174 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



countrymen to improve their breeds of useful ani- 

 mals, perhaps not altogether without success. My 

 present object should rather be, to supply facilities 

 and inducements for abler men, possessed of better 

 opportunities, to discover and disclose the best 

 means for selecting and spreading the most ap- 

 proved breed of fine woolled sheep, by which Me- 

 rinos are meant, throughout the different countries 

 which are known to be well adapted to their culti- 

 vation. 



So tempting a motive for contributing my mite 

 to the repertory of a society, justly celebrated for 

 the extension of human knowledge and improve- 

 ments, and which has done me the honor to enrol 

 my name in their number, was not to be resisted ; 

 and the less, as it affords me occasion of present- 

 ing, at the same time, the homage of high respect 

 for their President, with which I have the honor 

 to be, 



Sir, your most obedient servant, 



D. Humphreys. 



A FINE COW. 



We find the following account of a remarkable 

 cow, iu the report of the Committee on Cows for 

 Windsor County, Vt., and which we copy from 

 the Woodstock Mercury. We have seen some 

 very fine Suffolk Pigs sent here by Mr. Loverixg, 

 but did not know that he could beat almost any of 

 us with his cows as well as pigs. 



John L. Lovering T of Hartford, presented a na- 

 tive cow, for which we awarded him the first pre- 

 mium. We think this to be a very rare cow, and 

 deserving of more than a passing notice. She is 

 of good size, fine form, and is ten years old last 

 spring. Mr. Lovering has put her upon repeated 

 and thorough trials, and very carefully noted the 

 results, and they will compare very favorably with 

 any statements of the kind which have ever come 

 under our notice. The cow was milked, and the 

 milk weighed by an indifferent person, and the 

 committee were furnished with a statement of the 

 weight of the milk each night and morning, for 

 ten days in June, from the 14th to the 23d inclu- 

 sive. The aggregate was 516 pounds — ranging 

 from 51 to 53 pounds per day. The milk for the 

 last four days was made into butter, and after be- 

 ing worked dry and hard as it could be made, 

 weighed ten pounds and five ounces, or 18 pounds 

 per week. From the 1st to the 10th of Septem- 

 ber, she gave 294 pounds of milk, "while running 

 in a pasture in which the water bad all dried up, 

 and the grass nearly so." In ten days in June, 

 184S, she gave 490 pounds; the same time in 

 1849, 501 pounds, and made 10 pounds of butter 

 in four days; and in ten days in September, the 

 same year, 399 1-2 pounds of milk. She has had 

 only the common keeping of Vermont stock — hay 

 and corn-fodder in winter, and common pasture 

 with other cattle in summer ; and no other feed 

 during the year, except, for about two weeks be- 

 fore being turned to grass, she had a shovel full of 

 cut feed (containing about 2 quarts of meal) once 

 a day. Her owner says she will give milk all the 

 year if he chooses. 



Of all the fine cows which "have put themselves 

 upon the record" within the past few years as 

 great milkers, we know of none which equals this 

 one of Mr. Lovering's for a yield of milk, and the 

 yield of butter has very rarely been exceeded. Mr. 



L. says he "knows nothing of the pedigree of his 

 cow, but intends to of her descendants." He has 

 two heifers from her, which he considers of great 

 promise ; and from his well-known care and skill 

 in such matters, we may expect to hear a good 

 account of those "descendants" hereafter. 



Crosby Miller, for Committee. 



WHAT THE APPLE-MAN SAID. 



A friend called upon us just now, clad in his 

 linsey-woolsey frock and stout boots, and with a 

 face all beaming with gladness, bid us a cheerful 

 "good-morning, sir." 



Editor. — Take a chair, sir. 



Friend. — Can't stop but a moment. I came in 

 with a load of apples, but thought I would just say 

 good-morning to you. 



E. — What are apples worth now 1 



F. — 0, they vary in price as they vary in qual- 

 ity— $2,50, $3,00 and $3,25 a barrel. But 

 mine were all engaged last fall. I shall sell 

 $700,00 worth from my orchard of last fall crop. 



E. — Well, friend M., that is a handsome in- 

 come from one item of the farm. You have been 

 a successful cultivator in all your crops, I believe, 

 and are qualified to speak of most farm operations. 

 Judging from the observations you have made, 

 what do you suppose the farmer can do, now, the 

 best to promote his interests 1 



F. — Well, I should say give his attention to 

 fruit and take the Agricultural journals; you 

 have no idea how farmers are imposed upon in 

 fruits and in grafting and budding ; but then it 

 is their own fault — if they would read the agri- 

 cultural journals more, they would soon know 

 how to do these things themselves, and then might 

 snap their fingers at the itinerant budders and 

 grafters ! 



The editor laid down his pen, very wisely rubbed 

 his right eye, and said — "them's our sentiments 

 ''zactly.' n 



Draining in Indiana. — Gov. Wright, in his ad- 

 dress before the Wayne County Agricultural Soci- 

 ety, estimates the amount of marshy lands in In- 

 diana at three million acres. These were general- 

 ly avoided by early settlers as being comparatively 

 worthless, but when drained they become eminent- 

 ly fertile. He says, "I know a farm of 160 acres 

 that was sold five years ago for $500, that by an 

 expenditure of less than $200, in draining and 

 ditching, the present owner refuses now $3,000." 

 Again he says, "I have a neighbor who informed 

 me that in 1850, a very dry season, he had ditched 

 a field that he previously put in corn ; in the low 

 and wet parts of the field he usually gathered in 

 the fall a few nubbins, but went to the high ground 

 for his crop. In the fall of last year, he obtained 

 his best corn from the low land, his worst from the 

 high ; and the extra crop of the year paid for the 

 whole expense of ditching." — Albany Cultivator. 



ft^" In character, manners and style, the 

 preme excellence is simplicity. 



su- 



