NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



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autumn droves, from Maine, New Hampshire and 

 Vermont. A full grown heifer with calf can be 

 purchased from these for twelve or fifteen dollars 

 — Avium it frequently happens, that the farmer can 

 sell his calf, at six weeks old, if it has been pro- 

 perly fed, for about half this sum. Consequently 

 a great saving is made in procuring his animals, 

 provided they are of quality as good. The max- 

 im, that "a good cow may have a bad calf," is one 

 of our earliest nursery lessons. That there is a 

 marked difference in the breed of animals, there 

 can be no doubt ; but that the peculiar properties 

 of stock are dependent, quite as much upon the 

 male as upon the female, there is as little doubt. 

 In fact, the concurrent testimony of those who 

 have given best attention to the subject is, that if 

 you would secure the superior milking properties 

 of a particular class of animals, look well to the 

 Bull. I remember a practical illustration of this. 

 About twenty years since, Mr. Pickering, then 

 President of the Agricultural Society, made a 

 present of an Alderney Bull, to the society. He 

 was stationed in the best farming re gion, unde 

 the care of Mr. Newell, one of the best farmers of 

 the county. His progeny spread in the neighbor- 

 hood by connection with the cows of the neighbor- 

 hood ; and upon the testimony of Mr. Newell, the 

 peculiar milking properties of the race, are still 

 distinctly observable, in that progeny. This, we 

 understand, relates to the quality, more than the 

 quantity of the milk. It is said, that six quarts of 

 the milk of a well fed Alderney Cow, will make a 

 pound of butter (where it will require 12 quarts 

 statute measure) of cows generally. For those 

 who are fond of rich milk, and make use of small 

 quantities, say, not exceeding one or two quarts 

 daily, it becomes an important inquiry, what is the 

 character of the cows that produce the milk 1 The 

 probability is, nine out of ten, who purchase 

 milk, never think of instituting the inquiry. With 

 them, milk is milk, and there is the end of it. 

 Whoever has any regard to his own comfort, or 

 loves a good cup of coffee, will not fail to notice 

 these things. There are those, who, in selecting 

 their cows, as well as other breeders, have regard 

 chiefly to symmetry of form, and grace of move 

 ment, and nine chances out of ten such connois- 

 seurs will catch a tartar. Give me the mother, 

 that bears healthy and vigorous offspring, and 

 nourishes them well, in preference to all others 

 This rule is equally applicable to all mothers. 



Mr. Motley, of Jamaica Plains, made some state 

 ments in regard to the Alderney or Jersey stock, 

 which has been recently imported by the State So 

 ciety, and which is under his care. Some farmers 

 feared that they would not stand our cold climate 

 but they have thus far borne the weather as well 

 as other breeds. He had as yet put them to no 

 test as regards their butter-making qualities, as they 

 have not been here long enough to make a fair trial 



Still he could say that there was one, a four-year 

 )ld, which calved last May, and which some eight 

 weeks after calving, gave an average of 14 quarts 

 strained milk, (beer measure) of the richest quali- 

 ty, per day. There was also another, a heifer, 

 which calved when two years and two months old, 

 and gave nine quarts a day while the calf was suck- 

 ing, and a few days ago gave seven quarts a day. 

 She calved on the 2Gth of June last. In regard to 

 a statement which has been made that the average 

 yield of cows in this commonwealth is but four 

 quarts per day, Mr. Motley said the average yield 

 of his herd of 13 cows was for the entire year of 

 1851, 6 1-8 quarts per cow a day. He thought 

 much depended upon the care taken of cows wheth- 

 er they will yield a large amount of milk. They 

 should be well housed, and treated with kindness. 

 The Jersey cows he had fed through the winter 

 with the cheapest kind of shorts and linseed meal, 

 giving them about five quarts twice a day. With 

 this mixture they get about thirteen quarts of wa- 

 ter. 



Dr. Gardner, of Seekonk, spoke in high terms 

 of the Galway or no-horned cattle, which he had 

 kept with much profit. He believed cows of this 

 breed to be the best of any for milk. 



Mr. Sijion Brown, of Concord, said he believed 

 the means of improving our farm stock to lie with- 

 in the reach of all who desire it. He thought well 

 of introducing foreign breeds and testing them, and 

 that a judicious crossing with several of them would 

 prove advantageous to our common stock. Even 

 some of the imported breeds, the Short-horns, Dev- 

 ons, or Ayrshires, he thought might be better 

 adapted to our climate and manner of keeping, by 

 mingling with it a portion of our "native blood." 

 In regard to our common stock, he said he believed 

 that after all it was about as good as any with 

 which he was acquainted. The true test of this 

 must be, not in selecting some two or three cows 

 of either breed, but by selecting a herd of fifty or 

 one hundred of our common stock, and then choos- 

 ing as many of the imported, or those having a 

 cross of them, all from the same neighborhood, 

 grazing upon similar pastures, and treated alike in 

 all respects, and our native cows, he thought, 

 would show as favorable a result as any other breed 

 which has been introduced among us. 



At the Show of Middlesex County last fall, he 

 saw some of the finest native cows he had ever 

 seen — being large, possessing fine points, and yield- 

 ing a great flow of milk. In regard to fixing the 

 standard of the number of quarts of milk to a 

 pound of butter, he did not think it could be satis- 

 factorily approached, because cows vary so much in 

 the quality of their milk. The cheap and easy way 

 to ascertain which are the best cows for the dairy 

 is by the lactometer, which is simply a glass tube 

 graduated so as to show the proportion of cream 

 which rises. He doubted whether cows through- 



