News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1884-11-06
FARM AND GARDEN.
CROPS FOR semING CATTLE.
A Cow Per Acre the Year Round, and
Sometimes TNos
." =
RYA W nHEEYER.

BYA. W. CHEEvER.
The farmer who sets out to keep
single COW or herd either by pasturing
or by soiling, should pay something il
way of insurance against drouth or othel
adverse conditions that may arise. q,
do this nothing is needed except to pro
vide for raising little more fodder thar
it is expected will be needed. Away:
| lay plans for a season a little below the
average and strive to have small sur
plus constantly on hand for feeding al
| the stock. As nearly all the forage
crops can he easily cured by drying
when they will make good food for feed
| ing at any season of the year, there j;
no necessity for making very clost
figures when laying out set of rules tc
be followed in soiling cattle.
From my own experience / have nc
hesitation in saying that one acre q
good land is as much as one will need
for keeping mature COW through the
summer, and in an average season if the
land is kept constantly in well chosen
crops, and is made fairly fertile, one
acre should afford two COVE all the for
age they will need in addition to ration
of grain, which may in many sections
be purchased as cheaply as it can be
raised. Still, would want fnow OF
dry hay or other cured fodder to fall
back upon at all times for feeding
rainy days, Sundays, or when the green
crops failed to connect, as might occa-
sionally be the case. Neither would ]
object to an occasional feeding of dry
fodder as change or a corrective al
any time when giving green food
chiefly.
The kinds of fodder to grow for soil
ing purposes may be greatly varied ac-
cording to existing conditions. In my
own locality and wherever rye will grow,
| should count that as one of the leading
crops, not because it is the best of food,
though it is excellent for a short time,
but because it can be raised when and
where nothing else would be grown,
and because it comes at time when
nothing else green can be secured. 1t
can be sown at intervals of two weeks
from the beginning of September to the
middle or last of November, but with
increasing risks as the season advances.
Some years the early and late sowing
may be fit TO cut and feed two weeks or
more apart; but oftener the late sowings
will be hurried along so there will be
little more than weeks difference be-
tween the earlier and later. By begin
ming to cut as early as there was enough
to make a swath worth pitching, say
when the stalks were foot high, 1 have
usually been able to use from the sew
eral sowings about three weeks during
May and June. Winter wheat, where
this grain is Lardy, makes an excellent
crop to follow just after the rye becomes
too hard. Wheat is from a week to ten
lays later in blooming than rye, and my
COWS have liked it even better than rye,
Except when the rye was very tender.
Glover, orchard grass, June grass and
he other early pasture grasses are gen.
orally ready fer turning stock into by
The time the rye and wheat get too hard
Tor feeding, which in the case of the rye
will be little before it comes into
bloom. If one las no pasture, these
early grasses may be grown for moving,
ind they will be fit to cut about as soon
IS the wheat is headed out. If no grass
IS grown, spring rye will be the first
crop that can be grown from spring
seeding; next oats or wheat; then bar
ey. Two or three seedlings of either or
each of these spring grains may be sown
,or cutting in succession or till the sea-
son is advanced enough to begin feed
ug the early paintings of corn. Dur
ng the hot summer weather corn or
some of the millets should be the chief
though clover anG the other
meadow grasses may be used freely
when they are abundant and in condi-
ion to cut.
l formerly raised the large dent corn
for fodder and sowed it thickly in drills,
but latterlv my experience with lodged
and rotten "fodder corn" has inclined
me to grow only one kind of corn for
fodder or for grain, and THAI the variety
that is deemed best for the neigh Dor
hood where grown. A large flint corn
that has stalks eight feet high, carries
broad, vigorous leaves and produces
,igLty bushels of grain pei acre, will, if
mt -Ly :lme from The bloom to the
milk in the ear, make about us good and
boa, as cheap cattle food as L know
low to produce. With the ears on, the
weight will be very heavy, and there will
'e little need of giving COWS much other
rain when feeding this. By cutting
UGH corn and shocking it in large
hooks, the fodder will keep well for
eeding in summer till it becomes pretty
ny and the grain is ripe enough to |
usk and crib.
For fau feeding afte the green corn
n d millets are gone have found moth
ng equal to spring barley sown at
intervals of two weeks from July 10 TO |
ear the last of August. Oats are more
1bject to rust, otherwise they would be
5 good as barley for late fall feeding |
have cut profitable crops of barley |
everal times after the ground had be-
I'm to freeze quite hard as winter ap-
reached. L have also had good success
18th winter rye and spring barley sown
'gether in August and early in Septem-
er, the rye making heavy leaf growth
hich added much to the bulk and
alue of the crop. The rye also lived
lrough the winter and made full crop
he following spring. From two to
lree bushels of all the small grains
ill be needed for seeding land for forage
ops. Oats have sown at the rate of
We or six bushels per acre on some
lnds, but on soft rich soils they are apt
, fall down and rot when sown too
lick.
There is no harm in trying to adjust
le several quantities of all these diff
rent crops to the requirements of the
ock to be kept, but III practice it will
g impossible to do so. 1t is a pretty
bod rule to follow to endeavor to keep
lch acre and each square rod con-
antly occupied in growing some valu-
Die crop that is adapted to the land and
the season. Rye and barley or rye
one may be sown upon all land that
ould otherwise be idle after July. It
ay follow potatoes, peas, all the spring
'ains and the early cuttings of corn.
will be out of the way in spring in
ason for raising full crop of field or
oder corn. [ have grown oats after
e, then barley, cutting full crops of
oh and getting the barley OFF in season
r sowing winter rye. But this was an
favorable season. Two full
ops of forage is about as many as can
! safely counted on in this latitude.
This kind of farming makes sewing
I'd harvesting come all the season
rough. My scythe has been in use
cry week some years from the first day
May till the first week in December.
bots and cabbages may be grown for
e fall feeding, and there are several
rieties of vetches, mustard and sor-
um that have been recommended for
ling crops, but my experience with
EN- has never been very satisfactory.
have raised peas and oats together,
t my COWS did not learn to like peas
y well. My convictions grow &
onger and stronger in favor of the t
ling system, in whole or in part; as l '
our pastures growing noorer and nnr {