118 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



not only one of the longest-lived of all breeds, but she begins 

 her work earlier than any breed. Jerseys drop their first 

 calves at sixteen, eighteen, twenty and twenty-two months 

 without showing any injury to the ultimate size or vigor of 

 their bodies or reduction in their butter product, and the in- 

 vestio-ations of the leading breeders ao-ree in considering it 

 unsafe to allow one of this breed to go later than her twenty- 

 second month before milking. Jerseys " hold out "in their 

 milking periods with great persistency. Many good animals 

 of this breed could be cited who have milked continuously for 

 six or eight years, while producing at least one calf a twelve- 

 month ; and as a race they do not commonly go dry for a 

 longer period than six weeks. 



The Jersey bull possesses remarkable power in trans- 

 mitting the characteristics of his race. No bull of any breed 

 " nicks " better with our native stock; and no bull shows 

 greater power in "grading up" the native race with all of 

 the valuable characteristics of his own. A half- Jersey often 

 gives the rich butter-yield of the pure blood, and the higher 

 grades are almost certain to do so. 



Jerseys and their grades are now to be found, and in con- 

 siderable numbers, in nearly every part of the United States 

 and in Upper and Lower Canada. In not one of these sec- 

 tions have they failed to adapt themselves to the climate and 

 the feed. The little Jerseys have bearded the Short horn 

 lion in his very den ; they flourish nowhere more vigorously 

 than in Canada and Illinois. They are the favorite race of 

 the Southern States. They are the bulwark of the dairy 

 interest of New England. 



Jersey milk is remarkable for its richness as it comes from 

 the udder. The average for the cows of the United States 

 is over thirteen quarts to a pound of butter. It takes but 

 five, six and seven quarts of Jersey milk to make a pound of 

 butter, as is shown in the tests of some of the leading ani- 

 mals of this breed. A selected herd in New York give an 

 average of six quarts of milk to a pound of butter. From a 

 working herd of sixty-five Jerseys, pure and high grade, in 

 Connecticut, the average was eight quarts of milk to a .pound 

 of butter the year round and for several years. In another 

 large herd in Massachusetts, eight to nine quarts in winter 



