You may shorten it, perhaps,
but you cannot prevent it. The only way to keep the egg-basket full is
to have a lot of youngsters coming on who will take up the laying for
October and November.
We milked thirty-seven cows during July, August, and September, and got
more than a thousand pounds of milk a day. The butter sold amounted to a
trifle more than $375 a month. I think this an excellent showing,
considering the fact that the colony at Four Oaks never numbered less
than twenty-four during that time, and often many more.
I ought to say that the calves had the first claim to the skim-milk; but
as we never kept many for more than a few weeks, this claim was easily
satisfied. It was like the bonds of a corporation,--the first claim, but
a comparatively small one. The hens came next; they held preferred
stock, and always received a five-pound, semi-daily dividend to each pen
of forty. The growing pigs came last; they held the common stock, which
was often watered by the swill and dish-water from both houses and the
buttermilk and butter-washing from the dairy.
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