244 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



May 





ing on. But we are clearly of the opinion, that 

 we should not be justified in expending our funds 

 upon the farm. Look wliere you will, you will 

 see examples in abundance, of money expended 

 by visionari/ farmers, that will not be found 

 again in their day and generation. *. 



March, 1858. _ 



A FINE COW. 



Mr. Isaac Demsey, of this town, owns a re- 

 markably fine cow, now e"ght years old, raised 

 in the neighboring town of Middleton, of the 

 breed common to that vicinity. She was raised 

 by Mrs. Flint. Her product for the past j'ear, 

 commencing wi'h the spring of 1857, was as fol- 

 lows : 



Calf sold at $11 ,00 



291 pounds butter, at 28 cts 81,48 



50 pounds cheese, at 8 cts 4,00 



700 quarts milk, sold and used, at 5 cts 35,00 



$131,48 

 Cost of Keepfng. 



2 tons English hay $30,00 



Corn fodder 8,00 



Vj bushels meal 7,50 



Summer pasture 8,00 



$53,50 

 Net profit $77,98 



This cow had the small quantity of one quart 

 of meal per day for eight months, making 7^ 

 bushels, as will be seen by the above account, 

 and during one week made 13| pounds of butter. 

 She was milked 11^ months. Can this product 

 be exceeded ? c. p. p. 



Banvers, Marcli 16, 1858. 



sow, AND SEVENTY-ONE PIGS! 

 Having often seen accounts in the Farmer of 

 valuable hogs, and having seen especial notice of 

 die "Chester County Hogs," I thought I would 

 give you an account of a breeding sow I now own, 

 and the return she has made me. She is three 

 years old, weighs 500 pounds and has dropt 5 

 litters of pigs, as follows : 



April 15, 185t5 12 pigs. 



Si^ptember 15, 1856 \9 " 



April 25. 1857 12 " 



September 12, 1857 17 " 



March 10, 1858 17 " 



Making in all 71, dropt alive, perfectly formed, 

 healthy and pure white. Of this number, she 

 has raised to 5 weeks of age 63, having lost a 

 few of the two last litters by laying on them. 

 Keeping a few of the best of each litter, I have 

 sold the ba'ance at $5 each. 



Her breed is J Suffolk, I native, pure white, 

 long body, small head, short neck, fine bone and 

 square built. She is a small eater, and takes on 

 fat easily — in fact, during the period of gestation 

 I am troubled to keep her sufficiently lean ; her 

 pigs often weigh 350 pounds at 8 months, fed on 

 skimmed milk, apples and pumpkins, &c., until 

 6 weeks previous to slaughtering, when I give 

 them all the meal tlicy will eat. 



A neighbor has tliree of the litter dropt Sep- 

 tember last, which now weigh 300 pounds, and 

 thf ir only feed has been skimmed milk and boiled 

 pumpkins. Truly, Sir, there is no need of send- 

 ing to Chesrer, Penn., for a breed of pigs, when 

 any farmer, with a little care and attention, may 

 get up one equally good. 



Groton, Ms., 1858, Calvin Blood, 2d. 



A GOOD COW. 



I have a cow 6 years old in the spring of 1856. 

 She calved June 20, 1856, calf remained 8 days; 

 cow made 187f pounds of butter in 175 days — 

 had but this cow, and during this time presume 

 we used one pint of milk per day, 87^ quarts. 

 She gave from Dec. 13, last day of churning, to 

 April 5, 1857, 566^ quarts. We sold to one fam- 

 ily 333i quarts, at 6 cents, $20,01 Balance sold 

 and used, at 5 cents, $16,01. Butter, 1871 pounds, 

 at_30 cents, $56,20. Total, $92,22. All of her 

 skim milk was given to a pig. 



1857.— Calved May 13th. Sold calf 19th, from 

 which time to January 19, 1858, 237 days, made 

 215.^ pounds of butter. We hid a larger family 

 than in 1856, and used much more milk and 

 cream. She was given to me when a week old 

 by a gentleman who cal ed her a full-blooded 

 Ayrshire. She is entirely red, with the exception 

 of white tip on tail, gentle and handsome. She 

 has been well, but not extravagantly fed. 



Cohasset, Mass., 1858. John Wilson, Jr. 



THE ERMINE. 



For the information of your Harvard corres- 

 pondent, Mr. Sawyer, I would say that the ani- 

 mal he found in his cellar was the ermine, an an- 

 imal not differing much in size or form from the 

 weasel ; his color being the same in summer 

 with the exception of his toes and the tips of his 

 ears, which are white ; in winter he is white all 

 but the end of h's tail, which is black. Their 

 habits are like those of the weasel, and they are 

 considered by some as a species of the same 

 family, but by others as a distinct species. For- 

 merly, they were seen very frequently, but I have 

 not seen more than one or two for the last 20 

 years. They are dead'y foes to rats, mice and 

 squirrels, which they kill in great numbers for 

 their blood. The fur is very valuable, and the 

 skins sometime sell as high as $2 each. The 

 history of this animal I think I read in Thomp- 

 son's Natural History of Vermont, several years 

 since. B. F. Cutter. 



Pelham, N. E., March 26, 1858. 



HOG CHOLERA. 



Li looking over the census of the town farm 

 the last year, I see that a loss of $1300 is charged 

 as accruing from this disease, all of which is al- 

 leged to have occurred in the course of a few 

 weeks. No satisfactory explanation of this dis- 

 order has ever been given. It is conjectured 

 hat they had imbibed stri/chtiine trom the whisky 

 factories, where they were fed when young. If 

 such be the fatal effect on the brute creation, how 

 much more powerful must be the effect on the 

 wieu M'ho use the tvhisly itself thus adulterated? 



March, 1858. South Danvers. 



Officers of the North Middlesex Agri- 

 cultural Society for 1858: 



Tapp.\n Wentworth, Lowell, President. 



J. C. BartloTT, Chelmsford, "1 



Elijah M. Reed, Tew-ksburv, \ r^ „ •> ^ 



A. L. BROOKS, Lowdl, ' \^ce Presidents. 



J. B. V. COBDRN, Dracut, J 



S. J. Varnet, LoweJI, Recording Secretary. 



A. R. Brown, Loweb Corre-^ponding Secretary. 



Alfred Gilsun, Lowell, Treasurer. 



