32 DOMESTIC ANIM^VLS. OnAr. I. 



good. For butter-niakiiig, -we think a cow which gives H quarts of milk a 

 day, when frcsli, and 14 lbs. of butter a week, a good cow, and that that 

 might bo adopted into use as the meaning of a good butter-dairy cow. A 

 good many cows, it is true, go above that, but they should be ranked as 

 extra good. A cow that gives 12 or 14 quarts of milk a day, and 10 lbs. of 

 butter a week, might be called a fair medium cow ; and one that gives 8 to 

 12 quarts a day and G or 7 lbs. of butter a week, should be called com- 

 mon, and all below that inferior, as in fact they are ; and so is a cow 

 that gives 15 or 10 quarts of milk a day that yields only a pound of butter, 

 and there are many of this description. Tlie lowest rate we ever heard was 

 3 quarts of milk for 1 lb. of butter ; but that is very rare, the average being 

 over 1 2 quarts. 



It would be an excellent plan for some leading agricultural society to 

 establish a standard for a good cow. "\Ve think a cow that comes up to the 

 standard of that owned by Otis Hunt, of Eaton Village, N. Y., will pass for 

 a good one. lie gives the following statement of the amount of butter 

 made from her : " Amount made from April 8 to July 8, 191 lbs. ; amount 

 made during the month of June, 7-1 lbs. ; amoimt made during the year, 

 51G lbs., besides furnishing all the milk and cream used in a family of four 

 persons (and occasional visitors) all the time." 



The breed of this good cow is given as " native," and the qixality of milk 

 and butter excellent. 



22. Garget in fowSt — A letter from Fort Independence, Castle Island, 

 Boston Harbor, Mass., says : 



" Within the last two years I have purchased at different times three 

 cows, say about one every six months. After they are on the island a few 

 months they become ' gargety ;' therefore I should think the coin])laiiit is 

 brought on from eating some weed peculiar to this island, which is limited 

 in extent, say about thirty acres." 



Xo, sir ; it is because they have not eaten some weed — a weed called poke 

 or scoke, producing the " scoke-berries" tliat robins and school-children are 

 both fond of gathering in the fall. This scoke is the natural cure for garget. 

 It is said that the disease never affects cows that run in pastures where it 

 grows. AVe have known the dried roots sell for $2 a lb. in Vermont to feed 

 cows, and to make little plugs to insert in the teats to cure the garget. It is 

 there known l)y the name of garget root, {phytolacca decandra). 



23. How to Increase the Value of a fow.— Every one who owns a cow 

 can see at a glance that it ■would be profitable to increase the value of her, 

 but every one can not see how to do it. "We can, and we think that we can 

 make it cqualh' palpable to our readers. If a cow is kejit for butter, it cer- 

 tainly would add to her value if the butter-making properties of her milk 

 shoukl be improved. In summer or winter this can be done, just as the yield 

 of a cultivated crop can be improved by what is fed to each, and it is simply 

 a question of, will it pay, in manuring one or feeding the other. Indian corn 

 will add to the quantity and quality of the butter to a very sensible degree, 



