382 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



been asserted upon high authority that in no other way can so large an amount 

 of animal food be obtained from a given quantity of herbage as by the dairy ; 

 and it is believed to be capable of demonstration that a good milch cow fur- 

 nishes the most economical means known by M-hich to obtain from our pastures 

 the alimentary matters they arc capable of yielding. 



Concerning the comparative returns from the dairy and from the stall, we 

 have not that definite knowledge which is desirable ; nor can it be obtained 

 except by carefully conducted and long continued experiments with many ani- 

 mals, and under a variety of conditions, accompanied with constant use of the 

 scales. Such experiments few have the inclination, the time, the means, and 

 the perseverance to conduct to reliable conclusions, and I am not aware of their 

 having been thoroughly carried out by any one. The inquiry has frequently 

 been made of intelligent and observing farmers, how many pounds of butter 

 can be made from a good milking cow upon the food which would yield a bun 

 dred pounds of beef if consumed by a thrifty farrow cow, steer, or ox ; and ] 

 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 farmers 

 are inclined to estimate it higher, perhaps fully as many pounds of butter as of 

 beef, or even more. This problem seems to have engaged the attention of the 

 first British board of agriculture, and Sir John Sinclair, its president, probably 

 with reference to the observations or investigations of the board, says : " It is 

 supposed that the same quantity of herbage which would add 224 pounds to 

 the weight of an ox, would produce 900 English gallons of milk." Whether 

 the live or dressed weight be here intended, or Avhether the measure is that used 

 for wine or ale does not clearly appear. Suppose, therefore, in order to allow 

 the best show possible in favor of meat, that the weight meant is the net 

 dressed weight, and the measure intended is the smallest measure in use. We 

 then find a pound of meat esteemed to be the equivalent of four wine gallons 

 or thirty-three pounds of milk. Milk, on an average, will yield one-tenth of 

 its weight in cheese; consequently, if we assume Sir John's estimate^to be cor* 

 rcct, we can have three and a third poixnds of cheese from the food which will 

 produce one pound of beef. If his estimate only approaches accuracy, it is 

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

 tricts, to wit, that the dairy affords a very profitable mode of converting 

 vegetable food into money. 



TJie only definite experiment I find bearing on this point is related by M. 

 Durand, of Caen, in the " Compte Rendus," July 31, 1848. In the transla- 

 tion given below the French weights are rendered into pounds avoirdupois, and 

 the measure into wine gallons of 23 cubic inches. He says : 



"The cow and the ox on which our observations were mside were of the Cotentine breed 

 The animals, each about six years old, weighed, respectively, 1,2:W and 1,190 pounds. The 

 products of the cow and the ox were only compared from the lirst of May to the first of Au- 

 gust. During this time they had such, and so much, herbage as atforded ample nourishment. 

 Each day the milk was measured, and the ox was weighed from time to time. The milk 

 yielded by the cow during May, June, and July amounted to 470 wine gallons On the 

 first of May the ox weighed 1,199 pounds ; on the 5th of June, 1,331 pounds ; on the ir)th of 

 July, 1,463 pounds ; and on thefirstday of August, 1,494 pounds. He had thus gained in the 

 period of ninety-two days 295 pounds. This ox appears to liave been a thrifty animal, seeing 

 it gained three and a quarter pounds per day ; and the reported yield of milk is not extrava- 

 gantly large for a cow of the above weight, being twenty and two-thirds wine quarts, or 

 about seventeen beer quarts per day ; yet we find it to be four hundred and seventy wine gal- 

 lons, weighing three thousand eight hundred and seventy-four pounds, and capable of pro- 

 ducing three hundred and eighty-seven pounds of cheese. The gain in the ox was '295 pounds 

 live weight, from which, if we deduct two-lifths for otTal, we have a net gain of 177 pounds 

 of meat against 470 wine gallons of milk. If we assume that the two animals consumed 

 equal quantities of food, and were equally capable of converting it advantageou.ily to the 

 several purposes of meat and milk, wo find two and one-fifth pounds of cheese to be the 

 equivalent of one pound of meat."' 



