IGfi 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



DECEMBER 4, 1S33 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



isos'ion. \vi,iim:si>av kyicning. dec. i, i:;.w. 



The Exhibition of Butter and Cheese, made in 

 pursuance of Premiums offered by the Massachu- 

 setts Society for the Promotion of Agriculture, took 

 place at Faneuil Hall ori the 3rd inst. We hope 

 to receive the official report of entries, premiums, 

 &,c. in season for the next number of the New 

 England Farmer. 



FARMERS' WORK. 

 Management qf Milch Cows. Nobody thinks of 

 kee| ing u good horse without a brush and curry- 

 comb; Which are used with as much assiduity and 

 punctuality as the apparatus that composes the 

 toilette of a beauty. But as to neat cattle, some 

 people seem to think it is no matter how nasty they 

 arc. They tie them up, and of course they must 

 lii down in a clmos of filth which wotdd nauseate 

 any thing hut a toad, accustomed to "feed on the 

 vapors of a dunghill." Now this is very wrong as 

 respects neat stock in general, and cows which 

 give milk in a particular manner. No person of 

 feeling would keep a cow in that manner, and no 

 man of taste would eat the milk of an animal 

 forced to live in a way so foreign to her natural 

 habits. A cow is naturally a nice creature. She 

 prefers pure air to breathe, pure water to drink, 

 dry and clean lodging, and if left to choose for 

 herself will rarely, if ever, eat any thing which is 

 not perfectly sweet, clean and wholesome. If 

 _ forced to deviate from nature in these particulars, 

 she will afford but scanty messes of milk at which 

 pigs would turn up their noses. 



" Cows cannot be healthy, unless the insensible 

 perspiration goes on regularly; and this cannot be 

 the case when they are put into wet land, or kept 

 in dirty houses, and no care taken to remove the 

 dirt or matter by which the perspirable vessels or 

 pores of the skin are obstructed. In dairies where 

 the dressing of cows is regularly practised, they 

 arc uniformly stronger, and in better condition ; 

 are less subject to diseases, and yield more milk, 

 and that milk of very superior quality. 



" Cows should be dressed once a day, and on 

 no account should any dung be left on their coats. 

 This operation will not be found difficult when it 

 is regularly practised, and plenty of fresh litter 

 allowed, and their dung often removed, that they 

 may be prevented from lying down on it. Cows 

 thus managed, will he found more profitable than 

 otherwise; and the improvement will be discerni- 

 ble both in the dung heap and in the milk. 



" Many persons consider that if cows have suf- 

 ficient food, it is all that is necessary ; but we are 

 convinced from experience — the best of teachers — 

 that however well cows are fed, they will Dot he 

 found near so profitable as they would be if the 

 care and attention so essential to their cleanliness 

 and well being were duly attended to; while those 

 that arc thus taken care of, will be found to thrive 

 even on more indifferent food. 



" If the udder and teats of the cow are occa- 

 sionnlly washed with warm water, those hard 

 swellings, which are often troublesome, will he 

 prevented, as will also warts and other excrescen- 

 ses to which the udder is subject, without this at- 

 tention. The udder and especially the teats should 

 be washed immediately before the cow is milked." 

 — Grazier's Guide. 



Winter feeding for Milch Cows. The chief de- 

 pendence for feeding stock is good hay ; but roots, 

 cabbages, c\ic. in addition are very valuable. Those 

 make an excellent change or rather mixture with 

 hay feeding. 



" Cabbages," says the Grazier's Guide, " should 

 he given [to milch cows] moderately, but turnips, 

 unless of the Swedish kind, notwithstanding all 

 that has been said to the contrary, make thin 

 milk and poor butter. Carrots are an excellent 

 winter I'eed ; so is yellow beet, and also mangel. 

 wurtzel, hut this must he used cautiously, and 

 never without sweet hay, as it is an astringent, 

 and sometimes, if eaten too greedily, will hove or 

 blast milch cows. — Potatoes should always be well 

 washed, and baked or steamed, or if ever given 

 raw, must he washed quite clean, mashed, and 

 mixed with good hay, or else they are very liable 

 to bring on the scouring rot. An occasional feed 

 of crushed or bruised oats, or fine pollard, will be 

 very useful. — Oil cake should never he used — it 

 produces greasy, ill scented butter, and has a 

 similar effect on the flesh of the animal." 



Some other writers have objected to the use of 

 raw potatoes for feeding stock. Sir John Sinclair 

 asserted that "there is something injurious in the 

 juice of the potato in a raw state, which Cooking 

 eradicates, or greatly dispels." The Farmer's .As- 

 sistant also observes, " We never should advise 

 to feed milch cows with potatoes, either boiled or 

 raw ; as we have frequently known cows to be 

 greatly lessened in their quantity of milk, by being 

 fed on this root."* But, in Mr. Arthur Young's 

 Annals of Agriculture, vol. xv, is a detailed ac- 

 count of potatoes being used for feeding cows, to- 

 gether with cut straw, which concludes as follows: 

 " The result of these experiments was that po- 

 tatoes occasioned the milk at first to diminish [in 

 cows, which have not been used to them] which 

 may be supposed to arise from the change of food, 

 for it required nearly eight days to accustom the 

 beast to that food, which afterwards augmented 

 their milk about a quart. I also made some ob- 

 servations on the quality of the milk ; but it will 

 take up too much time to give my observations on 

 that head in detail. It will be sufficient to ob- 

 serve that the first day, the milk appeared to have 

 less cream, and gave about one seventh less butter 

 than before, and kept in this state about five or 

 six days ; after which the milk became thicker, 

 and the cream upon it was in greater quantity, 

 without becoming yellow, the butter was less 

 white, and many people, who tasted of it thought 

 it more pleasant, but that difference was not ap- 

 parent to me." The quantity given to those, cows 

 was thirty pounds raw potatoes, and twelve pounds 

 cut straw per diem. 



A writer for the New England Farmer, whose 

 communication was published vol. vii, p. 11, gives 

 an opinion founded on experience, in favor of raw 

 potatoes for fattening cattle, hut says " as to the 

 effects they may have on milch cows I am not so 

 well informed, although I have occasionally given 

 them to cows about the time of calving, both be- 

 fore and after to stretch their bags." 



On the whole, we are inclined to think, that 

 potatoes like apples, green corn-stalks aud leaves, 

 and other succulent substances, when given to 

 milch cows, not accustomed to them, in such 

 quantities as to gorge the animals, may injure the 

 quality, and lessen the quantity of their milk. But 



when feil out judiciously, sparingly at first, and 

 increased by degrees, they will prove a very valu- 

 able addition to hay, straw or other dry fodder. 



PATCH OP BEETS. 



The American Farmer after quite a complimen- 

 tary notice of Mr. J. A. K( n rick's wonderful Beet, 

 which made its first appearance in our paper, 

 weighing thirty six pounds, four ounces, seems 

 loth to own beat by said beet which never was 

 beaten. Quoth he " We have seen no individual 

 beet equal to it, but we challenge our yankee neigh- 

 bors to a comparison of patches, if they dare," &c. 



We are then informed that Henry Thompson, 

 Esq. raised on a patch of 12 by 36 yards, " five 

 tons 14 cwt. and 3 qrs. of the very best food for 

 live stock, especially for milch cows, from less 

 than one eleventh of an acre. Now this crop is 

 neither more difficult nor more costly to produce, 

 than Irish potatoes. Is it any wonder then that 

 our friend Thompson should have fine cattle? His 

 Devons always look as if they were covered with 

 satin, and he gets a hundred dollars apiece for his 

 calves, which cost him to produce them, little, if 

 any more than would those of common blood. 

 But hearken to his own statement, which he has 

 furnished at our special request, for the edification 

 of our subscribers." 



"The mangold wurtzel wasplanted early in May 

 in drills 2 feet apart, and when well above ground 

 was thinned so as to leave the plants about 6 inches 

 from each other; they were cleaned with a small 

 one horse plough three times, the first turning the 

 earth from the plants, the second time moving it 

 towards them, and the last merely cleaning out the 

 middle ; they were afterwards hoed occasionally, 

 merely stirring the earth, for the summer was too 

 dry.&r many weeds to spring up; the ground was in 

 fine tilth, and measured with rotten dung ploughed 

 under early in the spring. "Total weight of the 

 piece manured, say 12 by 36 yards, 5 tons, 14 

 cwt. and 3 qrs. of plants perfectly sound. 



" My ruta baga are a very fine crop, notwith- 

 standing our dry summer they were sown broad 

 cast on the 24th of July, the ground in fine order 

 and well manured ; they were twice hoed and af- 

 terwards thinned by hand — not a weed can now 

 he seen in the field, the tops covering the whole 

 surface, and are now growing beautifully." 



See Art. Potatoes, p. 303. 



ITEMS OP INTELLIGENCE. 



A series of engagements between the Portuguese con- 

 tending parties took place in the forepart of October 

 last, in which the partizans of Don Miguel were defeat- 

 ed by the troops of the young Queen. 



Capt. Ross, who has been so long absent on an Arctic 

 expedition, and whose supposed luss has been so much 

 lamented, has returned to England, together with his 

 companions in the expedition. They met with a most 

 cordial reception ; the Captain and his nephew dined 

 with the King, and were every where honored with the 

 most flattering marks of distinction. An English paper 

 o-ives the following account of the manner in which the 

 party kept Christmas. 



" Capt. Ross and his brave companions suffered greatly 

 during a long time when they were living in snow huts 

 constructed like those of the natives, but they kept up 

 their spirits, and passed their last Christmas day with 

 all the usual observances, except in cheer, having had 

 as a substitute for roast beef and strong ale, a roasted 

 fox and cold water. That they were not destitute of 

 provisions, however, appears from the fact of their hav- 



