vol,. XTX. NO. 13. 



AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER. 



liOl 



minded citizons, hitherto instrumental in procnrinif 

 these animals from abroad, have not now a sinfrle 

 pure blooded animal in their lierds. There is the 

 grand fault with our Yankee breeders, the total 

 neglect of pedigree and purity of blood, for unfor- 

 tunately their ancestors, in alijuring a hereditary 

 nobility and the rights of primogiMiiture, cariied 

 their reform frum the biped to tlie quadruped, and 

 made genuine democrats ot the whole race. 



The principle of placing every man on his own 

 merits, is undoubtedly a good one, though it may 

 be controverting ihe authority of an omniscient 

 providence to deny that the son of wise and virtu- 

 ous parentage, is not more to be relied on, other 

 things being equal, than the child of ignorance and 

 sin ; but in the animal economy there is none of 

 that human dependence on ancestry, for no truth 

 has been more fully established as a general rnle, 

 than that " like produces like.'^ We must, then, in 

 accordance with this principle, look fur rapacity in 

 producing good animals, not only to what the indi- 

 vidual under consideration is in itself, hut also to 

 what its ancestry has been on both sides for gene- 

 rations, as characters they faintly exhibited, or 

 scarcely discernible in an individual, may, from its 

 long inheritance be so grafted with the constitu- 

 tion, as to be reproduced in successive generations 

 to a great degree. 



In swine a considerable improvement has taken 

 place, so far as a cursory view would enable me to 

 judge : their legs and snouts have been shortened ; 

 their ears set up and trimmed off; their backs be- 

 come broader, and a portion of their bristles put on 

 the othtr side of their skin and converted into good 

 pork, and the toule ensemble of the grunting tribe 

 has been very perceptibly bettered. And this im- 

 provement, so far as my observation extended, has 

 invariably been the result of the infusion of a large 

 portion of the Berkshire or China blood. This ori- 

 gin was generally sufficiently obvious at the first 

 glance, but in one instance where very fine pigs 

 were shown 'me, with a long body, broad back, and 

 sustained through the whole length, and terminat- 

 ing in a finely rounded ham ; thin hair and no bris- 

 tles ; large of their age and kind feeders, yet 

 entirely white, I was struck with the perfection of 

 their form, and thought if rivals were to be found 

 for the Berkshires, ttiey were then before me ; but 

 looking a little farther on the same premises, I saw 

 a fine, pure Berkshire sow, which on inquiry, prov- 

 ed to be the dam of the perfect pi^s ; the mystery 

 was at once solved ; they had embodied all their 

 superiority from the female ancestry. There was 

 another superior lot of pigs I saw at the Worcester' 

 hospital, produced from successive crosses of the 

 China on the Bedford, which the intelligent head 

 of that well conducted and magnificent establish- 

 ment informed me, with ordinary keep, usually 

 gained o;ie pound per day for the first twelve 

 months, at which age they are slaughtered. Their 

 great size they get from the Bedford, and their 

 great thrift from the China. The truth is, that the 

 Berkshire and the China arc Ihe perfection of the 

 hog kind ; and these perfections have been so 

 thoroughly bred into them for successive genera- 

 tions, that they impart a much larger share of im- 

 provement in a cross than any other, and perpetu- 

 ate it through a remote posterity. 



But on the subject of stock, as that of drains, it 

 U too generally the case that our farmers are "pen- 

 ny wise and pound foolish ;" they object to the 

 first cost, when in both instances they would fre- 

 quently be repaid the first year, and have their in- 



vestment left as capital, yielding a large income 

 annually thereafter. It is to be hoped the prevail- 

 ing spirit of the age, whose every iispir.ition is on. 

 ward, onward, will not fail to inspire them with a 

 just appreciation of their true interests. 

 Very respectfullv, yours, 

 Buffalo, .V. Y. ' R. L. ALLEN. 



THE DURHAM COW " BLOSSO.M." 



Observing in the Pennsylvania Inquirer a short 

 time since, a statement of Mr J. Goweii's celebra- 

 ted cow Dair;/ Maid's yield of milk for one week, 

 which he states is " unprecedented, being on an 

 average rather over 33 1-2 quarts per day," I con- 

 cluded to try my cow /i/osiom, a stalcmentof whose 

 milking for one week you will find below, and by 

 which you will perceive she averaged fur the week 

 over 35 quarts per day, and yieldi'd 13 14 pound-i 

 of well worked butter. Not having a spring house 

 we are obliged to keep our milk in a cellar, which 

 at this season of the year every one acquainted 

 with the process of butter making knows would be 

 unfavorable for a large yield. My dairy maid is 

 firm in the belief liiat at a cooler season, or with a 

 spring-house, the cream she had from Blossom for 

 the week would have yielded 15 or 16 lbs. of but- 

 ter. 



Uncommon as this produce may be, 1 do not con- 

 sider it more so than the fact of her having never 

 been dry since she bad her first calf, more than 

 two years ago, and in the space of '-15 months has 

 produced five living calves, viz: on the 5th of A- 

 pril, 1838, she had her first calf (Delaware) ; on the 

 4th of July, 1630, she had twins (Liberty and Inde- 

 pendence) ; and on the Kjth of May, 1840, she had 

 twins again (Romeo and Juliet) ; and I think I can 

 safely say that during the whole of that time she 

 has averaged full 20 quart-i per day t she gave 25 

 quarts per day with her first calf, and made nearly 

 12 lbs. of butter per week. 



As I consider it an injury both to the cow and 

 calf to milk up to calvinp, wo tried both last year 

 and this to get her dry a few weeks before the time, 

 but found it impossible, although we kept her off 

 of grass for some days. 



As you may suppose, such constant milking 

 keeps her very much reduced : if she could be got 

 dry fiir a time, so as to gain flesh, I think her yield 

 would be much greater, but I am satisfied with it 

 for the present, and until I see it beaten ; when 

 that is done I will try again, for the credit of little 

 Delaware. 



ZJ/os,Tom is a thorough-bred Short-Horned Dur- 

 ham, roan color, calved in 1835, bred by Charles 

 Henry Hall, Esq., of New York, of whom 1 pur- 

 chased her when two years old ; she was got by 

 Fox's Recent, dam the imported cow Leonora, (a 

 great milker) by a son of Lancaster, &c. 



Very respectfully, SAM'L CANBY. 



JVoodside, June 2'J, 1840. 



Blossom's Yield of Milk for one Week. 



MORN. NOON ■ ■ 



June 13, 12 quarts. 11^ 



" 14, lai- 



11 



m 



12 



14 



Total, 247^ 



Being on average over 35 quarts per day. — Dela- 

 ware Jour. 



WATERMELONS. 

 If the facts connected with the culture ami pro- 

 duct of watermelons in this town, the present 

 season, could be collected, we believe it would as- 

 tonish the reader. On thi; sand plain, a little east 

 of Mr Henry S em's house, on land not sufficient, 

 it was supposed, to bring white beans to maturity, 

 Mr John M. Hendrick has a watermelon patch of 

 between five and six acres, comprising about 2000 

 hills. He only manured the ground in the hill. 

 It IS about three weeks since he began to pick them, 

 yet there are great quantities still unripe, and the 

 vines are in blossom. The yield is almost incredi- 

 ble. From two seeds wore raised five melons, two 

 of 32 lbs. each, two of 27 lbs. each, and one of 10 

 lbs. ; making 134 lbs. On the 28th inst., he pick- 

 ed about jeiifji Ions. The whole yield of the patch 

 he thinks will average 75 lbs. to the hill. He has 

 picked a number which weighed from 30 to 40 lbs. 

 and he had one which weighed over 40 lbs. That 

 the melons are of prime quality, we have had op- 

 portunity to know. Mr Hendrick has sold as fast 

 as they became ripe. He has a log cabin on the 

 field, where parties can enjoy a feast of the fruit. 

 Mr Lombard and Mr Dart, at the south end of the 

 town, have also raised large quantities — but we 

 are not possessed of any facts in relation to them. 

 — Springfield Republican. 



"1- 



PERIOD OF GESTATION IN COWS. 

 One of the most satisfactory experiments relat- 

 ing to the subject on record, is the one made by 

 Earl Spencer, and the particulars of which are giv- 

 en in the second number of the English Agricultu- 

 ral Society's Journal. 



1 he table given contains the results in the casi 

 of seven hundred and sixtyfour cows, and the fol 

 lowing statements abridged from the paper, will 

 exhibit some of the most important of the details : 



First. It appears that the period of gestation va- 

 ried from 220 days to 313 days ; or no less than 90 

 days. Lord Spencer was, however, unable to rear 

 any calves produced under 242 days. All under 

 260 do/ys and over 300, he thinks are decidedly pre- 

 matuiife, or irregular. 



Setond. As 314 cows calved before the 284th 

 day,, and 310 after the 285th day, the average pe- 

 riod of gestation must be considered as between 

 284 and 285- days ; although the time stated in the 

 work on cattle by the London Society, states it at 

 270 days. 



Third. It appears, that omitting those consider- 

 ed as premature or irregular, the cows whose peri- 

 od of gestation did nol exceed 286 days, produced 

 233 cow calves, and of bull calves 234 ; while 

 from those whose p<^riod exceeded 280 days, the 

 cow calves were only 90, and the number of bull 

 calves was 1.52. This certainly gives some support 

 to the opinion so prevalent among farmer.s, that 

 when a cow exceeds the usual time, the produce 

 will be a bull calf. 



Fourth. There were 7 cases of twin cow calves ; 

 5 cases of twin bull calves ; and 11 cases of twin 

 cow and bull calves. Earl Spencer ha.s never had 

 a case in which the sexes were different, in which 

 the heifer was a breeding one; they have uniformly 

 been what are termed free martins. The cattle 

 of which the above record has been kept, are the 

 pure improved Short Horn Breed, and one of the 

 finest herds in Great Britain Albany Cult. 



Treat your brutes like men. 



