Chapter V: Part 5

To be sure of a crop, fresh seed must be had, as it cannot be depended on for more than one year. For this reason the largest and straightest roots should be allowed to stand for seed, which, as soon as nearly ripe, should be taken out and spread out to dry, and carefully kept for use. For field culture, the hollow-crowned parsnip is the best and most profitable; but on thin, shallow soils the turnip-rooted variety should be used. Parsnips may be harvested like carrots, by plowing along the rows. Let butter or cheese dairymen give this crop a fair and full trial, and watch its effect in the quality of the milk and butter.

The KOHL RABI is also cultivated to a considerable extent in this country for the purpose of feeding stock. It is supposed to be a hybrid between the cabbage and the turnip and is often called the cabbage-turnip, having the root of the former, with a turnip-like or bulbous stem. The special reason for its more extensive cultivation among us is its wonderful indifference to droughts, in which it seems to flourish best, and to bring forth the most luxuriant crops. It also withstands the frosts remarkably, being a hardy plant. It yields a somewhat richer quality of milk than the ordinary turnip, and the crop is generally admitted to be as abundant and profitable. Very large crops of it have been produced by the ordinary turnip or cabbage cultivation. As in cabbage-culture, it is best to sow the seed in March or April, in a warm and well-enriched seed-bed; from which it is transplanted in May, and set out after the manner of cabbages in garden culture. It bears transplanting better than most other roots. Insects injure it less than the turnip, dry weather favors it, and it keeps well through winter. For these reasons, it must be regarded as a valuable addition to our list of forage plants adapted to dairy farming. It grows well on stronger soils than the turnip requires.

LINSEED MEAL is the ground cake of flaxseed after the oil is pressed out. It is very rich in fat-forming principles, and given to milch cows increases the quality of butter, and keeps them in condition. Four or five pounds a day are sufficient for cows in milk, and this amount will effect a great saving in the cost of other food, and at the same time make a very rich milk. It is extensively manufactured in this country, and largely exported, but it is worthy of more general use here. It must not be fed in too large quantities to milch cows, for it would be liable to give too great a tendency to fat, and thus affect the quantity of the milk.

COTTON-SEED MEAL is an article of comparatively recent introduction. It is obtained by pressing the seed of the cotton-plant, which extracts the oil, when the cake is crushed or ground into meal, which has been found to be a very valuable article for feeding stock. From analysis it is shown to be equal or superior to linseed meal. Practical experiments only are needed to establish it. It can be procured in market at a reasonable price.

The MANURES used in this country for the culture of the above named plants are mostly such as are made on the farm, consisting chiefly of barnyard composts of various kinds, with often a large admixture of peat-mud. There are few farms that do not contain substances, which, if properly husbanded, would add very greatly to the amount of manure ordinarily made. The best of the concentrated manures, which it is sometimes necessary to use, for want of time and labor to prepare enough upon the farm, is, unquestionably, Peruvian guano. The results of this, when properly applied, are well known and reliable, which can hardly be said of any other artificial manure offered for the farmer's notice. The chief objection to depending upon manures made off the farm is, in the first place, their great expense; and in the second--which is equally important--the fact, that, though they may be made valuable, and produce at one time the best results, a want of care in the manufacture, or designed fraud, may make them almost worthless, with the impossibility of detecting the imposition, without a chemical analysis, till it becomes too late, and the crop is lost.

It is, therefore, safest to rely mainly upon the home manufacture of manure. The extra expense of soiling cattle, saving and applying the liquid manure, and thus bringing the land to a higher state of cultivation, when it will be capable of keeping more stock and furnishing more manure, would offer a surer road to success than a constant outlay for concentrated fertilizers.

THE BARN.

The farm barn, next to the farm house, is the most important structure of the farm itself, in the Northern and Middle States; and even at the South and Southwest, where barns are less used, they are of more importance in the economy of farm management than is generally understood. Indeed, to the eyes of a person of taste, a farm or plantation appears incomplete, without good barn accommodations, as much as without good household appointments--and without them, no agricultural establishment can be complete in all its proper economy.

The most _thorough_ barn structures, perhaps, to be seen in the United States, are those of the State of Pennsylvania, built by the German farmers of the lower and central counties. They are large, and expensive in their construction; and, in a strictly economical point of view, are, perhaps, more costly than is required. Yet, there is a substantial durability about them, that is exceedingly satisfactory, and, where the pecuniary ability of the farmer will admit, they may well furnish models for imitation.

In the structure of the barn, and in its interior accommodation, much will depend upon the branches of agriculture to which the farm is devoted. A farm cultivated in grain chiefly requires but little room for stabling purposes. Storage for grain in the sheaf, and granaries, will require its room; while a stock farm requires a barn with extensive hay storage, and stables for its cattle, horses, and sheep, in all climates which do not admit of such stocks living through the winter in the field, as is the case in the great grazing districts west of the Alleghanies. Again, there are wide districts of country where a mixed husbandry of grain and stock is pursued, which require barns and outbuildings accommodating both.

It may be well here to remark that many designers of barns, sheds, and other outbuildings for the accommodation of farm stock, have indulged in fanciful arrangements for the comfort and convenience of animals, which are so complicated that when constructed, as they sometimes are, the practical, common-sense farmer will not use them; and by reason of the learning which is required for their use, they are altogether unsuitable for the treatment and use which they generally receive from those who have the daily care of the stock for which they are intended, and for the rough usage which they experience from the animals themselves. A very pretty and plausible arrangement of stabling, feeding, and all the other requirements of a barn establishment may be thus got up by an ingenious theorist at the fireside, which will work charmingly as he dilates upon its good qualities, untried; but, which, when subjected to experiment, will be utterly worthless for practical use. There can be no doubt that the simplest plan of construction, consistent with an economical expenditure of the material of food for the consumption of stock, is by far the most preferable.

Another item to be considered in this connection, is the comparative value of the stock, the forage fed to them, and the labor expended in feeding and taking care of them. To illustrate: Suppose a farm to lie in the vicinity of a large town or city. Its value is, perhaps, a hundred dollars an acre. The hay cut upon it is worth fifteen dollars a ton, at the barn, and straw and coarse grains in proportion, and hired labor ten or twelve dollars a month. Consequently, the manager of this farm should use all the economy in his power, by the aid of cutting-boxes and other machinery, to make the least amount of forage supply the wants of his stock; and the internal economy of his barn should be arranged accordingly, since labor is his cheapest item, and food his dearest. Therefore, any contrivance by which to work up his forage the closest--by way of machinery, or manual labor--so that it shall serve the purposes of keeping his stock, is true economy; and the making and saving of manures are items of the first importance. His buildings and their arrangements throughout should, for these reasons, be constructed in accordance with his practice.

If, on the other hand, lands are cheap and productive, and labor comparatively dear, a different practice will prevail. The farmer will feed his hay from the mow without cutting. The straw will be stacked out, and the cattle turned to it, to pick what they like of it, and make their beds of the remainder; or, if it is housed, he will throw it into racks, and the stock may eat what they choose. To do this requires but one-third, or one-half of the labor which is required by the other mode, and the saving in this makes up, and perhaps more than makes up, for the increased quantity of forage consumed.

Again, climate may equally affect the mode of winter-feeding the stock. The winters may be mild. The hay may be stacked in the fields when gathered, or put into small barns built for hay storage alone; and the manure, scattered over the fields by the cattle, as they are fed from either of them, may be knocked to pieces with the dung-beetle, in the spring, or harrowed and bushed over the ground; and with the very small quantity of labor required in all this, such practice will be more economical than any other which can be adopted.

In latitudes, however, in which it becomes necessary to stall-feed during several months of the year, barns are indispensable. These should be warm, and at the same time well ventilated. The barn should be arranged in a manner suitable to keeping hay and other fodder dry and sweet, and with reference to the comfort and health of the animals, and the economy of labor and manure. The size and finish will, of course, depend on the wants and means of the farmer or dairyman; but many little conveniences, it should not be forgotten, can be added at comparatively trifling cost.

The accompanying cut of a barn is given merely as an illustration of a convenient arrangement for a medium-sized dairy, and not as being adapted to all circumstances or situations. This barn is supposed to stand upon a side-hill or an inclined surface, where it is easy to have a cellar, if desired; and the cattle-room, as shown in the cut, is in the second story, or directly over the cellar, the bottom of which should be somewhat dished, or lower in the middle than around the outer sides, and carefully paved, or laid in cement.

On the outside is represented an open shed, _m_, for carts and wagons to remain under cover, thirty feet by fifteen, while _l l l l l l_ are bins for vegetables, to be filled through scuttles from the floor of the story above, and surrounded by solid walls. The area of this whole floor equals one hundred feet by fifty-seven. _k_, is an open space, nearly on a level with the cow-chamber, through the door _p_. _s_, stairs to the third story and to the cellar, _d d d_, passage next to the walls, five feet wide, and nine inches above the dung-pit. _e e e_, dung-pit, two feet wide, and seven inches below the floor where the cattle stand. The manure drops from this pit into the cellar below, five feet from the walls, and quite around the cellar. _c c c_, plank floor for cows, four feet six inches long. _b b b_, stalls for three yoke of oxen, on a platform five feet six inches long, _n n_, calf-pens, which may also be used for cows in calving. _r r_, feeding-troughs for calves. The feeding-boxes are made in the form of trays, with partitions between them. Water comes in by a pipe, to cistern _a_. This cistern is regulated by a cock and ball, and the water flows by dotted lines, _o o o_, to the boxes; each box being connected by lead pipes well secured from frost, so that, if desired, each animal can be watered without leaving the stall, or water can be kept constantly before it. A scuttle, through which sweepings and refuse may be put into the cellar, is seen at _f_. _g_ is a bin receiving cut hay from the third story, or hay-room, _h h h h h h_, bins for grain-feed. _i_ is a tunnel to conduct manure or muck from the hay-floor to the cellar. _j j_, sliding-doors on wheels. The cows all face toward the open area in the centre.

This cow-room may be furnished with a thermometer, clock, etc., and should always be well ventilated by sliding windows, which at the same time admit the light.

The next cut is a transverse section of the same cow-room; _a_ being a walk behind the cows, five feet wide; _b_, dung-pit; _c_, cattle-stand; _d_, feeding-trough, with a bottom on a level with the platform where the cattle stand; _k_, open area, forty-three feet, by fifty-six.

The story above the cow-room--as represented in the next cut--is one hundred feet by forty-two; the bays for hay, ten on each side, being ten feet front and fifteen feet deep; and the open space, _p_, for the entrance of wagons, carts, etc., twelve feet wide. _b_, hay-scales. _c_, scale beam. _m m m m m m_, ladders reaching almost to the roof. _l l l_, etc., scuttle-holes for sending vegetables directly to the bins, _l l l_, etc., below. _a a b b_, rooms on the corners for storage. _d_, scuttles; four of which are used for straw, one for cut hay, and one for muck for the cellar. _n_ and the other small squares are eighteen-feet posts. _f_, passage to the tool-house, a room one hundred feet long by eighteen wide. _o_, stairs leading to the scaffold in the roof of the tool-house. _i i_, benches. _g_, floor. _h_, boxes for hoes, shovels, spades, picks, iron bars, old iron, etc. _j j j_, bins for fruit. _k_, scuttles to put apples into wagons, etc., in the shed below. One side of this tool-house may be used for plows and large implements, hay-rigging, harness, etc.

Proper ventilation of the cellar and the cow-room avoids the objection that the hay is liable to injury from noxious gases.

The excellent manure-cellar beneath this barn extends only under the cow-room. It has a drive-way through doors on each side. No barn-cellar should be kept shut up tight, even in cold weather. The gases are constantly escaping from the manure, unless held by absorbents, which are liable not only to affect the health of the stock, but also to injure the quality of the hay. To prevent this, while securing the important advantages of a manure-cellar, the barn may be furnished with good-sized ventilators on the top, for every twenty-five feet of its length, and with wooden tubes leading from the cellar to the top.

There should also be windows on different sides of the cellar to admit the free circulation of air. With these precautions, together with the use of absorbents in the shape of loam and muck, there will be no danger of rotting the timbers of the barn, or of risking the health of the cattle or the quality of the hay.

The temperature at which the cow-room should be kept is somewhere from fifty to sixty degrees, Fahrenheit. The practice and the opinions of successful dairymen differ somewhat on this point. Too great heat would affect the health and appetite of the herd; while too low a temperature is equally objectionable, for various reasons.

The most economical plan for room in tying cattle in their stalls, is to fasten the rope or chain, whichever is used--the wooden stanchion, or stanchel, as it is called, to open and shut, enclosing the animal by the neck, being objectionable--into a ring, which is secured by a strong staple into a post. This prevents the cattle from interfering with each other, while a partition effectually prevents any contact from the animals on each side of it, in the separate stalls.

There is no greater benefit for cattle, after coming into winter-quarters, than a systematic regularity in every thing pertaining to them. Every animal should have its own particular stall in the stable, where it should always be kept. The cattle should be fed and watered at certain fixed hours of the day, as near as may be. If let out of the stables for water, unless the weather is very pleasant--when they may be permitted to lie out for a short time--they should be immediately put back, and not allowed to range about with the outside cattle. They are more quiet and contented in their stables than elsewhere, and waste less food than if permitted to run out; besides being in every way more comfortable, if properly bedded and attended to, as every one will find upon trial. The habit which many farmers have, of turning their cattle out of the stables in the morning, in all weathers--letting them range about in a cold yard, hooking and annoying each other--is of no possible benefit, unless it be to rid them of the trouble of cleaning the stables, which pays more than twice its cost in the saving of manure. The outside cattle, which occupy the yard--if there are any--are all the better that the stabled ones do not interfere with them. They become habituated to their own quarters, as do the others, and all are better for being, respectively, in their proper places.

MILKING.

The manner of milking exerts a more powerful and lasting influence on the productiveness of the cow than most farmers are aware. That a slow and careless milker soon dries up the best of cows, every practical farmer and dairyman knows; but a careful examination of the beautiful structure of the udder will serve further to explain the proper mode of milking, in order to obtain and keep up the largest yield.

The udder of a cow consists of four glands, disconnected from each other, but all contained within one bag or cellular membrane; and these glands are uniform in structure. Each gland consists of three parts: the _glandular_, or secreting part, _tubular_ or conducting part, and the _teats_, or receptacle, or receiving part. The glandular forms by far the largest portion of the udder. It appears to the naked eye composed of a mass of yellowish grains; but under the microscope these grains are found to consist entirely of minute blood-vessels forming a compact plexus, or fold. These vessels secrete the milk from the blood. The milk is abstracted from the blood in the glandular part; the tubes receive and deposit it in the reservoir, or receptacle; and the sphincter at the end of the teat retains it there until it is wanted for use.

This must not be understood, however, as asserting that all the milk drawn from the udder at one milking is contained in the receptacle. The milk, as it is secreted, is conveyed to the receptacle, and when that is full, the larger tubes begin to be filled, and next the smaller ones, until the whole become gorged. When this takes place, the secretion of the milk ceases, and absorption of the thinner or more watery part commences. Now, as this absorption takes place more readily in the smaller or more distant tubes, it is invariably found that the milk from these, which comes last into the receptacle, is much thicker and richer than what was first drawn off. This milk has been significantly styled afterings, or strippings; and should this gorged state of the tubes be permitted to continue beyond a certain time, serious mischief will sometimes occur; the milk becomes too thick to flow through the tubes, and soon produces, first irritation, then inflammation, and lastly suppuration, and the function of the gland is materially impaired or altogether destroyed. Hence the great importance of emptying these smaller tubes regularly and thoroughly, not merely to prevent the occurrence of disease, but actually to increase the quantity of milk; for, so long as the smaller tubes are kept free, milk is constantly forming; but whenever, as has already been mentioned, they become gorged, the secretion of milk ceases until they are emptied. The cow herself has no power over the sphincter at the end of her teat, so as to open it, and relieve the overcharged udder; neither has she any power of retaining the milk collected in the reservoirs when the spasm of the sphincter is overcome.

Thus is seen the necessity of drawing away the last drop of milk at every milking; and the better milker the cow, the more necessary this is. What has been said demonstrates, also, the impropriety of holding the milk in cows until the udder is distended much beyond its ordinary size, for the sake of showing its capacity for holding milk--a device to which many dealers in cows resort.

Thus much of the internal structure of the udder. Its external form requires attention, because it indicates different properties. Its form should be spheroidal, large, giving an idea of capaciousness; the bag should have a soft, fine skin, and the hind part upward toward the tail be loose and elastic. There should be fine, long hairs scattered plentifully over the surface, to keep it warm. The teats should not seem to be contracted, or funnel-shaped, at the inset with the bag. In the former state, teats are very apt to become corded, or spindled; and in the latter, too much milk will constantly be pressing on the lower tubes, or receptacle. They should drop naturally from the lower parts of the bag, being neither too short, small, or dumpy, or long, flabby, and thick, but, perhaps, about three inches in length, and so thick as just to fill the hand. They should hang as if all the quarters of the udder were equal in size, the front quarters projecting a little forward, and the hind ones a little more dependent. Each quarter should contain about equal quantities of milk; though, in the belief of some, the hind quarters contain rather the most.

Largely developed milk-veins--as the subcutaneous veins along the under part of the abdomen are commonly called--are regarded as a source of milk. This is a popular error, for the milk-vein has no connection with the udder; yet, although the office of these is to convey the blood from the fore part of the chest and sides to the inguinal vein, yet a large milk-vein certainly indicates a strongly developed vascular system--one favorable to secretions generally, and to that of the milk among the rest.

Milking is performed in two ways, stripping and handling. _Stripping_ consists in seizing the teat firmly near the root between the face of the thumb and the side of the fore-finger, the length of the teat passing through the other fingers, and in milking the hand passes down the entire length of the teat, causing the milk to flow out of its point in a forcible stream. The action is renewed by again quickly elevating the hand to the root of the teat. Both hands are employed at the operation, each having hold of a different teat, and being moved alternately. The two nearest teats are commonly first milked, and then the two farthest. _Handling_ is done by grasping the teat at its root with the fore-finger like a hoop, assisted by the thumb, which lies horizontally over the fore-finger, the rest being also seized by the other fingers. Milk is drawn by pressing upon the entire length of the teat in alternate jerks with the entire palm of the hand. Both hands being thus employed, are made to press alternately, but so quickly following each other that the alternate streams of milk sound to the ear like one forcible, continued stream. This continued stream is also produced by stripping. Stripping, then, is performed by pressing and passing certain fingers along the teat; handling, by the whole hand doubled, or fist, pressing the teat steadily at one place. Hence the origin of both names.

Of these two modes, handling is the preferable, since it is the more natural method--imitating, as it does, the suckling of the calf. When a calf takes a teat into its mouth, it makes the tongue and palate by which it seizes it, play upon the teat by alternate pressures or pulsations, while retaining the teat in the same position. It is thus obvious that handling is somewhat like sucking, whereas stripping is not at all like it. It is said that stripping is good for agitating the udder, the agitation of which is conducive to the withdrawal of a large quantity of milk; but there is nothing to prevent the agitation of the udder as much as the dairymaid pleases, while holding in the other mode. Indeed, a more constant vibration could be kept up in that way by the vibrations of the arms than by stripping. Stripping, by using an unconstrained pressure on two sides of the teat, is much more apt to press it unequally, than by grasping the whole teat in the palm of the hand; while the friction occasioned by passing the finger and thumb firmly over the outside of the teat, is more likely to cause heat and irritation in it than a steady and full grasp of the entire hand. To show that this friction causes an unpleasant feeling even to the dairymaid, she is obliged to lubricate the teat frequently with milk, and to wet it at first with water; whereas the other mode requires no such expedients. And as a further proof that stripping is a mode of milking which may give pain to the cow, it cannot be employed, when the teats are chapped, with so much ease to the cow as handling.

The first requisite in the person that milks is, of course, the utmost _cleanliness_. Without this, the milk is unendurable. The udder should, therefore, be carefully cleaned before the milking commences.

Milking should be done _fast_, to draw away the milk as quickly as possible, and it should be continued as long as there is a drop of milk to bring away. This is an issue which cannot be attended to in too particular a manner. If any milk is left, it is re-absorbed into the system, or else becomes caked, and diminishes the tendency to secrete a full quantity afterward. Milking as dry as possible is especially necessary with young cows with their first calf; as the mode of milking and the length of time to which they can be made to hold out, will have very much to do with their milking qualities as long as they live. Old milk left in the receptacle of the teat soon changes into a curdy state, and the caseous matter not being at once removed by the next milking, is apt to irritate the lining membrane of the teat during the operation, especially when the teat is forcibly rubbed down between the finger and thumb in stripping. The consequence of this repeated irritation is the thickening of the lining membrane, which at length becomes so hardened as to close up the orifice at the end of the teat. The hardened membrane may be easily felt from the outside of the teat, when the teat is said to be _corded_. After this the teat becomes _deaf_, as it is called, and no more milk can afterward be drawn from the quarter of the udder to which the corded teat is attached.

The milking-pail is of various forms and of various materials. The Dutch use brass ones, which are brilliantly scoured every time they are in use. Tin pitchers are used in some places, while pails of wood in cooper-work are employed in others. A pail of oak, having thin staves bound together by bright iron hoops, with a handle formed by a stave projecting upward, is convenient for the purpose, and may be kept clean and sweet. One nine inches in diameter at the bottom, eleven inches at the top, and ten inches deep, with an upright handle or leg of five inches, has a capacious enough mouth to receive the milk as it descends; and a sufficient height, when standing on the edge of its bottom on the ground, to allow the dairymaid to grasp it firmly with her knees while sitting on a small three-legged stool. Of course, such a pail cannot be milked full; but it should be large enough to contain all the milk which a single cow can give at a milking; because it is undesirable to rise from a cow before the milking is finished, or to exchange one dish for another while the milking is in progress.

The cow being a sensitive and capricious creature, is, oftentimes so easily offended that if the maid rise from her before the milk is all withdrawn, the chances are that she will not again stand quietly at that milking; or, if the vessel used in milking is taken away and another substituted in its place, before the milking is finished, the probability is that she will _hold_ her milk--that is, not allow it to flow. This is a curious property which cows possess, of holding up or keeping back their milk. How it is effected has never been satisfactorily ascertained; but there is no doubt of the fact that when a cow becomes irritated, or frightened from any cause, she can withhold her milk. Of course, all cows are not affected in the same degree; but, as a proof how sensitive cows generally are, it may be mentioned that very few will be milked so freely by a stranger the first time, as by one to whom they have been accustomed.

There is one side of a cow which is usually called the _milking side_--that is the cow's left side--because, somehow custom has established the practice of milking her from that side. It may have been adopted for two reasons: one, because we are accustomed to approach all the larger domesticated animals by what we call the _near side_--that is, the animal's left side--as being the most convenient one for ourselves; and the other reason may have been, that, as most people are right-handed, and the common use of the right hand has made it the stronger, it is most conveniently employed in milking the hinder teats of the cow, which are often most difficult to reach on account of the position of the hind legs and the length of the hinder teats, or of the breadth of the hinder part of the udder. The near side is most commonly used in this country and in Scotland; but in many parts of England the other side is preferred. Whichever side is selected, that should uniformly be used, as cows are very sensitive to changes.

In Scotland it is a rare thing to see a cow milked by any other person than a woman, though men are very commonly employed at it in this country and in England. One never sees a man milking a cow without being impressed with the idea that he is usurping an office which does not become him; and the same thought seems to be conveyed in the terms usually applied to the person connected with cows--a dairy-_maid_ implying one who milks cows, as well as performs the other duties connected with the dairy--a dairy-_man_ meaning one who owns a dairy. There can be but little question that the charge of this branch of the dairy should generally be entrusted to women. They are more gentle and winning than men. The same person should milk the same cow regularly, and not change from one to another, unless there are special reasons for it.

Cows are easily rendered troublesome on being milked; and the kicks and knocks which they usually receive for their restlessness, only render them more fretful. If they cannot be overcome by kindness, thumps will never make them better. The truth is, restless habits are continued in them by the treatment which they receive at first, when, most probably, they have been dragooned into submission. Their teats are tender at first; but an unfeeling, horny hand tugs at them at stripping, as if the animal had been accustomed to the operation for years. Can the creature be otherwise than uneasy? And how can she escape the wincing but by flinging out her heels?--Then hopples are placed on the hind fetlocks, to keep her heels down. The tail must then be held by some one, while the milking is going on; or the hair of its tuft be converted into a double cord, to tie the tail to the animal's leg. Add to this the many threats and scoldings uttered by the milker, and one gets a not very exaggerated impression of the "breaking-in."

Some cows, no doubt, are very unaccomodating and provoking; but, nevertheless, nothing but a rational course toward them, administered with gentleness, will ever render them less so. There are cows which are troublesome to milk for a few times after calving, that become quite quiet for the remainder of the season; others will kick pertinaciously at the first milking. In this last case the safest plan--instead of hoppling, which only irritates--is for the dairymaid to thrust her head against the flank of the cow, and while standing on her feet, stretch her hands forward, get hold of the teats the best way she can, and send the milk on the ground; and in this position it is out of the power of the cow to hurt her. These ebullitions of feeling at the first milking after calving, arise either from feeling pain in a tender state of the teat, most probably from inflammation in the lining membrane of the receptacle; or they may arise from titillation of the skin of the udder and teat, which becomes the more sensible to the affection from a heat which is wearing off.

At the age of two or three years the milking glands have not become fully developed, and their largest development will depend very greatly upon the management after the first calf. Cows should have, therefore, the most milk-producing food; be treated with constant gentleness; never struck, or spoken harshly to, but coaxed and caressed; and in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, they will grow up gentle and quiet. The hundredth had better be fatted and sent to the butcher. Harshness is worse than useless. Be the cause of irritation what it may, one thing is certain, that gentle discipline will overcome the most turbulent temper. Nothing does so much to dry a cow up, especially a young cow, as the senseless treatment to which she is too often subjected.

The longer the young cow, with her first and second calf, is made to hold out, the more surely will this habit be fixed upon her. Stop milking her four months before the next calf, and it will be difficult to make her hold out to within four or six weeks of the time of calving afterward. Induce her, if possible, by moist and succulent food, and by careful milking, to hold out even up to the time of calving, if you desire to milk her so long, and this habit will be likely to be fixed upon her for life. But do not expect to obtain the full yield of a cow the first year after calving. Some of the very best cows are slow to develop their best qualities; and no cow reaches her prime till the age of five or six years.

The extreme importance of care and attention to these points cannot be overestimated. The wild cows grazing on the plains of South America, are said to give not more than three or four quarts a day at the height of the flow; and many an owner of large herds in Texas, it is said, has too little milk for family use, and sometimes receives his supply of butter from the New York market. There is, therefore, a constant tendency in milch cows to dry up; and it must be guarded against with special care, till the habit of yielding a large quantity, and yielding it long, becomes fixed in the young animal, when, with proper care, it may easily be kept up.

Cows, independently of their power to retain their milk in the udder, afford different degrees of pleasure in milking them, even in the quietest mood. Some yield their milk in a copious flow, with the gentlest handling that can be given them; others require great exertion to draw the milk from them even in streams no larger than a thread. The udder of the former will be found to have a soft skin and short teats; that of the latter will have a thick skin, with long rough teats. The one feels like velvet; the other is no more pleasant to the touch than untanned leather. To induce quiet and persuade the animal to give down her milk freely, it is better that she should be fed at milking-time with cut feed, or roots, placed within her easy reach.

If gentle and mild treatment is observed and persevered in, the operation of milking, as a general thing, appears to be a pleasure to the animal, as it undoubtedly is; but, if an opposite course is pursued--if at every restless movement, caused, perhaps, by pressing a sore teat, the animal is harshly spoken to--she will be likely to learn to kick as a habit, and it will be difficult to overcome it ever afterward.

Whatever may be the practice on other occasions, there can be no doubt that, for some weeks after calving, and in the height of the flow, cows ought, if possible, to be milked regularly three times a day--at early morning, noon, and night. Every practical dairyman knows that cows thus milked give a larger quantity of milk than if milked only twice, though it may not be quite so rich; and in young cows, no doubt, it has a tendency to promote the development of the udder and milk-veins. A frequent milking stimulates an increased secretion, therefore, and ought never to be neglected in the milk-dairy, either in the case of young cows, or very large milkers, at the height of the flow, which will commonly be for two or three months after calving.

There being a great difference in the quality as well as in the quantity of the milk of different cows, no dairyman should neglect to test the milk of each new addition to his dairy stock, whether it be an animal of his own raising or one brought from abroad. A lactometer--or instrument for testing the comparative richness of different species of milk--is very convenient for this purpose; but any one can set the milk of each cow separately at first, and give it a thorough trial, when the difference will be found to be great. Economy will dictate that the cows least to the purpose should be disposed of, and their places supplied with better ones.

THE RAISING OF CALVES.

It has been found in practice that calves properly bred and raised on the farm have a far greater intrinsic value for that farm, other things being equal, than any that can be procured elsewhere; while on the manner in which they are raised will depend much of their future usefulness and profit. These considerations should have their proper weight in deciding whether a promising calf from a good cow and bull shall be kept, or sold to the butcher. But, rather than raise a calf at hap-hazard, and simply because its dam was celebrated as a milker, the judicious farmer will prefer to judge of the peculiar characteristics of the animal itself. This will often save the great and useless outlay which has sometimes been incurred in raising calves for dairy purposes, which a more careful examination would have rejected as unpromising.

The method of judging stock which has been recommended in the previous pages is of practical utility here, and it is safer to rely upon it to some extent, particularly when other appearances concur, than to go on blindly. The milk-mirror on the calf is, indeed, small, but no smaller in proportion to its size than that of the cow; while its shape and form can generally be distinctly seen, particularly at the end of ten or twelve weeks. The development of the udder, and other peculiarities, will give some indication of the future capacities of the animal, and these should be carefully studied. If we except the manure of young stock, the calf is the first product of the cow, and as such demands our attention, whether it is to be raised or hurried off to the shambles. The practice adopted in raising calves differs widely in different sections of the country, being governed very much by local circumstances, as the vicinity of a milk-market, the value of milk for the dairy, the object of breeding, whether mainly for beef, for work, or for the dairy, etc.; but, in general, it may be said, that, within the range of thirty or forty miles of good veal-markets, which large towns furnish, comparatively few are raised at all. Most of them are fattened and sold at ages varying from three to eight or ten weeks; and in milk-dairies still nearer large towns and cities they are often hurried off at one or two days, or, at most, a week old. In both of these cases, as long as the calf is kept it is generally allowed to suck the cow, and, as the treatment is very simple, there is nothing which particularly calls for remark, unless it be to condemn the practice entirely, upon the ground that there is a more profitable way of fattening calves for the butcher, and to say that allowing the calf to suck the cow at all is objectionable on the score of economy, except in cases where it is rendered necessary by the hard and swollen condition of the udder.

If the calf is so soon to be taken away, it is better that the cow should not be suffered to become attached to it at all: since she is inclined to withhold her milk when it is removed, and thus a loss is sustained. The farmer will be governed by the question of profit, whatever course it is decided to adopt. In raising blood-stock, however, or in raising beef cattle, without any regard to economy of milk, the system of suckling the calves, or letting them run with the cow, may and will be adopted, since it is usually attended with somewhat less labor.

The other course, which is regarded as the best where the calf is to be raised for the dairy, is to bring it up by hand. This is almost universally done in all countries where the raising of dairy cows is best understood--in Switzerland, Holland, some parts of Germany, and England. It requires rather more care, on the whole; but it is decidedly preferable, since the calves cost less, as the food can be easily modified, and the growth is not checked, as is usually the case when the calf is taken off from the cow. Allusion is here made, of course, to sections where the milk of the cow is of some account for the dairy, and where it is too valuable to be devoted entirely to nourishing the calf. In this case, as soon as the calf is dropped the cow is allowed to lick off the slimy moisture till it is dry, which she will generally do from instinct, or, if not, a slight sprinkling of salt over the body of the calf will immediately tempt her. The calf is left to suck once or twice, which it will do as soon as it is able to stand. It should, in all cases, be permitted to have the first milk which comes from the cow, which is of a turbid, yellowish color, unfit for any of the purposes of the dairy, but somewhat purgative and medicinal, and admirably and wisely designed by Nature to free the bowels and intestines of the new-born animal from the mucous, excrementitious matter always existing in it after birth. Too much of this new milk may, however, be hurtful even to the new-born calf, while it should never be given at all to older calves. The best course would seem to be--and such is in accordance with the experience of the most successful stock-raisers--to milk the cow dry immediately after the calf has sucked once, especially if the udder is painfully distended, which is often the case, and to leave the calf with the cow during one day, and after that to feed it by putting the fingers into its mouth, and gently bringing its muzzle down to the milk in a pail or trough when it will imbibe in sucking the fingers. No great difficulty will be experienced in teaching the calf to drink when taken so young, though some take to it much more readily than others. What the calf does not need should be given to the cow. Some, however, prefer to milk immediately after calving; and, if the udder is overloaded, this may be the best course, though the better practice appears to be, to leave the cow as quietly to herself as possible for a few hours. The less she is disturbed, as a general thing, the better. The after-birth should be taken from her immediately after it is dropped. It is customary to give the cow, as soon as convenient after calving, some warm and stimulating drink--a little meal stirred into warm water, with a part of the first milk which comes from her, seasoned with a little salt.

In many cases the calf is taken from the cow immediately; and before she has seen it, to a warm, dry pen out of her sight, and there rubbed till it is thoroughly dry; and then, when able to stand, fed with the new milk from the cow, which it should have three or four times a day, regularly, for the first fortnight, whatever course it is proposed to adopt afterwards. It is of the greatest importance to give the young calf a thrifty start. The milk, unless coming directly from the cow, should be warmed.

Some object to removing the calf from the cow in this way, on the ground of its apparent cruelty. But the objection to letting the calf suck the cow for several days, as they do, or indeed of leaving it with the cow for any length of time, is, that she invariably becomes attached to it, and frets and withholds her milk when it is at last taken from her. She probably suffers much more, after this attachment is once formed, at the removal of the object of it, than she does at its being taken at first out of her sight. The cow's memory is far more retentive than many suppose; and the loss and injury sustained by removing the calf after it has been allowed to suck her for a longer or shorter period are never known exactly, because it is not usually known how much milk the calf takes; but it is, without doubt, very considerable. If the udder is all right, there seems to be no good reason for leaving the calf with the cow for two or three days, if it is then to be taken away.

The practice in Holland is to remove the calf from its mother even before it has been licked, and to take it into a corner of the barn, or into another building, out of the cow's sight and hearing, put it on soft, dry straw, and rub it dry with some hay or straw, when its tongue and gums are slightly rubbed with salt, and the mucus and saliva removed from the nostrils and lips. After this has been done, the calf is made to drink the milk first taken as it comes from the mother. It is slightly diluted with water, if taken last from the udder; but, if the first of the milking, it is given just as it is. The calf is taught to drink in the same manner as in this country, by putting the fingers in its mouth, and bringing it down to the milk, and it soon gets so as to drink unaided. It is fed, at first, from four to six times a day, or even oftener; but soon only three times, at regular intervals. Its food for two or three weeks is clear milk, as it comes warm and fresh from the cow. This is never omitted, as the milk during most of that time possesses certain qualities which are necessary to the calf, and which cannot be effectually supplied by any other food. In the third or fourth week the milk is skimmed, but warmed to the degree of fresh milk; though, as the calf grows a little older, the milk is given cold, while less care is taken to give it the milk of its own mother, that of other cows now answering equally well. In some places, calves are fed on buttermilk at the age of two weeks and after; but the change from new milk, fresh from the cow, is made gradually, some sweet skimmed milk and warm water being first added to it.

At three weeks old, or thereabouts, the calf will begin to eat a little sweet, fine hay, and potatoes cut fine, and it very soon becomes accustomed to this food. Many now begin to give linseed-meal mixed into hot water, to which is added some skim-milk or buttermilk; and others use a little bran cooked in hay-tea, made by chopping the hay fine and pouring on boiling-hot water, which is allowed to stand awhile on it. An egg is frequently broken into such a mixture. Others still take pains at this age to have fresh linseed-cake, broken into pieces of the size of a pigeon's egg; putting one of these into the mouth after the meal of milk has been finished, and when it is eager to suck at any thing in its way. It will very soon learn to eat linseed-meal. A little sweet clover is put in its way at the age of about three weeks, and it will soon begin to eat that also.

In this manner the feeding is continued from the fourth to the seventh week, the quantity of solid food being gradually increased. In the sixth or seventh week the milk is by degrees withheld, and water or buttermilk used instead; and soon after this, green food may be safely given, increasing it gradually with the hay to the age of ten or twelve weeks, when it will do to put them upon grass alone, if the season is favorable. A lot as near the house as possible, where they can be easily looked after and frequently visited, is the best. Calves should be gradually accustomed to all changes; and even after having been turned out to pasture, they ought to be put under shelter if the weather is not dry and warm. The want of care and attention relative to these little details will be apparent sooner or later; while, if the farmer gives his personal attention to these matters, he will be fully paid in the rapid growth of his calves. It is especially necessary to see that the troughs from which they are fed, if troughs are used, are kept clean and sweet.

But there are some--even among intelligent farmers--who make a practice of turning their calves out to pasture at the tender age of two or three weeks--and that, too, when they have sucked the cow up to that time--and allow them nothing in the shape of milk and tender care. This, certainly, is the poorest possible economy, to say nothing of the manifest cruelty of such treatment. The growth of the calf is checked, and the system receives a shock from so sudden a change, from which it cannot soon recover. The careful Dutch breeders bring the calves either skimmed milk or buttermilk to drink several times a day after they are turned to grass, which is not till the age of ten or twelve weeks; and, if the weather is chilly, the milk is warmed for them. They put a trough generally under a covering, to which the calves may come and drink at regular times. Thus, they are kept tame and docile.