The American Agriculturist. Vol. II. No. XI, December 1843: Designed to Improve the Planter, the Farmer, the Stock-breeder, and the HorticulturistVarious
Science
The American Agriculturist. Vol. II. No. XI, December 1843: Designed to Improve the Planter, the Farmer, the Stock-breeder, and the Horticulturist
Various
Agriculture -- Periodicals; Agriculture -- United States -- Periodicals
When the cows were brought into the yard, I was puzzled to know how
they were to be handled; but the stable doors being thrown open, each
cow entered the door nearest her stall, and went to it with as much
regularity as a young miss goes to her seat in a boarding-school. There
is a drop in the floor immediately behind the cows, 14 inches wide and
4 inches deep; into this all the excrements fall, the water running
off immediately to a reservoir prepared for the purpose of receiving
it; this, together with all the manure, was taken away daily, and
put upon the land or crops or in a heap to make compost; so that the
premises were kept perfectly clean and sweet. The floor was covered
with a thin bed of cut straw, which was passed off with the manure
as it became soiled, and by being cut, worked immediately into and
incorporated itself with the manure, without vexing the husbandman
or gardener as long green manure so frequently does. The floor behind
the cows, between the trough to catch the liquid and the wall, is six
feet wide, with strong plank platforms or tables on which to set the
vessels containing the milk. There is an open space directly over the
vat for steaming, where all the feed is cut and passed down through
a hopper into the vat; also, hoppers or spouts leading from the meal
room over head directly into the vats, which contain the steamed feed
for cooking. The mangers in which the cows are fed are broad, so that
the food may be thrown into them with scoop shovels without waste, of
which I found nothing of the kind about the whole premises. If a little
too much feed is given to one animal, and consequently left, it is
carefully scraped out and fed to one having a better appetite; thus the
mangers were kept clean and sweet. Mr. Charley feeds roots, but to what
extent I did not learn. I hope he may be induced to write you a letter,
giving a description of his cutting machine, which does its work better
than any one I have ever seen; having two blades coming together like
shears, cutting corn-stalks through their joints with as much apparent
ease as a pair of tailor's shears would cut a thread.
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