The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1892-04-13
Mr.. Barnard ON Peas for
Feeding Cows.

Agricultural Editor:-(a) Your cor
respondent says: :" am tired of buying
Western feed for my dairy stock, and
thought of a pea crop to supply its
place. think farmers should raise the
feed for their stock, instead of buying
so much. (b) What do you think Of
it? (c) How much seed to the acre?
ca How do the Canada farmers har.
vest them?"
(d) Your correspondent does we'll 10
grow on the farm all he can supply to
his cows, ETC., at profit, and, no
doubt, peas may be grown very profit
ably on most soils. However, it strikes
me that where cotton-seed meal can be
delivered at about S26 ton, and when
the liquid and solid manure is all saved.
the farm will very soon show the i'm
provement from such purchased food,
whilst the food contained in cotton-seed
meal will leave a considerable profit to
the butter-maker besides the manurial
value. In fact, our dairymen should
not forget that the same cows can be
fed so as to give 200 pounds or 400
pounds of butter in a given time, ac-
cording to the care and food given
and that it may take either eight acres
or one acre per head per annum of a
given soil to feed COW, according to
the fertility and good condition of the
same.
CO. Peas are an excellent food for
butter production. Here our good pea
growers count on crop of from twenty
five to thirty-fve bushels per acre, and
from sixty to seventy pounds per bushel.
My plan in dairy farming would be to
cut the crop on the green side, dry well,
cut up in inch lengths (haulm and alb
without threshing; scald the whole from
twelve to twenty-four hours in advance,
adding to this provender good straw,
about five pounds per head per day and
one pound of cottOn-seed meal per
eight pounds of milk given. The plan
of feeding cotton-seed meal in proper
ton to the milk given is rational one,
and must do good in all cases where fed
lightly, as above recommended. This
can be fed with or without hay, or with
or without ensilage. 1t is mere ques-
ton of giving a sufficient quantity of
the three elements,contained in milk
viz: heat formers, protein or heat,
flesh and fat formers, and finally veg
etable fat, which are to be found in ex-
actly equal proportions in rich milk.
To me, after many years of experience,
cotton-seed meal is the best food to
make ensilage, or straw, or hay, or any
kind of food produced on the farm a
well-baanced and complete ration.
(c) Here we sow about two and one
half bushels of peas per acre. Some,
however, prefer three bushels. We
prefer fall blowing. The ground is
thoroughly prepared in the spring and
the seed drilled in two and one-hali
inches deep, or gang-plowed from three
to three and one-half inches deep. A
little plaster helps greatly to start the
crop. Rolling will help the crop, and
also its harvesting.
(O In Canada, peas are generally
harvested with an implement costing
about $40 and consisting of elongated
fingers placed on the reaper-bar, or il
can be done with the scythe. In both
cases we pull peas little before they
are ripe and let them stand on the field
until dry. We prefer either very early
peas for high localities, or the medium
for better climates. The latter gener
ally give larger crops. If the peas are
harvested properly-that is, somewha
on the green side-the haulm is fully al
valuable as clover hay. To obtain this
means, of course, some care in curing
Quebec. ED A. BARNARD.