turned his cows in May into a rich pasture, housing them at night, and giving them a mess of the steamed mixture and some hay morning and night; and from June to October they had cut grass in the stall, besides what they got in the pasture, and two feeds of the steamed mixture a day. After the beginning of October the cows were kept housed. With such management his cows generally yielded from twelve to sixteen quarts of milk (wine measure) a day, for about eight months after calving, when they fell off in milk, but gained in flesh, up to calving-time. In this course of treatment the manure was far better than the average, and his pastures constantly improved. The average amount of butter from every sixteen quarts of milk was twenty-five ounces—a proportion far larger than the average.

"ON THE RAMPAGE."

How widely does this course of treatment differ from that of most farmers! The object with many seems to be, to see with how little food they can keep the cow alive. From a correct point of view, the milch cow should be regarded as an instrument of transformation. The question should be—with so much hay, so much grain, so many roots, how can the most milk, or butter, or cheese, be made? The conduct of a manufacturer who owned good machinery, and an abundance of raw material, and had the labor at hand, would be considered very senseless, if he hesitated to supply the material, and keep the machinery at work, at least so long as he could run it with profit.

Stimulate the appetite, then, and induce the cow to eat, by a frequent change of diet, not merely enough to supply the constant waste of her system, but enough and to spare, of a food adapted to the production of milk of the quality desired.

SOILING.

Of the advantages of soiling milch cows—that is, feeding exclusively in the barn—there are yet many conflicting opinions. As to its economy of land and feed there can be no question, it being generally admitted that a given number of animals may be abundantly fed on a less space; nor is there much question as to the increased quantity of milk yielded in stall feeding. Its economy, in this country, turns rather upon the cost of labor and time; and the question raised by the dairyman is, whether it will pay—whether its advantages are sufficient to balance the extra expense of cutting and feeding, over and above cropping on the pasture. The importance of this subject has been strongly impressed upon the attention of farmers in many sections of the country, by a growing conviction that something must be done to improve the pastures, or that they must be abandoned altogether.

Thousands of acres of neglected pasture-land in the older States are so poor and worn out that from four to eight acres furnish but a miserable subsistence for a good-sized cow. No animal can flourish under such circumstances. The labor and exertion of feeding are too great, to say nothing of the vastly inferior quality of the grasses in such pastures, compared with those on more recently seeded lands. True economy would dictate that such pastures should either be allowed to run to wood, or be devoted to sheep-walks, or ploughed and improved. Cows, to be able to yield well, must have plenty of food of a sweet and nutritious quality; and, unless they find it, they wander over a large space, if at liberty, and thus deprive themselves of rest.

If a farmer or dairyman unfortunately owns such pastures, there can be no question that, as a matter of real economy, he had better resort to the soiling system for his milch cows; by which means he will largely increase his annual supply of good manure, and thus have the means of improving, and bringing his land to a higher state of cultivation. A very successful instance of this management occurs in the report of the visiting committee of an agricultural society in Massachusetts, in which they say: "We have now in mind a farmer in this county who keeps seven or eight cows in the stable through the summer, and feeds them on green fodder, chiefly Indian corn. We asked him his reasons for it. His answer was: 1. That he gets more milk than he can by any other method. 2. That he gets more manure, especially liquid manure. 3. That he saves it all, by keeping a supply of mud or mould under the stable, to be taken out and renewed as often as necessary. 4. That it is less troublesome than to drive his cows to pasture; that they are less vexed by flies, and have equally good health. 5. That his mowing land is every year growing more productive, without the expense of artificial manure.—He estimates that on an acre of good land twenty tons of green fodder may be raised. That which is dried is cut fine, and mixed with meal or shorts, and fed with profit. He believes that a reduced and worn-out farm—supposing the land to be naturally good—could be brought into prime order in five years, without any extra outlay of money for manure, by the use of green fodder in connection with the raising and keeping of pigs; not fattening them, but selling at the age of four or five months." He keeps most of his land in grass, improving its quality and productiveness by means of top-dressing, and putting money in his pocket—which is, after all, the true test both for theory and practice.

Another practical case on this point is that of a gentleman in the same State who had four cows, but not a rod of land on which to pasture them. They were, therefore, never out of the barn—or, at least, not out of the yard—and were fed with grass, regularly mown for them; with green Indian corn and fodder, which had been sown broadcast for the purpose; and with about three pints of meal a day. Their produce in butter was kept for thirteen weeks. Two of them were but two years old, having calved the same spring. All the milk of one of them was taken by her calf for six weeks out of the thirteen, and some of the milk of the other was taken for family use, the quantity of which was not measured. These heifers could not, therefore, be estimated as equal to more than one cow in full milk. And yet from these cows no less than three hundred and eighty-nine pounds of butter were made in the thirteen weeks. Another pound would have made an average of thirty pounds a week for the whole time.

It appears from these and other similar instances of soiling, or stall-feeding in summer on green crops cut for the purpose, that the largely increased quantity of the yield fully compensates for the slightly deteriorated quality. And not only is the quantity yielded by each cow increased, but the same extent of land, under the same culture, will carry double or treble the number of ordinary pastures, and keep them in better condition. There is also a saving of manure. But with us the economy of soiling is the exception, and not the rule.

In adopting this system of feeding, regularity is required as much as in any other, and a proper variety of food. A succession of green crops should be provided, as near as convenient to the stable. The first will naturally be winter rye, in the Northern States, as that shoots up with great luxuriance. Winter rape would probably be an exceedingly valuable addition to the plants usually cultivated for soiling in this country, in sections where it would withstand the severity of the winter. Cabbages, kept in the cellar or pit, and transplanted early, will also come in here to advantage, and clover will very soon follow them; oats, millet, and green Indian-corn, as the season advances; and, a little later still, perhaps, the Chinese sugar-cane, which should not be cut till headed out. These plants, in addition to other cultivated grasses, will furnish an unfailing succession of succulent and tender fodder; while the addition of a little Indian, linseed, or cotton-seed meal will be found economical.

In the vicinity of large towns and cities, where the object is too often to feed for the largest quantity, without reference to quality, an article known as distillers' swill, or still-slop, is extensively used. This, if properly fed in limited quantities, in combination with other and more bulky food, may be a valuable article for the dairyman; but, if given—as it too often is—without the addition of other kinds of food, it soon affects the health and constitution of the animals fed on it. This swill contains a considerable quantity of water, some nitrogenous compounds, and some inorganic matter in the shape of phosphates and alkaline salts found in the different kinds of grain of which it is made up, as Indian corn, wheat, barley, rye, and the like. Where this forms the principal food of milch cows, the milk is of a very poor quality—blue in color, and requiring the addition of coloring substances to make it saleable. It contains, often, less than one per cent. of butter, and seldom over one and three-tenths or one and a half per cent.—while good, saleable milk should contain from three to five per cent. It will not coagulate, it is said, in less than five or six hours; while good milk will invariably coagulate in an hour or less, under the same conditions. Its effect on the system of young children is, therefore, very destructive, causing diseases of various kinds, and, if continued, death.

So pernicious have been the consequences resulting from the use of this "swill-milk," as it is called, in the largest city of this country, that the Legislature of the State of New York, at a recent session (1861-2), interfered in behalf of the community by making the sale of the article a penal offence.

CULTURE OF GRASSES FOR FODDER.

As has been already stated, the grasses in summer, and hay in winter, form the most natural and important food for milch cows; and, whatever other crops come in as additional, these will form the basis of all systems of feeding.

The nutritive qualities of the grasses differ widely; and their value as feed for cows will depend, to a considerable extent, on the management of pastures and mowing-lands. Some considerations bearing upon the subject of the proper cultivation of these leading articles of food are, therefore, proposed in this article.

PATIENTLY WAITING.

If the turf of an old pasture is carefully examined, it will be found to contain a large variety of plants and grasses adapted for forage; some of them valuable for one purpose, and some for another. Some of them, though possessing a lower percentage of nutritive constituents than others, are particularly esteemed for an early and luxuriant growth, furnishing sweet feed in early spring, before other grasses appear; some of them, for starting more rapidly than others, after having been eaten off by cattle, and, consequently, of great value as pasture grasses. Most grasses will be found to be of a social character, and do best in a large mixture with other varieties.

In forming a mixture for pasture grasses, the peculiar qualities of each species should, therefore, be regarded: as the time of flowering, the habits of growth, the soil and location on which it grows best, and other characteristics.

Among the grasses found on cultivated lands in this country, the following are considered as among the most valuable for ordinary farm cultivation; some of them being adapted to pastures, and others almost exclusively to mowing and the hay-crop: Timothy, Meadow Foxtail, June or Kentucky Blue Grass, Fowl Meadow, Rough-stalked Meadow, Orchard Grass, Perennial Rye Grass, Italian Rye Grass, Redtop, English Bent, Meadow Fescue, Tall Oat Grass, Sweet-scented Vernal, Hungarian Grass, Red Clover, White or Dutch Clover, and some others.

Of these, the most valuable, all things considered, is Timothy. It forms a large proportion of what is commonly called English, or in some sections meadow, hay, though it originated and was first cultivated in this country. It contains a large percentage of nutritive matter, in comparison with other agricultural grasses. It thrives best on moist, peaty, or loamy soils, of medium tenacity, and is not well suited to very light, sandy lands. On very moist soils, its root is almost always fibrous; while on dry and loamy ones it is bulbous. On soils of the former description, which it especially affects, its growth is rapid, and its yield of hay large, sometimes amounting to three or four tons the acre, depending much, of course, upon cultivation. But, though very valuable for hay, it is not adapted for pasture, as it will neither endure severe grazing, nor is its aftermath to be compared with that of meadow foxtail, and some of the other grasses.

June Grass, better known in some sections as Kentucky Blue Grass, is very common in most sections of the country, especially on limestone lands, forming a large part of the turf, wherever it flourishes, and being held in universal esteem as a pasture grass. It starts early, but varies much in size and appearance, according to the soil; growing in some places with the utmost luxuriance, and forming the predominant grass; in others, yielding to the other species. If cut at the time of flowering, or a few days after, it makes a good and nutritious hay, though it is surpassed in nutritive qualities by several of the other grasses. It starts slowly after having been cut, especially if not cut very early. But its herbage is fine and uniform, and admirably adapted to lawns, growing well in almost all soils, though it does not endure very severe droughts. It withstands, however, the frosts of winter better than most other grasses.

In Kentucky—a section where it attains its highest perfection and luxuriance, ripening its seeds about the tenth of June—and in latitudes south of that, it sometimes continues green through the mild winters. It requires three or four years to become well set, after sowing, and it does not attain its highest yield as a pasture grass till the sod is even older than that. It is not, therefore, suited to alternate husbandry, where land usually remains in grass but two or three years before being ploughed up. In Kentucky, it is sown any time in winter when the sun is on the ground, three or four quarts of seed being used to the acre. In spring the seeds germinate, when the sprouts are exceedingly fine and delicate. Stock is not allowed on it the first year.

The Meadow Foxtail is also an excellent pasture grass It somewhat resembles Timothy, but is earlier, has a softer spike, and thrives on all soils except the dryest. Its growth is rapid, and it is greatly relished by stock of all kinds. Its stalks and leaves are too few and light for a field crop, and it shrinks too much in curing to be valuable for hay. It flourishes best in a rich, moist, and rather strong soil, sending up a luxuriant aftermath when cut or grazed off, which is much more valuable, both in quality and nutritive value, than the first crop. In all lands designed for permanent pasture, therefore, it should form a considerable part of a mixture. It will endure almost any amount of forcing, by liquid manures or irrigation. It requires three or four years, after soiling, to gain a firm footing in the soil. The seed is covered with the soft and woolly husks of the flower, and is consequently light; weighing but five pounds to the bushel, and containing seventy-six thousand seeds to the ounce.

The Orchard Grass, or Rough Cocksfoot, for pastures, stands pre-eminent. This is a native of this country, and was introduced into England, from Virginia, in 1764, since which time its cultivation has extended into every country of Europe, where it is universally held in very high estimation. The fact of its being very palatable to stock of all kinds, its rapid growth, and the luxuriance of its aftermath, with its power of enduring the cropping of cattle, have given it a very high reputation, especially as a pasture grass. It blossoms earlier than Timothy; when green, is equally relished by milch cows; requires to be fed closer, to prevent its forming tufts and growing up to seed, when it becomes hard and wiry, and loses much of its nutritive quality. As it blossoms about the same time, it forms an admirable mixture with red clover, either for permanent pasture or mowing. It resists drought, and is less exhausting to the soil than either rye grass or Timothy. The seed weighs twelve pounds to the bushel, and when sown alone requires about two bushels to the acre.

The Rough-Stalked Meadow Grass is somewhat less common than the June grass, but is considered equally valuable. It grows best on moist, sheltered meadows, where it flowers in June and July. It is readily distinguished from June grass by its having a rough sheath, while the latter has a smooth one, and by having a fibrous root, while the root of the other is creeping. It possesses very considerable nutritive qualities, and comes to perfection at a desirable time, and is exceedingly relished by cattle, horses and sheep. For suitable soils it should form a portion of a mixture of seeds, producing, in mixture with other grasses which serve to shelter it, a large yield of hay, far above the average of grass usually sown on a similar soil. It should be cut when the seed is formed. Seven pounds of seed to the acre will make a good sward. The grass loses about seventy per cent. of its weight in drying. The nutritive qualities of its aftermath exceed very considerably those of the crop cut in the flower or in the seed.

Fowl Meadow Grass is another indigenous species, of great value for low and marshy grounds, where it flourishes best; and, if cut and properly cured, makes a sweet and nutritious hay, which, from its fineness, is eaten by cows without waste. According to Sinclair—who experimented, with the aid of Sir Humphrey Davy, to ascertain its comparative nutritive properties—it is superior in this respect to either meadow foxtail, orchard grass, or tall meadow oat grass; but it is probable that he somewhat overrates it. If allowed to stand till nearly ripe, it falls down, but sends up innumerable flowering stems from the joints, so that it continues green and luxuriant till late in the season. It thrives best in mixture with other grasses, and deserves a prominent place in all mixtures for rich, moist pastures, and low mowing-lands.

Rye Grass has a far higher reputation abroad than in this country, and probably with reason; for it is better adapted to a wet and uncertain climate than to a dry and hot one. It varies exceedingly, depending much on soil and culture; but, when cut in the blossom to make into hay, it possesses very considerable nutritive power. If allowed to get too ripe, it is hard and wiry, and not relished by cows. The change from a juicy and nutritious plant to a woody fibre, containing but little soluble matter, is very rapid. Properly managed, however, it is a tolerably good grass, though not to be compared to Timothy, or orchard grass.

Redtop is a grass familiar to every farmer in the country. It is the Herd's grass of Pennsylvania, while in New York and New England it is known by a great variety of names and assumes a great variety of forms, according to the soil in which it grows. It is well adapted to almost every soil, though it seems to prefer a moist loam. It makes a profitable crop for spending, in the form of hay, though its yield is less than that of Timothy. It is well suited to our permanent pastures, where it should be fed close, otherwise it becomes wiry and innutritious, and cattle refuse it. It stands the climate of the country as well as any other grass, and so forms a valuable part of any mixture for pastures and permanent mowing-lands; but it is, probably, rather over rated by us.

English Bent, known also by a number of other names, is largely cultivated in some sections. It closely resembles redtop, but may be distinguished from it by the roughness of the sheaths when the hand is drawn from above downward. It possesses about the same qualities as redtop.

Meadow Fescue is one of the most common of the fescue grasses, and is said to be the Randall grass of Virginia. It is an excellent pasture grass, forming a very considerable portion of the turf of old pasture lands and fields; and is more extensively propagated and diffused from the fact that it ripens its seeds before most other grasses are cut, and sheds them to spring up and cover the ground. Its long and tender leaves are much relished by cattle. It is rarely sown in this country, notwithstanding its great and acknowledged value as a pasture grass. If sown at all, it should be in mixture with other grasses, as orchard grass, and rye grass, or June grass. It is of much greater value at the time of flowering than when the seed is ripe.

A CHANCE FOR A SELECTION.

The Tall Oat Grass is the Ray grass of France. It furnishes a luxuriant supply of foliage, is valuable either for hay or for pasture, and has been especially recommended for soiling purposes, on account of its early and luxuriant growth. It is often found on the borders of fields and hedges, woods and pastures, and is sometimes very plenty in mowing-lands. After having been mown it shoots up a very thick aftermath, and, on this account, partly, is regarded of nearly equal excellence with the common foxtail.

It grows spontaneously on deep, sandy soils, when once naturalized. It has been cultivated to a considerable extent in this country, and is esteemed by those who know it mainly for its early, rapid, and late growth, making it very well calculated as a permanent pasture grass. It will succeed on tenacious clover soil.

The Sweet-Scented Vernal Grass is one of the earliest in spring and one of the latest in autumn; and this habit of growth is one of its chief excellencies, as it is neither a nutritious grass, nor very palatable to stock of any kind, nor does it yield a very good crop. It is very common in New England and all over the Middle States, coming into old worn-out fields and moist pastures spontaneously, and along every roadside. It derives its name from its sweetness of odor when partially wilted or crushed in the hand, and it is this chiefly which gives the delicious fragrance to all new-mown bay. It is almost the only grass that possesses a strongly-marked aromatic odor, which is imparted to other grasses with which it is cured. Its seed weighs eight pounds to the bushel. In mixtures for permanent pastures it may be of some value.

Hungarian Grass, or millet, is an annual forage plant, introduced into France in 1815, and more recently into this country. It germinates readily, and withstands the drought remarkably, remaining green when other grasses are parched and dried up. It has numerous succulent leaves which furnish an abundance of sweet fodder, greatly relished by stock of all kinds. It attains its greatest luxuriance on soils of medium consistency and richness, but does very well on light and dry plains.

Red Clover is an artificial grass of the leguminous family, and one of the most valuable cultivated plants for feeding to dairy cows. It flourishes best on tenacious soils and stiff loams. Its growth is rapid, and a few months after sowing are sufficient to supply an abundant sweet and nutritious food. In the climate of New England, clover should be sown in the spring of the year, while most of the natural grasses do far better when sown in the fall. It is often sown with perfect success on the late snows of March or April, and soon finds its way down into the soil and takes a vigorous hold with its root. It is valuable not only as a forage plant, but as shading the ground, and thereby increasing its fertility.

The introduction of clover among the cultivated plants of the farm has done more, perhaps, for modern agriculture than that of any other single plant. It is now considered indispensable in all good dairy districts.

White Clover, often called Honeysuckle, is also widely diffused over this country, to which it is undoubtedly indigenous. As a mixture in all pasture grasses it holds a very high rank, as it is exceedingly sweet and nutritious, and relished by all kinds of stock. It grows most luxuriantly in moist grounds and moist seasons, but easily accommodates itself to a great variety of circumstances.

With respect to the mixtures of grass-seeds most profitable for the dairy farmer, no universal rule can be given, as they depend very much upon the nature of the soil and the locality. The most important point to be observed, and the one as to which, probably, the greatest deficiency exists, is to use a large number of species, with smaller quantities of each than those most commonly used. This is Nature's rule; for, in examining the turf of a rich old pasture, a large number of different species will be found growing together, while, if the turf of a field sown without two or three species is examined, a far less number of plants is found to the square foot, even after the sod is fairly set. In the opinion of the most competent judges, no improvement in grass culture is more important than this.

As an instance of what he would consider an improvement on the ordinary mixtures for permanent pastures, Mr. Flint, in his "Milch Cows and Dairy Farming," suggests the following as likely to give satisfactory results, dependent, of course, to a considerable extent, on the nature and preparation of the soil:

Meadow Foxtail,	flowering	in	May and June,	2	pounds
Orchard Grass,	"	"	""	6	"
Sweet-scented Vernal,	"	"	April and May,	1	"
Meadow Fescue,	"	"	May and June,	2	"
Redtop,	"	"	June and July,	2	"
June Grass,	"	"	May and June,	4	"
Italian Rye Grass,	"	"	June,	4	"
Perennial do.,	"	"	"	6	"
Timothy,	"	"	June and July,	3	"
Rough-stalked Meadow Grass,			""	2	"
Perennial Clover,	flowering	in	June,	3	"
White Clover,	"	"	May to September	5-40	"

For mowing-lands the mixture would, of course, be somewhat changed. The meadow foxtail and sweet-scented vernal would be left out entirely, and some six or eight pounds added to the Timothy and red clover. The proper time to lay down lands to grass in the latitude of New England is August or September, and no grain crop should be sown with the seed.

Stiff or clayey pastures should never be overstocked, but when fed pretty close the grasses are far sweeter and more nutritious than when they are allowed to grow up rank and coarse; and if, by a want of sufficient feeding, they get the start of the stock, and grow into rank tufts, they should be cut and removed, when a fresh grass will start up, similar to the aftermath of mowing-lands, which will be eaten with avidity. Grasses for curing into hay should be cut either at the time of flowering, or just before, especially if designed for milch cows. They are then more succulent and juicy, and, if properly cured, form the sweetest food.

Grass cut in the blossom will make more milk than if allowed to stand later. Cut a little before the blossoming; it will make more than when in blossom, and the cows prefer it, which is by no means an unimportant consideration, since their tastes should always be consulted. Grass cut somewhat green, and properly cured, is next to fresh, green grass in palatable, nutritive qualities. Every farmer knows the milk-producing properties of rowen, or second crop, which is generally cut before it ripens.

No operation on the farm is of greater importance to the dairyman than the cutting of his grass and the manner of curing hay; and in this respect the practice over the country generally is susceptible of very marked improvement. The chief object is to preserve the sweetness and succulence of the grass in its natural state, so far as possible; and this object cannot be attained by exposing it too long to the scorching suns and drenching rains to which our climate is liable. As a general thing, farmers try to make their hay too much.

As to the best modes of curing clover, the following, among others, is adopted by many successful farmers: What is mown in the morning is left in the swath, to be turned over early in the afternoon. At about four o'clock, or while it is still warm, it is put into small cocks with a fork, and, if the weather is favorable, it may be housed on the fourth or fifth day, the cocks being turned over on the morning of the day in which it is to be carted. By this method all the heads and leaves are saved, and these are more valuable than the stems. For new milch cows in winter scarcely any food is better. It will cause them to give as great a flow of milk as any hay, unless it be good rowen.

Indian Corn makes an exceedingly valuable fodder, both as a means of carrying a herd of milch cows through our severe droughts of summer, and as an article for soiling cows kept in the stall. No dairy farmer will neglect to sow an extent in proportion to the number of cows which he keeps. The most common practice is, to sow in drills from two and a half to three feet apart, on land well tilled and thoroughly manured, making the drills from six to ten inches wide with the plough, manuring in the furrow, dropping the kernels about two inches apart, and covering with the hoe. In this mode of culture, the cultivator may be used between the rows when the corn is from six to twelve inches high, and, unless the ground is very weedy, no other after culture is needed. The first sowing usually takes place about the middle of May, and this is succeeded by other sowings, at intervals of a week or ten days, till July, in order to have a succession of green fodder; but, if it is designed to cut it up to cure for winter use, an early sowing is generally preferred, in order to be able to cure it in warm weather, in August or early in September. Sown in this way, about three or four bushels of corn are required for an acre; since, if sown thickly, the fodder is better, the stalks smaller, and the waste less.

The chief difficulty in curing corn cultivated for this purpose, and after the methods just spoken of, arises from the fact that it comes at a season when the weather is often colder, the days shorter, and the dews heavier, than when the curing of hay takes place. Nor is the curing of corn cut up green so easy and simple as that of the drying of stalks of Indian corn cut above the ear, as in the common practice of topping. The plant is then riper, less juicy, and cures more readily.

The method sometimes adopted is to cut and tie into small bundles, after it is somewhat wilted, and then to stook upon the ground, where it is allowed to stand, subject to all the changes of weather, with only the protection of the stook itself. The stooks consist of bunches of stalks first bound into small bundles, and are made sufficiently large to prevent the wind from blowing them over. The arms are thrown around the tops to bring them as closely together as possible, when the tops are broken over or twisted together, or otherwise fastened, in order to make the stook "shed the rain" as well as possible. In this condition they remain out until they are sufficiently dried to be put in the barn. Corn fodder is very excellent for young dairy stock.

Common Millet is another very valuable crop for fodder in soiling, or to cure for winter use, but especially to feed out during the usual season of drought. Many varieties of millet are cultivated in this country, the ground being prepared and treated as for oats. If designed to cut for green fodder, half a bushel of seed to the acre should be used; if to ripen seed, twelve quarts, sown broadcast, about the last of May or early in June. A moist loam or muck is the best soil adapted to millet; but very great crops have been grown on dry upland. It is very palatable and nutritious for milch cows, both green and when properly cured. The curing should be very much like that of clover, care being taken not to over-dry it. For fodder, either green or cured, it is cut before ripening. In this state all cattle eat it as readily as green corn, and a less extent will feed them. Millet is worthy of a widely-extended cultivation, particularly on dairy farms. Indian millet is another cultivated variety.

Rye, as a fodder plant, is chiefly valuable for its early growth in spring. It is usually sown in September or October—from the middle to the end of September being, perhaps, the most desirable time—on land previously cultivated and in good condition. If designed to ripen only, a bushel of seed is required to the acre, evenly sown; but, if intended for early fodder in spring, two or two and a half bushels of seed per acre should be used. On warm land the rye can be cut green the last of April or the first of May. Care should be taken to cut early; since, if it is allowed to advance too far towards maturity, the stalk becomes hard and unpalatable to cows.

Oats are also sometimes used for soiling, or for feeding green, to eke out a scanty supply of pasture feed; and for this purpose they are valuable. They should be sown on well-tilled and well-manured land, about four bushels to the acre, towards the last of April or the first of May. If the whole crop is to be used as green fodder, five bushels of seed will not be too much for good, strong soil. They will be sufficiently grown to cut by the first of July, or in some sections earlier, depending upon the location.

The Chinese Sugar-Cane also may deserve attention as a fodder plant. Experiments thus far made would seem to show that when properly cultivated, and cut at the right time, it is a palatable and nutritious plant, while many of the failures have been the result of too early cutting. For a fodder crop the drill culture is preferable, both on account of the larger yield obtained and because it is thus prevented from becoming too hard and stalky.

Of the root crops the Potato is the first to be mentioned. This produces a large quantity of milk, though the quality is inferior. The market value of this root is, at times, too great to allow of feeding extensively with it, even in milk dairies, where it is most valuable as a food for cows; still, there are locations where it may be judicious to cultivate this root for dairy feed, and in all circumstances there is a certain portion of the crop of unmarketable size, which will be of value fed to milch cows or swine. It should be planted in April or May, but in many sections in June, on good mellow soil, first thoroughly plowed and harrowed, then furrowed three feet apart, and manured in the furrows with a mixture of ashes, plaster of Paris, and salt. The seed may be dropped in the furrows, one foot apart, after the drill system—or in hills, two and a half or three feet apart—to be covered with the plough by simply turning the furrows back, after which the whole should be rolled with the field-roller, when it can be done.

If the land is not already in good heart from continued cultivation, a few loads of barnyard manure may be spread, and plowed under, by the first plowing. Used in this way it is far less liable to cause the rot, than when it is put in the hill. If a sufficient quantity of wood-ashes is not at hand, sifted coal-ashes will answer the purpose, and these are said to be valuable as a preventive of rot. In this way, one man, two boys, and a horse can plant from three to four acres a day on mellow land.

By another method two acres a day on the sod have been planted. The manure is first spread upon the grass, and then a furrow made by a yoke of oxen and one man, another following after and dropping, a foot apart, along the outer edge of the furrow on the grass. By quick work, one hand can nearly keep up with the plow in dropping. When arrived at the end of the piece, a back furrow is turned up to the potatoes, and a good plowman will cover nearly all without difficulty. On the return furrow, the man or boy who dropped follows after, covering up any that may be left or displaced, and smoothing off the top of the back-furrows when necessary. Potatoes thus planted have come out finely.

The cost of cultivation in this mode, it must be evident, is but trifling, compared with the slower method of hand-planting. It requires a skillful ploughman, a quick, active lad, and a good yoke of oxen, and the extent of the work will depend somewhat upon the state of the turf. The nutritive equivalent for potatoes in a hundred pounds of good hay is 319 pounds; that is, it will take 3.19 pounds of potatoes to afford the same amount of nourishment as one pound of hay. The great value of roots is as a change or condiment calculated to keep the animal in a healthy condition.

A WEST HIGHLAND OX.

The Carrot is somewhat extensively fed, and is a valuable root for milch cows. This, like the potato, has been cultivated and improved from a wild plant. Carrots require a deep, warm, mellow soil, thoroughly cultivated, but clean, and free from weed-seed. The difference between a very good profit and a loss on the crop depends much upon the use of land and manures perfectly free from foul seeds of any kind. Ashes, guano, seaweed, ground bones, and other similar substances, or thoroughly-rotted and fermented compost, will answer the purpose.

After plowing deep, and harrowing carefully, the seed should be planted with a seed-sower, in drills about eighteen inches apart, at the rate of four pounds to the acre, about the middle of May. The difference between sowing on the fifteenth of May and on the tenth of June in New England is said to be nearly one-third in the crop on an average of years. In weeding, a little wheel hoe is invaluable, as with it a large part of the labor of cultivation is saved. A skillful hand can run this hoe within a half an inch of the young plants without injury, and go over a large space in the course of a day, if the land was properly prepared in the first place.

The American farmer should always plan to economize labor, which is the great item of expense upon a farm. By this is not meant that he should strive to shirk or avoid work, but that he should make the least amount of work accomplish the greatest and most profitable results. Labor-saving machinery on the farm is applied, not to reduce the number of hours of labor, or to make the owner a man of leisure—who is, generally, the unhappiest man in the world—but to enable him to accomplish the greatest results in the same time that he would be compelled to obtain smaller ones.

Carrots will continue to grow and increase in size late into the fall. When ready to dig, plow around as near to the outside rows as possible, turning away the furrow from the row. Then take out the carrots, pulling off the tops, and throw the carrots and tops into separate heaps on the plowed furrows. In this way a man and two boys can harvest and put into the cellar upwards of a hundred bushels a day.

The Turnip, and the Swedish turnip, or ruta baga, are also largely cultivated as a field crop to feed to stock; and for this purpose almost numberless varieties are used, furnishing a great amount of succulent and nutritious food, late into winter, and, if well-kept, late into spring. The chief objection to the turnip is, that it taints the milk. This may be remedied—to a considerable extent, if not wholly—by the use of salt, or salt hay, and by feeding at the time of milking, or immediately after, or by steaming before feeding, or putting a small quantity of the solution of nitre into the pail, and milking upon it.

Turnips may be sown any time in June, in rich land, well mellowed by cultivation. Very large crops are obtained, sown as late as the middle of July, or the first of August, on an inverted sod. The Michigan, or double-mould-board plow leaves the land light, and in admirable condition to harrow, and drill in turnips. In one instance, a successful root-grower cut two tons of hay to the acre, on the twenty-third of June, and after it was removed from the land spread eight cords of rotten kelp to the acre, and plowed in; after which about three cords of fine old compost manure were used to the acre, which was sown with ruta baga seed, in drills, three feet apart, plants thinned to eight or ten inches in the drill. No after cultivation was required. On the fifteenth of November he harvested three hundred and seventy bushels of splendid roots to the acre, carefully measured off.

The nutritive equivalent of Swedish turnips as compared with good meadow hay is 676, taking hay as a standard at 100; that is, it would require 6.76 pounds of turnips to furnish the same nutriment as one pound of good hay; but fed in connection with other food—as hay, for example—perhaps five pounds of turnips would be about equal to one pound of hay.

The English or round turnip is usually sown broadcast after some other crop, and large and valuable returns are often obtained. The Swede is sown in drills. Both of these varieties are used for the production of milk.

The chief objection to the turnip crop is that it leaves many kinds of soil unfit for a succession of some other crops, like Indian corn, for instance. In some sections, no amount of manuring appears to make corn do well after turnips or ruta bagas.

The Mangold Wurtzel, a variety of the common beet, is often cultivated in this country with great success, and fed to cows with advantage, furnishing a succulent and nutritive food in winter and spring. The crop is somewhat uncertain. When it does well, an enormous yield is often obtained; but, not rarely, it proves a failure, and is not, on the whole, quite as reliable as the ruta baga, though a more valuable crop when the yield is good. It is cultivated like the common beet in moist, rich soils; three pounds of seed to the acre The leaves may be stripped off, towards fall, and fed out, without injury to the growth of the root. Both mangolds and turnips should be cut with a root-cutter, before being fed out.

The Parsnip is a very sweet and nutritious article of fodder, and adds richness and flavor to the milk. It is worthy of extended culture in all parts of the country where dairy husbandry is pursued. It is a biennial, easily raised on deep, rich, well-cultivated and well-manured soils, often yielding enormous crops, and possessing the decided advantage of withstanding the severest winters. As an article of spring feeding, therefore, it is exceedingly valuable. Sown in April or May, it attains a large growth before winter. Then, if desirable, a part of the crop may be harvested for winter use, and the remainder left in the ground till the frost is out, in March or April, when they can be dug as wanted, and are exceedingly relished by milch cows and stock of all kinds. They make an admirable feed at the time of milking, and produce the richest cream, and the yellowest and finest-flavored butter, of any roots used among us. The best dairy farmers on the Island of Jersey often feed to their cows from thirty to thirty-five pounds of parsnips a day, in addition to hay or grass.

Both practical experiment and scientific analysis prove this root to be eminently adapted to dairy stock, where the richness of milk or fine-flavored butter is any object. For mere milk-dairies, it is not quite so valuable, probably, as the Swedish turnip. The culture is similar to that of carrots, a rich, mellow, and deep loam being best; while it has a great advantage over the carrot in being more hardy, and rather less liable to injury from insects, and more nutritive. For feeding and fattening stock it is eminently adapted.

To be sure of a crop, fresh seed must be had, as it cannot be depended on for more than one year. For this reason the largest and straightest roots should be allowed to stand for seed, which, as soon as nearly ripe, should be taken out and spread out to dry, and carefully kept for use. For field culture, the hollow-crowned parsnip is the best and most profitable; but on thin, shallow soils the turnip-rooted variety should be used. Parsnips may be harvested like carrots, by plowing along the rows. Let butter or cheese dairymen give this crop a fair and full trial, and watch its effect in the quality of the milk and butter.

The Kohl Rabi is also cultivated to a considerable extent in this country for the purpose of feeding stock. It is supposed to be a hybrid between the cabbage and the turnip and is often called the cabbage-turnip, having the root of the former, with a turnip-like or bulbous stem. The special reason for its more extensive cultivation among us is its wonderful indifference to droughts, in which it seems to flourish best, and to bring forth the most luxuriant crops. It also withstands the frosts remarkably, being a hardy plant. It yields a somewhat richer quality of milk than the ordinary turnip, and the crop is generally admitted to be as abundant and profitable. Very large crops of it have been produced by the ordinary turnip or cabbage cultivation. As in cabbage-culture, it is best to sow the seed in March or April, in a warm and well-enriched seed-bed; from which it is transplanted in May, and set out after the manner of cabbages in garden culture. It bears transplanting better than most other roots. Insects injure it less than the turnip, dry weather favors it, and it keeps well through winter. For these reasons, it must be regarded as a valuable addition to our list of forage plants adapted to dairy farming. It grows well on stronger soils than the turnip requires.

Linseed Meal is the ground cake of flaxseed after the oil is pressed out. It is very rich in fat-forming principles, and given to milch cows increases the quality of butter, and keeps them in condition. Four or five pounds a day are sufficient for cows in milk, and this amount will effect a great saving in the cost of other food, and at the same time make a very rich milk. It is extensively manufactured in this country, and largely exported, but it is worthy of more general use here. It must not be fed in too large quantities to milch cows, for it would be liable to give too great a tendency to fat, and thus affect the quantity of the milk.

Cotton-seed Meal is an article of comparatively recent introduction. It is obtained by pressing the seed of the cotton-plant, which extracts the oil, when the cake is crushed or ground into meal, which has been found to be a very valuable article for feeding stock. From analysis it is shown to be equal or superior to linseed meal. Practical experiments only are needed to establish it. It can be procured in market at a reasonable price.

The Manures used in this country for the culture of the above named plants are mostly such as are made on the farm, consisting chiefly of barnyard composts of various kinds, with often a large admixture of peat-mud. There are few farms that do not contain substances, which, if properly husbanded, would add very greatly to the amount of manure ordinarily made. The best of the concentrated manures, which it is sometimes necessary to use, for want of time and labor to prepare enough upon the farm, is, unquestionably, Peruvian guano. The results of this, when properly applied, are well known and reliable, which can hardly be said of any other artificial manure offered for the farmer's notice. The chief objection to depending upon manures made off the farm is, in the first place, their great expense; and in the second—which is equally important—the fact, that, though they may be made valuable, and produce at one time the best results, a want of care in the manufacture, or designed fraud, may make them almost worthless, with the impossibility of detecting the imposition, without a chemical analysis, till it becomes too late, and the crop is lost.

It is, therefore, safest to rely mainly upon the home manufacture of manure. The extra expense of soiling cattle, saving and applying the liquid manure, and thus bringing the land to a higher state of cultivation, when it will be capable of keeping more stock and furnishing more manure, would offer a surer road to success than a constant outlay for concentrated fertilizers.

THE BARN.

The farm barn, next to the farm house, is the most important structure of the farm itself, in the Northern and Middle States; and even at the South and Southwest, where barns are less used, they are of more importance in the economy of farm management than is generally understood. Indeed, to the eyes of a person of taste, a farm or plantation appears incomplete, without good barn accommodations, as much as without good household appointments—and without them, no agricultural establishment can be complete in all its proper economy.

The most thorough barn structures, perhaps, to be seen in the United States, are those of the State of Pennsylvania, built by the German farmers of the lower and central counties. They are large, and expensive in their construction; and, in a strictly economical point of view, are, perhaps, more costly than is required. Yet, there is a substantial durability about them, that is exceedingly satisfactory, and, where the pecuniary ability of the farmer will admit, they may well furnish models for imitation.

In the structure of the barn, and in its interior accommodation, much will depend upon the branches of agriculture to which the farm is devoted. A farm cultivated in grain chiefly requires but little room for stabling purposes. Storage for grain in the sheaf, and granaries, will require its room; while a stock farm requires a barn with extensive hay storage, and stables for its cattle, horses, and sheep, in all climates which do not admit of such stocks living through the winter in the field, as is the case in the great grazing districts west of the Alleghanies. Again, there are wide districts of country where a mixed husbandry of grain and stock is pursued, which require barns and outbuildings accommodating both.

It may be well here to remark that many designers of barns, sheds, and other outbuildings for the accommodation of farm stock, have indulged in fanciful arrangements for the comfort and convenience of animals, which are so complicated that when constructed, as they sometimes are, the practical, common-sense farmer will not use them; and by reason of the learning which is required for their use, they are altogether unsuitable for the treatment and use which they generally receive from those who have the daily care of the stock for which they are intended, and for the rough usage which they experience from the animals themselves. A very pretty and plausible arrangement of stabling, feeding, and all the other requirements of a barn establishment may be thus got up by an ingenious theorist at the fireside, which will work charmingly as he dilates upon its good qualities, untried; but, which, when subjected to experiment, will be utterly worthless for practical use. There can be no doubt that the simplest plan of construction, consistent with an economical expenditure of the material of food for the consumption of stock, is by far the most preferable.

Another item to be considered in this connection, is the comparative value of the stock, the forage fed to them, and the labor expended in feeding and taking care of them. To illustrate: Suppose a farm to lie in the vicinity of a large town or city. Its value is, perhaps, a hundred dollars an acre. The hay cut upon it is worth fifteen dollars a ton, at the barn, and straw and coarse grains in proportion, and hired labor ten or twelve dollars a month. Consequently, the manager of this farm should use all the economy in his power, by the aid of cutting-boxes and other machinery, to make the least amount of forage supply the wants of his stock; and the internal economy of his barn should be arranged accordingly, since labor is his cheapest item, and food his dearest. Therefore, any contrivance by which to work up his forage the closest—by way of machinery, or manual labor—so that it shall serve the purposes of keeping his stock, is true economy; and the making and saving of manures are items of the first importance. His buildings and their arrangements throughout should, for these reasons, be constructed in accordance with his practice.

If, on the other hand, lands are cheap and productive, and labor comparatively dear, a different practice will prevail. The farmer will feed his hay from the mow without cutting. The straw will be stacked out, and the cattle turned to it, to pick what they like of it, and make their beds of the remainder; or, if it is housed, he will throw it into racks, and the stock may eat what they choose. To do this requires but one-third, or one-half of the labor which is required by the other mode, and the saving in this makes up, and perhaps more than makes up, for the increased quantity of forage consumed.

Again, climate may equally affect the mode of winter-feeding the stock. The winters may be mild. The hay may be stacked in the fields when gathered, or put into small barns built for hay storage alone; and the manure, scattered over the fields by the cattle, as they are fed from either of them, may be knocked to pieces with the dung-beetle, in the spring, or harrowed and bushed over the ground; and with the very small quantity of labor required in all this, such practice will be more economical than any other which can be adopted.

In latitudes, however, in which it becomes necessary to stall-feed during several months of the year, barns are indispensable. These should be warm, and at the same time well ventilated. The barn should be arranged in a manner suitable to keeping hay and other fodder dry and sweet, and with reference to the comfort and health of the animals, and the economy of labor and manure. The size and finish will, of course, depend on the wants and means of the farmer or dairyman; but many little conveniences, it should not be forgotten, can be added at comparatively trifling cost.

The accompanying cut of a barn is given merely as an illustration of a convenient arrangement for a medium-sized dairy, and not as being adapted to all circumstances or situations. This barn is supposed to stand upon a side-hill or an inclined surface, where it is easy to have a cellar, if desired; and the cattle-room, as shown in the cut, is in the second story, or directly over the cellar, the bottom of which should be somewhat dished, or lower in the middle than around the outer sides, and carefully paved, or laid in cement.

BARN FOR THIRTY-FOUR COWS AND THREE YOKE OF OXEN.

On the outside is represented an open shed, m, for carts and wagons to remain under cover, thirty feet by fifteen, while llllll are bins for vegetables, to be filled through scuttles from the floor of the story above, and surrounded by solid walls. The area of this whole floor equals one hundred feet by fifty-seven. k, is an open space, nearly on a level with the cow-chamber, through the door p. s, stairs to the third story and to the cellar, ddd, passage next to the walls, five feet wide, and nine inches above the dung-pit. eee, dung-pit, two feet wide, and seven inches below the floor where the cattle stand. The manure drops from this pit into the cellar below, five feet from the walls, and quite around the cellar. ccc, plank floor for cows, four feet six inches long. bbb, stalls for three yoke of oxen, on a platform five feet six inches long, nn, calf-pens, which may also be used for cows in calving. rr, feeding-troughs for calves. The feeding-boxes are made in the form of trays, with partitions between them. Water comes in by a pipe, to cistern a. This cistern is regulated by a cock and ball, and the water flows by dotted lines, ooo, to the boxes; each box being connected by lead pipes well secured from frost, so that, if desired, each animal can be watered without leaving the stall, or water can be kept constantly before it. A scuttle, through which sweepings and refuse may be put into the cellar, is seen at f. g is a bin receiving cut hay from the third story, or hay-room, hhhhhh, bins for grain-feed. i is a tunnel to conduct manure or muck from the hay-floor to the cellar. jj, sliding-doors on wheels. The cows all face toward the open area in the centre.

This cow-room may be furnished with a thermometer, clock, etc., and should always be well ventilated by sliding windows, which at the same time admit the light.

The next cut is a transverse section of the same cow-room; a being a walk behind the cows, five feet wide; b, dung-pit; c, cattle-stand; d, feeding-trough, with a bottom on a level with the platform where the cattle stand; k, open area, forty-three feet, by fifty-six.

TRANSVERSE SECTION.

The story above the cow-room—as represented in the next cut—is one hundred feet by forty-two; the bays for hay, ten on each side, being ten feet front and fifteen feet deep; and the open space, p, for the entrance of wagons, carts, etc., twelve feet wide. b, hay-scales. c, scale beam. mmmmmm, ladders reaching almost to the roof. lll, etc., scuttle-holes for sending vegetables directly to the bins, lll, etc., below. aabb, rooms on the corners for storage. d, scuttles; four of which are used for straw, one for cut hay, and one for muck for the cellar. n and the other small squares are eighteen-feet posts. f, passage to the tool-house, a room one hundred feet long by eighteen wide. o, stairs leading to the scaffold in the roof of the tool-house. ii, benches. g, floor. h, boxes for hoes, shovels, spades, picks, iron bars, old iron, etc. jjj, bins for fruit. k, scuttles to put apples into wagons, etc., in the shed below. One side of this tool-house may be used for plows and large implements, hay-rigging, harness, etc.

Proper ventilation of the cellar and the cow-room avoids the objection that the hay is liable to injury from noxious gases.

ROOM OVER THE COW-ROOM.

The excellent manure-cellar beneath this barn extends only under the cow-room. It has a drive-way through doors on each side. No barn-cellar should be kept shut up tight, even in cold weather. The gases are constantly escaping from the manure, unless held by absorbents, which are liable not only to affect the health of the stock, but also to injure the quality of the hay. To prevent this, while securing the important advantages of a manure-cellar, the barn may be furnished with good-sized ventilators on the top, for every twenty-five feet of its length, and with wooden tubes leading from the cellar to the top.

There should also be windows on different sides of the cellar to admit the free circulation of air. With these precautions, together with the use of absorbents in the shape of loam and muck, there will be no danger of rotting the timbers of the barn, or of risking the health of the cattle or the quality of the hay.

The temperature at which the cow-room should be kept is somewhere from fifty to sixty degrees, Fahrenheit. The practice and the opinions of successful dairymen differ somewhat on this point. Too great heat would affect the health and appetite of the herd; while too low a temperature is equally objectionable, for various reasons.

The most economical plan for room in tying cattle in their stalls, is to fasten the rope or chain, whichever is used—the wooden stanchion, or stanchel, as it is called, to open and shut, enclosing the animal by the neck, being objectionable—into a ring, which is secured by a strong staple into a post. This prevents the cattle from interfering with each other, while a partition effectually prevents any contact from the animals on each side of it, in the separate stalls.

There is no greater benefit for cattle, after coming into winter-quarters, than a systematic regularity in every thing pertaining to them. Every animal should have its own particular stall in the stable, where it should always be kept. The cattle should be fed and watered at certain fixed hours of the day, as near as may be. If let out of the stables for water, unless the weather is very pleasant—when they may be permitted to lie out for a short time—they should be immediately put back, and not allowed to range about with the outside cattle. They are more quiet and contented in their stables than elsewhere, and waste less food than if permitted to run out; besides being in every way more comfortable, if properly bedded and attended to, as every one will find upon trial. The habit which many farmers have, of turning their cattle out of the stables in the morning, in all weathers—letting them range about in a cold yard, hooking and annoying each other—is of no possible benefit, unless it be to rid them of the trouble of cleaning the stables, which pays more than twice its cost in the saving of manure. The outside cattle, which occupy the yard—if there are any—are all the better that the stabled ones do not interfere with them. They become habituated to their own quarters, as do the others, and all are better for being, respectively, in their proper places.

MILKING.

The manner of milking exerts a more powerful and lasting influence on the productiveness of the cow than most farmers are aware. That a slow and careless milker soon dries up the best of cows, every practical farmer and dairyman knows; but a careful examination of the beautiful structure of the udder will serve further to explain the proper mode of milking, in order to obtain and keep up the largest yield.

The udder of a cow consists of four glands, disconnected from each other, but all contained within one bag or cellular membrane; and these glands are uniform in structure. Each gland consists of three parts: the glandular, or secreting part, tubular or conducting part, and the teats, or receptacle, or receiving part. The glandular forms by far the largest portion of the udder. It appears to the naked eye composed of a mass of yellowish grains; but under the microscope these grains are found to consist entirely of minute blood-vessels forming a compact plexus, or fold. These vessels secrete the milk from the blood. The milk is abstracted from the blood in the glandular part; the tubes receive and deposit it in the reservoir, or receptacle; and the sphincter at the end of the teat retains it there until it is wanted for use.

This must not be understood, however, as asserting that all the milk drawn from the udder at one milking is contained in the receptacle. The milk, as it is secreted, is conveyed to the receptacle, and when that is full, the larger tubes begin to be filled, and next the smaller ones, until the whole become gorged. When this takes place, the secretion of the milk ceases, and absorption of the thinner or more watery part commences. Now, as this absorption takes place more readily in the smaller or more distant tubes, it is invariably found that the milk from these, which comes last into the receptacle, is much thicker and richer than what was first drawn off. This milk has been significantly styled afterings, or strippings; and should this gorged state of the tubes be permitted to continue beyond a certain time, serious mischief will sometimes occur; the milk becomes too thick to flow through the tubes, and soon produces, first irritation, then inflammation, and lastly suppuration, and the function of the gland is materially impaired or altogether destroyed. Hence the great importance of emptying these smaller tubes regularly and thoroughly, not merely to prevent the occurrence of disease, but actually to increase the quantity of milk; for, so long as the smaller tubes are kept free, milk is constantly forming; but whenever, as has already been mentioned, they become gorged, the secretion of milk ceases until they are emptied. The cow herself has no power over the sphincter at the end of her teat, so as to open it, and relieve the overcharged udder; neither has she any power of retaining the milk collected in the reservoirs when the spasm of the sphincter is overcome.

Thus is seen the necessity of drawing away the last drop of milk at every milking; and the better milker the cow, the more necessary this is. What has been said demonstrates, also, the impropriety of holding the milk in cows until the udder is distended much beyond its ordinary size, for the sake of showing its capacity for holding milk—a device to which many dealers in cows resort.

Thus much of the internal structure of the udder. Its external form requires attention, because it indicates different properties. Its form should be spheroidal, large, giving an idea of capaciousness; the bag should have a soft, fine skin, and the hind part upward toward the tail be loose and elastic. There should be fine, long hairs scattered plentifully over the surface, to keep it warm. The teats should not seem to be contracted, or funnel-shaped, at the inset with the bag. In the former state, teats are very apt to become corded, or spindled; and in the latter, too much milk will constantly be pressing on the lower tubes, or receptacle. They should drop naturally from the lower parts of the bag, being neither too short, small, or dumpy, or long, flabby, and thick, but, perhaps, about three inches in length, and so thick as just to fill the hand. They should hang as if all the quarters of the udder were equal in size, the front quarters projecting a little forward, and the hind ones a little more dependent. Each quarter should contain about equal quantities of milk; though, in the belief of some, the hind quarters contain rather the most.

Largely developed milk-veins—as the subcutaneous veins along the under part of the abdomen are commonly called—are regarded as a source of milk. This is a popular error, for the milk-vein has no connection with the udder; yet, although the office of these is to convey the blood from the fore part of the chest and sides to the inguinal vein, yet a large milk-vein certainly indicates a strongly developed vascular system—one favorable to secretions generally, and to that of the milk among the rest.

Milking is performed in two ways, stripping and handling. Stripping consists in seizing the teat firmly near the root between the face of the thumb and the side of the fore-finger, the length of the teat passing through the other fingers, and in milking the hand passes down the entire length of the teat, causing the milk to flow out of its point in a forcible stream. The action is renewed by again quickly elevating the hand to the root of the teat. Both hands are employed at the operation, each having hold of a different teat, and being moved alternately. The two nearest teats are commonly first milked, and then the two farthest. Handling is done by grasping the teat at its root with the fore-finger like a hoop, assisted by the thumb, which lies horizontally over the fore-finger, the rest being also seized by the other fingers. Milk is drawn by pressing upon the entire length of the teat in alternate jerks with the entire palm of the hand. Both hands being thus employed, are made to press alternately, but so quickly following each other that the alternate streams of milk sound to the ear like one forcible, continued stream. This continued stream is also produced by stripping. Stripping, then, is performed by pressing and passing certain fingers along the teat; handling, by the whole hand doubled, or fist, pressing the teat steadily at one place. Hence the origin of both names.

THE PREFERABLE METHOD.

Of these two modes, handling is the preferable, since it is the more natural method—imitating, as it does, the suckling of the calf. When a calf takes a teat into its mouth, it makes the tongue and palate by which it seizes it, play upon the teat by alternate pressures or pulsations, while retaining the teat in the same position. It is thus obvious that handling is somewhat like sucking, whereas stripping is not at all like it. It is said that stripping is good for agitating the udder, the agitation of which is conducive to the withdrawal of a large quantity of milk; but there is nothing to prevent the agitation of the udder as much as the dairymaid pleases, while holding in the other mode. Indeed, a more constant vibration could be kept up in that way by the vibrations of the arms than by stripping. Stripping, by using an unconstrained pressure on two sides of the teat, is much more apt to press it unequally, than by grasping the whole teat in the palm of the hand; while the friction occasioned by passing the finger and thumb firmly over the outside of the teat, is more likely to cause heat and irritation in it than a steady and full grasp of the entire hand. To show that this friction causes an unpleasant feeling even to the dairymaid, she is obliged to lubricate the teat frequently with milk, and to wet it at first with water; whereas the other mode requires no such expedients. And as a further proof that stripping is a mode of milking which may give pain to the cow, it cannot be employed, when the teats are chapped, with so much ease to the cow as handling.

The first requisite in the person that milks is, of course, the utmost cleanliness. Without this, the milk is unendurable. The udder should, therefore, be carefully cleaned before the milking commences.

Milking should be done fast, to draw away the milk as quickly as possible, and it should be continued as long as there is a drop of milk to bring away. This is an issue which cannot be attended to in too particular a manner. If any milk is left, it is re-absorbed into the system, or else becomes caked, and diminishes the tendency to secrete a full quantity afterward. Milking as dry as possible is especially necessary with young cows with their first calf; as the mode of milking and the length of time to which they can be made to hold out, will have very much to do with their milking qualities as long as they live. Old milk left in the receptacle of the teat soon changes into a curdy state, and the caseous matter not being at once removed by the next milking, is apt to irritate the lining membrane of the teat during the operation, especially when the teat is forcibly rubbed down between the finger and thumb in stripping. The consequence of this repeated irritation is the thickening of the lining membrane, which at length becomes so hardened as to close up the orifice at the end of the teat. The hardened membrane may be easily felt from the outside of the teat, when the teat is said to be corded. After this the teat becomes deaf, as it is called, and no more milk can afterward be drawn from the quarter of the udder to which the corded teat is attached.

The milking-pail is of various forms and of various materials. The Dutch use brass ones, which are brilliantly scoured every time they are in use. Tin pitchers are used in some places, while pails of wood in cooper-work are employed in others. A pail of oak, having thin staves bound together by bright iron hoops, with a handle formed by a stave projecting upward, is convenient for the purpose, and may be kept clean and sweet. One nine inches in diameter at the bottom, eleven inches at the top, and ten inches deep, with an upright handle or leg of five inches, has a capacious enough mouth to receive the milk as it descends; and a sufficient height, when standing on the edge of its bottom on the ground, to allow the dairymaid to grasp it firmly with her knees while sitting on a small three-legged stool. Of course, such a pail cannot be milked full; but it should be large enough to contain all the milk which a single cow can give at a milking; because it is undesirable to rise from a cow before the milking is finished, or to exchange one dish for another while the milking is in progress.

The cow being a sensitive and capricious creature, is, oftentimes so easily offended that if the maid rise from her before the milk is all withdrawn, the chances are that she will not again stand quietly at that milking; or, if the vessel used in milking is taken away and another substituted in its place, before the milking is finished, the probability is that she will hold her milk—that is, not allow it to flow. This is a curious property which cows possess, of holding up or keeping back their milk. How it is effected has never been satisfactorily ascertained; but there is no doubt of the fact that when a cow becomes irritated, or frightened from any cause, she can withhold her milk. Of course, all cows are not affected in the same degree; but, as a proof how sensitive cows generally are, it may be mentioned that very few will be milked so freely by a stranger the first time, as by one to whom they have been accustomed.

There is one side of a cow which is usually called the milking side—that is the cow's left side—because, somehow custom has established the practice of milking her from that side. It may have been adopted for two reasons: one, because we are accustomed to approach all the larger domesticated animals by what we call the near side—that is, the animal's left side—as being the most convenient one for ourselves; and the other reason may have been, that, as most people are right-handed, and the common use of the right hand has made it the stronger, it is most conveniently employed in milking the hinder teats of the cow, which are often most difficult to reach on account of the position of the hind legs and the length of the hinder teats, or of the breadth of the hinder part of the udder. The near side is most commonly used in this country and in Scotland; but in many parts of England the other side is preferred. Whichever side is selected, that should uniformly be used, as cows are very sensitive to changes.

In Scotland it is a rare thing to see a cow milked by any other person than a woman, though men are very commonly employed at it in this country and in England. One never sees a man milking a cow without being impressed with the idea that he is usurping an office which does not become him; and the same thought seems to be conveyed in the terms usually applied to the person connected with cows—a dairy-maid implying one who milks cows, as well as performs the other duties connected with the dairy—a dairy-man meaning one who owns a dairy. There can be but little question that the charge of this branch of the dairy should generally be entrusted to women. They are more gentle and winning than men. The same person should milk the same cow regularly, and not change from one to another, unless there are special reasons for it.

Cows are easily rendered troublesome on being milked; and the kicks and knocks which they usually receive for their restlessness, only render them more fretful. If they cannot be overcome by kindness, thumps will never make them better. The truth is, restless habits are continued in them by the treatment which they receive at first, when, most probably, they have been dragooned into submission. Their teats are tender at first; but an unfeeling, horny hand tugs at them at stripping, as if the animal had been accustomed to the operation for years. Can the creature be otherwise than uneasy? And how can she escape the wincing but by flinging out her heels?—Then hopples are placed on the hind fetlocks, to keep her heels down. The tail must then be held by some one, while the milking is going on; or the hair of its tuft be converted into a double cord, to tie the tail to the animal's leg. Add to this the many threats and scoldings uttered by the milker, and one gets a not very exaggerated impression of the "breaking-in."

Some cows, no doubt, are very unaccomodating and provoking; but, nevertheless, nothing but a rational course toward them, administered with gentleness, will ever render them less so. There are cows which are troublesome to milk for a few times after calving, that become quite quiet for the remainder of the season; others will kick pertinaciously at the first milking. In this last case the safest plan—instead of hoppling, which only irritates—is for the dairymaid to thrust her head against the flank of the cow, and while standing on her feet, stretch her hands forward, get hold of the teats the best way she can, and send the milk on the ground; and in this position it is out of the power of the cow to hurt her. These ebullitions of feeling at the first milking after calving, arise either from feeling pain in a tender state of the teat, most probably from inflammation in the lining membrane of the receptacle; or they may arise from titillation of the skin of the udder and teat, which becomes the more sensible to the affection from a heat which is wearing off.

At the age of two or three years the milking glands have not become fully developed, and their largest development will depend very greatly upon the management after the first calf. Cows should have, therefore, the most milk-producing food; be treated with constant gentleness; never struck, or spoken harshly to, but coaxed and caressed; and in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, they will grow up gentle and quiet. The hundredth had better be fatted and sent to the butcher. Harshness is worse than useless. Be the cause of irritation what it may, one thing is certain, that gentle discipline will overcome the most turbulent temper. Nothing does so much to dry a cow up, especially a young cow, as the senseless treatment to which she is too often subjected.

The longer the young cow, with her first and second calf, is made to hold out, the more surely will this habit be fixed upon her. Stop milking her four months before the next calf, and it will be difficult to make her hold out to within four or six weeks of the time of calving afterward. Induce her, if possible, by moist and succulent food, and by careful milking, to hold out even up to the time of calving, if you desire to milk her so long, and this habit will be likely to be fixed upon her for life. But do not expect to obtain the full yield of a cow the first year after calving. Some of the very best cows are slow to develop their best qualities; and no cow reaches her prime till the age of five or six years.

The extreme importance of care and attention to these points cannot be overestimated. The wild cows grazing on the plains of South America, are said to give not more than three or four quarts a day at the height of the flow; and many an owner of large herds in Texas, it is said, has too little milk for family use, and sometimes receives his supply of butter from the New York market. There is, therefore, a constant tendency in milch cows to dry up; and it must be guarded against with special care, till the habit of yielding a large quantity, and yielding it long, becomes fixed in the young animal, when, with proper care, it may easily be kept up.

Cows, independently of their power to retain their milk in the udder, afford different degrees of pleasure in milking them, even in the quietest mood. Some yield their milk in a copious flow, with the gentlest handling that can be given them; others require great exertion to draw the milk from them even in streams no larger than a thread. The udder of the former will be found to have a soft skin and short teats; that of the latter will have a thick skin, with long rough teats. The one feels like velvet; the other is no more pleasant to the touch than untanned leather. To induce quiet and persuade the animal to give down her milk freely, it is better that she should be fed at milking-time with cut feed, or roots, placed within her easy reach.

If gentle and mild treatment is observed and persevered in, the operation of milking, as a general thing, appears to be a pleasure to the animal, as it undoubtedly is; but, if an opposite course is pursued—if at every restless movement, caused, perhaps, by pressing a sore teat, the animal is harshly spoken to—she will be likely to learn to kick as a habit, and it will be difficult to overcome it ever afterward.

Whatever may be the practice on other occasions, there can be no doubt that, for some weeks after calving, and in the height of the flow, cows ought, if possible, to be milked regularly three times a day—at early morning, noon, and night. Every practical dairyman knows that cows thus milked give a larger quantity of milk than if milked only twice, though it may not be quite so rich; and in young cows, no doubt, it has a tendency to promote the development of the udder and milk-veins. A frequent milking stimulates an increased secretion, therefore, and ought never to be neglected in the milk-dairy, either in the case of young cows, or very large milkers, at the height of the flow, which will commonly be for two or three months after calving.

There being a great difference in the quality as well as in the quantity of the milk of different cows, no dairyman should neglect to test the milk of each new addition to his dairy stock, whether it be an animal of his own raising or one brought from abroad. A lactometer—or instrument for testing the comparative richness of different species of milk—is very convenient for this purpose; but any one can set the milk of each cow separately at first, and give it a thorough trial, when the difference will be found to be great. Economy will dictate that the cows least to the purpose should be disposed of, and their places supplied with better ones.

THE RAISING OF CALVES.

It has been found in practice that calves properly bred and raised on the farm have a far greater intrinsic value for that farm, other things being equal, than any that can be procured elsewhere; while on the manner in which they are raised will depend much of their future usefulness and profit. These considerations should have their proper weight in deciding whether a promising calf from a good cow and bull shall be kept, or sold to the butcher. But, rather than raise a calf at hap-hazard, and simply because its dam was celebrated as a milker, the judicious farmer will prefer to judge of the peculiar characteristics of the animal itself. This will often save the great and useless outlay which has sometimes been incurred in raising calves for dairy purposes, which a more careful examination would have rejected as unpromising.

MATERNAL AFFECTION.

The method of judging stock which has been recommended in the previous pages is of practical utility here, and it is safer to rely upon it to some extent, particularly when other appearances concur, than to go on blindly. The milk-mirror on the calf is, indeed, small, but no smaller in proportion to its size than that of the cow; while its shape and form can generally be distinctly seen, particularly at the end of ten or twelve weeks. The development of the udder, and other peculiarities, will give some indication of the future capacities of the animal, and these should be carefully studied. If we except the manure of young stock, the calf is the first product of the cow, and as such demands our attention, whether it is to be raised or hurried off to the shambles. The practice adopted in raising calves differs widely in different sections of the country, being governed very much by local circumstances, as the vicinity of a milk-market, the value of milk for the dairy, the object of breeding, whether mainly for beef, for work, or for the dairy, etc.; but, in general, it may be said, that, within the range of thirty or forty miles of good veal-markets, which large towns furnish, comparatively few are raised at all. Most of them are fattened and sold at ages varying from three to eight or ten weeks; and in milk-dairies still nearer large towns and cities they are often hurried off at one or two days, or, at most, a week old. In both of these cases, as long as the calf is kept it is generally allowed to suck the cow, and, as the treatment is very simple, there is nothing which particularly calls for remark, unless it be to condemn the practice entirely, upon the ground that there is a more profitable way of fattening calves for the butcher, and to say that allowing the calf to suck the cow at all is objectionable on the score of economy, except in cases where it is rendered necessary by the hard and swollen condition of the udder.

If the calf is so soon to be taken away, it is better that the cow should not be suffered to become attached to it at all: since she is inclined to withhold her milk when it is removed, and thus a loss is sustained. The farmer will be governed by the question of profit, whatever course it is decided to adopt. In raising blood-stock, however, or in raising beef cattle, without any regard to economy of milk, the system of suckling the calves, or letting them run with the cow, may and will be adopted, since it is usually attended with somewhat less labor.

The other course, which is regarded as the best where the calf is to be raised for the dairy, is to bring it up by hand. This is almost universally done in all countries where the raising of dairy cows is best understood—in Switzerland, Holland, some parts of Germany, and England. It requires rather more care, on the whole; but it is decidedly preferable, since the calves cost less, as the food can be easily modified, and the growth is not checked, as is usually the case when the calf is taken off from the cow. Allusion is here made, of course, to sections where the milk of the cow is of some account for the dairy, and where it is too valuable to be devoted entirely to nourishing the calf. In this case, as soon as the calf is dropped the cow is allowed to lick off the slimy moisture till it is dry, which she will generally do from instinct, or, if not, a slight sprinkling of salt over the body of the calf will immediately tempt her. The calf is left to suck once or twice, which it will do as soon as it is able to stand. It should, in all cases, be permitted to have the first milk which comes from the cow, which is of a turbid, yellowish color, unfit for any of the purposes of the dairy, but somewhat purgative and medicinal, and admirably and wisely designed by Nature to free the bowels and intestines of the new-born animal from the mucous, excrementitious matter always existing in it after birth. Too much of this new milk may, however, be hurtful even to the new-born calf, while it should never be given at all to older calves. The best course would seem to be—and such is in accordance with the experience of the most successful stock-raisers—to milk the cow dry immediately after the calf has sucked once, especially if the udder is painfully distended, which is often the case, and to leave the calf with the cow during one day, and after that to feed it by putting the fingers into its mouth, and gently bringing its muzzle down to the milk in a pail or trough when it will imbibe in sucking the fingers. No great difficulty will be experienced in teaching the calf to drink when taken so young, though some take to it much more readily than others. What the calf does not need should be given to the cow. Some, however, prefer to milk immediately after calving; and, if the udder is overloaded, this may be the best course, though the better practice appears to be, to leave the cow as quietly to herself as possible for a few hours. The less she is disturbed, as a general thing, the better. The after-birth should be taken from her immediately after it is dropped. It is customary to give the cow, as soon as convenient after calving, some warm and stimulating drink—a little meal stirred into warm water, with a part of the first milk which comes from her, seasoned with a little salt.

In many cases the calf is taken from the cow immediately; and before she has seen it, to a warm, dry pen out of her sight, and there rubbed till it is thoroughly dry; and then, when able to stand, fed with the new milk from the cow, which it should have three or four times a day, regularly, for the first fortnight, whatever course it is proposed to adopt afterwards. It is of the greatest importance to give the young calf a thrifty start. The milk, unless coming directly from the cow, should be warmed.

Some object to removing the calf from the cow in this way, on the ground of its apparent cruelty. But the objection to letting the calf suck the cow for several days, as they do, or indeed of leaving it with the cow for any length of time, is, that she invariably becomes attached to it, and frets and withholds her milk when it is at last taken from her. She probably suffers much more, after this attachment is once formed, at the removal of the object of it, than she does at its being taken at first out of her sight. The cow's memory is far more retentive than many suppose; and the loss and injury sustained by removing the calf after it has been allowed to suck her for a longer or shorter period are never known exactly, because it is not usually known how much milk the calf takes; but it is, without doubt, very considerable. If the udder is all right, there seems to be no good reason for leaving the calf with the cow for two or three days, if it is then to be taken away.

The practice in Holland is to remove the calf from its mother even before it has been licked, and to take it into a corner of the barn, or into another building, out of the cow's sight and hearing, put it on soft, dry straw, and rub it dry with some hay or straw, when its tongue and gums are slightly rubbed with salt, and the mucus and saliva removed from the nostrils and lips. After this has been done, the calf is made to drink the milk first taken as it comes from the mother. It is slightly diluted with water, if taken last from the udder; but, if the first of the milking, it is given just as it is. The calf is taught to drink in the same manner as in this country, by putting the fingers in its mouth, and bringing it down to the milk, and it soon gets so as to drink unaided. It is fed, at first, from four to six times a day, or even oftener; but soon only three times, at regular intervals. Its food for two or three weeks is clear milk, as it comes warm and fresh from the cow. This is never omitted, as the milk during most of that time possesses certain qualities which are necessary to the calf, and which cannot be effectually supplied by any other food. In the third or fourth week the milk is skimmed, but warmed to the degree of fresh milk; though, as the calf grows a little older, the milk is given cold, while less care is taken to give it the milk of its own mother, that of other cows now answering equally well. In some places, calves are fed on buttermilk at the age of two weeks and after; but the change from new milk, fresh from the cow, is made gradually, some sweet skimmed milk and warm water being first added to it.

At three weeks old, or thereabouts, the calf will begin to eat a little sweet, fine hay, and potatoes cut fine, and it very soon becomes accustomed to this food. Many now begin to give linseed-meal mixed into hot water, to which is added some skim-milk or buttermilk; and others use a little bran cooked in hay-tea, made by chopping the hay fine and pouring on boiling-hot water, which is allowed to stand awhile on it. An egg is frequently broken into such a mixture. Others still take pains at this age to have fresh linseed-cake, broken into pieces of the size of a pigeon's egg; putting one of these into the mouth after the meal of milk has been finished, and when it is eager to suck at any thing in its way. It will very soon learn to eat linseed-meal. A little sweet clover is put in its way at the age of about three weeks, and it will soon begin to eat that also.

In this manner the feeding is continued from the fourth to the seventh week, the quantity of solid food being gradually increased. In the sixth or seventh week the milk is by degrees withheld, and water or buttermilk used instead; and soon after this, green food may be safely given, increasing it gradually with the hay to the age of ten or twelve weeks, when it will do to put them upon grass alone, if the season is favorable. A lot as near the house as possible, where they can be easily looked after and frequently visited, is the best. Calves should be gradually accustomed to all changes; and even after having been turned out to pasture, they ought to be put under shelter if the weather is not dry and warm. The want of care and attention relative to these little details will be apparent sooner or later; while, if the farmer gives his personal attention to these matters, he will be fully paid in the rapid growth of his calves. It is especially necessary to see that the troughs from which they are fed, if troughs are used, are kept clean and sweet.

But there are some—even among intelligent farmers—who make a practice of turning their calves out to pasture at the tender age of two or three weeks—and that, too, when they have sucked the cow up to that time—and allow them nothing in the shape of milk and tender care. This, certainly, is the poorest possible economy, to say nothing of the manifest cruelty of such treatment. The growth of the calf is checked, and the system receives a shock from so sudden a change, from which it cannot soon recover. The careful Dutch breeders bring the calves either skimmed milk or buttermilk to drink several times a day after they are turned to grass, which is not till the age of ten or twelve weeks; and, if the weather is chilly, the milk is warmed for them. They put a trough generally under a covering, to which the calves may come and drink at regular times. Thus, they are kept tame and docile.

In the raising of calves, through all stages of their growth, great care should be taken neither to starve nor to over-feed. A calf should never be surfeited, and never be fed so highly that it cannot be fed more highly as it advances. The most important part is to keep it growing thriftily without getting too fat, if it is to be raised for the dairy.

The calves in the dairy districts of Scotland are fed on the milk, with seldom any admixture; and they are not permitted to suck their dams, but are taught to drink milk by the hand from a dish. They are generally fed on milk only for the first four, five, or six weeks, and are then allowed from two to two and a half quarts of new milk each meal, twice in the twenty-four hours. Some never give them any other food when young except milk, lessening the quantity when the calf begins to eat grass or other food, which it generally does when about five weeks old, if grass can be had; and withdrawing it entirely about the seventh or eighth week of the calf's age. But, if the calf is reared in winter, or early in spring, before the grass rises, it must be supplied with at least some milk until it is eight or nine weeks old, as a calf will not so soon learn to eat hay or straw, nor fare so well on them alone as it will on pasture. Some feed their calves reared for stock partly with meal mixed in the milk after the third or fourth week. Others introduce gradually some new whey into the milk, first mixed with meal; and, when the calf gets older, they withdraw the milk, and feed it on whey and porridge. Hay-tea, juices of peas and beans, or pea or bean-straw, linseed beaten into powder, treacle, etc., have all been sometimes used to advantage in feeding calves; but milk, when it can be spared, is, in the judgment of the Scotch breeders, by far their most natural food.

In Galloway, and other pastoral districts, where the calves are allowed to suck, the people are so much wedded to their own customs as to argue that suckling is much more nutritious to the calves than any other mode of feeding. That it induces a greater secretion of saliva, which, by promoting digestion, accelerates the growth and fattening of the young animal, cannot be doubted; but the secretion of that fluid may likewise be promoted by placing an artificial teat in the mouth of the calf, and giving it the milk slowly, and at the natural temperature. In the dairy districts of Scotland, the dairymaid puts one of her fingers into the mouth of the calf when it is fed, which serves the purpose of a teat, and will have nearly the same effect as the natural teat in inducing the secretion of saliva. If that, or an artificial teat of leather, be used, and the milk be given slowly before it is cold, the secretion of saliva may be promoted to all the extent that can be necessary; besides, secretion is not confined to the mere period of eating, but, as in the human body, the saliva is formed and part of it swallowed at all times. As part of the saliva is sometimes seen dropping from the mouths of the calves, it might be advisable not only to give them an artificial teat when fed, but to place, as is frequently done, a lump of chalk before them to lick, thus leading them to swallow the saliva. The chalk would so far supply the want of salt, of which cattle are often so improperly deprived, and it would also promote the formation of saliva. Indeed, calves are very much disposed to lick and suck every thing which comes within their reach, which seems to be the way in which Nature teaches them to supply their stomachs with saliva.

But though sucking their dams may be most advantageous in that respect, yet it has also some disadvantages. The cow is always more injured than the calf is benefited by that mode of feeding. She becomes so fond of the calf that she does not, for a long time after, yield her milk freely to the dairyman. The calf does not when young draw off the milk completely, and when it is taken off by the hand, the cow withholds a part of her milk, and, whenever a cow's udder is not completely emptied every time she is milked, the lactic secretion—as before stated—is thereby diminished.

Feeding of calves by hand is also, in various respects, advantageous. Instead of depending on the uncertain, or perhaps precarious supply of the dam, which may be more at first than the young animal can consume or digest, and at other times too little for its supply, its food can, by hand-feeding, be regulated to suit the age, appetite, and the purposes for which the calf is intended; other admixtures or substitutes can be introduced into the milk, and the quantity gradually increased or withdrawn at pleasure. This is highly necessary when the calves are reared for stock. The milk is in that case diminished, and other food introduced so gradually that the stomach of the young animal is not injured as it is when the food is too suddenly changed. And, in the case of feeding calves for the butcher, the quantity of milk is not limited to that of the dam—for no cow will allow a stranger-calf to suck her—but it can be increased, or the richest or poorest parts of the milk given at pleasure.

Such are, substantially, the views upon this subject which are entertained by the most judicious farmers in the first dairy districts of Scotland.

In those districts—where, probably, the feeding and management of calves are as well and as judiciously conducted as in any other part of Great Britain—the farmers' wives and daughters, or the female domestics, have the principal charge of young calves; and they are, doubtless, much better calculated for this duty than men, since they are more inclined to be gentle and patient. The utmost gentleness—as has been already remarked, in another connection—should always be observed in the treatment of all stock; but especially of milch cows, and calves designed for the dairy. Persevering kindness and patience, will, almost invariably, overcome the most obstinate natures; while rough and ungentle handling will be repaid in a quiet kind of way, perhaps, by withholding the milk, which will always have a tendency to dry up the cow; or, what is nearly as bad, by kicking and other modes of revenge, which often contribute to the personal discomfort of the milker. The disposition of the cow is greatly modified, if not, indeed, wholly formed, by her treatment while young; and therefore it is best to handle calves as much as possible, and make pets of them, lead them with a halter, and caress them in various ways. Calves managed in this way will always be docile, and suffer themselves to be approached and handled, both in the pasture and in the barn.

With respect to the use of hay-tea—often used in this country, but more common abroad, where greater care and attention are usually bestowed upon the details of breeding—Youatt says: "At the end of three or four days, or perhaps a week, or near a fortnight, after a calf has been dropped, and the first passages have been cleansed by allowing it to drink as much of the cow's milk as it feels inclined for, let the quantity usually allotted for a meal be mixed, consisting, for the first week, of three parts of milk and one part of hay-tea. The only nourishing infusion of hay is that which is made from the best and sweetest hay, cut by a chaff-cutter into pieces about two inches long, and put into an earthen vessel; over this, boiling water should be poured, and the whole allowed to stand for two hours, during which time it ought to be kept carefully closed. After the first week, the proportions of milk and hay-tea may be equal; then composed of two-thirds of hay-tea and one of milk; and at length, one-fourth part of milk will be sufficient. This food should be given to the calf in a lukewarm state at least three, if not four times a day, in quantities averaging three quarts at a meal, but gradually increasing to four quarts as the calf grows older. Toward the end of the second month, beside the usual quantity given at each meal—composed of three parts of the infusion and one of milk—a small wisp or bundle of hay is to be laid before the calf, which will gradually come to eat it; but, if the weather is favorable, as in the month of May, the beast may be turned out to graze in a fine, sweet pasture, well sheltered from the wind and sun. This diet may be continued until toward the latter end of the third month, when, if the calf grazes heartily, each meal may be reduced to less than a quart of milk, with hay-water; or skimmed milk, or fresh buttermilk, may be substituted for new milk. At the expiration of the third month, the animal will hardly require to be fed by hand; though, if this should still be necessary, one quart of the infusion given daily—which, during the summer, need not be warmed—will suffice." The hay-tea should be made fresh every two days, as it soon loses its nutritious quality.

This and other preparations are given, not because they are better than milk,—than which nothing is better adapted to fatten a calf, or promote its growth,—but simply to economize by providing the simplest and cheapest substitutes. Experience shows that the first two or three calves are smaller than those which follow; and hence, unless they are pure-bred, and to be kept for the blood, they are not generally thought to be so desirable to raise for the dairy as the third or fourth, and those that come after, up to the age of nine or ten years. Opinions upon this point, however, differ.

According to the comparative experiments of a German agriculturist, cows which as calves had been allowed to suck their dams from two to four weeks, brought calves which weighed only from thirty-five to forty-eight pounds; while others, which as calves had been allowed to suck from five to eight weeks, brought calves which weighed from sixty to eighty pounds. It is difficult to see how there can be so great a difference, if, indeed, there be any; but it may be worthy of careful observation and experiment, and as such it is stated here. The increased size of the calf would be due to the increased size to which the cow would attain; and if as a calf she were allowed to run in the pasture with her dam for four or five months, taking all the milk she wanted, she would doubtless be kept growing on in a thriving condition. But taking a calf from the cow at four or even eight weeks must check its growth to some extent; and this may be avoided by feeding liberally, and bringing up by hand.

After the calf is fully weaned, there is nothing very peculiar in the general management. A young animal will require for the first few months—say up to the age of six months—an average of five or six pounds daily of good hay, or its equivalent. At the age of six months, it will require from four and a half to five pounds; and at the end of the year, from three and a half or four pounds of good hay, or its equivalent, for every one hundred pounds of its live weight; or, in other words, about three and a half or four per cent. of its live weight. At two years old, it will require three and a half, and some months later, three per cent. of its live weight daily in good hay, or its equivalent. Indian-corn fodder, either green or cured, forms an excellent and wholesome food at this age.

The heifer should not be pampered, nor yet poorly fed or half starved, so as to receive a check in her growth. An abundant supply of good healthy dairy food and milk will do all that is necessary up to the time of her having her first calf—which should not ordinarily be till the age of three years, though some choose to allow them to come in at two, or a little over, on the ground that it early stimulates the secretion of milk, and that this will increase the milking propensity through life. This is undoubtedly the case, as a general rule; but greater injury is at the same time done by checking the growth, unless the heifer has been fed up to large size and full development from the start—in which case she may perhaps take the bull at fifteen or eighteen months without injury. Even if a heifer comes in at two years, it is generally deemed desirable to let her run barren for the following year, which will promote her growth and more perfect development.

The feeding which young stock often get is not such as is calculated to make good-sized or valuable cattle of them. They are often fed on the poorest of hay or straw through the winter, not infrequently left exposed to cold, unprotected and unhoused, and thus stinted in their growth. This is, surely, the very worst economy, or rather it is no economy at all. Properly viewed, it is an extravagant wastefulness which no farmer can afford. No animal develops its good points under such treatment; and if the starving system is to be followed at all, it had better be after the age of two or three years, when the animal's constitution has attained the strength and vigor which may, possibly, enable it to resist ill treatment.

To raise up first-rate milkers, it is absolutely necessary to feed on dairy food even when they are young. No matter how fine the breed is, if the calf is raised on poor, short feed, it will never be so good a milker as if raised on better keeping; and hence, in dairy districts, where calves are raised at all, they ought to be allowed the best pasture during the summer, and good, sweet and wholesome food during the winter.

POINTS OF FAT CATTLE.

Whatever theoretical objections may be raised against over-fed cattle, and great as may be the attempts to disparage the mountains of fat,—as highly-fed cattle are sometimes designated,—there is no doubt of the practical fact, that the best butcher cannot sell any thing but the best fatted beef; and of whatever age, size, or shape a half-fatted ox may be, he is never selected by judges as fit for human food. Hence, a well-fatted animal always commands a better price per pound than one imperfectly fed, and the parts selected as the primest beef are precisely the parts which contain the largest deposits of fat. The rump, the crop, and the sirloin, the very favorite cuts,—which always command from twenty to twenty-five per cent. more than any other part of the ox,—are just those parts on which the largest quantities of fat are found; so that, instead of the taste and fashion of the age being against the excessive fattening of animals, the fact is, practically, exactly the reverse. Where there is the most fat, there is the best lean; where there is the greatest amount of muscle, without its share of fat, that part is accounted inferior, and is used for a different purpose; in fact, so far from fat's being a disease, it is a condition of muscle, necessary to its utility as food,—a source of luxury to the rich, and of comfort to the poor, furnishing a nourishing and healthy diet for their families.

Fattening is a secretive power which grazing animals possess, enabling them to lay by a store of the superfluous food which they take for seasons of cold or scarcity. It collects round the angular bones of the animal, and gives the appearance of rotundity; hence the tendency to deposit fat is indicated, as has been stated, by a roundness of form, as opposed to the fatness of a milk-secreting animal. But its greatest use is, that it is a store of heat-producing aliment, laid up for seasons of scarcity and want. The food of animals, for the most part, may be said to consist of a saccharine, an oleaginous, and an albuminous principle. To the first belong all the starchy, saccharine, and gummy parts of the plants, which undergo changes in the digestive organs similar to fermentation before they can be assimilated in the system; by them also animal heat is sustained. In indolent animals, the oily parts of plants are deposited and laid up as fat; and, when vigor and strength fail, this is taken up and also used in breathing to supply the place of the consumed saccharine matter. The albuminous, or gelatinous principle of plants is mainly useful in forming muscle; while the ashes of plants, the unconsumable parts, are for the supply, mainly, of bone, hair, and horn, but also of muscle and of blood, and to supply the waste which continually goes on.

Now, there are several qualities which are essentially characteristic of a disposition to fatten. There have not, as yet, been any book-rules laid down, as in the case of M. GuÉnon's indications of milking-cows; but there are, nevertheless, marks so definite and well understood, that they are comprehended and acted upon by every grazier, although they are by no means easy to describe. It is by skillful acumen that the grazier acquires his knowledge, and not by theoretical rules; observation, judgment, and experience, powerful perceptive faculties, and a keen and minute comparison and discrimination, are essential to his success.

The first indication upon which he relies, is the touch. It is the absolute criterion of quality, which is supposed to be the keystone of perfection in all animals, whether for the pail or the butcher. The skin is so intimately connected with the internal organs, in all animals, that it is questionable whether even our schools of medicine might not make more use of it in a diagnosis of disease. Of physiological tendencies in cattle, however, it is of the last and most vital importance. It must neither be thick, nor hard, nor adhere firmly to the muscles. If it is so, the animal is a hard grazer, a difficult and obstinate feeder—no skillful man will purchase it—such a creature must go to a novice, and even to him at a price so low as to tempt him to become a purchaser. On the other hand, the skin must not be thin, like paper, nor flaccid, nor loose in the hand, nor flabby. This is the opposite extreme, and is indicative of delicateness, bad, flabby flesh, and, possibly, of inaptitude to retain the fat. It must be elastic and velvety, soft and pliable, presenting to the touch a gentle resistance, but so delicate as to give pleasure to the sensitive hand—a skin, in short, which seems at first to give an indentation from the pressure of the fingers, but which again rises to its place by a gentle elasticity.

The hair is of nearly as much importance as the skin. A hard skin will have straight and stiff hair; it will not have a curl, but be thinly and lankly distributed equally over the surface. A proper grazing animal will have a mossy coat, not absolutely curled, but having a disposition to a graceful curl, a semifold, which presents a waving inequality; but as different from a close and straightly-laid coat, as it is from one standing off the animal at right angles, a strong symptom of disease. It will also, in a thriving animal, be licked here and there with its tongue, a proof that the skin is duly performing its functions.

There must be, also, the full and goggle eye, bright and pressed outward by the fatty bed below; because, as this is a part where Nature always provides fat, an animal capable of developing it to any considerable extent, will have its indications here, at least, when it exists in excess.

So much for feeding qualities in the animal, and their conformations indicative of this kindly disposition. Next come such formations of the animal itself as are favorable to the growth of fat, other things being equal. There must be size where large weights are expected. Christmas beef, for instance, is expected to be large as well as fat. The symbol of festivity should be capacious, as well as prime in quality. But it is so much a matter of choice and circumstance with the grazier, that profit alone will be his guide. The axiom will be, however, as a general rule, that the better the grazing soil the larger the animal may be; the poorer the soil, the smaller the animal. Small animals are, unquestionably, much more easily fed, and they are well known by experienced men to be best adapted to second-rate feeding pastures.

But, beyond this, there must be breadth of carcass. This is indicative of fattening, perhaps, beyond all other qualifications. If rumps are favorite joints and produce the best price, it is best to have the animal which will grow the longest, the broadest, and the best rump; the same of crop, and the same of sirloin; and not only so, but breadth is essential to the consumption of that quantity of food which is necessary to the development of a large amount of fat in the animal. Thus, a deep, wide chest, favorable for the respiratory and circulating functions, enables it to consume a large amount of food, to take up the sugary matter, and to deposit the fatty matter,—as then useless for respiration, but afterwards to be prized. A full level crop will be of the same physiological utility; while a broad and open framework at the hips will afford scope for the action of the liver and kidneys.

There are other points, also, of much importance; the head must be small and fine; its special use is indicative of the quick fattening of the animal so constructed, and it is also indicative of the bones being small and the legs short. For constitutional powers, the beast should have his ribs extended well towards the thigh-bones or hips, so as to leave as little unprotected space as possible. There must be no angular, or abrupt points; all must be round, and broad, and parallel. Any depression in the lean animal will give a deficient deposit of flesh and fat at that point, when sold to the butcher, and thus deteriorate its value; and hence the animal must be round and full.

But either fancy, or accident, or skill—it is unnecessary to decide which—has associated symmetry with quality and conformation, as a point of great importance in animals calculated for fattening; and there is no doubt that, to a certain extent, this is so. The beast must be a system of mathematical lines. To the advocate of symmetry, the setting-on of a tail will be a condemning fault; indeed the ridge of the back, like a straight line, with the outline of the belly exactly parallel, viewed from the side, and a depth and squareness when viewed from behind,—which remind us of a geometrical cube, rather than a vital economy,—may be said to be the indications of excellence in a fat ox. The points of excellence in such an animal are outlined under the subsequent head, as developed in the cutting up after slaughter.

Now, these qualities are inherent in some breeds; there may be cases and instances in all the superior breeds, and in most there may be failures.

DRIVING AND SLAUGHTERING.

It is necessary that cattle which have been disposed of to the dealer or butcher, or which are intended to be driven to market, should undergo a preparation for the journey. If they were immediately put to the road to travel, from feeding on grass or turnips, when their bowels are full of undigested vegetable matter, a scouring might ensue which would render them unfit to pursue their journey; and this complaint is the more likely to be brought on from the strong propensity which cattle have to take violent exercise upon feeling themselves at liberty after a long confinement. They in fact, become light-headed whenever they leave the barn or enclosure, so much so that they actually "frisk and race and leap," and their antics would be highly amusing, were it not for the apprehension that they may hurt themselves against some opposing object, as they seem to regard nothing before them.

On being let out for the first time, cattle should be put for awhile into a larger court, or on a road well fenced with enclosures, and guarded by men, to romp about. Two or three such allowances of liberty will render them quiet; and, in the mean time, to lighten their weight of carcass, they should have hay for a large proportion of their food. These precautions are absolutely necessary for cattle which have been confined in barns; otherwise, accidents may befall them on the road, where they will at once break loose. Even at home serious accidents sometimes overtake them, such as the breaking down of a horn, casting off a hoof, spraining a tendon, bruising ribs, and heating the whole body violently; and, of course, when any such ill luck befalls, the animal affected must be left behind, and become a drawback upon the value of the rest, unless kept for some time longer.

Having the cattle prepared for travel, the drover takes the road very slowly for the first two days, not exceeding seven or eight miles a day. At night, in winter, they should be put into an open court, and supplied with hay, water, and a very few turnips; for, if roots are suddenly withdrawn from them,—since it is taken for granted that these have formed a staple portion of their food,—their bellies will become shrunken up into smaller dimensions—a state very much against favorable appearance in market. After the first two days they may proceed faster, say twelve or thirteen miles a day, if very fat; and fifteen, if moderately so. When the journey is long and the beasts get faint from travel, they should have corn to support them. In frosty weather, when the roads become very hard, they are apt to become shoulder-shaken, an effect of founder; and if sleet falls during the day, and becomes frozen upon them at night, they may become so chilled as to refuse food, and shrink rapidly away. Cattle should, if possible, arrive the day before in the neighborhood of a distant market, and be supplied with a good feed of roots and hay, or grass, to make them look fresh and fill them up again; but if the market is at but short distance, they can travel to it early in the morning.

In driving cattle the drover should have no dog, which will only annoy them. He should walk either before or behind, as he sees them disposed to proceed too fast or to loiter upon the road; and in passing carriages, the leading ox, after a little experience, will make way for the rest to follow. On putting oxen on a ferry-boat the shipping of the first one only is attended with much trouble. A man on each side should take hold of a horn, or of a halter made of any piece of rope, should the beast be hornless, and two other men, one on each side, should push him up behind with a piece of rope held between them as a breeching, and conduct him along the plank into the boat; if it have low gunwales, a man will be required to remain beside him until one or two more of the cattle follow their companion, which they will most readily do. From neglecting this precaution in small ferry-boats, the first beast sometimes leaps into the water, when it becomes a difficult task to prevent some of the rest doing the same thing.

Whatever time a lot of cattle may take to go to a market, they should never be overdriven. There is great difference of management in this respect among drovers. Some like to proceed upon the road quietly, slowly, but surely, and to reach the market in a placid, cool state. Others, again, drive smartly along for some distance, and then rest to cool awhile, when the beasts will probably get chilled and have a staring coat when they reach their destination; while others like to enter the market with their beasts in an excited state, imagining that they then look gay; but distended nostrils, loose bowels, and reeking bodies are no recommendations to a purchaser. Good judges are shy of purchasing cattle in a heated state, because they do not know how long they may have been in it; and to cover any risk, will give at least five dollars a head below what they would have offered for them in a cool state. Some drovers have a habit of thumping at the hindmost beast of the lot with a stick while on the road. This is a censurable practice, as the flesh, where it is thumped, will bear a red mark after the animal has been slaughtered,—the mark receiving the appropriate name of blood-burn—and the flesh thus affected will not take on salt, and is apt to putrefy. A touch up on the shank, or any tendonous part, when correction is necessary, is all that is required; but the voice, in most cases, will answer as well. The flesh of overdriven cattle, when slaughtered, never becomes properly firm, and their tallow has a soft, melted appearance.

A few large oxen in one lot look best in a market on a position rather above the eye of a spectator. When a large lot is nearly alike in size and appearance, they look best and most level on a flat piece of ground. Very large fat oxen never look better than on ground on the same level with the spectator. An ox, to look well, should hold his head on a line with the body, with lively ears, clear eye, dewy nose, a well-licked hide, and should stand firmly on the ground on all his feet. These are all symptoms of high health and good condition. Whenever an ox shifts his standing from one foot to another, he is foot-sore, and has been driven far. Whenever his head hangs down and his eyes water, he feels ill at ease inwardly. When his coat stares, he has been overheated some time, and has got a subsequent chill. All these latter symptoms will be much aggravated in cattle that have been fed in a barn.

Cattle are made to fast before being slaughtered. The time they should stand depends upon their state on their arrival at the shambles. If they have been driven a considerable distance in a proper manner, the bowels will be in a tolerably empty state, so that twelve hours may suffice; but if they are full and just off their food, twenty-four hours will be required. Beasts that have been overdriven, or much struck with sticks, or in any degree infuriated, should not be immediately slaughtered, but allowed to stand on dry food, such as hay, until the symptoms disappear. These precautions are absolutely necessary that the meat may be preserved in the best state.

The mode of slaughtering cattle varies in different countries. In the great slaughter-houses at Montmartre, in Paris, they are slaughtered by bisecting the spinal cord of the cervical vertebrÆ; and this is accomplished by the driving of a sharp-pointed chisel between the second and third vertebrÆ, with a smart stroke of a mallet, while the animal is standing, when it drops, and death or insensibility instantly ensues, and the blood is let out immediately by opening the blood-vessels of the neck. The plan adopted in England is, first to bring the ox down on his knees, and place his under-jaw upon the ground by means of ropes fastened to his head and passed through an iron ring in the floor of the slaughterhouse. He is then stunned with a few blows from an iron axe made for the purpose, on the forehead, the bone of which is usually driven into the brain. The animal then falls upon his side, and the blood is let out by the neck. Of the two modes, the French is apparently the less cruel, for some oxen require many blows to make them fall. Some butchers, however, allege that the separation of the spinal cord, by producing a general nervous convulsion throughout the body, prevents the blood from flowing as rapidly and entirely out of it as when the ox is stunned in the forehead. The skin is then taken off to the knees, when the legs are disjointed, and also off the head. The carcass is then hung up by the tendons of the hough on a stretcher, by a block and tackle, worked by a small winch, which retains in place what rope it winds up by means of a wheel and ratchet.

After the carcass has hung for twenty-four hours, it should be cut down by the back-bone, or chine, into two sides. This is done either with the saw, or chopper; the saw making the neatest job in the hands of an inexperienced butcher, though it is the most laborious; and with the chopper is the quickest, but by no means the neatest plan, especially in the hands of a careless workman. In London, the chine is equally divided between both sides; while in Scotland, one side of a carcass of beef has a great deal more bone than the other, all the spinous processes of the vertebrÆ being left upon it. The bony is called the lying side of the meat. In London, the divided processes in the fore-quarters are broken in the middle when warm, and chopped back with the flat side of the chopper, which has the effect of thickening the fore and middle ribs considerably when cut up. The London butcher also cuts the joints above the hind knee, and, by making some incisions with a sharp knife, cuts the tendons there, and drops the flesh of the hind-quarter on the flank and loins, which causes it to cut up thicker than in the Scotch mode. In opening the hind-quarter he also cuts the aitch bone, or pelvis through the centre, which makes the rump look better. Some butchers in the north of England score the fat of the closing of the hind-quarter, which has the effect of making that part of both heifer and ox look like the udder of an old cow. There is far too much of this scoring practised in Scotland, which prevents the pieces from retaining—which they should, as nearly as possible—their natural appearance.

In cutting up a carcass of beef the London butcher displays great expertness; he not only discriminates between the qualities of its different parts, but can cut out any piece to gratify the taste of his customers. In this way he makes the best use of the carcass and realizes the largest value for it, while he gratifies the taste of every grade of customers. A figure of the Scotch and English modes of cutting up a carcass of beef will at once show the difference; and upon being informed where the valuable pieces lie, an opinion can be formed as to whether the oxen the farmer is breeding or feeding possess the properties which will enable him to demand the highest price for them.

The sirloin is the principal roasting-piece, making a very handsome dish, and is a universal favorite. It consists of two portions, the Scotch and English sides; the former is above the lumbar bones, and is somewhat hard in ill-fed cattle; the latter consists of the muscles under these bones, which are generally covered with fine fat, and are exceedingly tender. The better the beast is fed, the larger is the under muscle, better covered with fat, and more tender to eat. The hook-bone and the buttock are cut up for steaks, beefsteak pie, or minced collops, and both these, together with the sirloin, bring the highest price. The large round and the small round are both well known as excellent pieces for salting and boiling, and are eaten cold with great relish. The hough is peculiarly suited for boiling down for soup, having a large proportion of gelatinous matter. Brown soup is the principal dish made of the hough, but its decoction forms an excellent stock for various dishes, and will keep in a state of jelly for a considerable time. The thick and the thin flank are both admirable pieces for salting and boiling. The tail, insignificant as it may seem, makes a soup of a very fine flavor. Hotel-keepers have a trick of seasoning brown soup or rather beef-tea, with a few joints of tail, and passing it off for genuine ox-tail soup. These are all the pieces which constitute the hind-quarter; and it will be seen that they are valuable both for roasting and boiling, not containing a single coarse piece.

In the fore-quarter, is the spare rib, the six ribs of the back end of which make an excellent roast, and when taken from the side opposite to the lying one, being free of the bones of the spine, it makes a large one; and it also makes excellent beefsteaks and beefsteak pie. The two runners and the nineholes make salting and boiling pieces; but, of these, the nineholes is much the best, as it consists of layers of fat and lean without any bone; whereas the fore parts of the runners have a piece of shoulder-blade in them, and every piece connected with that bone is more or less coarse-grained. The brisket eats very well boiled fresh in broth, and may be cooked and eaten with boiled greens or carrots. The shoulder-lyar is a coarse piece, and fit only for boiling fresh to make into broth or beef-tea. The nap, or shin, is analogous to the hough of the hind-leg, but not so rich and fine, there being much less gelatinous matter in it. The neck makes good broth; and the sticking-piece is a great favorite with some epicures, on account of the pieces of rich fat in it. It makes an excellent stew, as also sweet barley-broth, and the meat eats well when boiled in it.

These are all the pieces of the fore-quarter; and it will be seen that they consist chiefly of boiling-pieces, and some of them none of the finest—the roasting-piece being confined to the six ribs of the spare rib, and the finest boiling-piece, corned, only to be found in the nineholes.

ENGLISH MODE OF CUTTING UP BEEF.

The loin is the principal roasting-piece; the rump is the favorite steak-piece; the aitch-bone, the favorite stew; the buttock, the thick flank, and the thin flank are all excellent boiling-pieces when corned; the hock and the shin make soup and afford stock for the various requirements of the culinary art; and the tail furnishes ox-tail soup—a favorite English luncheon. These are all the pieces of the hind-quarter, and they are valuable of their respective kinds.

In the fore-quarter, the fore-rib, middle-rib, and chuckle-rib are all roasting-pieces, not alike good; but in removing the part of the shoulder-blade in the middle-rib, the spare-ribs below make a good broil or roast; the neck makes soup, being used fresh, boiled; the back end of the brisket is boiled, corned, or stewed; the leg-of-mutton piece is coarse, but is as frequently stewed as boiled; the shin is put to the same use as the shin and hock of the hind-quarter.

On comparing the two modes of cutting-up, it will be observed that in the English there are more roasting-pieces than in the Scotch, a large proportion of the fore-quarter being used in that way. The plan, too, of cutting the loin between the rump and aitch-bone in the hind-quarter, lays open the steak-pieces to better advantage than in the Scotch bullock. Extending the comparison from one part of the carcass to the other, in both methods, it will be seen that the most valuable pieces—the roasting—occupy its upper, and the less valuable—the boiling—its lower part. Every beast, therefore, that lays on beef more upon the upper part of its body is more valuable than one that lays the same quantity of flesh on its lower parts.

It is deemed unnecessary to enter into details as to the modes of cutting-up most in vogue in this country, as there is a needlessly great want of uniformity.

Of the qualities of beef obtained from the different breeds of cattle in England, there is no better meat than from the West Highlanders for fineness of grain and cutting up into convenient pieces for family use. The Galloways and Angus, when fattened in English pastures, are great favorites in the London market. The Short Horns afford excellent steaks, being thick of flesh, and the slice deep, large and juicy, and their covered flanks and nineholes are always thick, juicy, and well-mixed. The Herefords are somewhat similar to the Short Horns, and the Devons, may, perhaps, be classed among the Galloways and Angus, while the Welsh cannot be compared to the West Highlanders. Taking, then, the breeds of Scotland as suppliers of good beef, they seem to be more valuable for the table than those of England.

There are, perhaps, not sufficient data in existence to determine the true proportion of offal of all kinds to the beef of any given fat ox; but approximations have been made, which may serve the purpose until the matter is investigated by direct experiment, under various circumstances. The dead weight bears to the live weight a ratio varying between .571 and .605 to 1; and on applying one or the other multiplier to the cases of the live weight, a pretty correct approximation is reached. The tallow is supposed to be eight one-hundredths of the live weight; so that the multiplier is the decimal .08. The hide is supposed to be five one-hundredths of the live weight; so to obtain its weight, a multiplier, .05, is used. The other offals are supposed to be in a proportion of about one-fourth of the live weight; so that the multiplier, .28, is as near as can be proposed under existing experience.

Beef is the staple animal food of this country, and it is used in various states—fresh, salted, smoked, roasted, and boiled. When intended to be eaten fresh, the ribs will keep the best, and with care will keep five or six days in summer, and in winter ten days. The middle of the loin is the next best, and the rump the next. The round will not keep long, unless it is salted. The brisket is the worst, and will not keep more than three days in summer, and in winter a week.

In regard to the power of the stomach to digest beef, that which is eaten boiled with salt only, is digested in two hours and forty-five minutes. Beef, fresh, lean, and rarely-roasted, and a beefsteak broiled, takes three hours to digest; that fresh, and dry-roasted, and boiled, eaten with mustard, is digested in three and a half hours. Lean fresh beef fried, requires four hours, and old hard salted beef boiled, does not digest in less than four and a quarter hours. Fresh beef-suet boiled takes five and a half hours.

The usual mode of preserving beef is by salting; and, when intended to keep for a long time, such as for the use of shipping, it is always salted with brine; but for family use it should be salted only with good salt; for brine dispels the juice of meat, and saltpetre only serves to make the meat dry, and give it a disagreeable and unnatural red color. Various experiments have been made in curing beef with salt otherwise than by hand-rubbing, and in a short space of time, and also to preserve it from putrefaction by other means than salt. Some packers put meat in a copper which is rendered air-tight, and an air-pump then creates a vacuum within it, thereby extracting all the air out of the meat; then brine is pumped in by pressure, which, entering into every pore of the meat formerly occupied by the air, is said to place it in a state of preservation in a few minutes. The carcass of an ox was preserved, in France, for two years from putrefaction by injecting four pounds of saline mixture into the carotid artery. Whether any such contrivance can be made available for family purposes, seems doubtful.

Cattle, when slaughtered, are useful to man in various other ways than by affording food from their flesh,—their offal of tallow, hides, and horns, forming extensive articles of commerce. Of the hide, the characteristics of a good one for strong purposes are strength in its middle, or butt, as it called, and lightness in the edges, or offal. A bad hide is the opposite of this—thick in the edges and thin in the middle. A good hide has a firm texture; a bad one, loose and soft. A hide improves as the summer advances, and it continues to improve after the new coat of hair in autumn until November or December, when the coat gets rough from the coldness of the season, and the hide is then in its best state. It is surprising how a hide improves in thickness after the cold weather has set in. The sort of food does not seem to affect the quality of the hide; but the better it is, and the better cattle have been fed, and the longer they have been well fed, even from a calf, the better the hide. From what has been said of the effect of weather upon the hide, it seems a natural conclusion that a hide is better from an ox that has been fed in the open air, than from one that has been kept in the barn. Dirt adhering to a hide injures it, particularly in stall-fed animals; and any thing that punctures a hide, such as warbles arising from certain insects, is also injurious. The best hides are obtained from the West Highlanders. The Short Horns produce the thinnest hides, the Aberdeenshire the next, and then the Angus. Of the same breed, the ox affords the strongest hide; but, as hides are applied to various uses, the cow's, provided it be large, may be as valuable as that of the ox. The bull's hide is the least valuable. Hides are imported from Russia and South America.

Hides, when deprived of their hair, are converted into leather by an infusion of the astringent property of bark. The old plan of tanning used to occupy a long time; but, such was the value of the process, that the old tanners used to pride themselves upon producing a substantial article—which is more than can be said in many instances under modern improved modes, which hasten the process, much to the injury of the article produced. Strong infusions of bark make leather brittle; one hundred pounds of skin, quickly tanned in a strong infusion, produce one hundred and thirty-seven pounds of leather; while a weak infusion produces only one hundred and seventeen and a half,—the additional nineteen and a half pounds serving only to deteriorate the leather, and causing it to contain much less textile animal solid. Leather thus highly charged with tanning is so spongy as to allow moisture to pass readily through its pores, to the great discomfort and injury of those who wear shoes made of it. The proper mode of tanning lasts a year, or a year and a half, according to the quality of the leather wanted and the nature of the hides. A perfect leather can be recognized by its section, which should have a glistening marbled appearance, without any white streaks in the middle. The hair which is taken off hides in tanning, is employed to mix with plaster, and is often surreptitiously put into hair-mattresses.

The principal substances of which glue is made are the parings of ox and other thick hides, which form the strongest article and the refuse of the leather-dresser. Both afford from forty-five to fifty-five per cent. of glue. The tendons, and many other offals of slaughter-houses, also afford materials, though of an inferior quality, for this purpose. The refuse of tanneries—such as the ears of oxen and calves—are better articles. Animal skins also, in any form, uncombined with tannin, may be worked into glue.

Ox-tallow is of great importance in the arts. Candles and soap are made of it, and it enters largely into the dressing of leather and the use of machinery. Large quantities are annually exported from Russia. Ox-tallow consists of seventy-six parts of stearine and twenty-four of oleine, out of one hundred parts.

The horns of oxen are used for many purposes. The horn consists of two parts: an outward horny case, and an inward conical-shaped substance, somewhat intermediate between indurated hair and bone, called the fluid of the horn. These two parts are separated by means of a blow upon a block of wood. The horny exterior is then cut into three portions by means of a frame saw. The lowest of these, next the root of the horn, after undergoing several processes by which it is rendered flat, is made into combs.

The middle of the horn, after having been flattened by heat, and its transparency improved by oil, is split into thin layers, and forms a substitute for glass in lanterns of the commonest kind. The tip of the horns is used by makers of knife-handles and of the tops of whips, and for other similar purposes. The interior, or core of the horn, is boiled down in water. A large quantity of fat rises to the surface; this is put aside, and sold to the makers of yellow soap. The itself is used as a kind of glue, and is purchased by the cloth-draper for stiffening. The bony substance remaining behind is then sent to the mill, and, after having been ground down, is sold to farmers for manure.

Besides these various purposes to which the different parts of the horn are applied, the clippings which arise in comb-making are sold to the farmer for manure, as well as the shavings which form the refuse of the lantern-makers. Horn, as is well known, is easily rendered soft and pliant in warm water; and by this peculiarity and its property of adhering like glue, large plates of horn can be made by cementing together the edges of small pieces rendered flat by a peculiar process, as a substitute for glass. Imitation of tortoise-shell can be given to horn by means of various metallic solutions. Horn, also, when softened, can be imprinted with any pattern, by means of dies.