NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



f'ublished by JOHN B. RUSSEI.L. at llie corner of Congress and l.iTidall Ptrects, (Tour doors fiom the PostOffice) Boston.— THOMAS G. ri:S.-F,M)F.N, IditoA. 



VOL. III. 



FRIDAY, APRIL 22. 1825. 



No. .39. 



^rt'sitial auQinmumcattonii. 



FOR THE NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



ON IMPROVING THE NATIVE RREED OF 

 NEW ENvSLAND CATTLE. 



No. II. 



In the precedinof number I inlrndiicet) r\n nc- 

 ooiirit of the very cxlr.ior(lin:<rv New England 

 cow which has been distinguished by (he name 

 oftiie Odkes corv. I now [iresent a l)rief stale- 

 ment of an unequalled English cow, the (trop- 

 erty of Mr Cramp, of Sussex county : n cava not 

 of either nj the highest improved English breeds — 

 long horns or short horns ; but of the proper old 

 Sussex bncd, which, Mapsiiall says, very tniicb 

 resemble llie Herefordshire callle. For a min- 

 ute detail of her treatment, and of her products 

 jm milk and butler, during 5 years, 1 must refer 

 the reader to the Massachusetts Agricultural Re- 

 pository and Jnurnal, vol. IV. no. -1. 



Mr Cramp's exjieriments commenred in May 

 J 00.5, and appear to have been carefully regis- 

 tered. < 



In the first year, reckoning from the day she 

 calved, she yielded — 



Quarts of milk. Pounds of butler. 



in 48 weeks 4921 510 



2d year, in 45 weeks, 4137 450 



3d year, 51^- ' 6752 675 



4lh year, 42f ' 4219 466 



5th year, 48 ' 5369 594 



[JVnte. — in the fifth 3 ear tlie cow had twin 

 calves, which were suckled 9 weeks ; during 

 which time no butter was made from her milk, 

 although she gave 364 quarts more Ihan the 

 calves sucked. But this s 11 plus milk. Mi Clamp 

 says, threw up very little cream and that was 

 poor; and though many long and patient trials 

 were made, no butter could he obtained t'roin it, 

 whetlier this milk was taken from her before or 

 after the calves had sucked. At the end of nine 

 woek<, the calies were sohl for £12.12 ($56) 

 and then the making of butter commenced, and 

 coniinued 48 weeks.] 



It seems that Mr Cramp was keeper of tlie 

 prison in Sussex, within the walls of which, -n 

 76 rods of ground, he sowed red clover, white 

 clover, lucerne, rye-grass and cowgrass, and 

 some carrots. The crops of lucerne were cut 

 four times, and the clover three times during 

 the season, producing each time good crops. — 

 The cow was not allowed to feed on the grass 

 groLind ; but all these green crops were cut anil 

 given her in a rack in her hovel, where she 

 had a plat of about 18 square rods to range in. 

 He kept but that one cow; and always milked 

 iher himself— being particularly careful to niilK 

 I her regularly and clean. He says, " milch cows 

 are often spoiled for want of patience at the lat- 

 ter end of milking them." This, unquestiona- 

 hly, is a remark alike correct and important. — 

 Evi-ry farmer knows that when it is intended |.> 

 dr>; a co'j; that is giving milk, some is left in her 

 hag, at every milking — and more and more, un- 

 til she ceases to be milked. From this well 

 known fact, it is to be inferred, that llie leaving 

 any portion of her milk, however small, un- 



drawn, tends to the same result. 13ut besides 

 the daily loss of milk, and the earlier drying up 

 the cows, by fiich careless milking, there is a 

 natural diminution of butter. By careful exper- 

 iments, Dr Anpk.rson ascertained that the last 

 cu|) of milk drawn from the cows (the "strip- 

 pings") yielded, on an average, ten times as 

 much butter as the like cup of milk first drawn. 

 In one cow it was 16 times as rich in butter. 



In the summer season, this cow was fed on the 

 crops above-mentioned, three or lour times ,1 

 <lay, and at noon lime with about four gallons of 

 grains and two of bran, mixed together ; Mr. 

 CiiAMP always observing to give her no more 

 food than she ate up clean. — In the winter sea 

 son she had hay, grains, and bran mixed ; he 

 feeding her often — five or six times a day, giv- 

 ing her food when milking ; keeping the man- 

 gi T clean where she was fed with grains [brew 

 ers' grains of malted barley, which are always 

 very moisi] not to let it get sour. He u-ashed 

 her bag at milking three times ■with cold water, 

 rnjinter and summer. Where grains and pollard 

 cannot be had, (says Mr Cramp) milch cows 

 should have a little nice hay once a day, to 

 keep them in a proper state ; otherwise all 

 green food would make them too loose. Often 

 changing food is good for milch cows.'" — It is 

 not, I presume, the mere act of changing their 

 fond, that is beneficial; but their stomachs are 

 ctotjcd if their food is not varied. The appetite 

 i.s increased by the change, and they will cat 

 more, and give milk in proportion. 1 under- 

 stand him to say that he commonly changed his 

 cow's food every lime he led her ; and he thu.-. 

 concludes his details: "■ I feed my cow six or 

 seven times a day." 



The moderate qiiantitcs of butter noted in 

 the preceding number, as statrd from Young's 

 Northern Tour, were produced, for the most 

 part, by the short horned, or Holderness breed 

 of cows — probalily of Dutch extraction. Of this 

 Ireed, Mr Marshall, in his Rural Ecomjmy ol 

 Yorkshire (printed m 1788) gives the following 

 description. " A thick, large boned, coarse, 

 clumsy animal, remarkably large behind, with 

 thick gummyt thighs; always fleshy, but never 

 tat; the liesh being of bad quality. This how 

 ever was not the worst; the monstrous size of 

 the buttocks of the calf was frequently fatal to 

 the cow. Numbers of cows were annually lost 

 in calving " And of this breed, as then propa 

 gated in Yorkshire, he says — " It is a fact, thai 

 .shorl-horned cows seldom calve without assist- 

 ance." And when the hour of calving is appar- 

 ently at hand, they are diligently watched ; the 

 person having the care of them frequently ris 

 ing in the nighl ; and some times sitting up the 

 night through. — Of these cattle Mr Marshall 

 remarks — "The unprotitableness of this '■Dutch 

 hreiiV being evident, men of discernment began 

 to set about improving it. In the course of 'he 

 last twenty years, the bone has been lovvered, 

 the hind-quarters reduced, and the flesh and 



*Pnllard is tlie inner huslf of wlieat — the same which 

 in I'f nnsylvania is called shorts., separated, in bolting 

 wheat meal, from the outer hu.'.ks or bran. 



+ 1 do not know the meaning of "gummy" as here 

 used. 



fatting quality very much improved ; not by 

 foreit^n udmtxtures and unnntiiriil crossings, but 

 by chnnsing the cleanest and best fleshed bttlJs and 

 heifers J'ro'm among their oxsun or their neighbours' 

 stock.''^ The still later improvements of the 

 short horned breed, it is to be presumed, have 

 remedied the evil above mentioned, which prov- 

 ed fatal to many cows in calving ; and rendered 

 j assistance unnecessary. 



1 Mr Marshall* says — "The Herefordshire 

 breed of cattle, taking it all in all, — may, with- 

 ! out risque, I believe, be deemed the first breed 

 I of cattle in the island." — "Beside their superi- 

 ority as dairy stock, the females, at least, fat 

 kinilly at an early age ; the strongest proof of 

 their excellency as fatting cattle. I have seen 

 three-year old heifers of this breed— to use a 

 familiar phrase — as fat as mud ; much fatter 

 than any heifers of that age 1 have seen, of 

 any other breed; the spayed heifers of Norfolk 

 exce[)ted." And he thought it a misfortune that 

 the spirited breeders oflhe midland counties 

 in England (at whose head was the celebrated 

 Bakeweil) raised their improved cattle from 

 the long-horned race; which (he says) " in a 

 state of neglect might, in figurative language, 

 he railed creatures without carcase ; all horns 

 and hide." Some valuable improvements in the 

 breed were efl'ecied before BAKEWELL'sday ; but 

 to so high a pilch of excellence did he raise this 

 stock, that itlAP.sH ALL says " his cows were of the 

 finest mould, and lite highest quality ; and his 

 heifers heaaliful as Vaste could well conceive; 

 clean and 'retire as does. His Bull 1), at the 

 age of twelve or thirteen years, ivas more active 

 and higher mettled, than bulls in general are at 

 three or four years old." By his manner of 

 treating them, Mr You.vg says his bulls were per- 

 fectly gentle. 



If from such unpromising originals, Baeewell 

 and his followers, the eminent English breeders 

 have produced two races of cattle which are 

 now 'Kiid to surpass all others of which we have 

 received information, what encouragement does 

 it not ofiVr to intelligent farmers in New Eng- 

 land to set about improving their native breed ? 

 .\re there not, at this time, in every to-u)nship, 

 -ome cows, two or three at least, which if as 

 well fed, would be as productive of butter and 

 cheese, as the most highly improved of the 

 ong and the short-horned breeds ? From such 

 sujierior native cows, selected in every town- 

 ship, and managed with English care and skill, 

 great improvements may le rapidly and exten- 

 sively elTected. It will be attended with some 

 extra expense ; hiit the substantial farmers who 

 have the means of purchasing the superior an- 

 imal*, anil can give the requisite attention, will 

 cert.'inly be atmndantly compensated by the 

 greatly increased value and prices of their im- 

 proved siO'k. But they must selecting bulls as 

 well as fne coirs, on ivhich to raise their im- 

 • rovemenis. Arthur Young mentions an emi- 

 nent English improver in husbandry (Mr Tur- 

 nup.) as having obtained a dairy of the true Lan- 

 cashire long-horned cows ; for two of which 

 Bakewei.l oflfered sixty guineas, for 'the purpose 



*Rural Economy of Gloucestershire, printed in 1789 

 vol. 2 p. 226. 



