The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1897-03-19

1oHliC, "liCu prefer W w eSCeTn CaC-
tie. l bought them two and three at
a time until 1 had forty-three head.
had the corn and fodder from
twenty-five acres, a rick of straw, some
pumpkins, about 200 bushels ofturnips
and 100 barrels of small sweet potatoes.
cut the fodder up with masticator
for horses and cattle, and ground the
corn with the cob. l mix three parts
of corn to one of bran and middling
with little oil cake added to give
them an appetite and regulate their
bowels. This mixture is mixed dry
with chopped fodder. l give them as
much as they can cat up clean, and
three times week | give them cut
turnips and sweet potatoes for change.
The great trouble Of feeding cattle is
that they have to be tied up when be-
ing fed, to keep them from goring and
fighting each other, and often the timid
ones are prevented by the bosses from
getting enough to eat.
| visited the Maryland Experiment
Station and noticed that all their COWS
were dehorned. They showed me the
instrument and instructed me how to
use it. thought it a good plan, pur-
chased one and in u hours dehorned
without an accident thirty-one (3D
steers, and dehorned the rest as soon
as | got them.
Now | have no trouble at all with
them in feeding them. l turn them in
shed which is 100 feet by 20 feet
where the feed troughs are arranged,
and they eat as quietly as sheep; there
are no bosses, and the smallest one
gets as much to eat as the largest.
When they find themselves without
horns they never attempt to fight, and
| can turn them in lot without any
risk Of their injuring each other
The average cost of my cattle last
year was Sl9.O9 per head. On the lst
Of January l sold thirteen Q3) cattle
and they averaged me $40 per head.
One of them had gained 25O pounds in
los days and the others had done
nearly as well, in fact all of my cattle
are ready for the butcher now, but
think | can get them better and have
enough fodder, sweet potato roots, ETC.,
to last them until April.
l have plowed and lined with gas
lime my last years pasture of about
80 acres. | am reclaiming about 10
acres which was in cultivation a great
many years ago, certainly not in the
last % years, and putting on soil, etc.
| have plowed my potato ground, of
about twenty acres, which | will re-
plant as soon as the ground is in con-
diti n. have twenty-five acres in
wheat and the remainder Of the farm
is in cery good grass. My farm is now
in very good condition.
| think my success is due to the ju-
dicial use of fertilizers, manure, lime
crimson clover, good plowing, thorough
preparation of the ground for the seed
nourishing the poor places and reading
good agricultural works. Now | am
considered city and book-farmer,
which is partly correct, rs | had tc
make a living, up to a few years ago
on small truck farm, and | was eau
toned by my friends not to follow
book-farming, as it would prove fail.
ure Now they were partly right; if a
man would follow all that he reads he
would soon fail, but he must have judg
ment enough to select the good from
the bad, and be able to tell what is
practicable and what is not.
Some men are fluent writers, but
when it comes to putting their theories
in practice it will be found that it is
next to impossible.