250 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



[No. 4 



been found here, in repeated instances, as it has 

 proved abroad, that a cow, from a cross of an im- 

 proved Durham with the Devon, has given a va- 

 Juabie animal for tlie dairy. l>ut among the great 

 advantages which is to result from the introduction 

 of this improved and beautiful stock, is this : to 

 give our farmers a knowledge of what can be 

 done by skill, intelligence, care, selection, and 

 perseverance in the art of breeding animals for 

 any purpose ; in obviating defects of form, con- 

 stitution, and habit; and in perpetuating and 

 transmitting excellent and desirable properties. 

 In the Ayrshire stock, and in the improved short- 

 horns, the most shrewd and persevering efforts 

 have been exerted, and the highest practical skill 

 and philosophy have been taxed to carry this race 

 to as great a degree of perfection as any thing of 

 the kind can be ; and the success has been deci- 

 sive and wonderful. Excepting in one instance, 

 to which I shall hereafter reier at large, perhaps 

 there cannot be Ibund in the whole of New Eng- 

 land, a single instance of any enhghtened, de- 

 termined, and systematic attempt to form a race 

 of animals oi' particular and desirable properties. 

 It is most important that this should be attempted 

 in different parts of our country, with what are 

 called our native stock, who have become, in va- 

 rious ways, so crosse^-and mixed up, that there is 

 in truth no particular race among them. A large 

 portion of them are as ungainly, unthrifty, and 

 unproductive as can well be represented or ima- 

 gined. Yet there are among them so many ex- 

 traordinary animals— extraordinary for their pro- 

 duce in milk, butter and chetese — that a lew years 

 of careful and intelligent selection from the ma- 

 terials already to our hand, and a strict obser- 

 vance of those philosophical principles of breedinsj 

 which are well ascertained and understood, would 

 undoubtedly give us a breed of animals, a stock 

 or race of animals, greatly superior to that which 

 now exists among us. This has been attempted 

 in one instance by a highly intelligent breeder 

 among us ; and he is now able to show three 

 generations of animals of as extraordinary charac- 

 ter for the creamy or butyraceous quality of their 

 milk, as has ever been known ; two quarts ol 

 what is called the strippings, the last part drawn 

 off" of the milk of one of these cows, having re- 

 peatedly produced one pound of butter ; and the 

 cream, as it came from the pans, as 1 have seen 

 myselfj becoming by churning converted into but- 

 ter of the finest description in less than one mi- 

 nute by the watch ; and this process repeated at 

 pleasure. 



Let us now compare the amonnt of cheese 

 made by the English dairies, with some in this 

 county of which I have here siveii an account. 



An Ayrshire cow, it is said by the English au- 

 thorities, will yield 257 lbs. butter per annum, or 

 about 5 lb,?, per week, all the year round, besides 

 raifeing the calf; or of new milk cheese, about 514 

 lbs. There returns are certainly large ; but they 

 rest upon a calculation of the quantity of milk, 

 which the cow is supposed to yield, rather than 

 upon any account of an actual yield. None at 

 least is given. This, therefore, is not so satisfac- 

 tory as it would be, if it were a precisely ascer- 

 tained result. One of the best authorities says, 

 that in England, "a well-fed cow of a good breed 

 will produce, upon an average, 180 lbs. of butter 

 in the season. The common calculation is, in- 



deed, 150 lbs. ; but this is made upon mixed 

 stock, which affords no certain data. In the Ep- 

 ping district, whore there is an indiscriminate mix- 

 ture of Devon, Suffolk, Leicester, Holderness, and 

 Scotch, the calculation, in a well-managed dairy, 

 amounts to 212 lbs. ; that is, 6 lbs. per week du- 

 ring 26 weeks, and 4 lbs. per week, during 14 

 weeks. The average product of cheese in the 

 best dairies, where the whole milk and cream are 

 used, cannot be estimated at more than 4 cwt. — 

 that is, 448 lbs. On deep grazing soils, that carry 

 a heavy slock, a well-managed cow is reckoned to 

 make from three hundred and sixty pounds to six 

 hundred pounds. In Somersetshire, the average 

 is 4^ cwt., or 540 lbs. ; in Essex not so hiirh, and 

 in the midland counties something more than 3 

 cwt." It will be seen, in looking back upon the 

 dairy returns in some parts of this county, that 

 they are inferior to these, not frequently passing 

 beyond 250 or 300 lbs. of new milk cheese. On 

 the other hand, the returns of some of the dairies 

 in Cheshire show an actual amount of annual pro- 

 duce of more than 500 lbs. to a cow, and in some 

 cases 627 and 632 lbs. It may be said, that this 

 is owing to the fine pasturage which is to be (bund 

 in Cheshire and its vicinity ; to the particular care 

 which is taken of the cows; and the system of 

 high leeding adopted. But it shows conclusively 

 that the cows are capable of being brought to this 

 productive yield ; and the feed and management 

 are matters which can be adopted any where. 



REMARKABLE DAIRY PRODUCTS. A MASSA- 

 CHUSETTS FARfllER. 



From the same. 



This farmer has now a dairy of 24 cows ; and 

 they produce a cheese per day, weighing about 

 100 lbs. Supposing that it requires a gallon of 

 milk to produce one pound of cheese, this would 

 give 400 quarts of milk per day, or at the rale of 

 16| of a quart to a cow. These cows are all of 

 native stock ; most of them raised by himself. 

 JBis average product of new milk cheese to a cow 

 in a season, is between 500 and 600 lbs. Last 

 year the actual yield was 598 lbs. to a cow. Of 

 his 24 cows last year, two were heilers of two 

 years old, just come in. Four years since he was 

 the owner of a cow, whose milk in the best season 

 amounted by actual weight to 70 lbs. per day. 

 During the time of her greatest yield, she was fed 

 with four pails of cheese whey, and some rye 

 meal. She was of native stock. This farmer has 

 a heifer from her, which gives, as he supposes, 60 

 lbs. of milk per day. He gives an opinion, which, 

 from his successful experience, certainly deserves 

 attention ; that heilers which "come in" with 

 their first calf at two years old, do better than 

 when their coming in is delayed until three years 

 old. Their milking properties are in this way im- 

 proved. Probably he is right in this matter; but 

 the general experience of the best farmers recom- 

 mends that, if a heifer comes in at two years old, 

 she should not be allowed to have another calf) 

 under at least eighteen months from this time. 



The establishment of this farmer is substantial 

 and independent. As far as the common comforts 

 of lile are concerned, little more seems to be de- 

 sired. Good air, good water, plenty of bread, 

 plenty of fuel, plain and substantial clothing made 



