1839] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



243f 



They are heavy and clumsy in appearance, and 

 incnnvenienl in practice. 



The spaces that silk worms require, do not seem 

 to be very accurately defined. Of American wri- 

 ters, (who al! follow the European authorities,) 

 some spealc of" square feet, others of feet square: 

 and others auain simply mention the quantity of 

 feet, without stating whether it is linear or super- 

 ficial measure. Each hurdle, however, of the di- 

 mensions previously described, may accommodate 

 a thousand worms during their last age ; and from 

 this datum, an estimate may be formed of the 

 number that a room of any prescribed size will 

 contain. A room for instace, 100 feet long and 

 30 feet wide, with four rows of shelves, and five 

 shelves to a row — allowinij for a cross passage in 

 the middle and one at each end — will contain 440 

 shelves, and accommodate 440,000 worms. For 

 every additional tier of shelves, which however 

 could not conveniently exceed three more, the 

 number might be increased 88.000, or amount in 

 the aggregate to nearly 700,000. But foreign 

 writers allow a still greater number to a house of 

 these demensions. The laboratory of Count Dan- 

 dolo, in which he reared the worms from twenty 

 ounces of egirs, equal to more than 700,000, was 

 77 feet lonnr, 30 feet wide, and 12 feet higli. The 

 number of shelves it contained is not specified. 

 Experience alone can determine this point to gen- 

 eral satisfaction ; and until it is settled, silk-grow- 

 ers should rarher err on the sate side, by allowing 

 abundant space to their worms. 



Altliough the most approved plan for construct- 

 ing a cocoonery, has been altempled to be detail- 

 ed, including ihe most convenient size for the 

 building, y-et fixtures of a much more clumsy de- 

 scription will answer very well on a diminished 

 scale ; and almost any house, even a barn or to- 

 bacco house, will serve for a cocoonery, provided 

 a sufficient circulation and ventilation can be ef- 

 lected. But when the business is entered into 

 extensively and systematically, the silk-grower 

 will doubtless find it to his interest lo budd houses 

 expressly for the purpose, and have them fitted 

 up with a view to the greatest economv of liine 

 and labor, as well as to durability. '-Whatever 

 is well done, is twice done," says the old adaje. 

 But costly cocooneries, and convenient fixtures, 

 alone, will not command success. The race is 

 not always to the swift, nor the battle to the 

 strong. Those who devote the most unremitted 

 attention, by night as well as by day, in season 

 and out of season, will be most likely to succeed. 

 T. S, Pleasants. 



DAIRY STOCK. 



From the Second Report of the Agriculture of Ma«sachu3e»s. 



The farmers are unanimous in their preference 

 of the common native slock of the country, in 

 which the Devon blood predominates, to any fo- 

 reign stock with which they are acquainted. 

 They are in general as decided in their preference 

 of small, over large-sized cows. They are not, 

 however, raisers of stock; and buy their cows 

 wherever they can find them, according to their 

 best judgment. The remarkable produce, if so it 

 be considered, is to he attributed to extraordinary 

 good management and keeping ; and on this ac- 

 VoL. VII-3-2 



count, deserves the more attention, as showing 

 what may be done. 



The dairy stock in England which seems to 

 have the preference over all others, is the Ayr- 

 shire. The origin of this slock is not well ascer- 

 tained ; but thouirh it has some of the qualities of 

 the improved Durham, it is a race distinct from 

 that. Great pains have been taken and trreat ex- 

 penses incurred, in order to introduce this fine 

 Ayrshire race of cows into our state, by the Mhs- 

 sachusetts Agricultural Society, and by an in- 

 telligent and public-spirited friend to agricultu- 

 ral improvement in Watertown. I regret that I 

 am not able to obtain such returns as would ena- 

 ble me to speak confidently of the merits or de- 

 fects of til is stock, so far as these cases go ; but I 

 am safe in saying, that .some slight disappoint- 

 ment has been experienced, ft is probable, ii'ora 

 the celebrity wliicii they had obtained abroad, loo 

 much was expected from them here. Extrava- 

 gant statements have been made respi-^ciing their 

 produce in Scotland. One of the advocates for 

 this stock, and a man upon whose authority great 

 reliance is placed, has undertaken to calculate pre- 

 cisely the number of quarts of milk given, and 

 the number of pounds of cheese made, from what 

 is stated to be in money the average produce of 

 an Ayrshire cow. This is ceriainlj' rafhera loose 

 way of reaching the resuh. Entire reliance can- 

 not be placed upon it. This, another distinguish- 

 ed Scotch farmer and dairyman admits ; and saya 

 that "those statements are far too high and not 

 well founded." 



He refers to a farmer, on whose exactness he 

 entirely relies, whom he pronounces a man of 

 superior intelligence and accuracy, and who has 

 devoted himself to dairy husbandry, and, farther, 

 whose stock were particularly pelect, and "who 

 had every inducement to keep them in the high- 

 est condition requisite lor giving Ihe largest pro- 

 duct in milk." The farmer referred lo, states, 

 that at the best of the season the average milk 

 from each cow is nine Scots pints (4| gallons,) 

 and in a year, 1300 Scots pints or 650 gallons. A 

 Scots pint is two qunrls. Now, allowing these 

 cows to be in milk 320 days, the average yield of 

 a cow would be 8| of a quart per day. But if we 

 understand this lo be wine measure, which is the 

 usual standard of measurement in England, and 

 compare it with our customary admeasurement of 

 milk in Massachusetts, which is always beer mea- 

 sure, we must deduct on^ filth; and then the ave- 

 rage product of an Ayrshire cow, compared with 

 ours, is 6^ qls. per day for 320 days. Such a 

 yield ia often surpassed by cows of' our native 

 stock. I have before me the case of a cow of na- 

 tive stock amonfT us, who. in 268 days, yielded 

 2923 beer qls. of milk ; and of another, that pro- 

 duced 3975 beer qts. of milk in ten months. I 

 can produce, within my own knowledge, a list of 

 nearly fifty cows of native slock, almost as pro- 

 ductive as these. I do not mean to undervalue 

 Ihe imported stock. Far from it. I deem the in- 

 troduction of the Ayrshire stock and the iniproved 

 Durham short-horn, a great benefaction to the 

 country. Their tendency to fatten, their early 

 maturity, their beautiliil proportione, highly com- 

 mend them to our good will and our interests. Ae 

 yet, we have not had. by any means, a sufficiently 

 fair trial of ibeir dairy properties? so as tp deter- 

 mine fully, either for or againgt them ; and it has 



