The worst mistakes are generally made in the early feeding of a calf. We are apt to overfeed by giving too much at one time and so deranging the digestion. Then even the best nursing cannot prevent a check in its growth. To insure continuous development, rules of feeding, both as to quantity and quality, are necessary. At the noted Agricultural College of Hohenheim, in Germany, where they raise calves entirely by hand, they have adopted the following uniform system of feeding:

After three months milk is withheld. During the second three months feed one pound of unground oats and two pounds of bran per day with good pasture and plenty of water. Calves are great drinkers and often suffer for water.

In winter, shelter well and give plenty of hay, with some bran and oats and a small allowance of oil meal each day. Do not turn stock out too early in spring. Wait till grasses have made a good start. Animals will continue on the dry fodder better if they are confined strictly to it than if they get a bite of grass. Besides this, the pastures do much better if allowed to get a fair start. Right here it may be well said, that great care should be taken when cattle are first let into the pastures. It is a good plan to give them, in the morning, all they will eat of hay, sprinkled with a weak brine before letting them out of stables, and not turn them into the pastures until the dew is off the grass; also, to be watchful after a rain. Many a fine animal has been lost by neglect and carelessness when first turned into the pastures. Watchfulness, judgment, and care should be our motto. We have a great many changes during the year, and to meet them provision should always be made. Through the latter part of May, and the months of June and July, we generally have a flush of feed, but later on in the season there is always a scarcity. Here is a "right smart chance" for the farmer to sustain losses, by not providing feed for his stock, to bridge over the shortage that always takes place through the months of August and September. The question of soiling would be a subject worthy of discussion for this season of the year. A number of substitutes might be provided to keep up a continuous growth, which should be the aim of every farmer; but probably there is none that will give any better results than sowed corn. It is undoubtedly the cheapest crop for that use, as it affords the largest growth, and is raised and

handled with the least expense. Some of the largest sweet corns are best for soiling purposes, as their stalks are so rich in sugar, they are better relished on that account. When put in with the drill let the rows be thirty inches apart, so as to allow cultivation between them. One bushel is about the right quantity of seed per acre. A piece may be put in in early spring and be ready for feeding by the last of July or first of August. Fodder corn is not fit to feed until it tassels; it begins then to develop its sugar. By planting it at different times it can be fed two or three months. The last of October and through November is another trying time, in getting stock off of grass to dry feed, without any shrinkage. There is no season of the year when they need so much care to have them hold their own as this. Hay, with some grain, in addition to the grass they get, will keep them thriving and bring them into winter quarters in good condition; after which they should have a good allowance of hay, with some grain and a little oil meal, say for three or four weeks, to give them a good send off on their long winter's journey. Probably at no season of the year is stock so liable to indigestion as when they are first put into winter quarters. A little oil meal added to their daily rations will guard against this and keep them in healthy tone. Farmers make a great mistake in not feeding oil meal. Give your animals a small allowance each day. Satisfactory results will surely follow. After feeding hay and grain the first three or four weeks, cornstalks and straw may be substituted, and some kind of grain should always be added.

I have found a bushel of cut straw, with two quarts of middlings, to be quite equal to the same weight of cut hay, and 25 per cent better than uncut hay. Animals will eat 25 per cent more of uncut than of cut hay.

Intelligent painstaking in stock raising brings wealth and satisfaction, while neglect brings loss and discouragement.

Mr. Powell, of Cresco, secured good results by feeding straw with mill feed. Thought hay a most expensive article to feed. It pays better to use ground feed plentifully.

Mr. Brosh thought the ration recommended for a calf too great for profitmore than a calf would be likely to eat.

Mr. Powers said that in buying stock for the Eastern market he could afford to pay a cent or more per pound higher for graded than for common stock, though the latter might look equally well.

Mr. Jacob Anderson said many people wrongly thought feed of more importance than breed. Some animals cannot be fed with profit. I have sold high grade steers, at 32 months old, which had been fed no grain and weighed 1,600 pounds, and 2-year-old heifers from the pasture weighing 1,300 pounds.

E. C. Billinghurst spoke upon the importance of using a thoroughbred male, and wanted to know more about using oil cake.

Mr. Wartman thought the price the principal objection to its use. Jacob Anderson thought farmers might get it at a price that would pay to use, if they would club together and buy it in car lots.

Prof. Johnson stated that last winter they fed it on the College farm more freely than this winter. Corn and feed were dear then. When they are cheap, as now, it is not, perhaps, profitable to feed oil meal very much. It would be found excellent for calves fed on milk. In an experiment on the College farm, a grade short-horn gained 111 pounds in thirty days, or 3 7-10 a day; a grade Galloway gained 73 pounds, or nearly 2 pounds a day, while a Jersey gained 75 pounds, 2 a day.

President Garfield said that feeding oil meal to a calf the first six months seemed to him a good deal like feeding pork and beans to a baby.

THE BREEDING AND CARE OF CATTLE.

RY THOS. F. SOTHAM, of flint.

[Read at Flushing Institute, January 15, 1885.]

After some introductory remarks, Mr. Sotham spoke as follows:In forming a herd of cattle we should first determine the purpose for which we breed the butcher or the dairy. This settled, the various breeds suited to our purpose should be examined. All have good points. Let us decide in our own mind which breed we prefer and then settle down to that one, endeavoring to demonstrate the wisdom of our choice.

In selecting animals, do not forget that "the bull is half the herd," nor take an inferior male to save at purchasing time a hundred dollars or so that will afterward debar us from thousands. An inferior female, wisely crossed, frequently produces offspring very near perfection, but it is rare indeed that we find choice females producing superior stock from inferior males.

To be a good breeder one must be a good feeder. A common saying is, "Feed makes Breed," but I say breed utilizes feed and breed and feed wins success. Regarding dairy cattle, I shall not attempt to advise; but for cattle of the beef breeds, the calf when a week old should be separated from its mother and allowed in winter the freedom of a box stall, or in summer a separate lot with abundant grass, and given access to its dam morning and night, allowing it all of the milk, and as much feed as it will relish and comfortably digest, given three times a day until six months old, after which twice a day will suffice. They should not be weaned before six months of age.

For yearlings, with abundant grass in summer, grain may seem superfluous, but they will be grateful for a little and make the greatest improvement upon it; but in winter, spare not the feed, giving all they will eat up clean twice a day and a liberal feed of hay or good clean straw night and morning, allowing them outdoor exercise for 6 or 8 hours daily, with free access to water and corn fodder.

Two-year-old heifers thus raised may be carried through the following winter on good hay and a little grain, and three-year-olds, with the freedom of an open shed and plenty of hay, will not only live in winter but thrive and increase in flesh. Steers fed as directed till two years old will require but a short time to be finished and can be carried in readiness to place on the market at any day that prices are favorable.

A bull should be treated in the same way, except that his exercise should be given alone, or but for a short time each day if with others.

For feed I would advise two-fifths oats, two-fifths corn, and one-fifth crushed oil cake. Barley or rye may be substituted at times for corn, and good bran can be fed to advantage. I have little faith in roots and still less in ensilage. Pure water is one of the first essentials. The use of the card and brush is very desirable. Animals like it, it makes them docile, improves their health by the greater cleanliness. Vermin, particularly on young stock, must be per

sistently fought. Use a solution of McDougal's Sheep and Cattle Dressing, giving each animal a thorough soaking. It will prove effective.

A great mistake is made in breeding heifers at too early an age. Those that tend to carry fat and in consequence become stocky and rather undersized should be bred earlier than those who mature later.

The practice of allowing bulls to constantly accompany the herd is a serious error. For his own welfare, he should in the summer be allowed the freedom of a lot every night and be tied in a roomy stall during the day. This plan will afford sufficient exercise and constantly accustom him to subjection. In the winter he should have the stall at night and the lot in the day time.

All will agree with me that cattle raising, practically conducted, will yield the best profits to be secured on the farm. The wheat grower sells away the richest stores of his farm, impoverishing the land. The stock man constantly enriches his soil, returning to it its productions, and if keeping more stock than his own produce will feed, the fat of his neighbor's lands is transferred to his

own.

Michigan has been somewhat backward in this most profitable branch of agriculture, seemingly fearing competition with the cheap land and corn of the West, but I venture to predict that though we may not compete in numbers, the quality of our herds may more than compensate for this.

Those who think that Michigan as a cattle State must ever play "second fiddle" to the States of the "great west" will do well to look over the results of the late Chicago fat stock show, where all the cattle raising districts of America were represented; where, with an average quality exceeding any like exhibition ever held on the continent and equalling any stock show in the world, the highest honors were accorded to a bullock bred and fed in Canada. Cannot we compete with Canada? Have we not all of her facilities, and many to add that the Dominion has not? The next highest honors went to Indiana. How far behind Indiana are we, or should we be?

I have a few remarks to make regarding the selection of a breed of cattle for general use in Michigan. These may savor of prejudice, but shall be said honestly and from thorough conviction.

At the present time I can see but two breeds that should come into general use, these are the Herefords and Shorthorns, while the Aberdeen-Angus are next in importance. The Herefords are my choice, and I believe with fair trial they will become the favorites of Michigan farmers, even as they are now the acknowledged peers of the range and king of grazing beasts.

The Hereford is pre-eminently a beef breed. While not attaining to such great weights as the Shorthorns, they are more grateful for their food, and will make a greater return in flesh for food consumed than any competing breed. For nearly a century in England, grass-fed Hereford beef has been quoted from 2 to 4 cents per pound higher than any other similiarly fed, and stall-fed Herefords rank as high as any other sort. There are families of Herefords-but this is the exception, not the rule-that are most excellent dairy stock. Indeed this very fall a Hereford cow won numerous dairy prizes and commendations in England.

If I were going to start a dairy, I should choose the required number of cows from among the best milking, grade and common cows I could find; with these I should use a Hereford bull of a good milking strain, the heifer produce I should rear in dairyman fashion, and I am certain that from them I could produce, by judicious breeding, a herd of white-faced dairy stock that could not be surpassed, while the steers would prove most excellent butcher's beasts.

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'Economy of production and value of product" has been the banner under which the Hereford has merited his present widespread popularity. They are very hardy, energetic in search of food, and with a robust constitution are capable of sustaining themselves well under any of the vicissitudes which attend cattle raising in any of the cattle districts of America. When stall-fed, they will mature at almost any age, and attain perfect ripeness and quality at 30 months, while on the plains they are ready for market at three years, thereby saving the ranchman from one to three years' time in every animal so improved. The Hereford breeders have always claimed for their favorites pre-eminence in early maturity and economical production of high quality beef. These claims were at first met with indifference and doubt, but whenever a practical test has been made, success has perched upon the horns of the Herefords. There is great inquiry for Herefords here in Michigan, and we find them making friends constantly. I can name a dozen breeders of Shorthorns and Holsteins, who would to-day dispose of their stock at no little sacrifice and replace them with a less number of Herefords, believing the Hereford breed to be the most useful.

The Hereford is the only breed that has ample demand for all of its young stock, and as the breed increases in number the demand widens and their position is constantly being strengthened. The Shorthorn is too well known to need comment here. They have undoubtedly done more to improve the quality of American cattle than all other breeds combined, and they are still to be used with gratifying success; but it is the province of the Hereford to improve that upon which the Shorthorn has wrought all of its best influence. It is from the crossing of these two breeds that we are to consummate the perfection of the beef animal. For proof of this, witness the championship of the great Smithfield Fat Stock Show of London, this winter, and of the American Fat Stock Show, 1883, both won by animals of this cross.

But Michigan should raise more and better cattle; there is money in it, and although money is the root of all evil," it is what all of us covet. If you can't agree with me as to the merits of breeds, try that one of the many breeds which suits you the best, but rely upon it, that while all breeds are useful, some are more useful and profitable than others.

Mr. Stewart, in commenting on Mr. Sotham's paper, expressed a preference for the Shorthorns, and added: "While Mr. Sotham's plan of feeding may be desirable for beef animals, I think it would be highly injurious to dairy cattle to let the calf suck the dam. If the calf were permitted to suck, it would be well to milk the cow afterwards. I do not think any one breed will meet all demands. The Shorthorns have degenerated as milkers from the general indifference of their breeders to that point, so there is room for a distinctly dairy breed. At the present prices of grain and beef, more attention should be given to cattle raising."

FEEDING STOCK.

BY E. P. CAMPBELL.

(Read at the Monroe Institute, Jan. 22, '85.)

The best system of feeding and raising farm stock is something that deeply concerns all farmers, as it is an important factor in the results of farm labor.