NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



85 



PROFITS OF A DAIRY. 



Mr. Editou : We have many times noticed in your 

 paper, statements made by diifcrcnt writers on the 

 profits of a dairy. 



Below wc give you an account of the proceeds of 

 our dairy in the year 1819, from forty-one cows, six 

 of which were heifers, having their first calves the 

 same season : — 



41 calves, at four weeks old, $-1 each $KA 00 



3747 lbs. cheese, at 9 cents per pound 3.'57 32 



6569 lbs. butter, best quality, for table use, 



at 20 cents per pound 1,.313 80 



6070 gallons, or 18 gallons per day, new milk 

 used on table, never skimmed, at 3 



cents per quart 788 40 



For manure 200 00 



Total amount $2803 52 



Expenses, &c. 

 10 tons wheat bran, or ship stuff, at ,f 10 



per ton $100 00 



900 bushels beets, at 12.J cents jjcr bushel.. 75 00 



02 tons of hay, at $8 per ton 496 00 



26 weeks' pasturing for 41 cows, at 12^ 



cents per week each 333 25 



Slops from kitchen, during the year 15 00 



Not expense .«!1019 25 



Total amount $2803 52 



Deduct expenses 1019 25 



Balance $1784 27 



Making an average for each cow, of 



Butter 150 lbs. 3^ oz. 



Cheese 96 lbs. 64 oz. 



Milk 160 gallons. 



The milk, it will be understood, is that which is 

 used on table by boarders, never skimmed. 



Add manure and calves and the total amount 



for each cow $68 37 



Deduct expenses 24 86 



Net profit to each cow $43 51 



Made of butter in the month of October, 1849 : 



1st week 180 lbs. 



2d " 201 " * 



3d •' 191 " 



4th " 187 " 



6th (i week) 173 " 



Total in October 932 lbs. 



We prefer putting our cows in the stable while 

 milking, at all seasons of the year. This affords an 

 opportunity of messing twice a day, and is done 

 regularly at time of milking, believing it the best 

 time. Wheat bran, (or shorts,) mixed witli slops 

 from the kitchen of dairy, makes a good feed for 

 milch cows. 



Some think it quite objectionable and very un- 

 natural for coics to cat or- drink whcij and milk, but we 

 see no good reason for such objections. 



Wc have practised, for some years, feeding our 

 cows with the whey and skimmed milk from our 

 dairy, mixed with wheat, buckwheat, or rye bran, 

 and have never seen any injurious effects whatever; 

 but, on the contrary, believe it to be very bcneticial, 

 and prodiutive of good sweet milk and butter. 



It is very necessary for milch cows to be well sup- 

 plied with good pixre water, especially in the winter 



• Largest amount of any week during the year. 



season, when fed on dry fodder. We make a prac- 

 tice of watering our cows twice a day, morning and 

 night; this is given them in the stable, where they 

 can drink at leisure, sheltered from cold and storm. 



New Leisanon 8u.\keh Village, (numbering one 

 hundred and thirty persons.) — Pittajield CuUurist. 



nvlPROVEMENT OF STOCK. 



Wc copy the following article from tlie report of 

 the Committee on Bulls, T. E. Payson, E^q., Chair- 

 man, published in the Essex Agricultural Society's 

 Transactions : — 



Naturally and intimately associated with our rcpor*, 

 is the subject of "Improving the Breed of Cattle." 

 A remark or two upon that subject may be neither 

 uninteresting nor out of place. The importance of a 

 more thorough knowledge, of clearer ideas upon it, 

 than we now have, is apparent to every bodv. In 

 fact, no such thing as breeding stock, as an art, is 

 known among us ; and the man who has the credit 

 of being a stock -raiser, generally gets it because he 

 has a greater number of half-starved calves than his 

 neighbors, and in whose stock there are as many 

 varieties of shape and color, as there were in the 

 stock of Jacob, when he separated from his father-in- 

 law. Every imported bull that hap])ens to come iu 

 his neighborhood, no matter what his blood, nor what 

 the blood of his cow, is crossed with his stock. Now 

 although crossing in any way is preferable to breed- 

 ing in and in, yet this indiscriminate crossing wiU 

 never, to any extent, improve our stock. If we get 

 a good cow, it is the result of accident — mere chance. 

 Experience, so far, has shown that importations from 

 abroad, and the crossing with them, have iu no way 

 benefited our milch cows. They may have furnished 

 us better oxen in some respects ; but they have not 

 yet helped xis to any more butter and cheese. 



Your committee are of opinion, that the only suc- 

 cessful mode of improving our stock, is by a judi- 

 cious, systematic, enlightened attempt, which has for 

 its basis the native stock of the country. And it is 

 only by an enlarged view of this, or any other matter 

 connected with nature, that we can amve at the 

 truth. The advantage of crossing has been spoken 

 of; but let it be remembered, that if you expect good 

 from it, you must bring together animals, )iot nearly 

 related, but of the same breed. Nature is uniform in 

 her operations. Wild animals of a particular breed 

 are generally of the same shai)c and color. Flowers 

 resemble each other. But by man's intervention, the 

 beast, the bird, the flower, are made to assume new 

 colors and forms. If these clianges are of value, 

 they must be the result of sound judgment, enlarged 

 views, enlightened experience, and a complete knoN\l- 

 edge of the principles upon which nature operates. 



Until these arc attained, you maj' spend money, 

 you may import stock, you may offer premiums, and 

 no more benefit be derived from it, than has been 

 from what has been done by this anil other societies 

 for the last thirty years. We have no better cows 

 now than we had then ; wc have no larger propor- 

 tion of them ; and in our breeding, whether or not 

 the calf which we raise will make a good cow, or bo 

 good for nothing, is all mere chance. 



The State Society have, with a zeal worthy of 

 imitation, in most respects, made ellbrts to improve 

 the stock of the country. But has that zeal been 

 entirely according to knowledge ? Can thej' put 

 their finger on any point, and say. In this respect at 

 least we have made some jirogress ? It may be that 

 your committee have not full knowledge on this sub- 

 ject ; but wo arc satisfied that if the stock " which 

 boasts of a long line of ancestry of the purest and 

 most approved breeds," and Ls not tainted with a 



