VOL. XIX. NO. 42. 



AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER. 



331 



twelve months of which he {jives the account, than 

 she could be in either the twelve months preceding 

 or Ibllon-ing'. Having calved in ihe autuuin of '39, 

 and not again until April, '41, the year embraced 

 in the statement is not one from which an unquali- 

 fied inference is to be made as to her annual pro- 

 duce for years in succession. Our rough guess, 

 at the proper abatement, is, that one half should be 

 deducted from the last half of the year. This will 

 take from Ihe account about 900 quarts or 54 dol- 

 lars ; and the presumed net profits of such a cow, 

 where hay is only $15 per ton, and where the milk 

 can be disposed of for 6 cents per quart, is the 

 handsome sum of about $100. Mr P., from the 

 circumstances of his situation, can buy hay cheap- 

 er, and can sell his milk to better advantage than 

 most keepers of cows in the eastern part of the 

 Commonwealth. His estimate of the worth of 

 milk must be reduced nearly one sixth in making a 

 comparison of the excellence of his cow and that 

 of Mr Johnson, 



There is no difficulty in finding reasons why the 

 committee were embarrassed. It ia no easy task 

 to decide which of the two animals is best. We 

 are satisfied with the judgment of the committee, 

 and could have found no fault with them had they 

 awarded diffeiently. 



But why should Air Clark's cow be third, when 

 she made 14 lbs. of butter in a week? Supposing 

 10 qts. of milk are required for a pound of butter, 

 Mr Johnson's cow in her best month (May) would 

 average about 13 lbs. 5 oz. per week, and Mr Put- 

 nam's in her best month (Nov. 15 to Dec. 14) would 

 average only 10 lbs. 8 oz. Mr C.'s cow fell off in 

 the 2d week 1 1-4 lb. and in three months from that 

 time gave milk enough (at 10 qts. to the lb. of but- 

 ter) for no more than 5 1-2 lbs. per week. We 

 should infer that this too may be an excellent cow, 

 and that a committee might desire to obtain more 

 information concerning her than is conveyed by 

 the statement The few facts tliere exhibited in- 

 dicate a falling off greater than is common, and 

 perhaps greater than actually existed in this par- 

 ticular case. 



The statements of Messrs Johnson and Putnam 

 exhibit with great clearness and force, the profits 

 of good cows. Such animals are cheaper, even at 

 the high prices at which they are often purchased, 

 than ordinary cows at the common market price. 

 But the number possessing such excellencies is 

 comparatively small, and may never be large. It 

 however may be augmented by proper care, and 

 our stock growers should spare no pains to make 

 our herds as excellent in milking properties as pos- 

 sible.— Ed. N. E. Far. 



IMPROVEMENT OP STOCK. 

 Doubtless the best mode of improving the stock 

 of the farm is, by obtaining some of the improved 

 breeds; but is this the only way? Most of our 

 farmers have a good cow or two, with which little 

 if any fault can be found. So with their pigs. 

 Among their sheep also, some have good wool and 

 good carcass, and all may be improved by proper 

 care, either by selecting good animals of their own 

 or a neighbor's to breed from, if the improved breeds 

 cannot conveniently be come at. If this course 

 had been steadily pursued, we should have little 

 need of importing stock; and if this course is not 

 adopted and perseveringly followed, the benefits re- 

 sulting from imported breeds will be of short dura- 

 tion. On the contrary, how often is the reverse 



taken. Some miserable fall calf is left to run and 

 starve his way up to about the size of a buck sheep, 

 is still neglected and runs with the cows ; the con- 

 sequence is that the calves are after this miserable 

 "runt," (to use a significant Yankes phrase,) and 

 show the marks of their sirn in every point. To bo 

 dure the cow will give milk after bringing forth 

 such a worse than an abortion, which is the only 

 advantage the farmer can derive from his cow, for 

 the calf might better be knocked on the head — it 

 will not pay for raisirtg. 



Every farmer can finish the picture Inr himself 

 with the pigs, sheep, &c. 



Do not sell the best Stock. 



Another great reason why some farmers have no 

 better stock is, that they sell or slaughter them- 

 selves, their best breeders of the cows, ewes and 

 sows, thus destroying all prospect of improvement.! 



Does a heifer show a disposition to fatten easy, ] 

 she is encouraged by feed until fat, and sold or 

 eaten, while her fellows, which appear to bo of the I 

 breed of Pharaoh's lean kinc, are kept for milk and 

 raising calves. Has a farmer a sow pig that he- 

 comes fat with the same feed on which the rest of 

 his swine are starving, he gives her the knife and 

 propagates the frames and covers them at great ex- 

 pense with corn. Has he a fine, round, bright- 

 eyed ewe, she will be fat about the time that his 

 half.filled pork barrels are empty, and she is strip- 

 ped of her jacket, the wethers having been sold 

 long before. Thus many farmers go on perpetua- 

 ting their miserable stock. 



Farmer Pennywise and Farmer Poundwise. 

 •There is farmer Pennywise, with whom I am ac- 

 quainted, will occasionally raise a good heifer, steer 

 or colt, for his neighbors keep good breeds, and he 

 by accident will be occasionally benefited thereby. 

 When he has such an animal in his flock, he is ap- 

 parently uneasy until it is disposed of; and after 

 selling such an animal, a heifer, for instance, if you 

 follow him into the house you may hear something 

 like the following: "Well, my dear, I have sold 

 the big heifer for fifteen dollars : is not that a good ! 

 price for a heifer of her age ?" "Good price, in- I 

 deed," his wife would reply, "you had better have i 

 sold two of them little cat-ham'd, crooked-legged, [ 

 scrawny things that you always keep for cows. — j 

 The reason that our cattle look so bad, and that we 

 sell so little butter and cheese is, that you will sell 

 the best heifers." Poor woman ! I pity her; her 

 pride and ambition are injured, and her children 

 and self in rags, because her native industry and 

 economy are cramped by the foolish and niggardly 

 policy of her husband. 



The picture is reversed in farmer Poundwise, 

 who always keeps his best animals until full grown ; 

 then selecting the best breeders for his own use 

 and selling the rest. If he has a good young horse, 

 he will say, that will make me a fine team horse ; 

 a mare, she will make a good brood mare. '' And 

 what will you do with that?" says his neighbor, 

 pointing to an ordinary animal. "Between you 

 and I," says he, "I shall sell that colt the first 

 chance. Such animals spoil the looks of the rest, 

 and do not pay for keeping." Thus he will sell 

 his poor steers, heifers, sheep and pigs at the first 

 offer. If not sold, he would fatten those that would 

 pay the expense, and give away those that would 

 not. Not pay the expense of fattening ! Are 

 there any cattle, sheep, or hogs, that will not pay 

 the expense of fattening? Reader, take some of 



each, of the real Pharaoh breed, feed them until 

 fat, keep an exact account of the i-xpense, and you 

 can answer the question yourself. In this way far- 

 mer Poundwise always has valuable stock; his 

 steers are ready sale and command a good price ; 

 his horses are the best in the neighborhood, and 

 the first to be looked at by purchasers. So with 

 all the animals that he raises. Pennywise, on the 

 contrary, is thronged with an ill. shaped, worthless 

 stock that none will buy and pay the expense of 

 raising ; which are continually eating out his sub- 

 stance and making no return. Thus Pennywise 

 drags on a miserable life in the road to ruin, while 

 Poundwise moves easily and happily along in the 

 road to wealth. 



This is not all fiction: look about you, reader, 

 and you will see plenty to sit for the picture of 

 Pennywise; and if you have the least suspicion 

 that I mean you, take the opposi.e course at once. 

 Chicago Jigriculturisi. 



LONG CONTINUED ACTION OF CALCARE- 

 OUS MANURES. 

 To the Editor of the Farmer's Register : 



The following facts, communicated to me a short 

 time since by a farmer of Augusta county, may 

 prove interesting to the readers of the Register, es- 

 pecially those of the marl and limestone regions 

 of the State. The facts are these — that in a field 

 of wheat (the last harvest) which was very much 

 injured by the rust, two small spaces escaped en- 

 tirely, the straw being bright and clean and the 

 grain plump. On one of these spaces a lime-kiln 

 was burned in the year 1810; since which time the 

 field had been fre(iuently cropped. On the other, 

 the ashes from a distillery had been deposited for 

 several years ; the distillery, however, had not 

 been in operation for 7 or 8 years. These spaces 

 were, in all respects, treated as the other parts of 

 the field, and their being surrounded on all sides 

 by wheat very badly rusted, shows conclusively 

 that the lime and ashes were the sole causes of the 

 difference. 



I hope the foregoing facts will be suSicient to 

 induce some trials of the efficacy of lime and ashes 

 in preventing rust, by those who have the means 

 of doing so; the end in view is of sufficient impor- 

 tance to justify the labor and expense of many ex- 

 periments. The quantity of lime and ashes, in the 

 example related above, is much greater than can, 

 or perhaps ought, to be applied in ordinary cases, 

 but the lime operated effectively after 30 ^fears, 

 and the ashes after 7 or 8. A much smaller quan- 

 tity applied annually might produce the same effect. 



As lime is an essential ingredient of good wheat 

 soils, may not the many failures of the wheat crop 

 be owing, in some degree, to the absence of lime 

 from most of the land cultivated in that crop? 



The efficacy of lime, on what is called limestone 

 land, is strikingly illustrated by the accidental ex- 

 periment I have detailed above. Wm. Taie. 



Lexington, Va. 



The truly great, consider first, how they may 

 gain the approbation of God ; and secondly, that of 

 their own conscience ; having done this, they 

 would then willingly conciliate the good opinion 

 of their fellow. men. But the truly little, reverse 

 the thing; the primary object with them is to se- 

 cure the applause of their fellow-men, and having 

 effected this, the approbation of God and their own 

 conscience may follow on as they can Lacon. 



