The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1893-04-11

CAUTION IN SPRING PASTURING.
Nothing is gained, and much is lost, by
turning cattle and sheep ont TO Craze be-
fore the pastures are well started in the
spring. Many farmers, as soon as few
green blades appear in the fence corners,
think it saving of hay, of which their
supply Is probably running low, to turn
out the sheep and cattle, aud, as conse-
quenee OF so doing, the grass, which in
few days more would have given good
bite and have obtained a fine start, is
eaten down so close that the pasture is
soon bare, receiving check from which
1t Will not soon recover.
Keep the stock in the barnyard until
there is good grazing. even though the
Gays be warm, and the grass growing
nicely. The cattle are anxious to be out,
OF course, and evince their uneasiness by
numerous lowings and efforts to get out
into the fields; but few days longer will
make all the difference between we'll
started pasture that Will keep ahead of
the stock, and one that is soon eaten
snort. 1t Is, moreover, a bad plan to turn
cattle out while the ground Is quite soft,
as the damage caused by their hootS Will
not be easily repaired.
In the early spring days cattle and
horses are often running and playing
about the fields, over pastures and mea-
dowS, alike, and their owners evidently
90 not realize the damage they are doing
to the grass roots by cutting up the sod.
keep up the grain ration of all stock un-
I'll the grass Is sufficient for Il full feed,
and even then it should be gradually
wlthdrawn from young stock, and dairy
COWS in milk should receive grain ra-
ton at least once a day all summer. This
Will pay. The grass is rank and succulent
and the cows eat it greedily, but it does
not contain the elements TOR the produc-
IT, u butter fats which grain does, and,
although the cows may give a full yield
of milk on grass alone, il will be found
upon trial that the extra cost OF the grain
feed will more than be repaid in added
cream and butter.
\ personal experience in stopping the
grain ration of young stock as they were
turned out to pasture cost the writer
dearly. y bunch of winter calves dropped
from October to January were III fine
condition when spring came, being.
without an exception, sleek and fat.
They were turned out about the middle
OF May on good pasture with free access
to water, but their grain ration of ground
oats, bran and cOrnmeal was stopped, not
being considered a further necessity. y
change was soon apparent i'll thoir con-
ditiOn. They became thin in flesh. rough
coated, and in every way inferior to what
they were when first turned out to grass,
and, although when the change was no.
)
their former condition, they did not fully
recover from the check TO their growth
which they received from suddenly TAX
ing away their winter rations. Since
then the change from grain and hay is
very carefully made with young stock. as
with a choice heller or bull calf the ar
rested development can never be fully re-
paired. The same result will follow with
colts. and many an understood, scrawny
looking horse owes its present condition
to its owners carelessncss in allowing it
to run down for want of little grain.
Penny wise and pound foclish'' was
never better illustrated than by the man
who stints his growing stock in their
fOod.-E. r. Flint of Michigan, in Ameri-
can Agricuturst.
CHICKEN FARMING.
l have letter before me from a young
man who has inherited little money,
and who at the same time caught bad
spell OF the hen fever. lie thinks more
of an egg farm than anything else. and
ne says, he wants to keep five or eight
thousand kens. "What do think of it?''
Well, to be honest, l think man would
he sure of failure if he undertook such an
enterprise, tor even the most practical
poultryman would find it impossible to
give that number of fowls the proper care
necessary to make success of il. No
man, with good common sense, would
expect TO profitably keep that many
fowls, the many little details so necessary
for success would consume too much of
his time. But, let a man start with saw
one hundred pullets, and with these be-
gin his first lessons. The business must
be carefully studied, and it is always best
TO gain your knowledge at as little risk
as possible, Begin small, and gradually
enlarge. Two years might increase the
farm TO three hundred, and if the poultry
man has performed his part he will find
that that number pretty well consumes
his time, and gives himi better returns
than are received on the farms that quar-
ter one thousand.
But where would the amateur be who
started with 5000 or 5000 birds? What
would be his lot in one year? To build
up a poultry farm, it is important that
the capacity Of the man is not over
reached. He must not put q burden
upon his shoulders. He must be fortified
with time, money and experience, and as
these are not secured in a day, he must
make haste slowly, as the old saving
runs. l began keeping poultry with a
single breeding pen OF Plymouth Rocks.
l studied my birds, and | gave them the
best of care and feed. With this pen [
laid in store of knowledge, and | gradu-
ally increased according to the limits of
my experience and cash. Although for
more than ten years | have devoted my
time TO poultry keeping, l would no
sooner try to-day TO run thousand hen
farm than L would undertake to manage
the Barnum circus. | am a firm believer
in small farms.-G Germantown Telegraph.
PLANT APPLES.
In nearly every market in California
good apples sell for more money per
pound than oranges or lemons. This is
not unusual. 1t is nearly always the
case in mid-wlnter, aud should teach a
salUtarv lesson in diversifying the plant
ing industries of the State. California
fruit-growerS are influenced by the pre-
vailing fadS or fashions in fruit planting,
as their wives ana daughters are in the
fashions OF spring bonnets. one year it is
prunes; then it may be apricots, peaches
or cherries. \ few years ago it was
oranges; last year and this it has been
olives. These are all good fruits and
profitable to plant without doubt, but
it is very doubtful if any of them are
more profitable than good apples. There
are now planted in this State more than
three acres OF orange trees to every acre
OF apples, while it is probable at least the
conditions might be proftably reversed.
We hope TO see q revival of apple plant
ing throughout the State in favorable
localities. The hot dry interior valleys
are not the best places to grow apples,
bat there are thousands of orchard sites
among the foothills where the frost is
sharp i'll winter that will produce apples
equal TO those OF New England or Mich
igan, Arkansas or Missouri. Along the
coast near the sea also are localities where
certain varieties are found to thrive we'll
which should be utilized. There are
thousands of acres of excellent apple
land awaiting the touch of the man seri-
ously affected with the "apple fad."-
California Fruit-Grower.
NJTSCEIJANEoT-S r1-r-lrv
Ireland is improving the manufacture
OF its dairy products to such an @ ,tent