Year: 1869

Some one has said " the character of
the stock on farm depends essentially
upon the cultivation and condition of the
SOIL" Grass is not only the natural food
but the best food for stock The better
the grass, the more nourishment does it
contain. When grass is coarse and sour
and full of weeds, great deal Of it must
be consumed to obtain little nutriment.
The animal must go through the labor of
digesting large bulk to gain small re-
suit whereas if the grass is sweet and free
from all foreign admixtures, the nourish-
ment is concentrated, and small quantity
of it contains more nutriment than can be
extracted from large amount of bushes
and weeds.


The success of the breeders of good
stock generally depends upon the quality
of the grass upon the farm, quite as much
as upon blood and skill. A gentleman
purchased fine COW, remarkable for the
quantity and quality of her milk, and took
her to his home, where she soon fell off in
the quantity of her product. When he
complained that she did not sustain her
reputation, her former owner replied,
"When sold you my COW, did not sell
you my pastures.
When we read in the papers accounts of
the sale to the butchers of fine three-year-
old steers, or two-year-old heifers, at a
high price, we consider it evidence not
only of good blood, possessing early fat
tening qualities, but also of good soil,
well cultivated. The Johnsons, the La
throps, the Chenerys and Morrisses, and
kka. II AoI l,aoJars all rasea rrool
hay, on clean soil, and cut it and put it
into their barns while it still retains the
qualities of grass.


Fifteen or twenty pounds of butter a
week, not only prove the superior char
acter of cow, but also that she is kept
on good soil, we'll cultivated. For we
hold it impossible to bring a COW up to the
condition in which she will yield such an
amount by any other means.


Grain may be given for short time to
finish off fattening animal, but it will
not secure the necessary conditions of health
and growth. These can be obtained only
by good grass and hay. So when a COW
has been brought up to the condition il
which she will yield large quantity o.
butter by good grass and hay, the quan
tlty may DC lucredSeu py coru anu VI
meal for short time, but this forcing
process cannot be continued with safety


Farmers have lesson to learn in these
respects. Experience and observation
arc the best teachers.


If a farmer wishes to keep or breed first
rate stock he must begin by putting hi
pastures and moving fields in frst-rat
condition. 1t is a waste of capital to buy
expensive animals and undertake to kee
them upon poor pastures or poor hay
To attempt to make up the difference b,
feeding upon grain will take off all tn
profit, and the animals will inevitabl
deterioratc There is no food that can
proftably substituted, in the long run, fo
grass and hay. Feeding upon large quan
titles of coarse food will injure their form
and change their characters. Feedin
largely upon grain and concentrated foo
will injure their health and capacity fo
breeding Mich COWS fed chiefly upo
good grass and hay will often do goo
service till they are twelve or sixteen yeal
old The cows in the city stables rarel
last through the second year, fed as the
are upon brewers grain and distillery
house slop.


A well-draincd well-worked soil wi
make good hay, and no other soil will 4
it. Until, then, the soil is in this condi
tion, the best results, either in dairy prc
ductions or in beef, cannot be reached
New England Farmer.