1838] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



213 



"Mr. Cramp's cow was seven years old, had 

 produced five calves, and had been two years in 

 his possession. SIio was fed in summer on clover, 

 rye-grass, lucorn, and carrots, three or four times 

 •i day. In VMiitcr, willi hay, bran, and grains, 

 and ollen fed, particularly when milking. The 

 manger kept clean, and no sour grains, rotten or 

 mouldy vegetables given, on any account, and the 

 cow never sufVered to overcharge her stomach, 

 but to be well filled, and kept with a good healthy 

 appetite. Always when milked, stripped clean to 

 the last drop. IJeing so well kept, she went dry 

 only seventeen days before calving. 



QitantUies of 7nilk and butter produced by Mr. 

 Cramp^s cow, beticcen ylpr'd 1807, and .^pril 1808. 

 From 6th to 20th April — milk 8 quarts per day, 

 butter 6lbs. per week. From April 21st to June 

 2d — milk 22 quarts a day, butter 18 lbs. per week. 

 From June 2d to October 5th, milk 20 quarts per 

 day, butter 16 lbs. per week. From Oct. 6th to 

 November 30th — milk 15 quarts per day, butter 

 13 lbs. per week. From December 1st to Fe- 

 bruary 8lh 1808, milk 13 quarts per day, butter 11 

 Jbs. per week. From February 9th to March 

 14lh — milk 10 quarts per day, butter 8 lbs. per 

 week. From March 15th to April 4th — milk 7 

 quarts per day, butter 5 lbs. per week, — dry lor 

 calving. 



Sale of the year'' s produce and expenses. 

 Sale of calf 14 days old — butter at Is. £ s. d. 

 Ad. — skim milk at \d per quart — dung, 

 valued at £3, in ell, - - - 76 7 3 

 Total expenses, including £ 1 5s. for 10 

 sacks malt combs, and a farrier's bill 

 12s. Qd. 24 14 3 



A year's net profit on a single cow, £51 13 0' 



It will be perceived that the quantity of milk 

 yielded by the above-mentioned cow did not much 

 exceed some of the best of our common animals, 

 but in the quantity of butter she greatly surpass- 

 ed them. 



The following remarks by John Hare Powell, 

 published some years since, on the qualities of the 

 improved short horns, furnish some hints on a 

 branch of this subject, which is of great import- 

 ance, but has been hhherto but little investigated. 

 Jn allusion to a sale of some of these celebrated 

 cattle he says, 



*' There are about twenty or thirty head of the 

 full blood, besides nearly as many of the common 

 and mixed blood. Among the former is the cele- 

 brated Bellina, the famous butter cow. In her 

 appearance, she is far below many of her com- 

 panions, though when critically examined her 

 ■points are all good. The straight back — the per- 

 lect level of the spinal column from the horns to 

 the tail, — the square sides, the wide hips, the llill 

 brisket, the intelligent countenance, and wide 

 spreading bag, are all there; but she makes a 

 pound of butler at every milking, and hence she 

 has not the sleek fat sides, and the filling up so 

 necessary to a finished and beautillil subject. She 

 illustrates the idea perfectly, which we have so of- 

 ten inculcated, that a deep milker or a great but- 

 ler yielder cannot easily be kept fat. She illus- 

 trates another position we have advanced, that 

 milk from dillerent cows, apparently of equal rich- 

 ness, is very differently constituted. In some, 



cheesy matter and ichcy prevail, in others cheesy 

 matter and nil, and in others oil and whey prevail 

 7cith but a sliirhl qvanlily of cheesy viatlir. The 

 first is common milk, allording a small quantity of 

 cream, and poor pkim milk; the second affords 

 a medium quantity of cream, and makes good 

 cheese, and good skim milk; the last allbrds a 

 very large quantity of cream, no cheese scarcely, 

 and very poor skim milk — so poor indeed, that it 

 is scarcely fit for use. This latter is the case with 

 Bellina; when her milk has stood the proper 

 length of time, the cream, (the milk being three 

 or four inches deep,) is nearly half an inch thick, 

 and so firm that it will almost bear lifting like a 

 huxkivheat cake, the skim milk being very inferior, 

 Mrs. Barnitz took about half a pint of her cream 

 in a bowl, and in a iew minutes produced six 

 ounces of the finest butter we ever tasted, by sim- 

 ply stirring it with a tea-spoon. The buiier-niilk 

 produced was less than a small wine glass fiill, 

 and that quite of a poor quality. This cow, un- 

 like the generality of her breed, has coarse hair, 

 and is of ordinary size, and as before remarked, 

 would be taken for an ordinary animal, except 

 upon critical examination by a very good judge." 

 To be able to ascertain readily, by simple ex- 

 periment, the character and quality of milk, would 

 be to dairy farmers of the first importance. It 

 would be bad policy to attempt to make butter 

 from milk affording cheesy matter alone, or to 

 manufacture cheese from milk abounding only in 

 oil. The distinguishing characteristics of milk in 

 relation to these points, whether by specific gravi- 

 ty, color, or other particulars, should claim parti- 

 cular attention. 



It has been recommended as the best means of 

 determining easily the richness of milk and the 

 quantity of butter it contains, to fill a number of 

 broad, graduated glass tubes, with milk of diffier- 

 ent kinds, and after the cream has risen, to ob- 

 serve its relative thickness at the top of each. 

 But this, although ingenious and apparently cor- 

 rect at first glance, has been found fallacious. 

 Neither is the color of the milk a true test. A iew 

 observations, hastily made last autumn by the 

 writer, prove further experiments necessary. One 

 cow gave from ten to twelve quarts daily; the 

 milk was paler than usual, and the cream lighter 

 colored; but with one exception she was the best 

 butter cow in the yard; the cream, though not 

 equal in thickness on the surface to some, was un- 

 commonly _/irm a7id tenacious, resembling that de- 

 scribed in the last quotation above; leaving but 

 little butter-milk, and apparently consisting almost 

 wholly of butter. She produced from six to seven 

 pounds of excellent butter per week. Another 

 cow yielded milk of a richer yellow, which pro- 

 duced a thicker coal of cream; but this was light- 

 er and more spongy, and a less quantity of butter 

 was afforded. 



It would be well worth the time and labor of 

 scientific farmers, who can constantly superintend 

 their dairies in person, to give particular attention 

 to this subject, and to endeavor to ascertain by 

 well conducted and accurate experiments, ready 

 and correct tests for the character of milk, or whe- 

 ther best adapted to cheese or to butter- making, 

 and the quantity of each aflbrded; and also to de- 

 termine the best mode of causing their complete 

 separation f iom the whey. Butter-makers should 

 know the i)recise temperature needed fur the pro- 



