174 



Letter of John Jones, of Gum Bush. 



Vol. X. 



June 4th, 1840. — Commenced milking- 

 Yellow Flower three times a clay, with the 

 view of ascertaining the amount of milk 

 and butter she would give per day, for one 

 week, from the 4th to the 10th of June, in- 

 clusive. 



Days. Morn. Noon. Evening. Quarts. 



9 



10 

 10 



9 



On Monday, the 7th, we churned the two 

 first day's milkings, and the yield in butter 

 was 4^ lbs., equal to 2\ per day, or 151 per 

 week. The weather being so warm — the 

 thermometer standing at 93 — we declined 

 further trial at this time, believing, as we 

 did, that it would not be doing justice to the 

 cow to press the trial while it was so warm 

 as to prevent the cow from feeding as she 

 ought. 



May 3rd, 1844. — This da)', on my return 

 home from the Baltimore Convention, ac- 

 companied by two neighbours, .Toshua Clay- 

 ton, Esq., and Dr. J. S. Naudain, we foundl 

 Mrs. Jones preparing to weigh the butter of 

 one day's milking of Yellow Flower. The 

 result was 1 lb. 2 oz. and the weight of two 

 cents. Upon our all taking a drink of the 

 butter milk. Dr. Naudain declared there was 

 butter enough in the milk to have made up 

 the full quarter. 



The milk of this cow was measured for 

 several days together, with about tlie same 

 results, yielding about 14 quarts per day; 

 she was milked only twice each day in this 

 trial — morning and evening; and as 14 qts. 

 per day was the amount of milk from which 

 this trial of butter was made, we did not 

 think it worth while to incur the trouble of 

 continuing the churning. I was led to this 

 experiment by seeing a statement in the 

 April No. of the Farmers' Cabinet, of the 

 extraordinary cow of Mr. Frost, of England. 

 She having made one and a half pounds of 

 butter each day for four years. The Yellow 

 Flower had then been giving milk about four 

 years, or since the birtii of her second calf. 

 Cauliflower, and at the time of this trial 

 was about eleven months from calving, hav- 

 ing had her last calf 8th of June, 1843; con- 

 sequently .«he may be supposed to be in her 

 lowest stage of milking. She has always 

 been an annual calver, and always milked 

 well up to calving on two other occasions. 

 I have seen Mrs. Jones milk and measure, 

 and each time she gave 16 quarts per day. 



Thus you see her lowest milking may be 

 put down at 14 qts. 



Her greatest milking when fresh, 26 " 

 Her greatest yield of butter, 2^ lbs. 



Her lowest yield of butter, 1;^ " 



Averaging 1 lb. 10 oz. per day. Conse- 

 quently at the head of the list of any stock 

 in this or any other country or nation. 



She is still at the pail ; but was much in- 

 jured by driving up over twenty miles each 

 way, with a full udder of milk, in less than 

 half a day, to the last Exhibition, and will, 

 I fear, never give as much again. The drive 

 caused prolapsis xiterr, with other injury. 



I have brought in this memorandum about 

 the stock, as a part and parcel of the pro- 

 ducts of the farm ; or, as the butcher would 

 say, a kind of fifth quarter, and if we were 

 near the manufacturing districts of the Bran- 

 dywine or the city of Wilmington, this 

 branch of our mixed husbandry would be 

 fully up to a fifth of the whole product, par- 

 ticularly when we take into calculation the 

 calves, milk, butter, pigs, &c. Enough has 

 ibeen written to show that the rental pro- 

 jCeeds of the farm, by good management, 

 will now, at the present depressed prices of 

 Ithe products of the farmer — owing to the 

 abundant crops — yield a rent equal to the 

 interest of one hundred dollars per acre, and 

 yet we are but in our infancy, just waking 

 jup from a Rip Van Winkle nap. in regard 

 to agricultural improvements. Our crops of 

 icorn are less than 40 bushels per acre, our 

 [wheat less than 20, and other crops in pro- 

 portion, whilst from some improved spots of 

 land, of the same natural good quality, 100 

 jbushels of corn have been pndured, .50 busli- 

 cls of wheat — hay, and every thing of the 

 ground suited to the climate in the same 

 proportion. These results have been at- 

 jtained at the cost of only ordinary good til- 

 jlage, with a rotation of crops and a dressing 

 of not exceeding 50 bushels of lime, which 

 can be had now at this point at 13| cents 

 per bushel, and I presume on any landmg on 

 the tide water, on either side of the penin- 

 sula formed by the Chesapeake and Dela- 

 ware Bays, for an average of three cents 

 per bushel additional, and most, if not all 

 the land of equal good quality with our own, 

 in addition to which the average distance of 

 all farms scarcely exceeds four miles from 

 tide water. With all these advantages for 

 the improvement of our land, and the mar- 

 ket for our produce, from our proximity to 

 the eastern manufacturing districts and our 

 own home market, .^hall we stop our im- 

 provement here, or shall we — not only we 

 of Delaware, but our friends of Maryland, 

 too — go on shoulder to shoulder, as we did 



