Amador ledger., 1906-02-16

the farms of this country, where the
owner seeing dollar in sight for a
load of manure readily sells it to a
neighbor rather than apply it to his
own soil, where itshvalue might be
three or four times as great. On the
model farm in Pennsylvania most of
the crops are fed to the stock and thus
largely return to the land in manure.
Upon assuming management of the
farm the owner with no previous ex-
perience in farming began to read
what agricultural literature was avail
able. One of the first books secured by
him was Quincy's little treatise on the
soiling of cattle, written in 1859. Soil
ing consists in cutting and giving
green feed in summer instead of allow
ing the animals to run on pasture.
This system adopted, by the farm
owner did not prove satisfactory the
first year because no other feed was
used and the COWS did not do well In
addition the manure was difficult to
handle and it was not easy to keep the
barn clean. Before the next season,
however, the new farmer had procured
Stewards book on feeding animals and
from it learned his first lesson in
balanced rations." He also learned
to feed some dry hay with the selling
crops, thus giving the manure a proper
consistency. Thenceforward the man
agement of the constantly growing
herd of COWS was a simple matter and
the farm began not only to pay a profit
but to increase in fertility, so that
within seven years the entire mort
gage was paid off.
The farm is strictly a dairy farm,
the only products regularly sold being
milk and few head of young cattle
each year. The COWS are all registered
Jerseys except one or two picked up at
neighboring sales. They are not only
pure bred but well bred. Male calves,
if worthy of it, are reared for breeding
purposes, but none is ever vealed: If
a male calf is not fit to raise for a
breeder it is killed at birth. "It
doesn't pay to feed $18 worth of meal
to calf that will sell for ST." said the
owner. . The young cattle sold from
this farm bring on an average 500
apiece, and about five are disposed of
each year.
The milk is all sold at 25 cents gal
Ion the year round to State institu-
tion located two miles distant The
milk tests high, is perfectly clean and
free from adulteration. There is never
any complaint from the buyers; on the
other hand, this farmer is considered
a public benefactor. AS soon as the
milk is drawn it is placed in perfectly
clean cans standing in cold water some
distance from the barn and stirred
frequently to aerate it and aid the
cooling. The milk vessels are never
allowed to stand around uncleaned, but
are washed as soon as the milk is re
moved, first with cold water, then witt
boiling and finally again with colo
water. The amount of milk produced
from the seventeen cows is nearly th'
same at all seasons and averages abou
twenty-six gallons a day. While thi
yield of approximately 4,S00 pounds ;
year for each of the seventeen cow
kept is not enormous, by any means
it is good The income from the mill
produced is about $2,400 a year. TIL
outlay for concentrated feeding stuff
is $625 annually.
Economy in Farm LABOR.
One man and a boy do the labor @
the farm except in hay harvest an
during the cutting of silage. So sy'