30 THE FARMER AT HOME. 



dairymen. It is particularly valuable, because when it ceases to be 

 of profit for other purposes, it is good for beef, being readily fattened, 

 and the meat yielded highly nutritious, and of the best flavor. 



It has been estimated that a good Ayrshire cow will yield, for 

 two or three months after calving, five gallons of milk daih' ' for the 

 next three months, three gallons daily ; and a gallon and a half for 

 the following three months. This milk is calculated to afford 'about 

 two hundred and fifty pounds of butter annually, or five hundred 

 pounds of cheese. This estimate is made for cows of the best class, 

 including those large and of first-rate milking capacity, and, what is 

 of prime importance, the best of feed. Even then, the estimate may 

 seem extravagant. The improved Ayrshire cow, of the present day, 



THE AYRSHIRE COW. 



has the head small, and narrow at the muzzle, though the space 

 between the roots of the horns is considerable. Her horns are small 

 and crooked, her eyes are clear and lively, and her neck is long and 

 slender. The fore-shoulders are thin, and the fore-quarters ar-3 gene- 

 rally light. The back is straight, and she is broad behind. ^The 

 carcase is deep, the udders capacious, and the milk vein large and 

 prominent. The color is varied with mingled white and sandy red. 



AZOTE, a gas, which constitutes the most important portion of 

 the air, arid is sometimes called nitrogen, because one of the most 

 essential properties of its base is, that in conjunction with oxygen, it 

 composes nitric acid. Though in itself fatal to animal life, it abounds 

 in animal substances, anl forms ammonia with their hydrogen when 



