DEVOTED TO AGRICULTURE AND ALL ITS KINDRED ARTS AND SCIENCES. 



PROFIT OF COWS-USE OF ICE-STEAM 

 ENGINES FOR FARMERS. 



Mr, Joitn Day, of West Boxford, has communi- 

 cated to us the following facts in relation to the profit 

 of cows. Their publication may assist some, who 

 contemplate embarking in this business, in making 

 their estimates on expense and income ; and others, 

 who now attend to the dairy business, may from 

 these facts gain some aid by way of improvement. 



Mr. Day keeps foiirteen cows, and the principal 

 dairy product is butter. He estimated the amount 

 at one hundred and fifty pounds to each cow, for the 

 season. When v/e saw him, a few weeks ago, it 

 lacked but a few pounds, to each cow, of this amount. 

 He has sold his butter in Lawrence, at twenty cents 

 per pound throuj^h the season ; this is $30 to each cow. 

 He sold his calves at $5 each, making the income $35 

 to each cow. The pork made from the milk, and the 

 ings raised on it, were worth from $80 to $100. Mr. 

 Day supposed that this sum would hardly be suffi- 

 cient to pay the expenses of taking care of the dairy. 

 The raaniire from the cows would pay the expense 

 of taking care of them, including that of milking. 



Mr. Day reckons the expense of wintering his 

 eows, whether he feeds roots, grain, or other food, 

 eijual to two tons good Engli.ih hay, each, which is 

 worth, with him, on an average, about $10 per ton. 

 The usual price of pa.sturing is $6 for the season. 

 In the fall, when the feed fails in his pasture, he 

 turns his cows on his mowing fields, not having pro- 

 t vided green corn or other food to make up the defi- 

 Mency in pasturage. 



Mr. Day has not lost any cows for fourteen years. 

 He fattens and tunis off for beef some cows every 

 fall, and keeps his stock good by purchasing heifers 

 that were two years old the spring previous, that arc 

 with calf, and so forward that he can make a sure 

 calculation. He has convenient opportunity for pur- 

 chasing, as many droves of eastern cattle pass near 

 him, and are kept over night near his residence. As 

 he sells his cows considerably higher than the price 

 of the heifers he buys, — nearly enough higher to 

 pay the expense of fattening hia cows, — it oosta hira 

 but a little to keep )iis stock jjooi. 



The room in which the milk is set, the churning 

 done, and the butter worked, is kept at a temperature 

 of 62°, as indicated by a thermometer suspended in 

 the centre of the room. This is effected by the use 

 of ice, which costs but little, as an ice-house is filled 

 for this and other purposes in the family. Ice water 

 is used generally for drink, as it is regarded as more 

 pure and wholesome than other water, especially in 

 time of drought, when the water in wells and springs 

 is frequently but slow drainings from the soil, im- 

 pregnated with various unwholesome substances. 

 When the weather is cool and clear, the windows 

 of the dairy-room are opened for ventilation. 



Mr. Day uses tin pans, and he fills them only two 

 and a half inches deep with milk. He churns three 

 times a week during the warm season. He usually 

 churns himself, and he does not wish for the butter 

 to come in less than an liour, as he thinks that he 

 gets more and better butter than by rapid churning, 

 or any process that would produce butter in a few 

 minutes. This is a sad commentary on the wonder- 

 ful inventions for churning, for which great excel- 

 lence is claimed because they will produce butter in 

 a few minutes. 



It is the intention of Mr. Day to have a steam 

 engine for churning. He now has one of four-horse 

 power, for mechanical purposes, when water is low, 

 (but too far from his house to use in churning,) that 

 a boy fourteen years old can safely manage, which 

 requires only twenty cents worth of fuel per day to 

 run it, as he uses cheap kinds of fuel. If he used 

 that which is merchantable, it would cost about fifty 

 cents per day. He intends his steam engine for va- 

 rious other farm purposes, such as sawing wood, &c 



Mr. Day made an ice-house eleven feet square, and 

 seven feet high, at an expense of $25. It holds 

 about twenty-five tons ; and three hands, with two 

 pairs of oxen, will fill it in two days. He takes the 

 ice from a mill pond near by. 



If farmers knew the great utility of ice, and the 

 small expense at which icc-houscs may be built, this 

 luxury, which is becoming one of the necessaries of 

 life, as it becomes well known, would be common 

 among farmers, and contribute largely to the excel- 

 ic'.ioc oi" dairy pro.lu its. 



