76 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Feb. 



aged teamster, now living as I believe in North 

 bridge, Mass., says he can do his work better on 

 Iwead and milk than on anything else. And one 

 large family — a farmer's family — in Connecticut, 

 were trained to almost giant size of body, on 

 chiefly bread and milk and its products. Indeed 

 except butter, they used very little of those pro- 

 ducts. Some of them I have watched about fifty 

 years, and they still hold out comparatively vig- 

 orous. 



Mankind generally, I again say, at least in 

 this country, would be healthier and happier, if 

 they used two or three times as much milk as they 

 now do, even if it were in a someM'hat objection- 

 able way. They might breakfast on it evei-y day 

 with advantage. They might dine on it without 

 loss. I will not say that the third meal may as 

 well be of bread and milk, after a bread and milk 

 breakfast and dinner, for I do not think so. In 

 general, whatever may have been the preceding 

 meals, I would not use much milk at evening. 

 Dry bread is far better, or at least food which is 

 quite solid. 



Think now, for once, what a saving of time 

 tliis jilan would secure to poor enslaved women ! 

 It would save much to her to have a family break- 

 fast on it ; but much more still to have them live 

 on it two-thirds of the time. 



2. It is indeed much better for health, and quite 

 as productive of gustatory enjoyment, to pour a 

 little milk — new if you please — over thin slices 

 of bread, either toasted a little or otherwise, laid 

 on a plate ; and thus eat your bread and milk, as 

 some jocosely say, with a knife and forlc. Or the 

 breakfast might consist of bread and milk, ac- 

 cording to the old method, and the dinner of 

 bread and milk might be eaten on a plate, ac- 

 cording to the new or improved method. 



3. If these uses of milk, (new, that is, di- 

 rectly from the cow, as often as possible,) should 

 not consume the whole of the contents of the 

 dairy, and if there is no occasion to feed out the 

 remainder to the domestic animals — the dogs, the 

 cats or the SM'inc — let the number of the herd be 

 somewhat diminished, and other animals be sub- 

 stituted ; such as working cattle, steers, horses, 

 mules, &c. I am not enough experienced in fann- 

 ing, though I had a farmer's education, to say 

 whether it is most profitable to keep cows than 

 most other domestic animals, in itself considered ; 

 but if woman's labor in rearing young immortals 

 and advancing older ones is worth anything, I am 

 quite certain that the saving of her precious time 

 and strength by the change I have indicated 

 would much more than compensate for any appa- 

 rent or temporary loss from diminishing the ag- 

 gregate of milk. 



If my communications are too long, Mr. Edi- 

 tor, please give me a friendly hint, and they shall 

 be made shorter. W. A. A. 



Auhurndale, Nov. 20, 1857. 



The Maiden and the Mariner. — A young 

 damsel was preaching at Nantucket, and among 

 other profound and original truths, exclaimed to 

 lier congregation that "Every tub must stand on 

 its own bottom." A sailor, thinking to nonplus 

 the fair parson, rose up and asked, "But suppose 

 it has no bottom ?" "Then it's no tub," she 

 quickly rejoined, and went on with her sermon. 



POINTS OP AlSr AYKSHIRE COW. 



Would you know how to judge a good Ayrshire cow, 



Attend to the lesson you'll hear from me now : — 



Her head should be short, and her muzzle good size j 



Her nose should lie fine between muzzle and eyes ; 



Her eyes full and lively ; forehead ample and wide ; 



Horns wide, looking up, and curved inward beside ; 



Her neck should be a fine, tapering wedge, 



And free from loose skin on the undermort edge : 



Should be fine where 'tis joined with the seat of the brain ; 



Long and straight over-head, without hollow or mano ; 



Shoulder-blades should be thin, where they meet at the top ; 



Let her brisket be light, nor resemble a crop ; 



Her fore-part recede like the lash of a whip. 



And strongly resemble the bow of a ship ; 



Her back short and straight, with the spine well defined. 



Especially where the back, neck, and shoulders are joined j 



Her ribs short and arched, like the ribs of a barge ; 



Body deep at the flanks ; and milk veins full and large ; 



Pelvis long, broad, and straight, and in some measure, flat ; 



Hook -bones wide apart, and not bearing much fat ; 



Her thighs deep and broad, neither rounded nor flat ; 



Her tail long and fine, and joined with her back ; 



Milk-vessels capacious, and forward extending ; 



The liinder part broad, and to body fast pending ; 



The sole of her udder should form a plane. 



And all the four teats equal thickness attain, 



Their length not exceeding two inches or three ; 



They should hang to the earth perpendicularly ; 



Their distance apart, when they're viewed from behind. 



Will include about half of the udder you'll find ; 



And, when viewed from the side, they will have at each eixl 



As much of the udder as 'tween them is penned ; 



Her legs slwuld b« short, and the bones fime and clean. 



The points of the latter being firm and keen 5 



Skin soft and clastic as a cushion of air. 



And covered all o'er with short, close, wooliy hair j 



The colors preferred arc confined to a few — 



Either brown and white chequered, or all brown, will do y 



The weight of the animal, leaving the stall. 



Should be about 5 cwt. sinking offal. 



Celt, in Irish Farmer's Gazette. 



For the Neto Englaiul Farmer. 



CONGRATULATIONS AND SUGGES- 

 TIONS. 



Mr. Editor: — I congratulate you on the heal- 

 thy and vigorous aspect of your paper. It shows, 

 notwithstanding the times are hard, and business 

 dull, "where there is a will there is a way," and 

 when men set about a tiling in good earnest, 

 M'ith good intent, it can be accomplished. 



I know of no department of labor, on which a 

 man can look back with better satisfaction, than 

 that Avhich advances and improves the condition 

 of the farmer. That which teaches him to grow 

 two spears of grass, or two bushels of corn, where 

 but one grew before. That such instruction can 

 be given, is demonsti'ated in every neighborhood, 

 where it has been attempted, and so in relation 

 to every A'ariety of product the earth affords. 

 Will anyone say that there is any part of our 

 State which is as thoroughly and successful- 

 ly cultivated as it will admit of being ? I think 

 not. I know of no town — ay, no farm, in any part 

 of the Commonwealth, in which is grown one- 

 half of what it is capable of producing. Then 

 why not force the culture ? Where is the harm in 

 so doing? Are not people as healthy and as 

 comfortable where full crops are grown, as where 

 meagre ones are gathered ? I think they are much 

 more so. No one need fear producing too much, 



