Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1878-01-25
VERMONT DAIRYMEN's ASsOCIA-
TlON.
The Milton Meeting.
Continued from last week.

|, Continued from last week.
o WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON.
= Assembling at l:3O, the first thing W
), the lecture by Mr.. A. W Cheever,
e Wrentham. Mass, editor of the New En-
=, land Farmer.
= Mr.. CHEEyER's LECTURE.
Mr.. Cheever said that having mentOne
e in accepting the invitation to be present
e this meeting, thai he was now keeping
= animals on his little farm of p acres, /
t was somewhat surprised to f1G h,ln- ,
| announced as engaged to tell Low he keI
81 cows on 25 acres. To begin with he ha
| to say that be didn't Dc II. lie had no
l but 30 animals. ineluiing two horses an
some young stocN, having killed one ia
l animal last week and be purchased MOI
or less feed. lie would tell, however, jus
what he was doing. lie bad 25 acres of Ian
exclC ENG 6 acres OF worn out pasture, th
whole farm being not as good land as th
average of the Vermont farms. His Doc k
showed that on the first Of April. 1873. h
had L animals, including two horses; IL
1874 he,had Is; in 1875, Il, in 1876, 81; il
1877, 25; at present he had 30. but shoult
soon sell > fat animals, leaving 2S. III
had thus doubled the number kept by him
| III SlA lGdTS. nest bV CbupEl-t - nOTet-
l. cows, a bull, 4 yearling heifers, and
calves from . to 6 months old. His purchase.
OF hay had ranged from none to tons, in
a year. lie had purchased no hay the
last year. and thought he had enough
to go through the Winter. He cut his
best hay, now, on what was a bog
meadow. when he bought it, in which the
former owner got mired and was dragged
out by the neighbors with ropes. Most oil
his land was fair loan, with some dry
knolls. His experience had shown that on
| good land, like that in Vermont, not special
| " subject to drouth, an acre was enough TO
keep cow, and that 100 acres ought to
support loo animals. A great mistake OF
the Vermont farmers was in cultiyating too
much land. Most of them would do better
| to concentrate their work on fewer acres
J and get more from the soil, per aero.
Farmers should use their land more. You
raise crop OF hay in two months and of
corn in three but your taxes and the in
terest on your capital run rig ht along twelve
months In the year. Ii you can make two
crops from the same soil in the season, you
gain just so much. My own method is as
follows; | put large share of my land
into Winter rye, in the Fall. Rye can be
thus put in alter the Summer crops have
been harvested. Last year, had six acres
in Winter rye. and shall have three this
year. 1t lengthens the Summer and short
the Winter feeding season. By from the Sth
TO the 18th OF May. the rye will be heavy
enough to cut for fodder; and as soon As It
is 50, begin to cut and feed it green with
some dry hay every day at first This
brings the cows through the season when
they often become "Spripg poor" and
leDgthens the season of green food from 81
to % days. As soon as the rye heads and
before 1t blossoms. | cut it all and make it
into hay. IN the usual way; SOW the rye
at three different times in the Fall, thus ex-
tending somewhat the time for cutting and
harvesting it. Ny first sowed crop in the
Spring, is Spring rye. 1t is a. good as the
Winter rye ; but its season is short At the
same time SOW oats, either on old ground
or on greenswsrd well turned under, the
soil pulver2ed and well manured in the
Fall previous. On this oats will DO as well,
the next Spring as on old land. Oats make
a rank fodder, and heavy crops can be raised
Barley IL also an excellent fodder Ii can
be sowed late for October and November
feed. 1t stapcs tie frost we'll, does not
rust and can be raised both as Fall and
Spring crop.
For the hay crop. farmers cOnfDc them
selves too much to redtop and timothy. A
greater variety is better. II but one kind
is used, it ripens all at once, and must be
cut in q short time. sow orchard grass,
June grass and clover foE the earliest kinds
These ripen together, and can be cut as early
as the 10th Of June. or even earlier. if nee
essary. | put these on my best land. and
on good, moist fields get two crops every
year, the second crop being very leaiy and
making the best of rowen. These ripen four
Il. H.. 1, l. Il l.
q fair proportion OF these you can begin
haying in June. and can drive it instead OF
its driving YOU.
For corn fodder. | SOW the southern,
Western Flat aud other varieties. Las, year
| sowed it broadcast, bushels to the acre,
as early as tho season would permit. | began
to cut it with Il scy the, June 2Sth. Ii was
then 20 inches high, and we were cutting
from it for three weeks. Corn, if planted
early. while the weather Is cool. can be
sown very thickly and forced with iertlI-
lzers. and will grow stiff and strong.
The same corn. sowed four weeks later,
will lodge. This early thick sOwn corn
should always be cut before it shows
blossom. For late corn fodder | use
sweet variety. Ii must be planted thinner
than the early crop, as it will grow so
last in the warm weather that it will not
stand up under winds or showers. Corn of
the late paintings should grow till the
ears show.
also SOW milet OF this, three varie-
tics are grown-mlllet. Hungarian grass,
and the Golden milet Mr. Cheever
exhibited specimens OF the latter. Golden |
millet is stiff. hard. but leaiy grass.
1t looks as if it would make inferior
food for cattle. but they take to it well.
Ii Is OF quick growth. 1t is of no use to !
SOW 1t early. Ii needs the warm weath |
er, and stands dry weather well. 1t
should not be sown before the lst of j une, |
and in Eastern Massachusetts, can be sown |
as late as the lst of August, with prospect |
OF lair If not a full crop. From the lst |
OF JuLe to the 4th of July Is a suitable time |
to put it in. 1t may follow an early hay |
crop. Turn the grass under and work the soil |
up well, and there will be time enough to |
raise crop of miIet. The Golden milet re-
quires ten to fourteen days longer time than |
the other kinds, but gives q heavier eron. | !
bad last wear between 5 and acres OF Win
ter rye, acres of millet, 4 acres OF oats. 3 4
acres of corn fodder. acre Of barley, and |
l3acres of grass.-all on 25 acres. The millet |
followed the Winter rye on the same land |
The corn fodder was all raised on green
sward turned under, and was followed by |
barley for Fall feed and Winter rye for the
coming Spring. OF the grass lands. all but n
hall acre was moved twice, and paid so to
NOW, and three acres was moved thrice
the hrst cutting on June 10th. the second |
August lst and ID, the third in Oc-
t)ber. Rye is off by the first
week IN June, and then there is ample time |
to put IN potatoes or anv hOed crop on the |
same land. The Winter rye grows
when nothing else would, and all |
above the labor and cost of fertilizers is
clear gain. Oats cut for fodder will be off |
IN time Tor crop OF millet. In some sea-
sons, two crops of corn fodder may be
raised but bailey is better for the second |
crop after early corn. | commenced to
the second week in May aim to
be through having by the 4th OF July. By
August, the second crops commence. began
cutting corn fodder on The 2Sth Of June.
The later corn is in condition to cut by the
last of August | feed 1t c0arsely chopped |
in hay cutter which cuts it into pieces |
eight or ten inches lOng-s wrinkle, | |
learned of our Pomiret friends-and than |
such corn there is no better fodder Corn |
cannot be used green after frost but |
cut and shocked, 1t may be kept month |
in the field, or in sheds as long a. IT will |
stand up. 1t will not keep packed like |
hay. Barley, wheat and oats are not III
jured by frost, and may be cut TIL nearly |
December. or till the ground frees
have bought ten or eleven tons OF shorts, /
a year. to feed my stock and hogs buy |
such feed and gram IN preference 10 buying
hay.
Ny land was in poor condition when /
took it, and | have purchased fertilizers
freely, using from S4O0 to $500 worth |
Of Commercial, St0ckbridge. and other |
" slaughter house" fertilizers within the !
past Is months.
Mr.. Cheeyer, here, suspended, and was at
once put through an extended cross-ex-
animation by the farmers.
Ia reply to u question by Mr.. o. y. Bliss, |
Mr. Cheever said the amount of labor used |
by him varied. This year e had one good |
hired man. lie had son 10 TeaTs old. |
who worked with him, and he worked |
himself " hat timo he could spare from other |