THE DAIRY. 515 



they are by no means generally disseminated, nor yet within the 

 reach of common farmers) promises to the milk producer perhaps 

 as good results as can be obtained from the consumption of his 

 crops by the aid of any other. The black and white cattle which 

 are so common along the banks of the Hudson River, and in other 

 parts of the States of New York and New Jersey which were 

 originally settled from Holland, are mainly Dutch in their origin ; 

 and they are to this day, as a rule, great milkers and excellent 

 cows. 



Devons and Herefords^ although most valuable for the produc- 

 tion of beef and as working oxen, are less conspicuous than some 

 of the other breeds as good dairy cattle. 



The Ayrshire is, par excellence^ the milkman's cow. She 

 is rather small, perfectly formed, well developed in every point 

 that tends to the production of large quantities of milk, and of 

 that delicacy of organization which invariably accompanies the 

 production of rich milk ; and whether the business be the sale of 

 milk or the manufacture of cheese, she leads the list of the pure 

 breeds, while for butter she is hardly, if at all, inferior to any 

 other in the quantity produced. Were it required that we should 

 lose from our dairy farms all but one breed of our cattle, the 

 Ayrshire should by all means be the one retained ; for, although 

 a large eater, she converts her food into milk more completely 

 than does any other animal. 



The "Jersey (often miscalled the Alderney) is, essentially, a 

 butter cow. The quantity of milk given is very much less 

 than that of the Ayrshires, Short-horns, and Dutch cattle, and 

 the production of a large quantity of milk is by many breeders 

 of Jerseys considered by no means an advantage. The propor- 

 tion of cream contained in the milk, the richness of the cream 

 itself, and the completeness with which the butter-forming 

 elements of the food are converted, mark the Jersey as the most 

 profitable, and in all respects the most satisfactory animal for but- 

 ter farms. While the average production of cream from the milk 

 of ordinary cows is about 12 1-2 per cent., that of the Jersey's 

 produces generally about 20, and sometimes even 25 per cent., — 



