14 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Jan. 



"In about five days I noticed a great change in 

 my milk, the cows yielded two quarts eacli per day 

 more, but what surprised me most was the change 

 in the quality ; instead of poor winter cream and 

 butter, they assumed the appearance and character 

 of rich summer produce; it only required 20 min- 

 utes for churning, instead of two to three hours ; 

 there was also a considerable increase in the quan- 

 tity of butter, of which, however, I did not take 

 any particular notice. My neighbor's cow gave 

 three quarts per day in addition, and her milk was so 

 changed in appearance that the consumers to whom 

 he sold it became quite anxious to know the 

 cause." 



Perhaps some of our readers are ready to in- 

 quire if the editor of the Farmer really supposes 

 that Americans are going to follow the example of 

 this Englishman, — heat up their stables to sixty 

 degrees, while their kitchens are down to zero ; 

 purchase a steaming apparatus, and then deal out 

 to their cows three times a day such a compound 

 of doctors' stuff as is here recommended — "rape- 

 cake," "bran," "bean-straw," "kohl rabi," "bean-j 

 meal," &c. — and then weigh all their cattle once a 

 month, to see just how many pounds they gain a 

 week ? "We expect no such thing. But we do ex- 

 pect that such examples will set us to thinking, 

 and show us that some little improvement in our 

 management of stock is as possible and as desirable, 

 as the improvement of breeds. 



J^or the New England Farmer. 



CATTLE SHOWS. 



from a crossing of fancy with native stock, is now 

 an important feature in most cattle shows, and 

 promises the most valuable results. The speci- 

 mens of butter and cheese exhibited have been 

 very abundant, and remarkably fine. The invent- 

 ive faculties of the Yankees have been at work as 

 usual. Quite a number of new implements and 

 labor-saving machines have been brought out dur- 

 ing the year, several of which will be found of per- 

 manent value. 



But the prominent feature of the year in most 

 of the cattle shows has been the exhibition of hors- 

 es, or rather, the trotting and racing of horses. — 

 Horse-jockeys, horse-fanciers, fast horses and "fast 

 women" have been the most conspicuous objects 

 on most of the "fair grounds," the present season, 

 jThe reports of our agricultural exhibitions have 

 consisted largely of descriptions of the performan- 

 ces of these horses, and their male and female dri- 

 vers. The time made by the horses, and the skill 

 exhibited by the drivers, related in all the dialect 

 of the race- course, tvith all the "pomp and circum- 

 stance" connected therewith, has been the promi- 

 nent feature of these reports. The slang of the 

 horse-jockey and the phrases of the horse-breeder 

 have been freely introduced into our family news- 

 papers, and rendered familiar to all classes of the 

 community. This change in the character of oar 

 cattle shows has come over them with great sud- 

 denness, and has spread far and wide, like a sweep- 

 ing epidemic, and the taint of its contagion has af- 

 fected, for the time, all classes, ages and sexes iia 

 the community. It is but a few years since the 

 race-course at Cambridge was considered by all the 

 good citizens of that ancient town, as a nuisance, 

 and they persevered in their efforts, until the nuis- 

 sance was "abated." But now, without any appa- 

 rent cause, nearlv all our societies that own "fair 



