257 



stock, was 99,705 quarts ; or, rating the average niTmber of 

 cows in milk at 35, it would be, for 365 days, 3 31-35 quarts 

 per day to each cow. No calves were raised. The whole sum 

 expended in this case for feed, exclusive of attendance, milk- 

 ing, &c., was $S751. The value of the milk obtained, at five 

 cents per quart, was $4985 25 — leaving a balance against the 

 establishment of $3765 75. This would be a serious result to 

 any common farmer. The keeping of the cows through the 

 year upon dry feed, and the high cost of the hay, go largely to 

 swell the expense. The large number of dry cows kept, av- 

 eraging fifteen through the year, is a heavy drawback upon the 

 returns. In the New York city milk establishments, as soon as 

 a cow ceases to give milk more than sufficient to balance her 

 cost of keeping, she is sold. It is the aim- of the cow-keepers 

 to keep their cows so well, and in so good condition, that, after 

 a few weeks extra feeding, they may be fit for the butcher. 

 Their place is then immediately supplied with new milch 

 cows. In the Lowell establishment, as the object was not milk, 

 cows were probably kept long after they had ceased to give 

 milk enough to pay for their keeping. To whatever it may be 

 ascribed that the balance was so heavy on the wrong side of 

 the page, the experiment is a highly instructive one, and may 

 induce farmers engaged in the milk business to look more care- 

 fully into their own results. 



IX. Dairy Stock. — Middlesex county, though very poorly 

 suited to grazing, and, on account of the high prices of all cat- 

 tle feed, not at all adapted to the raising of stock, has yet sev- 

 eral individuals of intelligence and public spirit engaged in this 

 patriotic object. 



Some years since, (about 1830,) a number of gentlemen as- 

 sociated for the purpose of establishing a stock farm, and pur- 

 chased in Charlestown a valuable property for this object. 

 "It was proposed to establish a stock farm in the vicinity of 

 Boston, devoted to the important objects of breeding and rear- 

 33 



