70 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



experiments as very few indeed have the time and means and per- 

 severance to prosecute to satisfactory results, and I am not aware 

 of their having been thoroughly carried out by any one. 



I have frequently inquired of intelligent and observing farmers, 

 how many pounds of butter can be made with a good milking cow 

 upon the food which would yield a hundred pounds of beef if con- 

 sumed by a thrifty farrow cow, steer or ox ? and I have never 

 found one who could give an answer apparently satisfactory to his 

 own mind. The first impression seemed to be, (perhaps judging 

 from the usual market rates of each,) probably fifty or seventy -five 

 pounds ; but the more the question was pondered and observations 

 made in respect to it, the more they inclined to estimate it higher ; 

 perhaps fully as many pounds of butter as of beef, or even more. 

 The matter seems to have engaged the attention of the first British 

 Board of Agriculture, and Sir John Sinclair, its President, and 

 probably with reference to the observations or investigations of the 

 Board, says, " It is supposed that the same quantity of herbage 

 that would add 224 lbs. to the weight of an ox, would produce 900 

 English gallons of milk." Now if we reckon six ounces of butter 

 or fifteen ounces of cheese to be the average weight obtained 

 from a gallon of milk, we will get 337 lbs. of butter, or 844 lbs. of 

 cheese, from the same quantity of herbage as was supposed to 

 produce 224 lbs. of beef. If we convert these into their respective 

 money values, calling the beef seven cents per pound, the cheese 

 ten cents, and the butter twenty cents, we find the beef amounts 

 to $15.68 ; the butter, $67.40 ; and the cheese, $84.40 ; or deduct- 

 ing for the labors of the dairy two cents per pound for the cheese, 

 and four cents per pound for the butter, it would then stand, 

 $53.92 for the butter, and $67.52 for the cheese, against $15.68 for 

 the beef If these estimates approach accuracy, it is easy to see 

 in what direction the interest of the farmer lies, and it is equally 

 easy to account for the impression which prevails in all dairy dis- 

 tricts, (so far as my observation extends,) that their occupation 

 afl'ords a very profitable mode of converting vegetable food into 

 money. 



The only definite experiment bearing on this point, which I find, 

 is related by M. Durand of Caen, in the " Comptes Rendus," July 

 31, 1848. In the translation given below, I have rendered the 

 French weights into pounds avoirdupois, and the measure into 

 wine gallons, (of 231 cubic inches.) lie says, " The cow and the 



