J22 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE. 



hia dair)-, which before gave him hardly enough to pay for the feed of his cows, now afford- 

 ing him a net profit, wViich will more than meet the extra expense which he may incur in 

 the pnrchiise of hin improved breed of cows. 



It may be said that the oxpcnso of keeping the improved breed will be greater tlian tliat 

 of the native cows. This may or may not be the case. But the question with the farmer 

 should not be, ■which will require the most food ? but rather, ^^'hi(■h will give the greatest 

 net profit on what they consume ? It is the greatest capacity which tlie animal possesses of 

 converting her food to milk, which ought, in the estimation of the judicious fanner, to cou- 

 stitute her relative value. 



It was with a view of introducing among our farmers a dairy stock that should, with proper 

 care and management, remunerate, and more than remimerate, the expense of keeping, that 

 the Tnistees were induced to appropriate so considerable a sum to tliis object. 



What they have now done foniis but a nucleus or starting point, from which, with the aid 

 and countenance of a liberal public, they hope in due time to diffuse among the fanners of 

 Massachusetts, not only an improved race of animals, but also an ambition to excel in every- 

 thing that relates to this important branch of niral economy. 



The breeds of cattle which the Tnistees believed, mider all the circumstances, to be best 

 adapted to this country, best calculated to promote the object they had in view, and to sub- 

 serve the wishes and wants of the fanner, v^'ere the Ayrshii'e and North Devon.* 



The Ayrshire cows have been, for nearly or quite a century, distinguished as deep milk- 

 ers, and at the same time are known to be a hardy, mild-tempered, and docile race, easily 

 kept, w^ilh a disposition to fatten when not in milk, and having a capacity' of converting their 

 food to milk beyond that possessed by any other breed of cows in Great Britain. 



The venerable Alton, who may be justly styled the pioneer and champion of improved 

 husbandry in Scotland, and particularly of that branch which relates to daiiy stock, says: 

 ■' The AyrsViires are the most improved breed of cattle to be found in the island, not only for 

 the diiiiy, in which they have no pai-aUel, under similar circumstances, but also in feeding 

 for the sliamljles. Tliey are, ui fact, a breed of cows that have, by judicious selection, cro.ss 

 coupling, feeding and treatment, for a long series of years, been brought to a state of perfec- 

 tion which fits them, above all others yet known, to answer in almost eveiy diversity of sit- 

 uation where grain and gi"dS8 can be raised to feed them, for the pui^poses of the daily, or for 

 fattening them for beef" 



In the dairy estabUshment of Mr. Harley, at Glasgow, consisting of 1.50 cows, they were 

 principally of the Ayrshire breed, to wliich he gave a decided jjreference over any other 

 breed. The average quantity of mUk given by the cows iu his establislunent, for the year, 

 was eleven (juarts per day from each. 



In the famous daiiy establishment kept by Mr. Rhodes, near London, of 400 to COO cows, 

 " he had tried the Ayrshires, to the nuniljer of 150 at a time, and by him they were highly 

 approved — affording a large quantity of rich milk — tiittening in a veiy short time, when they 

 left off giving milk — and producing beef which was more highly valued, and sold for a higher 

 price in the market than that of the Short-Horns," 



Alton asserts that many of the Ayrshire cows, m their best condition, and well fed, will 

 yield at the rate of 1000 gallons of milk in a year, or over ten quarts per day. Rankin, how 

 ever, states his opinion that Alton had given the daily average produce too high, and thinks 

 that few herds of twentj' cows or over will average more than eight hundred and fifty gal 

 Ions, or about nine quarts per day. He also states that he had seen thirty -six (piarts of milk 

 drawn from a cow in ojie day, and that ho had a thi-ee-year old cpiay that once tijr six weeks 

 after calving gave twentj'-cight quarts per day. The diiirymaid predicted that " there had 

 beeir o'er-muckle talk about her for ony luck to come of her," and he states that she soon 

 afterward received an injury whicli caused one of her quarters to become diy of milk. 



The characteristic points of the Ayrshire cow, when Alton wrote, were : " Head small, but 

 rather long and Uipering at the muzzle; the eye snudl, but smart and lively; bonis small, 

 t:lear and crooked, and th(! roots at considerable distance from each other ; neck long and 

 slender, tapering toward the head, and no loose skin below ; shoulders thin ; fore-quarters 

 light; hind-(iuartt'rs large ; back straight ; broad behind ; joints rather loose and open ; car- 

 cass de(;p, and jjelvis capacious and wide over tlu! hips, with round, fleshy buttocks ; tail 

 long and sm.Jl ; udder capacif)us, broad and sqiiare, stretching forward, and neither fleshy, 

 low hung, nor coarse ; the milk-veins large and prominent, teats short, and all pomting out- 

 ward ; skin thin and loose ; hair soft and woolly." 



* Which, as we have elsewhere said, might be had as pure, as larf^e, as well-formed, and as 

 beautiful, of Mr. George Patterson, in Maryland ; of Mr. Allen, a.s we suppose, near Bufl'ufo ; in 

 Connecticut, of the Ihulbuts; and elsewhere in the United States, as in England, or the world 

 besides. 



We happen to know of a North Devon bull, bred by Mr. Patterson, wiiieli has taken several 

 premiums, never failing in any case wlicn exhibiied — 3 years old last winter, and equal in blood 

 and appearance to any, probably, iu England — perfectly gentle aud home-slaying — that may be 

 Iiad, near Washington, for flOO. [Kd. Farj/i. Lib 



