70 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Feb. 



large to entitle him to a premium. It will be 

 geen that for his butter, which is certified by com- 



Eetent judges to have been of the finest quality, 

 e received only thirty cents per pound, although 

 prepared in the best manner, and laboriously 

 stamped. This should not be so. Many con- 

 sumers in Boston pay fi'om forty to fifty cents a 

 pound, besides in some instances paying expenses 

 by express from Philadelphia for butter, no better, 

 to say the least, than his. If he, or others who 

 feel a just pride in producing the best butter, 

 would also tiike a litth; pains in marketing it, 

 they would be more justly paid for their exertions. 

 His cows are all described as natives. We sug- 

 gest to him to add one Alderney to his herd. 

 Her cream will give color and character to his 

 butter, and enable him to advance his prices 

 from one-third to a half in a market where it 

 would be appreciated, and where there is a de- 

 mand far exceeding the present supply. Mr. 

 Viles, of Waltham, exhibited a dairy of eight 

 cows, partly natives and partly grades of Ayr- 

 shire. His account of their produce, which is ex- 

 traordinary, is submitted. The dairies of Mr. 

 John B. Moore, and of Mr. George M. Barrett, 

 of Concord, were of a high order, showing well 

 selected stock and great production of milk. 



And here we may be allowed to express some 

 doubts Avhether the statements of extraordinary 

 produce of cows, as given by amateurs in the 

 public prints, and which sometimes find their 

 Avay into agricultural reports, have not done some- 

 thing to discourage the efibrts they are intended to 

 stimulate. In a late number of the journal of 

 the Royal Agricultural Society of England, there 

 is a communication from Col. Le Couteur, of Jer- 

 sey, giving the produce of his celebrated prize 

 cow "Beauty," and of several others, of the best 

 specimens of the Jersey or Alderney cows. He 

 says that "Beauty," in her best milk, yielded 

 eleven pounds thirteen ounces of butter a week 

 from one hundred and thirty-three quarts of 

 milk (nineteen quarts a day,) being a pound to 

 about eleven quarts. Some of the other cows 

 gave twenty-six quarts of milk a day for a short 

 period, and fourteen pounds of butter a week, or 

 a pound to thirteen quarts of milk. 



This contrasts strangely with the frequent 

 ritatements made of the products of the same breed 

 of animals here. From four to six quarts of 

 milk, it is often said, give a pound of butter. 

 And these statements come from parties whose 

 accuracy an<l truthfulness no one can for a moment 

 doubt, liut what are the circumstances? Is this 

 extraordinary amount of butter made soon after 

 the dropping of tlu! calf and on good pasturage 

 only? Ur is it made from farrow cows, or the 

 stri[ipings or morning messes? and are the cows 

 highly led with sthuulating food? No doubt 

 these statements, made sometimes without all the 

 details necessary to make them well understood, 

 have had a serious effect on the competition for 

 our prizes. Would it not he well to make it a 

 condition that' cows offered for premium shall in 

 the trial months, say from May to September, 

 have no other feed than pasturage and green fod- 

 der? Without such a general rule, it is to be 

 feared tliat there can be but little fair competition, 

 and that many peopU; will decline it altogether for 

 whose advantage it is eciually proposed. In this 

 department, as well as others, careful readers can- 



not fail to observe that amateur, and not practical 

 farmers, generally bear off the prizes, to the dis- 

 appointment and often permanent disgust of less 

 favored competitors. These gentlemen amateurs 

 would add greatly to the o1)ligations they have al- 

 ready laid the community under, if they would en- 

 ter their fine stock for exhibition only, and leave 

 the prizes to parties to whom they are a pecuniary 

 object as well as a proper ambition. 



The committee have observed with great pleas- 

 ure the successful efforts of nuxny gentlemen in the 

 county to introduce the best foreign stock to their 

 neighbors and the public. Already the effect is 

 obvious to the observer when passing over the 

 county in any direction. Fine cattle of the Jer- 

 sey, Ayrshire, Devon and Durham breeds are oft- 

 en seen mingled with the best native stock. Much 

 of this improvement is also to be attributed to the 

 "Massachusetts Society for Pronuiting Agricul- 

 ture," which has with well considered liberality- 

 placed bulls of tarious l)i-eeds in different parts of 

 the Commonwealth, for public use. 

 For the Conunittec, 



James Brown, Chairman. 



HONOE TO THE TOILING HAND. 



All honor to the toiling hand, 



Or iu the field or mine ; 

 Or by the harnessed fire or stream, 



Or on the heaving brine ; 

 Whatever loom, or bark, or jjlovv, 



Ilath wrought to bless our land, 

 Or given around, above, below, 



We owe the toiling hand. 

 Then honor — honor to the toiling hand ! 



It battles with the elements, 



It breaks the stubborn sword ; 

 It rings the forge — the shuttle throws — 



And shapes the social board. 

 It conquers clime — it stems the wave — 



And bears from every strand 

 The sweetest, best of all we have. 



Gifts of the toiling hand, 

 Then honor — honor to the toiling hand ! 



For the New Ensland Farmer. 



THE CONCORD GRAPE. 



This grape, which has created a great sensation 

 among the horticulturists, but which I have never 

 tasted, (and perhaps may not for years,) must be 

 a good fruit ; but whether so desirable as claimed, 

 years only can decide. Should all the horticul- 

 tural papers in New England extol it, its reputa- 

 tion would not be decided. From ten to fifteen 

 years' cultivation can only put the matter at 

 rest. Though the Isabella may have faults, it 

 cannot be easily supplanted or rivalled among 

 the mass of fruit-growers. How long would it 

 take to estcablish the fact that we had an apple 

 that would equal the Rhode Island (ireening, the 

 Baldwin or the Russet, or a pear that would rival 

 the Bartlett? 



The Isabella grape is handsome and good, but 

 there are many locations in which it will not 

 ripen. A neighbor of mine, whose soil is ele- 

 vated and who has a vine sheltered on the south 

 side of his house, has seen his grapes fail only 

 once in the past six years — the frost then blight- 

 ing them when th-y were of a light cinnamon 

 color. A western sun upon this vine, I think, 



