364 



NEW ENGLAND FAR31ER. 



[June 10, 



From the JlmtTican Farmtr. 



[The following communication to llie Penn- 

 sylvania Agricultural Society, appears to have 

 arisen from a series of letters published hy Col. 

 Pickering in the New England Farmer, in which 

 he endeavours to prove, that English neat cat- 

 tle are very little better than ours. We so per- 

 fectly coincide in the higii opinion expressed of 

 the agricultural labours of this distinguished in- 

 dividual, that we cannot hesitate to give the fol- 

 lowing paper — %vhilst we have pleasure in re- 

 publishing, at this time, the commenccmetit, of 

 Col. Pickering's letter, No. 3, evincing the same 

 spirit of urbanity; at the time he attempts to 

 overthrow the arguments which have been ad- 

 duced to show, that American farm stock may 

 be successfully improved by the introduction of 

 the best races from Europe.] 



From the J^ew England Farmer, April 29. 



ON IMPROVING THE NATIVE BREED OF NEW ENGLAND 



CATTLE. 



In the last number of the Massachusetts Agri- 

 cultural Repository and Journal, (No. 3, vol. 8,) 

 are some communications Irom John Mare Pow- 

 el, Esq. to tlie Pennsylvania Agricultural Soci- 

 ety, from whose memoirs they were extracted. 

 The subject of tlie communications, is the vari- 

 ous breeds of neat cattle. Tlie editors of the 

 Repository, in introducing those papers, sav — 

 "We give no opinion as to the soundness of Jlr. 

 Powel's opinion ; wo mean to hold an even bal- 

 ance between all the contending parlies. This, 

 however, we owe to Mr. Powel, to say, in zeal, 

 public spirit, industry, and experience, he yields 

 to no man." "■ I have (sa)s Col. Pickering,) 

 the pleasure of knowing Mr. Powel; and have 

 been gratilied in seeing his signal display of tal- 

 ent, and energy, in applying his ample means, 

 to improve the agriculture of our country. 



[Col. Pickering's four numbers will lie pub- 

 lished, consecutively, in the .\inerican Tarmer-- 

 coniffiencinn their insertion in No U, June 10.] 



REPLY TO COL. PICKERING— ON NATIVE 

 CATTLK. 



Jonathan Roberts, Esq. 



President of the Penn. Agr. Svcicti/ : 



Dear Sir, — Col. Pickering has given the spur 

 to my hobby, in a series o( letters published in 

 the New England Farmer, wherein I am hon- 

 oured, by di»ect allusions to my communications 

 and myself 



1 am flattered by the commendation of this 

 venerable gentleman, and am aware of the dis- 

 tinction, which his interesting, and elaborate pa- 

 pers, cannot fail to confer upon my notices on 

 cattle ; Imt 1 will not protract the disciissinp, by 

 quotations from British aulhorilios, which can- 

 not bear upon questions that had not arisen, nor 

 upon races of ani,Tial=, which '■ b'J and GO years 

 since," had not appeared. 



1 gladly embrace the ojiportunily he has giv- 

 en, for illustrating " the positions 1 had assum- 

 ed;" for although as a practical man, I pass 

 without notice, the freltul efTu-ions of llio«e, 

 who vainly give their iiames, whilst farming but 

 upon paper, I woulil elicit the sentiments of a 

 gentleman, who has been dislinguished, not by 

 writing, but by thinking, and acting, and among 

 ("armers, by liis labours, and success at the tail of 

 ilie pK)Ugh. 



My shelves are loaded ^vilh British agricul- 



tural books. 1 have all that " Marshall" ever 

 wrote — I might, from the quantity, suppose all 

 he ever thought. I knew " Young" — 1 heard his 

 lectures — he was i good talker, a bad farmer, 

 but a most interesting man. I made tours in 

 the same counties fil'ly years after him. 1 loung- 

 ed during three years about England, and saw 

 every variety of cattle, which the bleak moun- 

 tains of Scotland, or the rich vales of Yorkshire, 

 and Lincolnshire, are fitted to bear. 



All English cows are not good : if some were 

 not bad, high prices would not be paid for im- 

 proved bulls, by " mere farmers," to make their 

 stuck good. 



Col. Pickering slates from " Young's" lour, 

 made 50 or CO years ago, " some cows gave only 

 tvyo gallons of milk a day, while others gave 3, 

 4, 5, G, 7, 8, and some 9 gallons of milk a day — 

 tlie average quantitij 5 gallons per cotu." In anoth- 

 er district, " a dairy of .MmDi.iXG cows yielded 

 from 4 to 7 pounds of butter per tfee/c,'' equal to 

 208 or 36a povnds per annum. " The best cows 

 of the Lincolnshiie breed will give, on an ave- 

 rasre, G gallons of milk a day, seven or eight pounds 

 of butler a tsjeeA:," equal to 365 or 417 pounds of 

 butter a year. 



He furthi^r informs us, from the highest au- 

 thority, th it nenr Framingbam. Massachusetts, a 

 d.iirv of 7 cows, in "six months coinmencuig 

 the Inller part of Alan, and ending in JS'uveraber, 

 produced 94 H pounds of butter, and 1300 

 pounds of skim-milk cheese — being nearly h\ 

 pounds of butter, ami 7 pounds of cheese, for 

 each cow, for six months." But he continue-^, 

 the " common product of dairies in five other 

 parts of the state, averaged onhj 92 pounds of 

 liiitter annnalhj, and as much skiin-m'lk cheese" 

 — about ]i pounds of butter a 7i:eek, and the same 

 quantity of skim-milk cheese per cow. Seven 

 picked cows, fed purposely — selected, and re- 

 corded, as the best specimen of the best cows — 

 of one of the best agricultural districts — ot' the 

 ics( of the New Enajland states — under the iej^ 

 m 



number employed for the dairy house, yVcs/i and 

 dry. 



We are informed, that " scarcely any butter 

 and cheese, are made by the New England far- 

 mers, in general, except during the pa«turage 

 season." It is to be presumed, that the thrifty 

 husbandmen ofMassachusetls would make butter 

 and cheese, at all seasons, if the product of their 

 dairies would repay the laoour and expense. 

 This, however, could not be done, where the 

 common product of the dairies in five parts of 

 the state, averaged only IJ pounds ofbulter per 

 week from each cow. If the English cows, 

 which "gave 9 gallons" daily, h».lbeen milked 

 separately, (admitting that only one pound of 

 butter could have been obtained from 14 to 10 

 quarts of milk,) each cow would have afforded 

 from 15j to 18 pounds nf butter 9. week. If they 

 had been forced, as the Danvers, or Oakescow, 

 by " corn meal, skim-milk, butter-milk, gruel, 

 and so much food in the staiile that they would 

 have lain down upon the pasture," and the miik 

 had been placed in an "extra number of pans," 

 how much they would have surpassed the Dan- 

 vers cow, no man can know. 1 am not fond of 

 dediirlions fiom figures, in relation to agricul- 

 tural matters ; I am much more disposed, to take 

 the impressions fouiuied upon a series of evi- 

 dence, arising from general investigation, than 

 isolated ficts. It will be recollected, that I 

 have made no allusion, in the " opinions" found- 

 ed iqiou my "experience," to animals which 

 had died twenty years betbre I was born — nor 

 have 1 at any time asserted, that the English 

 dairies were better than ours. It li.is been lelt 

 for the advocates of " native" dairies to show, 

 that the annual products of Massachusetts dairies, 

 in five instances out of six, are, when contra^led 

 with '• middling l',oi;lish dairies," as 92 to 28G — 

 the product of the Oakcs cow, to that of Cramp's 

 English cow, as 184] toG75 — and the (iroductol' 

 an American dairy of 7 picked fresh cows, dur- 

 ing the best pasturage season, to a whole dairy 

 'i ofEnjIisb cows, " on a medium," neither fresh 



management — produced, during the tesi term ol'i nor [licked, as 5] to G. 

 Iheir milking— in the best pasturage season, " 5] j , 1,,,^,^ a,]i,ere,i to the British au 

 pounds of butter, and 7 pounds of skim-milk | ^.^j p;.(^i^t;rin'' had given in his 

 dieese, each, per week." We arc told, one of; , ,"„ ^j^^^^ ]^^^,, 1;,,.^ ^an be ^ain 



their milking— m the best pasturage season," 5] j , |,„ve adhered to the British authorities which 

 pounds of butter, and 7 pounds of skim-milk j f;.^, p;.<^k^..jn<r bad given in his loiters, inton 

 heese, each, per week." We arc told, one of ; g,, ,„ ^^^^^^ ]^^^,^ 1;,,.^ ^an be gaincl, by the u 

 -the seven cows " was purchased the latter end l.^/- £|^„]jj.|j ^ . ., . . . .- 



of June, wi:h her calf ; the calf being kept three i ^^f ^,,l,'i'(.f, f, 

 and a half weeks, the cow could not contribute | r c.inorioi 



to the product of the dairy, until after the mid- 

 dle of July." Here is a dairy of fresh cows, 

 taken for a particular object — nursed with pe- 

 culiar care — their product so accuiatoly ascer- 

 tained, that an half pound, in the aggregate of 

 nearly i» thousanil, is stated; yet during the six 

 months, when the largest ipuritity conhi be deriv- 

 ed I~rom them, and at the very season, ndien both 

 the climate, and the food were best fitted for the 



of English cattle, for the improvement of ours, 

 of which ho ronl'esses "very few can be i'ound 

 of superior character." I shall, by .American 

 proofs, iiereal'ter attempt to establish, that much 

 ha* been gained, that much more may be acquir- 

 ed, by taking advantage ot' the labours of nearly 

 a century — of the skill of even "professional 

 breeders," whose exertions have been directed 

 by the science of Sir Joseph Banks, Sir John 

 Sebright, and Cline. whose deductions have been 

 made with the diligence and habits of"practi- 



.^ icai men" — and whose success has been measur- 



■y produced but 5]- pounds of ^^j j, ,j,g s|;,n,b,rds which everv man can best 

 Is of cheese, per week. comiirehend, " high prices and pmfu.-" 



JOHN HARE POWEL. 



Puwctlon, Philn. county, 182.'j. 



(dijfct in view, th 



liutter and 7 pounds of clieesc, | 



Put wo have been assured bv Col. Pickering, 

 and by .\rthiir Young, who wrote " 50 or CO 

 years" ago, that an English " dairy of middling 

 cows, yielded from t to 7 pounds of butter per 

 week'' — that the " best cows of the Lincchisbiie 

 breed would give, on an average 7 or 8 pounds of 

 butter a week." If, then, 7 Lincolnshire cows 

 had been taken, even " 50 or CO years ago," 

 they would have given annually from 2,518 to 

 2,912 pounds of butter. A dairy of cows, means 

 in England, auil I believe generally in America, 

 not the cows whicli are fresh, but the aggregate 



NOTE. 



Massachusetts Jlgricuhural Journal, vol 4, page 

 254, (pwted by Col. Pickering. 



" Mr. Oakes bought her in .April, 1813, at 

 which time .':he was five yenvi old. He made 

 from her the first year, without any extra feed- 

 in?, 180 jiounds of butler." 



Col. Pickering adds, " the cow was purchased 



