AGRICULTURAL ZOOLOGY. 359 



tunity to form a judgment of the relative merits of the different breeds of cattle for dairy- 

 purposes, I put six Shorthorns on trial, and kept them on grass alone, and the result was, 

 they produced, in thirty days, 262 lbs. and 9 oz. of butter, it being an average of 43 lbs. 12 

 oz. to each cow. To ascertain the quantity of milk the six cows gave, I carefully weighed 

 and measured the milk drawn from them in one day, and the result was a weight of 265 lbs. 

 10 oz., and measured 134 quarts, wine measure, averaging 22-J quarts per day. It is proper 

 to state that I had twelve cows, from which I took the six for trial. This statement may be 

 found recorded in full in the Transactions of the New York State Agricultural Society, 1844, 

 page 215. I had one cow, 'Young AVilley,' that produced in seven days 13£ lbs. of butter. 

 I sold a two-year old heifer, called 'Ruby,' daughter of the above, to S. P. Chapman, of 

 Madison county, N. Y. He put his heifer on trial, when five or six years old, to compete for 

 a premium offered by the Society above named, for the largest quantity of butter made from 

 one cow in ten days in June, and ten days in August, 1850, to be fed on grass pasture only. 

 She produced a fraction over forty pounds of butter in these twenty days, and was awarded 

 the first premium. Another cow I called 'Eunice 1st.' I had her milk, the produce of one 

 day, measured, and the result was thirty-two quarts, wine measure. Eunice 2d produced in 

 one day thirty-four and a half quarts of milk, and there had previously been made from her 

 milk nineteen and a half pounds of butter in seven days. Beside the tribes of which the 

 above were members, I had others of superior milking qualities, which I could refer to ; and 

 I doubt not there could be selected from the numerous herd of Shorthorns in this country 

 equally good milkers with those referred to. 



"I do not desire to mislead any one in this matter, and therefore it is proper to say, that 

 although it is a generally received maxim in cattle-breeding that 'like begets like,' yet there 

 may, and probably will be, individual exceptions to this rule, relative to the milking qualities 

 of the progeny of every animal bred from such cows. My experience is, that it is rare that 

 a failure will occur, when uniform good milkers are bred to a male descended from an equally 

 good milking stock. Hence it will be seen that the selection of the male is all-important 

 when milking qualities are sought. I entertain the opinion that cows, heifers, or steers, 

 reared from cows possessing fine milking qualities, will, when needed for the shambles, put 

 on flesh as fast, and with as little expense, as those not in possession of good capacities for 

 milk. The milking and fattening qualities of the Shorthorns (and those two qualities con- 

 stitute the value of this or any other breed) are to be found in great perfection in most of 

 the herds of the country, in separate animals. By commingling these, there could be pre- 

 sented to the country a breed of animals of great value. 



"In conclusion, I remark, that it seems to me that there is another good reason for not 

 attempting to improve by crossing, as the Shorthorns are a well-established breed, perfected 

 by a long course of scientific breeding, with pedigrees for many generations recorded in the 

 herd-book, which will always prove a great convenience to such as may keep and breed the 

 Shorthorn for dairy purposes." 



Management of Dairy Stock. 



At the request of the Council of the Royal Agricultural Society, Mr. Horsfall, a gentleman 

 of great celebrity and success as a dairy farmer, furnished, in May last, a paper respecting 

 the methods pursued by him for the feeding and management of cows for dairy purposes. 

 The following abstract of this valuable paper, prepared for the iV. T. Country Gentleman from 

 the publications of the Society, gives the essential features of Mr. Horsfall's plans and opera- 

 tions : — Mr. H. commences his report of his mode of management with his dairy stock, by 

 saying that he had found it stated on good authority that store cattle of a fair size maintain 

 their weight and condition for a length of time when supplied daily with 120 lbs. of Swedish 

 turnips and a small portion of straw, and that the experience of a district in Yorkshire, where 

 meadow hay is the staple food during winter, shows that such cattle maintain their condition 

 on 33 lbs. of such hay each, per day. These respective quantities of turnips and of hay cor- 

 respond very closely in their nutritive properties, containing a very similar amount of albu- 

 minous matter, starch, sugar, and phosphoric acid. 



