1855. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



165 



proved stock ;'^ nor to inquire Aou' he has ascer- 

 tained, with certainty, a foot so extremely diffi- 

 cult to learn. I admit, cheerfully, that there 

 may be stock entirely native, since Essex asserts 

 it ; and that the dairy of Essex's frii'nds has often 

 made a pound of butter daily, for each cow, for 

 the entire ])utter-making season. 1 no more doubt 

 this, than that these cows were kept upon a farm 

 where the ^^jmsturaje is (jood."' To clinch the 

 insinuated superiority of '■'■entirclij native'''' cows, 

 Essex cites a newspajjer statement, that four 

 cows, in Michigan, yielded 17-4 lbs. of butter and 

 1050 lbs. of cheese, in the space of 100 days. 



Analyzed, it will be seen that, allowing three 

 pounds of cheese to one of butter, (which is con- 

 ceded about here to be the proper proportion,) 

 this amounts to 1((G lbs. of butter, per cow, for 

 100 days. "Mr. Lincoln's improved stock" yield- 

 ed during an actual milking period for the whole 

 of 141 days, 142 lbs. G oz. At the actual average 

 rate of yield for 141 days, had the six cows been 

 in milk during the whole period of trial, (live 

 months,) there would have been, to each cow, a 

 yield of 153 lbs. and a fraction for 150 days. 



Again, in Marblehead, a few years since, four 

 cows of a Mr. Stone, descendants of an ill-looking 

 hornless animal that was purchased from a Hamp- 

 shire drove, (and therefore "entirely native,") in 

 the space of 40 days yielded 240 lbs. of butter. 

 Pretty well, I confess, for four cows that were 

 hornless and ill-looking, (and therefore native?) 

 or for any cows. But seriously, if this last yield 

 was claimed to have been obtained from pastur- 

 age alone, no matter how good, I should have 

 liked just to have examined the quality of both 

 butter and scales. 



Because the premium was awarded to my stock, 

 it does not follow that 1 claimed, or the commit- 

 tee conceded, the product as extraordinary. Es- 

 sex will bear in mind the facts, as they appear in 

 my statement, tliat I did not select my six best 

 cows for butter ; that my pasturage was poor in 

 quality, and scanty in quantity ; that I had to 

 change milkers eight times during my trial ; that 

 my trial cuws run with seven otTicrs, during the 

 season ; that the butter was worked upon a ta- 

 ble, and, of course, thoroughly ; and that the 

 weight was ascertained by each separate pound, 

 instead of in the mass, at each churning ; and the 

 whole statement not matters of loose conversa- 

 tion, but made under the sanction of an oath. 



To the truth and fairness of one statement made 

 by Essex, 1 most cordially agree. It is, that to 

 understand a cow, "she must be summered and 

 wintered." "You cannot," he says, "l)Ogin to 

 form a true idea of the value of a cow, from the 

 product of one week, or one month ; it must be 

 fur the season entire, with an average fair feed." 

 Nothing can be more true. And if our societies 

 would ofier their premiums upon such plan, 1 

 should have more confidence in the good to result 

 therefrom. 



Not by way of boasting of what Essex calls my 

 "improved stock," but solely to induce him to 

 liunt up a return, for an equal period of time, 

 from as many cows, even thougli hornless, and ill- 

 looking, and entirely native, I sulyoin from my 

 dairy ))Ook a statement extending "from Jan. 1, 

 1854, to Jan. 1, 1855. 



I kept 13 cows and a bull, 12 of which cows 

 constituted my dairy, and three of these heifers 



with their first calves. They have Ixjcn in milk 

 for very unequal periods during the year. The 

 greatest number oi" days during the above period 

 in which any one has given milk, has been 337, 

 and the least number for any has been 20. 



To illustrate, a cow was dried the 13th day of 

 February, and calved the 20th May, subsequent- 

 ly. Now, in making my account, I deduct from 

 the 3G5 days of the year, the numljer between 

 Feb. 13 and May 20, and call her in milk 2G9 

 days, and so with the others. 1 find then that the 

 aggregate number of days' milking of the 12 cows 

 is 2048, and the number of pounds of butter 

 yielded, for the above period, is 229G 12-lG. 



Look again at this matter in another light. In 

 1853, I moved upon my present farm. 1 churned 



May 9 37 lbs. 1 oz. butter 



May 16 55 " 12 



May 23 tj5 " 4 " 



May30 , 66 " 7 " 



On the 13th day of May, Flora McDonald, a 



full blood Ayrshire cow, calved; the day previous 

 to which I turned to pasture. I stop the account 

 here, because previous to another churning otlier 

 cows had calved. Let us see how it was in 1854, 

 in the lot of cows in which this same Flora was 

 placed for trial. 



May 1, churned 19 Ihs. 2 oz. 



Way 8 201b3. 3 oz. 



May 15 32 lbs. 5 oz. 



May 22 39 lbs. 13 oz. 



May 29 U lbs. 9 oz. 



Two of these six cows calved May 2d; and three 

 had calved previously. Flora calved May 20, 

 sul)sequently to the time of turning to pasture. 



In 1852, on a farm where tlie pasturage was 

 I)ctter in quantity and quality, I kept eight cows, 

 only one of which I now have, and 



May 3, churned 21 lbs. 13 oz. 



May 10 23 lbs. 3A oz. 



May 17 26 lbs. 11 oz. 



May 24 38 lbs. 



May 31 49 lbs. 3i oz. 



What conclusion will Essex draw from this? 



There is no doubt that the six cows, as Esses 

 says, of "improved breed," in May, 1854, upon 

 a farm where the pasturage is poor beyond ques- 

 tion, made nearly as much butter as eight co^vs 

 did, in the same period of 1852, where the pas- 

 turage was good, and of more than ordinary qual- 

 ity for butter. 



The comparison of the two dairies, for these 

 two years, can, perhaps, be profitably pursued. 

 And it stands thus : 



8 cows of 1852, in good pastur- 

 age — Butter. 



May 1.58 lbs. 15 or. 



.June ISl lbs. 1 oz. 



July 165 lbs. 1 oz. 



.\u-ust 141 lbs. 12 oz. 



September 120 lbs. 10 oz. 



767 7 



6 cows of "improved breed," in 

 1854, in poor pasturage. 



May 156 lbs. 



June 240 11)3. 4 oz. 



July 176 lbs. 13.J oz. 



Au;,'ust 147 lbs. 6 oz. 



24 days in Sept.134 lbs. 2 oz. 



854 



8i 



It may be said that the last was a l)cttcr butter 

 season than that of 1852. By no means. The 

 pasturage was better? tjuite the reverse. The 

 truth is, tiie stock was l)etter, while the feed was 

 poorer. The rajiid decline from June telb the 

 story of the pasturage, pretty well. 



In 1852 I did my own milkinfj. In 1854, be- 

 ing incapacitated, personally, I had eight differ- 

 ent milkers ; while, during both periods, the best 

 dairy woman in the world (my own wife) had 



