1856. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



209 



graft trees which have proved to be almost worth- 

 less. 



If farmers -would study and practice that econo- 

 my in all the various branches of farming which is 

 their privilege to do, they need not go hungry, or 

 with an empty purse. It costs no more to propa- 

 gate a tree which is productive, and bears fruit that 

 will command the highest price, than it does to 

 propagate a barren, worthless one. I have a few- 

 trees that were almost worthless when I purchased 

 my farm, but by using a little theory and much 

 practice, well combined, they now pay me the in- 

 terst of two or three hundred dollars a tree, annu- 

 ally. 



Now, friend Bro-mi, I confidently believe that I 

 have I'eceived more net income from the labor ex- 

 pended in the management of my fruit trees, than 

 I have from all other sources of farming put togeth- 

 er, although part of my theory which has produced 

 such a result, has been considered bad by some of 

 your correspondents. 



Give us that economy and practice which has 

 made many a poor man rich, and which brings in 

 the most dollars from the least amount of labor. 

 I am propagating thirty or forty varieties of apples. 

 Some of them are seedlings. If any should prove 

 worthy of a place in the records of good fruit, I 

 shall cheerfully contribute to friends who are fond 

 of the same. N. P. Morrison. 



Somerville, March 24, 1856. 



ELEVENTH LEGISLATIVE AGRICUL- 

 TURAL MEETING. 



Reported foe the Faemer by H. E. Rock-well. 



The elevenfh meeting of the Legislative Jlgricul- 

 iural Society was held in the Hall of the House on 

 Tuesday evening, as usual. The subject of discus- 

 sion, as previously announced, was "JVeat Cattle." 



Mr. W. J. BuCKMlNSTER, of Boston, junior Edi- 

 tor of the Ploughman, was invited to act as chair- 

 man, who said the number of varieties of neat cat- 

 tle most common in New England were the Natives, 

 Devons, Durhams, Alderneys, Herefords, and some 

 others. He went on to specify some of the distinc- 

 tive characteristics of these varieties. The Devons 

 are small boned, rather medium sized, color good, 

 skin yellow, dis])osition remarkably gentle, whether 

 as bulls or as oxen. The oxen, which are half 

 bloods of course, 'u\ this country, are good for work, 

 docile, quick enough, and generally large enough 

 for most purposes of farmers in this vicinity. They 

 are good for beef. He then spoke of the milking 

 qualities of the cows of this breed, and represented 

 them as very good. In order to show their relative 

 value in this particular he read a statement wliich 

 has once been published, of the amount of butter 

 made from a cow, owned by Thomas Motley, of Ja- 

 maica Plain. This cow. Flora, was of the Ayrshire 

 stock, and was from four to five years of age when 

 the milking for the year commenced. During the 

 year 511 pounds and 12 ounces of butter were made 

 from her milk. During the last three months of 

 the year, it took "almost exactly" five quarts of 



milk to make a pound of butter. The cow. Bloom- 

 field, a North Devon cow, owned by Mr. Colman, 

 in England, produced 21 pounds of butter in one 

 week. He then referred to a statement made be- 

 fore a Lyceum in Barnstable county, by Mr. James 

 Howes, of Dennis, who kept 16 cattle last year, 

 comprising Devons, natives, and half breeds. He 

 says it takes six quarts of milk of the Devons to 

 make a pound of butter, and eight quarts of the 

 milk of the Native cows for a pound. He does not 

 state what quantity is required of the milk of the 

 half breeds. 



It has been stated in the Massachusetts Plough- 

 man, that four quarts of milk of Devon cows made 

 a pound of butter. It was done in the month of 

 October, when the feed was very good, from two 

 young cows that gave but three quarts of milk each 

 per day. The amount per week would not, there- 

 fore, be remarkable. No statement was ever made 

 that one pound of butter was made from four quarts 

 of milk during the year. In a report made to a 

 country society, a gentleman went out of his way 

 to throw doubt on the statement, that a pound of 

 butter was made from four pounds of butter. An- 

 other cow, owned by ISIr. Reed, of Tewksbury, (a 

 Jersey cow,) is said to have made a poimd of but- 

 ter from four quarts of milk. 



Mr. Asa G. Sheldon, of Wilmington, said he 

 would not endeavor to exalt one variety of cattle 

 above another. He admitted that beef cattle had 

 been improved by imported cattle, but he did not 

 believe dairy stock had been improved. He never 

 knew a heifer from a good native cow, and an im- 

 ported bull, so good as the mother. He did not 

 beUeve extra feeding was a benefit to breeding 

 stock for the dairy. He was satisfied that there 

 were 200 bulls, highly fed, in this State, that ought 

 to have been slaughtered last fall. Bulls ought 

 not to be kept till they are over two years old. He 

 thought that in case of small farmers who could not 

 well afford to keep much stock, heifers should be 

 bred to work. He wanted to have premiums given 

 for the best broke pair of heifers. He had seen 

 heifers worked to good advantage by saving the 

 keeping of oxen, and they were not injured for 

 milk cows. He had known one farmer who had 

 spent $4000 in keeping bulls that were of no profit 

 to him, and ought to have been killed to give place 

 to cows. He did not believe the imported cattle 

 had been of any essential benefit to the country, on 

 the whole. 



Dr. Hartwell, of Southbridge, thought there 

 were fewer objections to the Devon cattle than oth- 

 ers. The objection in his -vicinity was that they 

 were too small for beef. Oxen should yield 1200 

 pounds neat weight for beef. He had seen in New 

 York a cross of Devon and Durham which improved 

 the cattle in size, but in other respects they had not 

 been tested. The Devon cows, he considered good, 



