File:American homes and gardens (1909) (17968190298).jpg

Title: American homes and gardens
Identifier: americanhomesgar61909newy (find matches)
Year: 1905 (1900s)
Authors:
Subjects: Architecture, Domestic; Landscape gardening
Publisher: New York : Munn and Co
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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July, 1909 AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS oil. In the garden there should be a bed ot beats or rutabagas—nothing is better both for flesh and milk. In Florida beggar weed is splendid cow rations. The cow yard need not be very large, but it should be a model of comfort and neatness. It should be well drained, so that an inch of mud need never be seen. There should be a well, with a tub always full, unless you can bring water through a pipe into her stall. This water should be fresh every day, and plenty of it. She should be allowed to go to it whenever she pleases, instead of being hitched up most of the time, and sent to water at your option. This yard should be thoroughly well shaded, for a cow likes shade as well as water. Let it be ever)- way made pleasant; for you will discover, if you observe, that a cow has her tastes. She will invariably lie down of a moonlight night with her face to the moon. Both cows and horses observe a good deal about them, as we do. My neighbor, who has fourteen horses in charge, built a large house over his barn well—giving as a reason that his horses "looked over the valley so much, if they had the chance, that it took three or four times as long to water them." The cow is by no means the board-faced animal that some people suppose. Homer could give no better description of Juno than to call her cow-eyed. If the manure is kept, of necessity, in the cow yard, let it be removed to compost piles very frequently. If left in the yard it is not only a nuisance to yourself but to the cow. Com- posted with vegetable waste, autumn leaves, coal ashes, etc., you get all the fertilizer your land will need. When you have finished with your yard, turn attention to the stable and stalls. Stan- chions may be necessary where many cows are kept, but for a single cow there should be pre- pared as good a box stall as you give your pet horse. It should be warm and lighted with a large window. The feed should come down into a capacious manger, and her pail of extra food from the house should be placed in a box by itself, so as not to foul the hay. I do not know of any animal that is more particular about clean feed than the cow. A little care in this line will make her more particular and more valuable. Indulge all these whims in an animal, and encourage them in manifesting likes and dislikes. The stall should be ar- ranged so that it can be barred or locked dur- ing feeding time to prevent one animal from trespassing on another. I prefer a cow of good size, one that will make beef as well as milk. For this reason I do not select a Jersey, as a rule, although I have had Jersey grades that were very satis- factory'. In the ordinary country home, milk is more important than blood, and behavior is better than pedigree. Of the imported stocks I prefer a Holstein-Fresian, as a rule. They are large, generally kindly, and give a large flow of medium quality milk. If the milking must be done by a hired man, I ob- ject to the Jersey entirely, as an old dairyman said in a Farmers' Institute, "If you keep Jerseys you must do your own milking." That is, they need special care and will not thrive without it. The milking must be done with gentleness and thoroughness. We have, how- ever, lost some of our very best breeds of cows, through a fancy for something from foreign countries. New York State fifty years ago had a cow of large build, gentle disposition, grand milk-giver, easy keeper, and in other ways just exactly what ought to have been retained. It was worth more to the country home than any imported breed ever seen. I am happy to say that Cornell Uni- versity, in its Agricultural Department, is now trying to restore this admirable cow. It was one of the most domestic creatures I have ever seen. In my boyhood I used to sit down
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