DAIRY. 



DAIRY. 



comes in at two years old, she should not be 

 allowed to have another calf, under at least 

 eighteen months from this time." 



In regard to the improvements in neat cattle 

 made and still making in New England, Mr. 

 Cohnan furnishes the following results, obtain- 

 ed at Ten Hills Stock Farm, near Boston, under 

 the enterprising efforts of Samuel Jaques, than 

 whom, he thinks, no man, perhaps, in New 

 England or the whole country, has more prac- 

 tical skill or better judgment in relation to this 

 kind of live-stock, his experience having been 

 loirj. and marked by critical observation. The 

 following extract contains Mr. Jaques's own 

 account of his enterprise and success, as com- 

 municated to Mr. Colman : 



" It has," Mr. J. observes, been my object 

 to eft-Tit such an improvement in milch cows 

 as should produce the greatest quantity of rich 

 milk, affording the largest quantity of butter. 

 There is a greater difference in pecuniary 

 profit between a good or a poor cow than 

 among any other domestic animals. In some 

 yards there may be found those which will 

 not produce more than three pounds per week, 

 and others that would make nine, and all on 

 the same keep. As we sometimes hear of cows 

 which have produced seventeen pounds of bnt- 

 ter per week, and even more, it occurred to 

 me to inquire why a breed or race could not 

 be formed with the same valuable properties. 

 This I have attempted, and have carried it to 

 the third generation; and I am confident of 

 success. I have a cow whose milk has pro- 

 duced nine pounds of the best butter in three 

 days, and this on grass feed only. This I call 

 ; nn-Pot breed. I have bred my cream- 



j>ots with red or mahogany-coloured hair, yel- 



es, with mahogany-coloured te; 

 low skin, silky and clastic to the touch. I have 

 obtained the breed by the cross of a Durham 

 short-horned bull on a selected native cow with 

 certain extraordinary points and properties, 

 anxious to retain as much of the form of the 

 Durham as to insure capacious udders, and 

 with the valuable property of affording rich 

 milk. Though an admirer of the Durham 

 short-horns, I have not found them producing 

 so rich milk nor making so much yellow butter 

 as I could wish. The Durham race are round 

 and straight in the barrel, full in the twist, and 

 inclining to be thick in the thigh. I have 

 wished for some improvement in the form of 

 the bag. But I would premise, that whatever 

 I may say in respect to breeding animals, I 

 only desire to express my own private notions, 

 without a wish to dictate to any one from the 

 experience I have had, which I am sensible is 

 very limited. Generally, cows which I have 

 examined, giving the largest amount of the 

 richest milk, have had capacious bags, full be- 

 hind, extending far up into the twist, and also 

 well formed; hanging moderately deep when 

 full in milk, and after the milk is drawn, quite 

 the reverse ; for I would avoid a fleshy bag. 

 My cream-pot breed are full in the body, drop 

 deep in the flank, are not quite so straight in 

 the belly, nor as full in the twist, nor as thick 

 in the thigh; but in other respects I wish them 

 to approach the Durham as near as may be. 

 My cream -pot breed excel particularly in afford- 



ing a great quantity of rich cream, and that 

 cream capable of being formed into butter in 



! a short time, and with little labour, leaving a 

 small proportion of buttermilk. Their cream 

 produces more than eighty per cent, of pure 

 butter; and it is not infrequent to form the 

 cream into butter in one minute. It has been 

 done in forty seconds. 



" I have a heifer designated as Betty Cream- 



' Pot, one of the third generation, which pro 

 duced her first calf at two and a half year* 

 old. Mr. Brown, my foreman, made the fol- 

 lowing experiment upon her milk, without 

 my knowledge at the time. After milkinir, 



i he took two quarts of her milk out of the 

 pail, and, having strained it into a pan, al- 

 lowed it to stand twenty-four hours. Having 

 then skimmed the cream into a bowl, he 

 churned it with a table-spoon, and in one mi- 

 nute, by the clock, he formed the butter. It 

 was then pressed and worked in the usual way, 

 and amounted to half a pound of pure butter. 

 After this, the following practice was pursued 

 for eight or ten weeks in succession. At each 

 of four successive milkings, two quarts of the 

 strippings were strained into a pan, making 

 eiirht quarts in the whole. All was imvrd to- 

 gether in the same pan, and then churned. The 

 average time of churning did not exceed ten 

 minutes; in some inMunc-s the butter was 

 formed in five minutes. After hemu r properly 

 worked over, it was weighed, and never fell 

 short of two pounds. The remainder of her 

 milk was for family use, and, when set for 

 cream, produced the usual quantity. These 

 experiments were made on grass feed only. 

 She did not give a large mess; only about 

 twelve quarts per day. I have forty eoWfl and 

 heifers, ten bulls and bull-calves of lifli-n-nt 

 grades of this cream-pot breed, all bred and 

 raised by myself. I keep my bulls, selected as 

 breeders, until I have proof of the quality of 

 their offspring. My old cream-pot bull is ten 

 years old. My Don Cream-Pot, from which I 

 am now breeding with some of my cows and 

 heifers, is three years old." 



"It will be seen," says Mr. Colman, "that 

 Mr. Jaques speaks with all the enthusiasm of 

 an amateur. I cannot endorse, certainly to 

 their full extent, all his doctrines respecting 

 the power of breeding, at pleasure, any animals 

 of any desired shape or colour, and of forming 

 them as a statuary would mould his plaster; 

 but the approaches which a scientific and ex- 

 perienced breeder can make to such a power 



I as this are very considerable, as all the im- 

 proved races of animals show, whether among 

 neat cattle, horses, sheep, or swine. 



" The dam of this stock was a noble-sized 

 cow, raised in Groton, Mass. ; but the owner 

 there knew nothing particularly of her origin. 

 She was sold to a gentleman by the name of 

 Haskins, residing in Dorchester, about five 

 miles from Boston; and her cream was of such 

 extraordinary richness, that it would become 

 separated into butter by the motion of the car- 



' riage in bringing it into the city. 



" Mr. Jaques is entitled to great credit for hit, 



' care and judicious selection in continuing and 

 improving the stock. I have repeatedly been 

 thi- cream from tnese cows, and its trellownes* 



391 



