possessed an agreeable odor,
and imparted its flavor to the whole mass. It was cut for this purpose
just before ripening, but after the bean was fully grown, and in this
state was found to possess nearly double the amount of albuminous
matter, so valuable to milch cows, of good meadow or upland hay. Bran or
shorts is also vastly improved by steaming or soaking with hot water,
when its nutriment is more readily assimilated. It contains about
fourteen per cent. of albumen, and is rich in phosphoric acid. Rape-cake
was found to be exceedingly valuable. Linseed and cotton-seed cake may
probably be substituted for it in this country.

Mr. Horsfall turned his cows in May into a rich pasture, housing them at
night, and giving them a mess of the steamed mixture and some hay
morning and night; and from June to October they had cut grass in the
stall, besides what they got in the pasture, and two feeds of the
steamed mixture a day. After the beginning of October the cows were kept
housed. With such management his cows generally yielded from twelve to
sixteen quarts of milk (wine measure) a day, for about eight months
after calving, when they fell off in milk, but gained in flesh, up to
calving-time. In this course of treatment the manure was far better than
the average, and his pastures constantly improved. The average amount of
butter from every sixteen quarts of milk was twenty-five ounces--a
proportion far larger than the average.

[Illustration: "ON THE RAMPAGE."]

How widely does this course of treatment differ from that of most
farmers! The object with many seems to be, to see with how little food
they can keep the cow alive. From a correct point of view, the milch cow
should be regarded as an instrument of transformation. The question
should be--with so much hay, so much grain, so many roots, how can the
most milk, or butter, or cheese, be made? The conduct of a manufacturer
who owned good machinery, and an abundance of raw material, and had the
labor at hand, would be considered very senseless, if he hesitated to
supply the material, and keep the machinery at work, at least so long as
he could run it with profit.

Stimulate the appetite, then, and induce the cow to eat, by a frequent
change of diet, not merely enough to supply the constant waste of her
system, but enough and to spare, of a food adapted to the production of
milk of the quality desired.

SOILING.

Of the advantages of soiling milch cows--that is, f