No. 11. 



The Dairy. 



331 



For tlie Fanners' Cabinet. 



The Dairy. 



Mr. Editor, — There is no one who loves 

 to read "all about farming" better than I do, 

 nor is any one more ready to admit, that for 

 a single dollar a year spent in the subscrip- 

 tion to an agricultural periodical, we may 

 often derive information of the value of hun- 

 dreds; but really, we now and then meet with 

 strange accounts in the pages of some of these 

 journals, when detailing their crops of beets, 

 corn, potatoes, &,c., and to which 1 would add 

 butter, as I have at this time my attention 

 turned to that item, by the perusal of an arti- 

 cle in the "Central New York Farmer," a 

 work published at Rome, Oneida county, in 

 which the writer, after acknowledging the 

 enjoyment which he has experienced in the 

 hospitality of Col. J. M. Sherwood, proceeds 

 to describe the Colonel's "choice lot of short- 

 horns," to which I am sure I have no objec- 

 tion, for I can readily believe that to one at 

 all acquainted with, or interested in the breed 

 of live stock, such an opportunity must have 

 been a real treat. He particularizes the cow 

 Daisy, as a great milker, from whom 17 lbs. 

 of butter have been made per week; and re- 

 marks, that " this is evidence of her sustain- 

 ing the character awarded to the Durhams 

 in the London markets, of being the best 

 milkers that can be had." But this is a but- 

 ter cow, and it by no means follows that she 

 is, therefore, a great milker, ior which pecu- 

 liar property cows are preferred in the Lon- 

 don dairies; nor are they preferred, even 

 there, for their milking properties alone, an- 

 other object being, to procure those animals 

 which, after being milked for a season, will 

 come earliest to the butcher, and return a 

 considerable portion of the first purchase- 

 money in the shape of beef, to which purpose 

 they are uniformly devoted when they go 

 dry, no dairyman, or more properly, milkman, 

 ever thinking of rearing calves, even from his 

 very best cows, the most valuable of them 

 being devoted to the butcher, oftentimes with- 

 out extra feeding — a circumstance perhaps 

 not generally known to persons in this coun- 

 try. Now, without saying more than that 

 17 lbs. of butter per week is a very large 

 quantity to be made from one cow, I would 

 pass on to the writer's interesting inquiry — 

 " Why should the farmer stock his farm with 

 inferior cows (!) from which he can realize 

 only 8 or 10 pounds of butter per week, when 

 by a little care and attention he might obtain 

 those which would yield him double that 

 quantity 1 Surely no good reason can be 

 given; and yet it is extremely difficult to in- 

 duce farmers to step out of their ordinary 

 track to accomplish an improvement of such 

 vital importance to their best interests." 



Upon this very singular passage I had in- 

 tended to make some remarks, but it is so 

 outre that I would merely ask the Editors of 

 the Central New York Farmer — a work, by 

 the bye, which bids fair to become one of our 

 leading journals — if they can inform us what 

 trade the writer of the above article happens 

 to hel Certainly he is no farmer; and if it 

 be added, he will never become one, it ought 

 not to be deemed a harsh conclusion. It is 

 in perfect keeping, when he says, " When 

 our farmers have before them the evidence 

 of their senses to convince them, they will, 

 it is presumed, avail themselves of the oppor- 

 tunities offered ; and but a short time will 

 have elapsed before we shall witness an en- 

 tire change in the appearance of the stock in 

 that section of country." He adds : " We 

 were very much gratified with our visit, and 

 we hope ere long to renew it," in which hope 

 I cordially join, as it will afford him a little 

 experience in the matter, of which he seema 

 to stand wofully in need. 



Now, I live in a dairy country, and yet I 

 have never seen a cow that would give 17 

 lbs. of butter a week, let alone 20; though, 

 to be sure, an extra 3 pounds per week, after 

 once the Rubicon is passed, would not be a 

 very great matter ! No, mine are all inferior 

 cows — mere 8 and 10 pounders — and so are 

 my neighbours' ; but we only want " the evi- 

 dence of our own senses to convince us;" 

 when it \s presumed we shall be glad to avail 

 ourselves of any opportunity that may offer, 

 for working an entire change in our circum- 

 stances, although in the opinion of the above 

 writer, it is extremely difficult to induce 

 farmers to step out of their ordinary track 

 to accomplish any improvement of vital im- 

 portance to their own interests. This state 

 of things is no doubt sincerely deplored by 

 our friends of the quill ; but I hardly know 

 how to render farmers less obtuse and obdu- 

 rate, unless they would set to work and fabri- 

 cate a number of these creamers, and exhibit 

 to our sober senses their ability to make 18 

 or 20 pounds of butter per week ; — then, I 

 guess they would not lie long on hand, diffi- 

 cult as it is to induce farmers to step out of 

 their ordinary jog-trot to accomplish any im- 

 provement, be it even to their vital interest 

 to do so. There is a little jeu d'esprit, on 

 the way in which matters are sometimes 

 dished up for the farmers, at p. 34 of the 5th 

 vol. of the Cabinet, which is worth re-perusing; 

 and with its closing remark I shall conclude. 



"Seriously, we have too much of this sort 

 of trash mixed up in our agricultural reading; 

 it might be amusing to others, but to practical 

 men it is anything but interesting, and often 

 operates as an antidote to matter of much more 

 importance, when met in conjunction with it." 



May 29. 1842. Jacob LiST. 



