®l)c iTarmefs iHontl)!!! bieitor. 



47 



liiive tlie bet^t of 



tlioiiglit he would in this case 

 the argument on liis side. 



Yours, &c., 



L. BARTLETT. 

 Uarner, M H. Feh. 1844. 



For the p'armer'e Monthly Visitor. 



Report on milch cows made at the cattle show 



in BoscaAven, Oct. 18, 1843. 



Mr. President:— The orifrinal stock tVoiii 

 which the milch cows of New England descend- 

 ed, were found wild on the Island of Great Brit- 

 ain before enclosures were known. Thi'V arc; 

 said to be still found in a wild stale at Chartley 

 Park in Derbyshire, and at Chillinghatn Castle in 

 Northumberland, the seat of the Earl of Tank- 

 evville, Mr. Bailey his steward thus describes 

 them. Their color is invariably white, with 

 black nose, the whole of the inside of the ear 

 and about one third of the outside from the li|) 

 downwards red, horns white with black tips, 

 very fine and bent u|>ward3. 



One of the most valuable of all animals i.s the 

 milch cow; probably there is no other ih:il con- 

 tributes so essentially to the comfort of man, nor 

 is there any other animal that better repays the 

 care and attention given it by the owner. IMilk 

 in manv respects is one of the most indispensi- 

 ble articles of food, and by far the largest quan- 

 tity is obtained from this animal. The cow is in 

 prime condition for milk, from four or five, to 

 eight or nine years of age, tliough many of them 

 retain all their valuable milking qualities to a 

 much later period. In all temperate crnnates, 

 milk, butter, cheese and beef, the products of tlje 

 cow, constitute one of the most important items 

 in the profits of agriculture. Very much de- 

 pends on the breed of the cow. It should be 

 the object of the dairy-man, to effect such im- 

 provement in his breed as will produce the great- 

 est and richest quantity of milk. Tliere is a 

 greater difference in u pecuniary point of view 

 between a good and a poor cow, than among any 

 other domestic animals. In some yards may be 

 found those that will produce three limes as 

 much as others, that are of the same size and 

 fed equally as well. It appears to be one of the 

 laws of nature, that specific changes in animals 

 ns well as vegetables can be effected, but this on- 

 ly can be done by a gradual process. What at 

 first is a mere accidental property, and not sensi- 

 bly inheritable by ft repetition of impressions 

 from generation to generation, may become at 

 last confirndy hereditnry,subjectonly to acciden- 

 tal deterioration. 



The Comfilete Farmer says, cows shoidd he 

 milked regularly morning and evening, and as 

 nearly as niay beat the same hoin-s. At six in 

 the morning and at six at night, is a good general 

 rule. But if they are milked three times It day, 

 ns Dr. Anderson "recommends, the times may be 

 five, one and eight. He says if cows are well 

 fed, they will give half as much again, if milked 

 three limes a day, as if oidy twice. The expense 

 of keeping cows of a poor breed is as great, and 

 sometimes greater, than that of keejiing the best. 

 If cows are pool ly kept, the difference of breeds 

 will be scarcely discernalila liy the proiUict o!' 

 their milk. Some have therefore supposed that 

 it is food alone that makes the difference in the 

 quantity and quality of the milk. Such a suppo- 

 sition is very erroneous, as may be shown by 

 feeding two cows of a similar age and size on 

 the same food, the one of a good breed for milk, 

 and the other of a different kind. No farmer, un- 

 less he is very rich, can afford to keep poor 

 milch cows, he might almost as well kei!|) such 

 n breed of naked sheep as Swift mentions in Gid- 

 liver's travels, and we add he should be still weal- 

 thier to be able to keep his cows poorly ; a man 

 might as well use nlfoholic drinks as a beverage, 

 at the present day, and maintain the character ol' 

 a gentleman, as to expect to derive profit from 

 cows poorlv kept. A writer in the 8ih vol. ol" 

 the Albany'Cultivator says, "1 sat a few days 

 since in iny old armed chair, perusing the back 

 volumes of the Cultivator, when I came across 

 the farm account of Mr. Asa Carter of Jefferson_ 

 Co., N. y. I perused it with a good degree of 

 interest and good feeling, till I came to where 

 he says he jiaslmed his young cattle on the com- 

 mon, "u hen sndilenly I lelt my itulignation getliii'.' 

 the heller of my good feelings, and 1 turmil 

 away from it with a feeling not unlike contemi't, 

 thinking in that respect 1 could find a better 



teacher than Mr. Carter. It appears to mo the 



man must lack one of the most essential ele- 

 ments cf a good neighbor, who will turn liis cat- 

 tle into tliB road to filch their living from his kind 

 neighbors. Cattle thus turned out, become very 

 unruly, and are every where excejit where they 

 ought to be. Who will expect the ladies to ex- 

 ert themselves to carpet the aisles of the church 

 if they and others must wade through a cowyard 

 to gct'to it? We have to put ourselves in battle 

 array, and daily examine our fences by the way 

 side, or woe be to our cornfields. VVho would 

 choose that man I'or a ncrghhor, who makes it 

 his iiraclice to keep his cattle in the roail ? The 

 way to have good ncighbois is to keep no more 

 catilethun you can kee|) well, and keep them at 

 home, and my word for it, you will have a good 

 neighhorhootl." Tiiese remarks will apply to a 

 ijiore extensive region than Robert B. Thomas' 

 almanacs, which he says are calculated for the 

 meridian of Boston, but will answer for any of 

 the New England States. Tliis is an evil almost 

 (^very wherecomplained of, and should be re- 

 moved at once. " 



That there are very fine imimals among the 

 milch cows in Merrimac county, no one who has 

 witnessed the exhibition to-day will doubt. But 

 thi t the farmers may judge whether further im- 

 provement can be made, the following statistics 

 are appended. 



John H. Powell of Philadelphia asserts that he 

 had a full blood short horned cow, that made 

 twenty-two pounds of butter per week, for sever- 

 al weeks in succession. Willis Lulhrop of South 

 Hadlcy Falls, Mass., says the milk of five short 

 horns'is trom 28 to 35 quarts per day averaging 



ear rings, and inseat waist, as crooked iis the 

 limb ol' of a shrub oak, she wouhl probably not 

 recover from the fright for a week. But we wilt 

 not say what we were disposed to say, because it 

 would be useless. It is utterly vain to atiemjit a 

 contest with fashion, for according to Franklin's 

 proverb he that spits against the wind spits in his 

 own face. 



We must however be just. In riding through 

 Dedham last week, at the close of the day, it 

 was quite refreshing to see in at least four cow- 

 yards, woman in her appropriate sphere, and there 

 by her pleasant looks and gentle conduct as she 

 sat by the side of the bomitilul cow, she seemed 

 to evince her gratitude to kind I'lovideuce for 

 this rlcliest of all sifts which heaven has bestow- 

 ed on man in the form of a quadruped. 



Your comniiltpe award the first |)reniium to a 

 red cow No. ], three dollars. — The second to n 

 chestnut cow Mo. 10, two dollars. — The third to 

 red cow No. 4, one dollar. 



Respectfullv, for the Commiliee. 



.JOHN SEA RLE. 



for each animal 3'2 quarts j 



day. The butter 



from four animals varies liom 114 to 2'2 lbs. per 

 week, making the average of the four cows 15 lbs. 

 6 oz. iierweck. Col. Jaqiies of Cluirlestown, JIs. 

 says one of his cream-pot breed made three lbs. 

 of' butter per day on grass only. Mr. Colnian, 

 late commissioner of Mass. says he can furnish 

 a list of a hundred cows of the native breed in 

 Mass., that will make from 12 to 14 lbs. of butler 

 per week through the season. Mr. Ahuizo L. 

 Fish of Herkimer Co. N. Y., tiiade li'omSO cows 

 of the native breed in 1843, 14,5!J8 lbs. of cheese, 

 and 301 lbs. of butter, besides milk fir the family. 

 Charles Gordan, Esq., Sec. to the Highland so- 

 ciety, Scotland, says, that hundreds of the Ayr- 

 shire breed of dairy cows in Scotland, will yield 

 in three hundred days 4000 quarts of milk, and 

 that sixteen quarts of tliat milk will make l.J lbs. 

 of butter, and that five (piarts will make one lb. 

 of full milk cheese. Four thousand quarts at 

 two cents a quart, the price paid at Goshen, Or- 

 ange Co. N. Y., amounts to $80, and Boscawen 

 is nearer Boston than Goshen is the city of New 

 York. 



It is worthy of notice, and surely deserves our 

 serious consideraiion, to observe the changes 

 that have taken place in the habils and customs 

 of fiu-mersand their fiinihes, and it would be 

 well to ask whether there has not been a mm-iiii- 

 |u-ovement, rather than improvement within the 

 last half century ? A writer in the New Eng- 

 land Farmer says that thirty years ago it wouhl 

 be almost as diiiiciflt to find a man milking, as 

 to find a woman mowing, except in cases of very 

 large daries. In this respect matters are greatly 

 changed, and any hope of a return to the good 

 old custom which we witnessed in our boyhood 

 is almost vain. We cannot without regret read 

 those touching lines by Goldsmith, wheie he al- 

 ludes to the custom and says : 

 '• There as ! p:isa'd witit solemn steps and sluw, 

 The minglin!,' notes came softened Irotn helow ; 

 Tlie swain responsive to tlie iliilkiliaiil sung, 

 The sober herd that lowed to meet their young." 

 Half the young girl.s now a days hardly know, 

 .".t least they would affect to believe, that it wouhl 

 be immodest to know whether the milk was 

 drawn from the udder or the horns. The Rosy 

 .Milkmaid, a song which we remember to have 

 heard when a boy, is an animal not now to he 

 found in our modern natural history ; and as to a 

 young lady with thick shoes, sleeves tmued up, 

 and handkerchief white as snow tied over her 

 head, with rn<y cheeks and ever so |irelly a pair 

 of black eye.--, oh, it would be an idea too shock- 

 in;: for oiic of our modern e\i|uisites to dream 

 of, ami if such a si;iht shoiihl be presented to 

 her abruptly, while looking in the glass as she 

 stood in her de laiues, with satin shoes,' paste 



From the Farmer's Cabinet. 

 Disease in PearSt 



A general complaint lias often been reiterated, 

 that our finest kinds of pears hurst and become 

 leathery when they are full grown, and instead 

 of ripening and furnishing a tender, buttery fruit, 

 of delicious flavor, and delicate texture, they be- 

 come black, tough, and worthless. This disease 

 attacks only those of the /?nfs! and (nosf delicate 

 kinds; the coarsi^ and iiiferior varieties tire free 

 from it. It prevails only, so far as my observa- 

 tion goes, with old, or the older trees that are pret- 

 ty well grown ; the fruit of young trees tliat are 

 ill the vigor of their growth and expansion, and 

 whose to[is bear a much larger |noportion lo 

 their roots, seem to l)e free from it. From 

 which 1 infer, that those trees whose roots have 

 penetrated liir and wide, and deep in the soil, take 

 up a larger quantity of sap than they can dispose 

 of in-ofilably, during the suspension of the growth 

 of the branches ; and after the pears have acquired 

 their natural size, those of a delicate texture give 

 way to the inward pressure, and are split and spoil- 

 ed, or greatly iiijm''d, while the more coarse, lough 

 and hardy descriptions, resist ihe luessure, and 

 are uninjured from this cause. If the above 

 theory should be found correct, the remedy for 

 ihe cure of the disease would seem to be, to trim 

 the roots moderately, early in the spring of the 

 year, and particularly the lap root, or those roots 

 that pass more directly downwards where the 

 most moisture is found. 1 have seen much bene- 

 fit arise from prmiiiig the roots of a pear tree be- 

 longing to a friend, which every year since has 

 produced an abuiidance of fruit of the finest 

 quality, and which has always taken a jiremium 

 whcnexhibitcd at the Horticultural Society ; it is 

 true the pruning was done, not with the view of 

 culling the roots, but of burying a i/acA:cf(< direct- 

 Iv uiuh'rthe boll of the tree, in compliance with 

 a siipcrsiltions suggestion made by an ignorant 

 person, to bring it into bearing. The fact was, 

 that the black cai, or the cutting of the ta|) roots, 

 which is more probable, bioughl tlie tree iiilo liix- 

 miaiit bearing, and it has continued so for many 

 years past. The great benefits orpionghiiig an or- 

 "chanl, and by that means cutting ihe ruot.=, has 

 olien been noiicted in the increased (luanlity and 

 quality ot" the fruit. Mclnt(i.=h, an English horti- 

 culturist of celebrity, who recently wrote an in- 

 leresiing wink on tiuit trees, says: '• [iruning the 

 roots is one of the many modes ol" treatment 

 practiced on unproducli'.e and loo bixmianl- 

 iirowing pear trees ; and allhongh an old practice, 

 does not appear to have been so generally atten- 

 ded to as it deserves. This species of pruning^ 

 may be advaniageousiy employed in the Ciise of 

 trees which are sickly or diseased, owing to their 

 roots penetrating iiiio a wet, cold, or otherwise 

 uuconL'eni.d subsoil, and also w lieu the roots pen- 

 etrate too deeply even into a good or over rich 

 soil. In tlie former case are produced canker, 

 cracking of the bark and sliin of the fruit, which 

 latter iilso becomes stony or grilly." 



The idea prevident of latter years, th.-it ]iear 

 trees should be grown in an undisturbed grass 

 sod, to keep the roots as cool as possible, as a 

 ]ireventive of the fire b!i!::Id, may have led us into 

 an opposite error, by which the crai-king and 

 spoiling of the fruit has been brought aboul, 

 tlial is now iio much complained of: for when 



