162 



Extraordinary Butter Cow. — Breeders' Convention. Vol. VIIL 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Extraordinary Butter Coav. 



To THE Editor, — The following letter 

 in relation to a very great yield of butter 

 from one cow, I find in a late number of the 

 American Agriculturist, and I was so much 

 interested with it, that I send it for the Cabi- 

 net, supposing many of its readers may be 

 as much surprised at the statement as my- 

 self To believe that BSj lbs. of butter of 

 the best quality, may be obtained from an 

 individual cow in three weeks, is a matter 

 well worth recording : I confess it seems to 

 me, like a pretty long yarn. The charac- 

 ter, however, of the writer, is endorsed by 

 the Agriculturist, as " one of the most re- 

 spectable citizens of New York, and not at 

 all likely to deceive either himself or others." 

 The cow in question, is without horns, and 

 is believed to be three-fourths Durham ; she 

 is about the ordinary size, of a red and white 

 colour, " with a good spread of hip — a long 

 head, low deep brisket — handles well," and 

 has remarkably large milk veins. Can the 

 vicinity of Philadelphia, equal the cow Em- 

 ma ] I acknowledge myself beat. 



A Dairyman. 



Montgomery co., Pa. 



" The cow Emma, was nine years old last 

 spring; I got her when a calf, from Mrs. 

 Thomas Storm, at Kipp's bay. She was 

 from a cow that she had called the cream 

 breed. This is all the pedigree that I can 

 give. 



" I never, till the summer of 1842, kept 

 her milk separate from three other cows 

 which 1 have, and then, for experiment, I 

 tried it only one week. She then gave 18 

 quarts per day, and her milk made 15 lbs. 

 of butter. During this time she was kept 

 on grass only. The past summer she re- 

 ceived an injury in her spine, and in conse- 

 quence of this, had barely the power to get 

 up, and hardly lived through calving. 



"On the 2ist of May, I commenced keep- 

 ing an account of her milk, and the butter 

 it made. She at no time exeeded 16 quarts 

 per day, and on the 10th of June, being 21 

 days, she had made 65.^ lbs. of butter of the 

 best quality. This was so incredible, that I 

 could scarcely believe my own senses, al- 

 though I weighed the butter at every churn- 

 ing myself I thought I would try again 

 for a day or two. I kept one day's milk by 

 itself, 15i quarts on the 15th of June, and 

 churned it. All the milk was churned, as 

 it appeared to be unnecessary to cream it. 

 I had three pounds eight ounces of butter 

 ready for the table. The next day it was 

 also tried, and it produced three pounds four 



ounces. The first day above, the milk was 

 put in two pans — the other day, only in one 

 pan, which may have made the difference of 

 the quarter of a pound. 



" In September, she only gave 11 to 12 

 quarts per day, and made 10 lbs. of butter a 

 week — further, I have not tried her milk. 

 She was so lame during this time, as scarce- 

 ly to be able to move. She was kept on 

 good pasture, and besides this, I fed her 

 night and morning, with a bushel of cut hay 

 and eight quarts of shorts, which is still her 

 regular feed. Peter H. Schenck." 



Breeders' Convention. 



About forty gentlemen met on Tuesday 

 evening, at seven o'clock, October 17th, at 

 the Repository of the American Institute, 

 agreeably to the circular of the committee 

 of the New York State Agricultural Society, 

 of June last, to form a convention of breed- 

 ers, to take into consideration the establish- 

 ment of some fixed scale of points, which 

 shall form the criteria of the best animals of 

 the different breeds of domestic cattle. 



The convention was organized, by ap- 

 pointing Mr. Bement, of Albany, chairman. 



A motion was then offered and adopted, 

 that the chairman nominate a committee of 

 three, to select officers for the convention. 

 The following gentlemen were appointed 

 for this purpose : — Messrs. Prentice, of Al- 

 bany, Watson, of Connecticut, and Randall, 

 of Massachusetts, who reported — Dr. John 

 A. Pool, of New Jersey, President, Jacob 

 C. Parsons, of New York, Secretary. The 

 above nominations were confirmed by the 

 convention. 



The convention being called to order by 

 the president, the secretary was desired to 

 read the circular, setting forth the object of 

 the convention.* Mr. Prentice, of Albany, 

 then offered a few remarks, stating the im- 

 portance of a knowledge of the distinguish- 

 ing points of excellence of the different 

 breeds of cattle. He was followed by Mr. 

 Watson, of Connecticut, on the same sub- 

 ject, advocating the great superiority of the 

 Short-horn breed. He finished by reading 

 a paper, detailing the points necessary to 

 constitute a superior animal. Mr. Allen, of 

 New York, then rose and spoke in general 

 of the points necessary to constitute good 

 animals of all kinds, and named these to be, 

 1st, a deep wide brisket; 2nd, a general 

 fineness of bone, hair, skin, and small offal; 

 3d, good handling. He then mentioned se- 

 veral minor qualities, which he also consid- 



* See page 382, last volume of the Cabinet, and page 

 69, of current volume. 



