OATS AND PEAS. Oats and Canada field peas, which so many find valuable for summer feeding and for hay when sown early in the spring, may also be grown as a fall forage. This crop can be sown in July on fields where rye has been harvested, or after early-cut grass. The peas should be plowed under rather shallow, at the rate of 12 bushels per acre, or else be deeply harrowed in with a wheel harrow; while the oats should be sown at the same rate, and be lightly harrowed in. This crop may be fed green, or in many seasons, when grown on rich soil, will make a valuable hay for harvesting early in October. BARLEY AND PEAS. Barley and peas is another forage crop valuable for fall feeding. It has advantages for late forage not possessed by oats and peas. While oats are damaged by heavy frosts, barley will remain vigorous and continue to grow until early in November. This makes the barley and peas valuable for late soiling purposes or for pasturing. The barley and peas should be sown at the rate of 12 bushels of each per acre, and the crop may be sown as late as the first week in August. We have used this crop for soiling purposes as late as the middle of November. Some farmers have had poor success in growing the peas when sown in the summer. Where this is the case, the oats or the barley may be grown alone, and will produce good crops when seeded at the rate of 212 or 3 bushels per acre. WINTER VETCH. A valuable fall forage crop which may be grown for pasturage is winter vetch. This may be grown alone, or with winter wheat. This combination has been grown more commonly as an early spring soiling crop; but, if planted as carly as July 20, a heavy growth of both wheat and vetch may be had for fall feeding. This crop makes a rich pasture feed, or it may be cut and fed as a soiling crop. If pastured and not fed very closely, enough will usually be left over winter to furnish feed for pasturing or soiling in the early spring. The vetch seed is quite expensive; but, as the seeds are small, 1⁄2 bushel per acre will suffice for a good seeding, when used with 2 bushels per acre of wheat. RAPE. Rape is a turnip-like plant, which often grows 3 to 4 feet tall. It is quite commonly grown in the more northerly countries of both Europe and America as a feed for sheep. This may also be grown as a late fall fodder for feeding to young stock or to dry cattle. We would not advise its use for dairy stock producing milk, unless in quite small quantities, because of the danger of producing a disagreeable flavor in the milk and butter. CABBAGE. Late cabbage is a crop which can often be grown with profit by dairymen as a market crop, and the unmarketable portion will furnish valuable fodder. Retail milk dealers, with routes in the smaller cities or in towns and villages, may often find a ready retail market, at a good profit, among their customers for all the larger and better heads of cabbage, leaving only the poorer heads and the leaves as fodder; or cabbage can usually be shipped to the larger cities, and sold at wholesale, finding a ready market at a fair profit. This crop, however, may be an economical one to grow even when raised entirely for stock feeding. The plants may be set as late as the middle of July, and still make a heavy growth of firm heads. To get the best results, the soil should be made rich with well-rotted stable manure. Cabbage is not injured by heavy frosts, and that portion of the crop not fed before the ground freezes may be stored in piles, covered with leaves or straw, and be fed during the early winter. APPLES. In seasons when there is a large crop of apples, these may be fed to advantage. The poorer kinds of fruit, and that which is not of a high enough grade to sell as market fruit, can often be fed to dairy stock with good results. Stock soon become accustomed to the fruit, so that the amount fed may often be increased to 3 pecks or more per day, by starting with a peck per day. Apples should always be fed in the mangers rather than in the field, so that if choking occurs, the condition may be more readily discovered and relief afforded. In some localities apple pomace may be regularly obtained from the cider mill, and this has been found to be valuable feed for milch cows. One of the most successful dairymen in Connecticut uses this feed regularly during the fall months. At first it was obtained for the hauling, but others soon perceived its value, and the demand became so strong that the price advanced to $1 per load. This feeder considers it nearly equal in feeding value to corn silage. When silo space is available, apple pomace may be stored in the silo, making a valuable winter fodder. During the rush season at the mills it can often be obtained in larger amounts than the herd will consume from day to day, and if preserved in the silo, a supply may be provided for many weeks ahead. FEEDING THE HAY. When all has been done that can readily be done to supplement a short hay crop by growing substitutes on the farm, something may also be accomplished by exercising good judgment in feeding the hay. Many have the impression that milch stock should be fed all the coarse fodder they will eat. This we believe to be unnecessary, and contrary to the teaching of some of the more recent experimental work done by the experiment stations. The more palatable and the more easily digested the ration of a milch cow is, the better. To obtain the best results, about one-half of the dry matter of the ration should come from the grain feeds. This means that grain feeds should constitute a large part of the total feed of the cow. If a considerable part of the coarse fodder of the ration comes from the silage, only a small part need be provided in the form of hay. The cheaper dry fodders, such as corn stover or oat straw, may be fed in connection with liberal silage and grain feeding, and good results will follow. Recent experimental inquiry has shown that the value of a feed depends quite largely on the ease with which it is digested. It was formerly supposed that a pound of digestible dry matter from one source was just as valuable as a pound from another, but this supposition has been overthrown by recent experimenting. The energy or labor required in digesting a certain feed must come from the food eaten. If the food eaten is largely coarse, dry fodders, more energy will be required in the work of digestion, and less will be left for building up valuable products, than where the feed is mainly easily digested materials, such as succulent fodders or ground grains. For the same reason, the older and tougher the fodder is when harvested, the greater will be the labor of digestion. Some German experiments have shown that from 10 to 12 per cent of the total energy of certain coarse, dry fodders was used up in the labor of digesting the fodder. It may thus readily be seen that the extensive feeding of coarse, woody fodders is a severe tax on the total energy of the ration in the work of making the food nutrients available. It follows, then, that a ration made up largely of grains and ensilage and early-cut hays, with only a small proportion of coarse or late-cut dry fodders, will furnish a larger proportion of available energy than a ration composed quite largely of coarse, dry fodders. This helps to explain why the exclusive or heavy feeding of late-cut coarse fodders to milch cows is not generally profitable. PRACTICAL POULTRY HOUSING. BY JOHN H. ROBINSON, EDITOR OF FARM-POULTRY," BOSTON, MASS. At several of the farmers' institutes in this State which it has been my privilege to address during the past year, the description of some poultry houses I am using and explanation of reasons for using them has excited enough interest to make me think farmers throughout the State may be equally interested in that subject. The ideas and principles upon which this method of housing poultry is based are not new, nor are they at all novel. On the contrary, they are very old and very common. The noteworthy thing among them is that they have not until within a few years seemed to those looking for the best ways of housing poultry to be worth serious consideration. For several years now they have been much discussed in the poultry press, and the general interest in them and increasing tendency to use them marks what is probably the last stage in the reaction from the plans and methods most in favor since the interest in better results from poultry culture began to assume its present importance. For a great many years authorities on poultry keeping have advocated warm, tightly built poultry houses. They have held that, inasmuch as hens naturally laid best during the spring, the essential thing (if one wanted to get eggs in winter) was to reproduce spring conditions, especially temperature. So, with double and triple walls, with dead air spaces, with double sash on the windows, with large windows. to admit as much sunlight as possible by day and with roosting rooms and closets to shut the fowls up close and keep them warm in at night, they have tried to approximate spring conditions. In a degree they have succeeded, as far as temperature is concerned, that is to say, they have suc - |