Vol. IX.— No. 34. 



AND HORTICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



267 



n\anil., exotic or native varieties, possesses very 

 _:;ii;u cxoi'llonco. Any inlbrniation concerning it 

 \. MiiUl lie adding to tlie stock of our linowledgc 

 _ui)Oii lliis important subject and probably gratify 

 others besides your correspondent. M. 



Berlin, Ct. Feb.'22, 1831. 



MILCH COWS. 



Mr Fesse.nde.v — ' A Rustic' is informed that 

 Long Horns give hotter milk, hut not so much in 

 quantity as the Short Horns. Tlie best of tlie 

 Short Horns with the richest keep that Old Eng- 

 land can afford, are said to give 3G quarts wine 

 measure per day. 



The celebrated cow Bclina, imported by Col. 

 Powel, is said when in England with her first calf 

 ;o have given upwards of 4 gallons of milk wine 

 tieasure at a meal, or 8 gallons per day, but since 

 ler arrival in Pennsylvania, there is no account of 



ter exceeding 26 quarts per day. John P. Rlilnor, 

 sq. Recording Secretary of Penn.Agric. Society, 

 lertifies ' this cow has had no other food thau slop 

 >f Indian meal,clover and orchard grass, has yielded 

 repeatedly by measurement 26 quarts within the 

 !4 hours.' She was undoubtedly the best cow 



at was imported by Col. Powel. 



The she of the improved Durham Short Horns, 

 Ihe quaiility and richness of the food they require, 

 lender thein objectionable for this part of the coun- 

 ty. Ver}' few of us are able to keep our cows 

 clover and orchard grass up to their eyes, and 

 lupply them with as much Indian meal as they 

 lan eat. 



The JVorth Devons give rich milk, but in small 



antity ; the llerofords, and Sus:^excs give more 

 n quantity and rich in quality; they all produce 

 (ood working and beef oxen, more especially the 

 wo former. 



The Fifeshire cou-s are small and usually hiack ; a 



food Fife cow will give from 5 to 7 gallons of milk 

 er day : from 7 to 9 pounds of butter and from 



(0 to 12 poimds of cheese per week, tron weight, 



E4 ounces to the poimd,) for some months after 



Blving. It is said that a Fife bullock of 40 stone 

 'ill bring an C(pial and often a higher price at the 



london market than an English bullock 10 stone 



leavier and equally fat. 

 Tiie Aldernojs are very small but give very rich 



■lilk, and when well kept give a fair (iroportionate 



luantlty for their size. 

 It is said in the Chahiis of Grayers in Switzer- 

 nd, there arc cows which yield each from 60 

 I 64 quarts of milk a day, but thej' arc almost 



3 large as Ele])hants, not very well calculated to 

 U themselves by grazing on our gravelly hills, and 

 orn out plains, but better adapted for the intervals 

 f the Connecticut, or the alluvions of the Missis- 

 ppi. 



The Galiotrrn/, a polt breed ratlier under size, 

 revailing color black or dark brindle, give more 

 id richer milk than any other imported stock in 

 oportion to their size and keep. Seven quarts of 

 leir milk will produce cream sufficient to make 

 pound of butter. These cattle are sometimes sent 

 om their native jiastures in Scotland directly to 

 mithficld, a distance of 400 miles ami sold at 

 ice to the butcher ; and in spring they are often 

 town in Norfolk immediately after their arrival, in 

 ! good condition as, or even better than, when 

 ley began their journey. With full feeding 

 ere is perhaps no breed that sooner attains ma- 

 irity. They fatten kindly on the best parts, the 

 t being well intermixed or marbled and their 

 Jsh is of the finest quality. Of this breed there 



, is a variety termed Suffolk Duns, they arc also pid- 

 [ led but pns.sess little of the beauty of the original 

 stock, and are chiefly remarkable for the abun- 

 dance of milk given by the cows. A good cow 

 in prime will give 8 gallons of milk a day, a great 

 part of the season 6 gallons; best milkers red 

 brindle, yellowish cream color or light dun: (See 

 Coventry on live stock, p. 28, and Col. Pickering 

 on improving the native breed of New England 

 cattle, New England Farmer, vol. iv. p. 82.) A 

 few years since Galloways might have been ob- 

 tained of pure blood in Mass. either at Chelsea, 

 Noddle's Island or Shirley, but it is feared they have 

 been adulterated and deteriorated by crossing with 

 the Short Horns. 



It is recommended to 'A Rustic' that he should 

 select the best cows through the state without re- 

 gard to breed, size or color ; jierhaps he may find 

 one or two in a county of the first quality, that 

 will amply pay him for his journey. It is said 

 that Reading has produced a cow that has ex- 

 ceeded 20 quarts of milk a day ; also Somerset 

 and Plymouth, and -50 years ago^there was one in 

 Plynrpton that gave 15 quarts a day of the yellow- 

 est and best of milk, 5 quarts of which were said 

 to have produced cream enough for a pound of 

 the yellowest butter. This kind of selection was 

 the method pursued by the late enlightened agri- 

 culturist raid distinguished philanthropist, the never 

 to be forgotten Fisher Ames, and he then had the 

 best set of cows and the best dairy in the common- 

 wealth. COLONUS. 

 March 5, 1831. 



1,IVE FENCES. 



[Extrnct or l\ ti-lter from Calph Kirk, E«q. n dist-inotiislicii fiu- 

 mernsar Wilmiiict'nn, Dclnware, lo Dr Benjamin SlinrtlelT, lies- 

 ton, ciimraunicuted for publicalion in the New Ensl.inil Fanner.] 



Respected Friend — I duly received thy favor of 

 the 11th, which I feel bound to answer as early as 

 in\' other engagements would admit. Though I am 

 not any longer a farmer, I feel gratified if I can 

 aid them in their laudable pursuits, and more espe- 

 cially in live fencing, which occupied my close 

 attention u|)vvards of twenty years ^Jracd'caW^ ; my 

 neighborhood evinces the benefit of it. 



I communicated my knowledge then on that 

 head to the public, through the American Faruier 

 published in Baltimore. Sir John Sinclair, of 

 Edinburgh, Scotland, President of the Board of 

 Agriculture in Great Britain, seeing that jiaper, 

 wrote for some seed of the two kinds that I had 

 there recommended as the best kinds for fencing. 

 I shall give the direction noio that'I gave him, to 

 manage the seed, which after many trials I found 

 successful ; he followed my direction and although 

 the vessel that carried them over, did not leave 

 Philadelphia until the tenth of March, 1820, he 

 received them by way of Liverpool, and planted 

 so as to obtain a growth of the Virginia kind 

 eighteen inches high, that season, and says they 

 will be a great acquisition to to that country ; and 

 then ordered on behalf of his gardener, /e)i;)oun(/s' 

 sterling worth of seed, as that kind had never 

 been introduced there before ; the Newcastle kind 

 had, by being planted in gardens as a curiosity ; I 

 give their common names with which farmers are 

 most familiar. Those I sent of the Virginia had 

 been rubbed or triturated when gathered in the 

 fall, and hung up in a bag in an airy place, where 

 they would not he depiived of their vegetative 

 powers, and I packed them up and jdaced on the 

 top of some quicks that I had placed in the box 

 previously. 



The Newcastle or Cockspur kind 1 placed in 

 like manner in the berry without taking the pulp 

 ofi", as that kind will not vegetate tlie first sea- 

 son by any mode yet discovered, liut must lay de- 

 posited in the earth, and under the influence of 

 wet and frost two winters. The Virginia was treat- 

 ed similar many years as it was thought necessary. 

 IJiit many years past 1 obtained some cleaneil seed 

 that I gave two d(dlars a quart for, the beginning 

 of March, on ])ur[iose to try if I could not vegetate 

 them without a winter's frost, I put them into 

 warm water two or three day.s, had them in a ves- 

 sel standing on otie of our open stoves whose heat 

 never was too warm to bear the hand — then put 

 them on a suitable vessel, spread them, and wa- 

 tered so as to get the action of frost as much as 

 the latenes of the season wouhl afford ?a few days 

 after I set them in my meat or smoke house to 

 keep them secure from some pigeons that frequent- 

 ed the place ; the smoke house was warm by 

 smoking the meat, and in a few days, before I was 

 aware, I was informed my seeds were vegetating. 

 I hastened to put them in a bed, jirepared and 

 sowed them, raking tliem to cover, my object was 

 obtained — to find a short time was sufficient to 

 vegetate the seeds, and my direction to Mr Sinclair 

 was simply to immerse them into warm water a 

 few days previous to planting, to soften the hard 

 shell inclosing the kernel, after keeping in a dry 

 state through the winter. His success very fully 

 proves that is all that was necessary. 



I think there was something published at one 

 time of my recommending hot or boiling water, 

 as that was once my opinion. But I had reason 

 afterwards of retracting, as I believe my neigh- 

 bor injureil his seed by so doing. The cockspur 

 will not so easily vegetate — they are naturally a 

 strong rugged growing shrub, and will make a 

 strong hedge with good management ; but the Vir- 

 ginia kind is easier managed in training. That part 

 is essentially necessary, but too lengthy to say any- 

 thing about in this coninuinication. 



GRAFTING GRAPES. 



Mr Fessenden — Some of my friends suc- 

 ceeded remarkably well the last season, though a 

 bad one for the purpose) in obtaining fine grapes 

 by grafting. This mode of improving one of the 

 most delTcious and costly of our fruits, seems to 

 me worthy general adoption. Into the vines 

 or roots of ordinary and even native grapes, the 

 black Hamburgh and other rich kinds may be 

 engrafted, so as to bear in profusion and ri|)en the 

 first year. Will some of your correspondents, 

 with whom this subject is familiar, favor your 

 readers with an accurate practical account of the 

 proper season for engrafting grajies, the best scions, 

 the different modes of performing the operation, 

 and the subseciuent management. If practical 

 horticulturists are not in need information, it will be 

 gratefully received at least by An Amateur. 



Dutch Cheeses. — It is computed that 30 millions 

 of pounds of cheeses are annually made in Hol- 

 land ; iriuch of it goes to England. Edam ia 

 North Holland is celebrated for its trade in this 

 article, 6,660,631 lbs. having been weighed 

 tliere in one season. The two great divisions of 

 Dutch Cheese are Sweet Milk and Curds. The Edam 

 cheese is all sweet milk cheese, which is again di~ 

 vided, according to its rind, iuto red and white. 



