The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1862-03-11 00:00:00

agricaltum

DAIRY MANAGEMENT ON ARABLE
F A IL MB.

We are convinced that ire long the plough and the
pail will be united on the generality of the farina
throughout the country. Our agrieulture,- in times
past, has been sectional in Be characteristics. We
have had our sheep-downs, and our dairy-runs! our
poor uplands for breeding;. table lands arid Lill-sides
for Corn and mixed hebandry ; and rich, low-lying
pastures for the manufacture of butter, cheese, and
meat. But the developement of nineteenth-century
progress is rapidly giving us a far different view. There
are few of tho poor uplandsoilich ago net now under
the plough, and producing mutton, wool, and corn
more or less abundance, according to the enterprise and
good management bestowed on them. Even tte dairy
sow lal found her way up the hill likewise; and
farms that, twenty years since, were only deemed fit
to be appropriated as browsing ground ter • summer
rea range of stock, are now rich in manifold produc-
tions; and the milk-room,' the cow-house, and the pig-
sty, have had to be efebted at the home/dead, as well as
the fold to be sent op in the field. While this has been
going on in the upland districts and on the hill sides,
the plough has descended further into the plain, and
invaded spots which heretofore were always depastured
by cattle. A mixed system of farming is found to be
economical everywhere. As in the uplands, the
economics of corn cultivated demand animals of the
bovine species to consume the straw, and these, again,
offer advantages for • porcine herd to follow; so in the
lowlands, straw is badly required, by the cattle ; and it
is found highly advantageous to break up a portion of
the land in eider to get an adequate supply of winter
fodder, litter, , and roots; end also early green food
for the spring months. Thus has the aspect of
both hill and dale altered very much in recent
progress, that very highly successful dairy establish-
ment* have been founded in connection with arable
culture, sad that, too, in localities, that would have
been considered, a few years since, too poor for cultiva-
tion at all. By the aid of the rnanure-driU, • large balk of
roots is ralsei, which, with the Straw of the farm,
forms the pried* supply of winter food. A breadth
of rye is grown for mowing in the early spring Months;
vetches and trifolitim succeed, and the clover crop is
resorted to when nothing else is to be had. Italian rye
grass, moreover, if well manured, supplies most
astounding quantities of summer food ; and no difficulty
at all is experienced in supplying an adequate quantity
of food until the harvest season approaches. Where
there are any pasture fields in connection with the
holding, it is found advisable to save their produce as
much as possible for this period; but, failing
resources of this kind, the cows have to be turned
on the clovers, which may offer a moderate
bite, although insufficient for the use of
the scythe; and, subsequently, to the stubbles after the
corn has been taken off. The supply of milk, as may
be expected, falls off rionsiderably at this period, and
this result frequently operates in causing the farmer to
tire of his dairy, and to abandon it in the ensuing sea-
son. But there are ways and means of making provision
for this period of scarcity, excepting only on the moot
arid description of farms, in this case of which, should
it be deemed desirable to keep cows at all, it would be
profitable to manage so that the majority of the herd
should drop their calves in October and loven3ber, by
which arrangement the milk giving period would be
nearly expired ere the hest of the solstice season scorches
up the fields. There would be • further advantage
from this method. During the former part of the
whiter, when the cows would be feeding on turnips, they
would be fattening their calves, and the taint which this
article of food gives to the milk, would not be impor-
tant, as is the case when it has to be manufactured into
butter, and cheese. In ',eke; to provide crops for
stall-feeding in the August and Septen.ber months, a
good breadth of spring vetches will be found one of the
best to be depended on; cabbages, also, are by no means
to be despied ; the Helens Saccharatus or Chinese sugar
cane has been highly recommended; and the under
leaves of the marigold vaunt crop, by being stripped off
and carried to the stalls, ore calculated tq supply very
seasonable and nutrieous food. We are of opinion, that
where dairy cows are stall fed, the energies of the
farmer should be chiefly directed to making an adequate
provision for this period of scarcity, and that, although
it may be a good pointy to torn the cows on the clover
and corn stubble during a portion of the day, they
should be abundantly fed during the other portion,
particularly if yielding large supplies of milk.