The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1878-12-10
AGRICULTURAL.


"AAAsOk &SOuAsAe "a OVWSs
During Summer, when the heritage is fresh
and abundant, cows make their own milk.
All that Is needed then is to see that their
grass is abundant and their water is pure.
In the Winter season it is the owners skill,
more than anything else. that makes the
milk. To keep COW in full flow through
the Winter is a matter of difficulty to the
most skillful dairyman. But it can be done
if the means are at hand and the methods
are followed. The first requisite is a warm
stable, in which there is abundant ventila-
ton, and where perfect cleanliness can be
observed, for comfort is as necessary to full
milking as feed or water. The skin of the
COW should also be kept clean, and well
carded or brushed, for the healthful action of
the skin is necessary for health and healthful
secretions. Then the feed should be nutri-
tions, easily digestible and abundant. Hay
Is the principal winter fodder for cows, and
early cut clover mixed with meadow grass"
chiefly what is known as June grass, or Ken
lucky blue grass, with some red-top, is the
best for product of milk. Timothy and ORCH
ard grasses, if cut young and from fields
thickly sown and well manured, will make
good hay for milk cows. Well cured corn
fodder is but little inferior to the best hay !;
and the writer has found that sweet corn
fodder, sown in drills three feet apart, grown
to maturity and carefully cured, will make
more milk than an equal weight OF fair clover
and timothy hay. The concentrated food
supplied is of more importance than the
coarse fodder, and 1t is here that mistakes
are often made. Corn meal alone is too rich
in carbonaceous matters to produce milk;
food that is richer in albumen than this is
necessary. Corn, oats and rye bran in equal
weights, ground together, furnish a perfect
food that is rich in phosphates, albumen and
fat-forming substances, and thus produce
good flow of milk rich in cream. BuckWheat
bran stimulates the secretion of milk greatly,
but this food, being deficient in fat and starch
produces poor quality of thin milk Wheat
middlings and bran, alone, have tendency
to reduce the yield of milk, at least that is
the result of continuous trial of this food
for whole month. Brewers grains are a
nutritious food that helps greatly to increase
the flow of milk, and if corn meal is added
the quality of the milk is also improved.
The oil-cakes are rich in both albumen and
oil, but few dairymen care to use these, be-
cause of the peculiar flavor which they i'm
part to the milk. Potatoes, when chopped
and mixed with meal add to the yield of
milk, and the quality produced by them is
good, as might be expected from the largo
proportion of starch they contain. Turnlps
should be avoided as food for milking cows,
as the cautious use of them required inter-
feres greatly with the routine of the feeding,
and makes much trouble. Pumpkins are
rich food and impart good color to the
cream; but the seed should be removed be-
fore they are fed to the COWS, because of their
diuretic effects. Apples are justly condemned
by dairymen, excepting in very small quanti-
ties of the sweet varieties, and even then it
is question if it would not be better to cart
them to the manure heap or to the cider
mill rothor than UivQ than n nOuuc
The best chosen foods should be fed in
moderate quantities, and at four separate
feeds. If large quantity of food is crowded
into the stomach, the digestive organs are too
severely taxed, and the ease and comfort of
the COW is interfered with. The most per-
feet digestion goes on in a moderately we'll
filed stomach, and although the cows paunch
is capacious, yet one bushel of loose, drv fod-
der, or half a bushel of moist feed or roots, at
once is sufficient. 1t is well to feed tour
times day. The practice of wel-con- 4,
Quoted milk dairy is to feed at O'Clock in
the morning one bushel of cut fodder, wetted
and mixed with three quarts of feed of corn,
oats and bran. At o'clock the cows are
turned out to water and have picking at
the straw racks or some loose corn fodder.
At II o'clock they are brought into the stable
for an hour, and are each served with half
bushel of chopped potatoes, beets or mangels,
with two quarts of feed mixed with them,
At - O'Clock they are turned out to water
again there being running water in the
yard-and pick at the straw and fodder racks
until 80 o'clock, when they are brought in
to be MIXED, and after that are fed with
similar mess to that Of the morning. The
last thing in the evening is to give them
few pounds of loose hay and to bed them
comfortably with straw and shut them up in
stable through which no cold draft can
penetrate, but which is, nevertheless, broad,
high, spacious and we'll aired. 1t is difficult
to say how this method can be mended, and
il regularity is observed in feeding, and
good kind of cows are kept, the maximum
yield of milk, both In quantity and quality,
may be overwhelmingly Gentleman.
STEwED DUcK.-Cut the duck In pieces
and brown it slightly in little butter and salt
pork drippings, then add teaspoonful OF
chopped onion, Glove, stalk of celery, one
of parsley, and a sage leaf. Cover with cold
water and stew slowly for two hours, seasoning
when half done with salt and pepper. Keep the
saucepan closely covered and add little boiling
water If necessary. When done put the pieces
Of duck on warm platter; mix teaspoonful