healthy action of the digestive organs, by exercising
a stimulating effect upon the nerves which govern them. Thus the whole
organization of ruminating animals necessitates the supply of bulky
food, to keep the animal in good condition.

Feed sweet and nutritious food, therefore, frequently, regularly, and in
small quantities, and change it often, and the best results may be
confidently anticipated. If the cows are not in milk, but are to come in
in the spring, the difference in feeding should be rather in the
quantity than the quality, if the highest yield is to be expected from
them during the coming season.

The most common feeding is hay alone, and oftentimes very poor hay at
that. The main point is to keep the animal in a healthy and thriving
condition, and not to suffer her to fail in flesh; and with this object,
some change and variety of food are highly important.

[Illustration: CALLING IN THE CATTLE.]

Toward the close of winter, a herd of cows will begin to come in, or
approach their time of calving. Care should then be taken not to feed
too rich or stimulating food for the last week or two before this event,
as it is often attended with ill consequences. A plenty of hay, a few
potatoes or shorts, and pure water will suffice.

In spring, the best feeding for dairy cows will be much the same as that
for winter; the roots in store over winter, such as carrots, mangold
wurtzel, turnips, and parsnips, furnishing very valuable aid in
increasing the quantity and improving the quality of milk. Toward the
close of this season, and before the grass of pastures is sufficiently
grown to make it judicious to turn out the cows, the best dairymen
provide a supply of green fodder in the shape of winter rye, which, if
cut while it is tender and succulent, and before it is half grown, will
be greatly relished. Unless cut young, however, its stalk soon becomes
hard and unpalatable.

All practical dairymen agree in saying that a warm and well-ventilated
barn is indispensable to the promotion of the highest yield of milk in
winter; and most agree that cows in milk should not be turned out, even
to drink, in cold weather; all exposure to cold tending to lessen the
yield of milk.

In the London dairies, in which, of course, the cows are fed so as to
produce the largest flow of milk, the treatment is as follows: The cows
are kept at night in stalls. About three A. M. each has a half-bushel of
grains. When milking is finishe