The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1899-05-19

then one may know that he has reached
the Hardy farm. A little further on, the
gables of great red barn, patches of
the white sides of the big farm house,
and windmill or two come partially
into sight and soon one turns into the
yard past the platform scales and then
the details of well furnished farm
homestead begin to crowd in on his at
tention. He sees some ten or twelve
sheds of various sizes, some as large as
city barn and adapted to variety of
uses from ice house and granaries to
houses sheltering the chickens and
hogs.
Going into the roomy basement
stable, thoroughly drained and always
dry, one sees his horses put into com
Portable stable and looks about to see
the quarters where some sixty horses
and Holstein cattle find their lodging
places. Each animal except the horses
and the monarch of the herd, "Old
Tobe," has box stall or pen by itself
in which, tho the stall is in most cases
too narrow to permit of turning around
yet each animal has at least limited
freedom, standing united and with no
annoying stanchion to wear and irritate
its neck. A plank gate with heavy
hasp and hinges shuts up the back end
of the stall and keeps the animal on
the elevated floor. "Old Tobe," great
sleek Holstein but two years old and
yet already as large as most bulls ever
become, has stall of extra size and
strength and besides these precautions
is tied for greater safety. But he is
good natured and an "easy keeper, "
being plump and we'll filled out tho
being fed on dry feed with almost no
grain at all In other pens are three
of the latest additions to the herd, the
youngest, pure white and jet black,
plump and sleek, but a few days old.
But one must stopa minute to see the
great roomy structure above the base
ment where, too, one can get better
idea of the size of the barn, the main
palt of which is 5Ox75 feet with an L
45x45 feet, both parts being high
enough to be well proportioned as the
81 and Is foot posts supporting the big
hip roof would prove. Here are some
fifty tons of hay and large amount OF
straw still left, for the owner always
intends to have enough for his own use
and in fact never sells any hay or grain.
In order to have large part of the
straw in the barn, when the threshing
is begun the grain in one end of the
barn is threshed and the straw stacked
in the barnyard where the stock can
get at it, thus emptying a large bay
where the straw from the grain stored
in the other part of the barn is thrown
by the threshing machine carrier. A
windmill on top of this barn furnishes
power for feed mill
But it is not the big barns and roomy
yards that make the Hardy farm so well
known. You have not begun to see the
farm until you begin tour of the place
to be intl oduced to every one of the
forty-three individuals composing the
famous Hardy herd of Holsteins, and
when you speak of the herd you are
touching on topic which lies close to
the heart of the owner. In fact it is
told of him that one day his sister, who
was visiting him and who had been
made somewhat nervous by an unusu-
ally prolonged believing on the part of
one or two big bulls in the stable, re-
marked to him somewhat impatiently,
ben, | believe the only music you
could appreciate in heaven would be
the believing of two or three Holstein
bulls" Be this as it may, the music is
certainly not annoying to your host
who himself tells the story with a
twinkle in his eye. But as you pass
through various fields until you have
counted seventeen bright faced, inno-
cent looking, black and white calves,
none of them more than few months
old, you begin to appreciate yourself
the pride your host takes in these frisky
animals almost any one of whom you
can pet, so tame are they though per.
haps a little shy at you stranger
And, too, you are ready to swear with
the owner and with The TIMES repre-
sentative that in spite of all the poetry
devoted to the praise of the beauties o.
lambs, nice plump Holstein calf car
give the lamb all kinds of odds and still
beat it out for beauty and grace.
Within the last few months nearly al
of the old cows have been sold to parties
who have wished to improve their owl
herds until there are now but two cow
over seven or eight years of age. Ii
all there are now fourteen cows in tn,
herd, some Of them being but little Owe