NEW 



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?AmMMR. 



PUBLISHED BY (iEO. C. BARRETT, NO. 52, NORTH MARKET STREET, (at the Agricultural Warehouse.)— T. G. FESSENDEN, EDITOR. 



VOL. XII. 



BOSTOV, WEDNESDAY EVENING, JULY 24, 1833. 



NO. 2. 



Bxtraqfs from " Transactions of the Essex Agricultural So- 



ciflufer 1832." 



IRRIGATION. 



Only one claim was entered for experiments in 

 Irrigation, — by Mr. Ebenezer Jenkins of Andover 

 South Parish. Your Committee visited Ilia farm 

 on the 25th of July last, and witnessed the result of 

 his experiment. Mr. Jenkins, by erecting a cheap 

 dam in an adjoining pasture, and by digging a small 

 trench for about thirty rods, has taken the water 

 from a brook and so conducted it as to irrigate 

 about half an acre of dry gravelly upland and about 

 half an acre of meadow land adjoining. In con- 

 sequence of this, he believes that he has obtained 

 nearly double the quantity of Hay which the land 

 formerly produced. Your Committee estimated the 

 Hay taken from the acre of upland, to be about 2700 

 lbs. The grass standing on the meadow, was very 

 good. He states the expense of the experiment, in- 

 cluding §10 paid for use of the water for ten years, 

 to be $30. By altering his trench, be can convey 

 the water over another acre of land, and intends 

 doing so the next season. Your Committee did 

 not consider the experiment sufficiently extensive 

 or complete to be entitled to the Society's premi- 

 um ; but regarding it as a specimen of well direct- 

 ed industry, highly creditable to Mr. Jenkins, and 

 being desirous to excite others to similar attempts, 

 they recommend that a gratuity of five dollars be 

 presented to Mr. Jenkins. 



By order of the Committee. 



James H. Duncan, Chairman. 



Sept. 27, 1832. 



MILCH COWS AND HEIFERS. 



The Committee of the Essex Agricultural So- 

 ciety on Milch Cows and Heifers offer the follow- 

 ing Report — 



Tli is subject is interesting not only to those who 

 make fanning their business, but to every family 

 whose situation and circumstances make the keep- 

 ing of this valuable animal practicable ; it is im- 

 portant not only because cows supply the market 

 with milk and butter and cheese, but because they 

 contrihcite so much to substantial domestic comfort 

 and convenience. 



Sportsmen and naturalists, and perhaps some oth- 

 ers of the unproductive class, have supposed their fa- 

 vorite horse to be the most valuable of domesticated 

 animals, but the calculating utilitarian, and the 

 discriminating farmer, have with united voice 

 pronounced theCow, " the noblest conquest made 

 by man." 



There is a great difference in the quantity and 

 quality of milk given by cows of the same appear- 

 ance, and treated in the same manner. Not un- 

 frequently in the same yard, the product of one 

 cow is worth double that of another. A good 

 cow will more than repay her cost in the milk she 

 will yield in six mouths. Suppose her to give six 

 quarts per day, this, for six months, at three cents 

 per quart, amounts to more than thirty dollars. 

 It is presumed that every man who keeps a cow 

 is desirous of having one of superior qualities, but 

 it is more the result of good fortune than prudence, 

 if he obtains such an one, in the ordinary way. 

 He goes to the market, or the drover, and purchases 

 an animal which those who have had an opportunity 



to try, are willing to dispose of. The raiser of stock 

 knows his best animals, and will prefer to reserve 

 tlie m at home. We think the farmers of our county 

 should make the experiment of rearing their own 

 cows ; the cost may be a little enhanced, but the 

 chances of having betterstock are greatly increas- 

 ed. Let them raise the young of their cows which 

 t'ncy knuiv'.o be good milkers, and to have other good 

 properties, and in a few years, instead of four 

 or live quarts as now, the average yield would be 

 eight or ten. We have beard of great success in 

 improving stock in England, we have witnessed 

 something of it here, and are satisfied that with 

 proper attention, our cows will become much 

 more valuable. In raising stock at home, there 

 are these additional advantages, that the animal is 

 already acclimated, there is no danger of her stray- 

 ing and she is accustomed to the food and treatment. 

 A change of situation and fodder is sometimes fa- 

 tal, and frequently causes, at least, a temporary de- 

 rangement of the system. This may be one rea- 

 son why imported stock, excellent as some varie- 

 ties of it unquestionably are, have not answered the 

 expectations of those who bad made an unsucces- 

 ful, because perhaps, a not sufficiently protracted 

 and careful trial. 



A principal cause of the general character of 

 our cows being so low, is the quality of their win- 

 ter keeping. Their natural food, in their wild 

 state is green and succulent. Their winter keeping 

 with us is almost exclusively, dry hay. The 

 quantity of moisture lost in curing different kinds 

 of grasses has been ascertained by accurate ex- 

 periments, and it is found that 

 100 lbs. Green red clover make 27 lbs. of hay, 

 100 " 

 100 " 

 100 " 

 100 " 

 100 " 



600 



188 



so that more than two thirds the moisture, which 

 must be a large constituent in the secretion of 

 milk, is lost in the process of drying. Do not 

 such experiments, as well as common observation, 

 demonstrate that our farmers do not provide a 

 sufficiency of green food ? We think it would be 

 profitable to raise root crops,such as mangold wurt- 

 zel carrots, Swedish turnips, and even round tur- 

 nips to feed out to cows at the season, when other 

 succulent food is inaccessible. If a cow is suffered 

 to become poor in the winter, it will be difficult to 

 restore her flesh, and her product of milk, for that 

 year, will be greatly diminished. Keep no more 

 stock than can be well fed both through winter and 

 summer. It is more satisfactory and pleasant to 

 obtain ten gallons of milk from five well condition- 

 ed, than from ten "ill favored and lean fleshed kine." 

 Neither very young, nor very old cows, are con- 

 sidered so valuable for their annual product, as 

 those of intermediate ages. Unless of extraordi- 

 nary properties, they should not be kept after they 

 are ten or twelve years old. Such cows require 

 better keeping, and are more liable to accidents 

 and diseases. No kind of stock better compen- 

 sates for liberal feeding. If a supply of roots has 

 not been procured, a small quantity of meal or a 



few ears of Indian corn daily, will cause a percep- 

 tible improvement. A cow that is worth keeping 

 is worthy of liberal feeding. On short commons 

 and poor fodder, her milk qualities, and her progeny 

 will degenerate. Giveher an abundance of nu- 

 tritious food, and in return, she will give you 



" New milk that, .ill the winter, never fails, 

 And, all the summer overflows the pails." 



*II. Eclogue of Virgil, 22d line. 



We think it unnecessary to extend our remarks, 

 since this subject vvVs so fully and satisfactorily 

 discussed by the Rev. Henry Colman in his report, 

 published in the last year's transactions of this So- 

 ciety, and which is in the hands of every farmer 

 who feels an interest in such investigations. And 

 we are doing but common justice to that distin- 

 guished scientific and practical cultivator, who has 

 since removed to a distant part of the state, when 

 we express a sentiment of lasting gratitude and 

 profound obligation for his valuable services as a 

 member of this Society, as well as for his very in- 

 teresting publications on subjects connected with 

 rural economy. 



The Committee on Milch Cows and Heifers, re- 

 port — that eleven Milch Cows were offered for ex- 

 hibition and premium, viz. 



For exhibition, a very handsome cow, in fine 

 order, by Ebenezer Moseley of Newburyport. 



Moses Bartlett of Newbury, offered a handsome 

 five years old cow, which, on common pasture 

 feed, has made l f ! lbs. butter in one week. 



Nathaniel Ladd of Bradford, offered a cow six 

 years old, which, from June 1st to Sept. 26th, 

 made 90 1-4 lbs. butter, besides supplying three 

 families with milk ; fed on grass only. Undoubt- 

 edly a good cow, but the statement was not suffi- 

 ciently explicit. 



A small sized cow belonging to Rev. Mr. Milti- 

 more of Newbury, which, from May 27th to Sept. 

 25th, made 87 3-4 lbs. butter, besides supplying 

 a family of eight persons with milk and cream. 



A cow belonging to E. W. Allen, of Newbury- 

 port, which, from June 1st to Aug. 15th in the 

 year 1830, made a little over five pounds of but- 

 ter per week, besides supplying two families with 

 from three to four pints of milk per day — and she 

 has yielded as much this year as in 1830. 



Stephen Tilton of Newburyport, offered a cow 

 four years old, which is a good milker. 



The Committee have awarded to Parker M. Dole 

 of Newburyport, for his two native cows, which, 

 front about the 1st of May to Sept. 27th, have 

 made 157 lbs. buttor, besides about 40 gals, milk, 

 used and sold, kept in a poor pasture, a gratuity 

 of $2,00. 



To Edward Titcomb, jun. of Newburyport, for 

 his four years old cow, half Holderness, which on 

 scanty keeping, has yielded from July 10th to 

 Sept. 26th an average of 10 quarts per day, a gra- 

 tuity of .$2,00. 



To Timothy Noyes, of Newburyport, for his 

 six years old cow, which in the last thirteen months 

 has yielded 1115 gallons of milk, more than 11^ 

 quarts per day, (her butter qualities not mention- 

 ed,) a premium of $5,00. 



To John O. W. Brown of Newbury, for his sev- 



•Lac mihi non oeslate novum, nonfrigore defit." 



