326 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



APRIL IS, lS4;kl 



A.Nn HORTICULTURAL RFG18TER. 



Boston, VVednesuay, April 12, 1843. 



THE MILK BUSINESS OF BOSTON. 

 We have made some inquiry upon tliis subject, and 

 learned thai one man brings in upon the Worcester Rail- 

 Road, about two hundred thousand gallons annually. 

 This is supposed to be about one-tenth of all that is sold 

 in the city. Two millions of gidlons per year is the es- 

 timated amount of annual consumption in Boston. This 

 at 20 cts. per gallon costs the citizens four jiundrcd thou- 

 sand dollars per year. And supposing the population 

 to be 100,01)0, this gives to each inhabiliint yearly 20 

 gallons, or a small fraction less than half a pint per day. 

 The share of each person seems not to be large. We 

 believe, however, that there are few cities on the globe 

 where milk is so extensively used as here. London 

 with its vast population of something like a million and 

 a half, is said to cmsume only 2,.'j00,000 gallons in the 

 year. We are glad that our own citizens can be fur- 

 nished so abundantly with this wholesome article of 

 food. The railroads will always ensure them a supply, 

 should they be willing lo pay the farmers a remunera- 

 ting price. 



The dwellers in the city of " notions" have a notion 

 that they do pay the farmers a good price for milk 

 Five or six cents per quart is usually given. This does 

 pay the farmers of the immediate vicinity, a» well as 

 Ihey get paid for most of their productions. But can 

 those farmers live, who sell milk at their doors at 10 cts. 

 per gallon in summer and 12 in winter, or at an average 

 of 11 cents.' Many such farmers there are — and some 

 81-11 at lower rates than this; and yet the milk dealer 

 ■rets no more than a fair compensation for his labors, ex- 

 penses and risks. 



Can these farmers live ? We may say to the inhabi- 

 tants of the city, that a cow will not yield, on the ave- 

 rage, a gallon of milk per day through the year; 300 

 gallons per cow is as much as the farmer can expect his 

 herd to average ; and this too, without allowing the calf 

 to take a supply for mure than two days. On one good 

 farm in this vicinity, where there are kept about twenty 

 good cows, which are well kept, and well supplied with 

 roots in winter, an exact account is kept, of the yield of 

 milk, and even this extra herd does not come quite up 

 to a gallon each per day. Though there are cowa in 

 this herd that will give four or five gallons per day, for 

 some weeks of the year, yet the whole do not come up 

 to the one gallon each, for the 365 days. 



The necessary inference is, that the farmer will not 

 get more than 33 dollars per year on each cow. Ten 

 cows will bring him in not more than 330 dollars. And 

 what is the cost to him .' If his cnws are good enough 

 to yield yearly 300 gallons, they are worth near 20 dol- 

 lars apiece : if he keeps them well enough to have them 

 yield the 300 gallons, ihey will require the value of 

 three tons of good hay per cow. Twotons, or an equiv- 

 alent in roots or grain in winter, and pasturing in sum- 

 mer and autumn, equal in value to another ton. The 

 hay must be reckoned at a low rate, to give any profit. 

 Or we may estimate the expense in another v;ay. A 

 competent and trustworthy man" will cost 150 dollars a 

 year in wages, and 78 for board — in all, $228. To cut 

 and make the two tons of hay for winter use, will cost 

 six dollars, or for a herd often cows, 60 dollars. To do 

 the milking, would take, we judge, an hour and an half 

 each day. This, if we allow 12 hours as a day's work, 

 will require 45 days, and cost about 34. To take the 

 cows to and from the pasture in summer, for six months. 



will, on most farms, require half an hour each day, or 

 about six dollars. To tend this stock properly through 

 the six cold months, will require li.ilf his time, and cost 

 (ncit one-fourth of the year's wages and board, which 

 would be 57 dollars, but) about fifty dollars. Then to 

 handle over and compost and spread upon the land the 

 manure from each cow, so carofully and faithfully as to 

 keep up the fertility of the fields, would cost in man 

 and team, at least five dolhirs fur each cow, or fifty dol- 

 lars in all. We have, ihen, in items of cash — 



Hay making, $60 00 



Milking, 34 00 



Driving cows, 6 00 



Tending herd at the barn, 50 00 



Working over and applying manure, 50 00 



Total, 9:200 00 



Subtracting this sum from the 330 dollars' income, 

 there is lefj as income on the property invested, $130 

 And how much is thatpjoperty .' We estimate that the 

 land which will keep a cow the twelve months, with 

 the barn-room needed for lior accommodation, is worth 

 $250 ; or the land which will summer and winter well 

 ten cows together, with the barn that will well protect 

 them and the hay, is worth $2500 : add to this the worth 

 of the cows themselves, or $200, and we have $2700 

 investment. Six per cent, on this is $102 — while the 

 income above the expenses is only $130. 



This estimate of expense is as low as our acquaintance 

 with the subject will possibly allow us lo make it. The 

 condition of the farmer is here exhibited in a more fa- 

 vorable light than the majority of them find it in fact. 

 It will be obvious then, that those of them who owe 

 money — and ibey are many — are going behind-hand. 

 They pay six per cent, interest, and their investment 

 yields them only live. In this calculation we have al- 

 lowed nothing for house rent, excepting what may be 

 supposed to come in as a part of the cost of one man's 

 board — and the board is reckoned at the low rate of 

 $1 50 per week. 



We can say to the city buyers of milk, that if their 

 bills were all paid promptly and frequently, Ihe milk- 

 men who go between the farmers and them, might be 

 able lo do well at a less advance than they now ask. 

 But whilo the expenses of collection and the losses con- 

 tinue as great as they now are, these milk-dealers are 

 not understood to be making much money. 



Some of the farmers in the immediate vicinity of the 

 cily, who retail their milk, get larger incomes from their 

 cows than we have named, and may perhaps do better 

 than the more distant ones. But the higher prices of 

 land where they live, and the expense of going to mar- 

 ket once or twice every day, will keep them from mak- 

 ing fortunes rapidly. 



true in many instances. Bui salt spread broadcast in I 

 spring upon the garden, at the rate of 10 or 12 bushi 

 to the acre, will do much to destroy the worms; a 

 sand or sandy wash from ihe road-side, if plentifully i 

 plied, will greatly enrich this soil. The manures y 

 have been applying year after year, have caused the « 

 getnble malters there to bear an undue proportion to t 

 sandy matters. Sail and sand for these soils whi 

 have been long cultivated, will be worth more than 8 

 plications of common manures. If it be not convenie 

 to carl sand, then, at your conveaience, take the 

 and trench your garden deep ; bring up lour or five i 

 ches of the subsoil and mix it in with the soil. Tf 

 will be of great and lasl'ng benefit. Where you do th 

 you may get good potatoes, free from worms. 



Those who ae within reach of the sea-shore, w 

 find the beach sand the best of all applications lo the 

 long-tilled gardens. This will furnish both the silii 

 and the salt — the bones to the plants, and the deatl 

 drug to the worms 



THE GARDEN. 



The kitchen garden is Hie portion of the farm that 

 many farmers are prone to neglect most of all, and yet 

 it is the part which when well tfinded, contributes more 

 to the comfort and health of the family, and as much lo 

 economy in living as any other spot of land of the same 

 size on the farm. Good vegetables are agreeable to ihe 

 palate and healthful in the warm season. An abundant 

 supply of these lessens the desire to purchase fresh 

 meal, and also diminishes the drafts upon Ihe beef and 

 pork barrels. 



But, says the farmer, things never grow well in my 

 garden, though it has been manured year after year, all 

 my days, and is rich enough, yet I never gel any thing 

 from it that half pays its cost. Worms will spoil pota- 

 toes and cabbages, and almost every thing else. This is 



CATTLE SHEDDING THEIR HORNS. | 



" Cattle shed their horns when three years old." S 

 says an article which we copied last week from Johi 

 son's Agricultural Dictionary. We have been charge 

 with endorsing the correctness of this statement, becaus 

 we copied it without comment. Not so. We often h 

 others speak (iir themselves, without objecting to wha 

 they say, even when we have no faith in their assertions 

 This assertion that cattle shed their horns, is so obvi 

 ously incorrect, if understood literally and fully, that wi 

 asked ourselves what the intelligent writer could mean 

 We said to ourself, lie may mean no more than Iha 

 when the animal is three yeais old, the outer portion o 

 the horn is loosened from the head, and a ring or wrinkl 

 grows there and connects the horn thus loosened, will 

 the head. This is not much of a shcddivg^ to be sure 

 but we thought it possible that the writer meant no mor 

 than this, and we lei his remarks go without commeni 

 The extract is from a new work, ju.^l coming befor 

 American fiirmers, in a cheap form. It contsins sevc 

 ral statements thai seem to us incorrect, and that creal 

 some distrust as to its being of very great value, as 

 work to be relied upon. 



THE SEASON. 

 The snow dissolved but slowly previously to Friday 

 April 7th. Since then the temperature has been highei 

 and the snow has been disappearing. The greater par 

 of the ground in the vicinity of the city is now bare 

 and a little plowing has been done. 



RIASS. HORTICULTUIiAL SOCIETY. 



EXHIBITION OF FRUITS. 



Saturday^ ^prit 1, 1843. 

 By Samuel Pond, of Csinbridgeport — Ai»brotle d' H 

 ver and Beurre Easter Pears. Although past their primi 

 they were sufficiently good to warrant the varieties 

 place in every well selected orchard or garden of fru 

 trees. For the Committee, 



B. V. FRENCH. 



Bpys^ and Girls' Magazine. — The young will read ti; 

 April No. with pleasure and advantage. This period 

 cal deserves extensive circulation. Published by T. i 

 Carter & Co. 



llobert Merry's Museum. — The April No. contains il 

 first of" Little Leaves for Little Readers." The slorii 

 are simple and good. Bradbury, Soden &. Co. publisi 

 ers, 10 School street. 



