lsl'l. 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



09 



OW 'ALICE/' 



AYRSHIRE CATTLE. 



It was our intention to give, in 'this number, an 

 articlo embracing the historyand qualities of this breed 

 of cattle, illustrated with two or three portraits fur- 

 nished for that purpose ; but our pages are so crowd- 

 ed that we have only room for a brief notice. 



The above is said to be a fair portrait of the im- 

 ported Ayrshire Cow Alice, owned by C. N. Bemeut, 

 Esq., of Albany — and will convey a good idea of the 

 distinguishing points of a properly formed cow of that 

 breed. Alice was awarded the first prize at the State 

 Fair at Utica, in 1845. In a notice of her, published 

 in the Journal of Agriculture, for August, 1848, Mr. 

 B. says : — "Alice is now ten years old, has a calf by 

 her side, and fills a common sized pail with milk 

 night and morning-, averaging from 18 to 20 quarts 

 per day." 



In his valuable treatise on "Domestic Animals," 

 Mr. R. L. Allen says: — "The Ayrshire is a breed 

 that has been much sought after of late years, from 

 their reputation for fine dairy qualities. The milk is 

 good both in quantity and quality, yielding, accord- 

 ing to a recent statement of Mr. Tennant, of Scot- 

 land, who owns a large herd, fifteen quarts per day 

 during the best of the season, twelve of which made 

 a pound of butter. The product of the latter avera- 

 ges about 170 pounds per annum to each cow. An- 

 other authority says, on the best low-land pasture, a 

 good cow yields nearly 4000 quarts per year. This 

 is a large quantity, and implies good cows and extra 

 feed." 



Mr. Sanford Howard of the Cultivator, (who is 

 considered good authority on the subject of cattle), 

 thus closes an article on Ayrshires : — " Our conclu- 

 sion is, from what we have seen of the various breeds 

 of cattle, that if we wished to obtain a stock for the 

 production of the greatest quantity of butter in pro- 

 portion to the cost of keep or food consumed, we 

 should make one trial at least with a selection of 

 Ayrshires." 



According to Yocatt, " the origin of the Ayrshire 

 cow is, even at the present day, a matter of dispute ; 

 all that te certainly known about her is, that a centu- 

 ry ago there was no such breed in Cunningham or 

 Ayrshire, or Scotland." Quade, who wrote the Ag- 

 ricultural Survey of Jersey, asserts that " the Ayr- 



shire was a cross between the short-horned breed and 

 the Alderney." And Count De Gourcey seems to be 

 of the same opinion, as he remarks that "there is a 

 considerable affinity between the two breeds." But 

 Mr. Robertson, in his Rural Recollections, conjec- 

 tures thatohey are either of the Holderness breed, or 

 derived from it— judging from the varied color, or 

 from somewhat better evidence, the small head, in 

 which they bear a striking resemblance to them. 



MANAGEMENT AND PROFITS OF POULTRY. 



BY H. S. CHASE, M. D. 



Messrs. Editors: — Having seen several articles 

 lately in the Farmer, in regard to the profits of 

 keeping Hens, I am induced to give you briefly, my 

 experience on the same subject. 



On the 27th of March, 1848, I purchased four 

 hens and one cock, and kept them until the 15th of 

 November, when I killed them. During that time 

 I received three hundred and eighty-six eggs, as the 

 result of their laying. I fed them on grain which I 

 purchased at the stores — seven pecks of corn at 75 

 cents per bushel, and one peck of oats at 50 cents 

 per bushel. The account will stand as follows : 



386 eggs, average price 12 cents per dozen, $3 86 



7 pecks corn at 18 j cents per peck, $1 31 



1 peck oats, 12 — 143 



Nett profit of 4 hens for less than 8 months, 2 43 



Average number of eggs laid by each hen,... 96 



My family is very small, which will account for the 

 limited scale on which I tried the experiment. The 

 fowls had the liberty of a barn, in which they were 

 constantly kept, excepting about an hour before sun- 

 set, when they were let out; a part of the floor was 

 taken up, however, that they might have constant 

 access to gravel. Corn, lime and water were kept 

 in vessels, where they could help themselves, at any 

 time. I occasionally gave them grass, chickweed, 

 &.C., which they ate greedily. 



As I need so small a number of fowls for my own 

 use, I make a practice of killing [them in the fall, 

 and making a new purchase every spring, rather 

 than be at the trouble of taking care of them through 

 the winter. If farming was my profession, I should 

 keep three or four hundred 'hens. No stock pays as 

 well as this. Woodstock, Vt., 1849. 



