1854. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



165 



and the Devons and Ayshire more butter, in pro- 

 portion, and it is a question whether the cow that 

 gives more cheese and less butter, is not just as 

 valuable as the one which gives the more butter 

 and less cheese. Ayshire stock, he thought, would 

 make the best workers, as he had observed that 

 they came up from the pastures cooler than the 

 other stock, and have evidently better wind, 

 which point was illustrated in a bull which he 

 walked behind a quick stepping horse for several 

 miles, the animal, after being in the barn ten 

 minutes, showing no signs of his journey. He 

 had had more experience with this than other 

 foreign breeds. lie had experimented with na- 

 tive stock, but found that the Ayrshire £ui-ned 

 out best: but yet he would not argue from 

 this that the native cannot be improved, but 

 only that it is not so pure. They can be improved, 

 but a great difficulty is experienced in regard to 

 crosses — there is no certainty about them. In 

 forming a dairy, education is as essential to the 

 cow, as in qualifying the human mind for its du- 

 ties. Cows should be treated kindly, fed Avell, and 

 kept in perfect health from birth. So with work- 

 ing cattle, they should be brought up in the yoke, 

 and learned to work for a living. 



Mr. Cook, of Scituate, inquired how it happened 

 that a cow might give more cheese than butter ? 

 He conceived that the same food was required for 

 both. 



Mr. Brooks replied that caseine and oil, the 

 former a chief ingredient in cheese and the latter 

 in butter, required different nutrition for tlio cow 

 to produce them, as for instance, if he wished to 

 obtain a large quantity of milk, he should feed 

 his cows on succulent matter, such as turnips, car- 

 rots, and the like ; but if he desired butter, he 

 would give them Indian meal, or similar food. 



Mr. BucKJiiNSTER alluded to the necessity of hav- 

 ing a race of good milkers. We ought to give 

 premiums to that man who endeavors to get up a 

 good breed, not to the person who rides about the 

 country and selects the best animals he can find. 

 He did not know why we might not have a race of 

 good animals. In rearing horses we depend on 

 the blood, and we could also depend on it in rais- 

 ing cows, if wo would only give the matter pro- 

 per attention, and select the best animals. He 

 knew of an imported cow, a very handsome ani- 

 mal, costing .$400, which was of little value for 

 milk, and whicli he believed would never bear a 

 calf, Mr. CusiiiNG, of Watertown, sent a man 

 abroad some ten or a dozen years ago, to select 

 some Durhams, but he "had become dissatisfied 

 with them. He probably sent a man who did not 

 understand selecting good cattle, and got imposed 

 upon. Mr. B. gave an account of some stock de- 

 rived from a herd of North Devons imported into 

 Baltimore many years ago. He had six heifers 

 from this stock, from the milk of two of which he 



obtained in a little less than 12 quarts, three 

 pounds of butter. Some of this milk put into a 

 tube eight inches long, yielded two inchesof cream. 

 The milk from all his cows of this breed was equal- 

 ly rich. He thought it would prove a good race 

 for milk. It is superior in form and flesh to the 

 Aldernoy. 



Mr. Brooks expressed the belief that many cows 

 could be picked out which would do just as well 

 as the cases just cited. 



The Chairman referred briefly to the best food 

 for dairy stock. Fresh grass, of course, is the best, 

 but as it cannot always be liad, a substitute is 

 needed; and in his ojiinion, cornstalks raised in 

 drills was the best for fodder. In winter, carrots 

 he conceived to be the best. 



Mr. Dickinson said his farm embraced a good 

 deal of pine plain land,and in summer the feed of 

 the cattle often comes short. A year or two ao-o 

 he accidentially discovered that the long necked 

 summer squash was a most excellent substitute for 

 pasture feed in times of drought. They produce 

 very rich milk, grow rapidly, yield handsomely, 

 and hold on until October. He had two cows, 

 and usually planted twenty hills of squashes, 

 which he broke off green and fed out to his cows 

 at the rate of four bushels per day, — two in the 

 morning and two at night. Others had followed 

 his example, and were greatly pleased with the 

 result. 



Mr. Sprague referred to Mr. Brooks's state- 

 ment of keeping cattle on short feed, in order to 

 make the liones grow, and said he would like to 

 see that gentleman's cattle and his barn. He 

 coul^ remember when it was the practice to keep 

 cattle much out of doors in winter, and feed them 

 on salt hay, some contending that it was necessary, 

 in order to make them hardy ; but they came out 

 poor enough in the spring. In his opinion, if we 

 want good cattle, we must feed them well, and 

 keep them from the cold. All good authorities 

 in stock raising agree on these 2:)oints. 



Mr. Brooks replied that he merely expressed a 

 doubt whether such a system might not be a good 

 one. He thought it a question whether, when 

 feed is as dear as it is generally with us in winter, 

 it is not best to let tlie flesh fall off, and put it on 

 again when feed is cheap. Not to starve tlie stock, 

 but to keep tliem in comfortable condition. He 

 considered it a question whether high or low feed- 

 ing was the most judicious, and for that reason he 

 was trying the experiment. 



Jlr. SuELDON, of Wilmington, remarked in re- 

 gard to feeding stock, young cattle might be fed 

 too highly, if it was intended to keep them to old 

 age ; Init he tliought the fiiilure in nine times out 

 of ten was in not feeding them high enough. As 

 to breeds of stock, in looking l)ack to tlie oxen he 

 had owned, and noticing those lie considered the 

 smartest, he found that tlie Ayrshires M'cre the 



