The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1904-09-02
rumpkIns as Chile Fen.

A correspondent writes: EindI, oiyf
me your opinion OF the pumpkin rs
cattle feed, including it's relation to in
crease of milk and butter fat. Does
the pumpkin repleniSh or depete the
fertilization of soil? Some farmers
here IN West Virginia grow them with
corn for early winter feed. How can
they best be fed and what other m.
tons should be given them? How
much per feed to cows in full flow of
milk and how often?
80 far as | know very few. if any,
experiments have been made TO de-
termine the value of pumpkins as feed
Tor the dairy COW. 1t is generally re-
garded as excellent for this purpose.
however, and as pumpkins thrive so
well in corn fields, there is every reason
to commend the practice of planting
them in the corn rows so as to have Il
good lot Of them to feed during the
early autumn. AS a boy on my
father farm pumpkin lere grown
largely, not only in the corn rows. but
on especially prepared pieces Of
ground, and were fed for, several weeks
to COWS during the fall. 1t was gener-
ally believed that the butter obtained
while the pumpkins were being fed
was of superior quality and color in
TACT, | remember distinctly that efforts
were made to have a plentiful supply
Of pumpkins for feeding to the COWS
70 Il
for exhibition at county fairs. 1t was
also believed that the pumpkins in
creased the flow of milk This might
have been due to the fact that the pas
lures were often short in the fall.
though in my opinion it is an excellent
food for the dairy COW. The ordinary
yellow variety of pumpkin yields well
from nine to twelve tons per acre
when planted on open ground and rs
they are very easy to grow, there is
no reason why & patch cannot be util-
lied Oh every dairy farm for several
weeks in the fall to the best advan.
tage.
Some have thought the seeds of the
pumpkins injured the COW, having an
unfavOrable action on the kidneys. but
the writer has never observed any
thing of this character, though he has
seen them fed to cows year after year.
Some people go to the trouble of tax
ing the seeds out and throwing them
away, but this hardly seems necessary
under the circumstances. The com
mon pumpkin contains as much diges
tlble protein us sugar beets or EiShsels;
it also contains more fat and about
the same amount of carbohydrates. A
ton OF pumpkins would take from the
soil about % POUNDS of nitrogen, 3D.
pounds of phOsphoric acid and is
pounds of potash. 1t thus does not
make a heavy draft on the fertilizing
constituents of the soil. AS it com
pares favorably in indigestibility with
other root crops, it is undoubtedly
practically equal in feeding value to
them and no one need hesitate to grow
the crop with the idea in mind that |
it will make a heavy draft on soil fer
tility. Pumpkins may lie fed appro-
propriately about as roots would be fed |
to the COW; that is, from twenty to
forty pounds per day, depending on the |
nature of the roughness fec and the |
amount of grain used. If the cattle |
were on pasture, this would also have |
a determining influence. Pumpkins
may be run through an ordinary root |
pulper or sliced witt spade and |
thrown into the trougls a. milking |
time They may also be thrown over
the pasture field fence ant. cut up with
the spade, care being taken to keep
the feeding place clean.-Sorthern Ag-