]\EW ENGI.AND FARMElt. 



PUBLISHED BT J. B. RUSSELL, AT NO. S 2N0RTH MARKE T STREET, (a t the Agricultural VVarehouse.)-T. G. FESSENDE.v' 



tPUBLISr 

 VOL. IX. 



BOSTOIV, WEDNESDAY EVENING, JUNE 15, 1831. 



NO. 48. 



is an able essay on an important topic. Ed. valaable i)aits, vvlietlicr for buef or milk— ami this | may tliink that tlic; an of l.iecdiiijr c-ninot bu r;'ir 

 3N BRKKDING FOR A D.MRY STOCK. "* ""• So much has been most satisfactorily ' • " ~ 



IVIr, Fi'ssr.NDKx — The subject of breeding for | I'™*'''"'y ''i^ conclusive reasonings of Mr Ciine, 



Dairy Stock, is one of a good deal of interest '''" eminent anatomist, in an essay published by 

 this time. Inquiries are frequently made in ,''''"" '"ig 'i'"e since.* 

 iMversalion which show this to be the case. In j '^'"^ Holderness Breed have the small head and 

 e present state of our knowledge such questions : ''^""'' '""'"S, but they are esteemed in England 



the following appear to the writer not at all too '.'n'l^' better fitted, in general, for the shambles than 

 eiiientary. 



1. V/4tat is meant by 



iSCQsasa^^'avSiiaa^srQ. 



he folio 



siga as that the smaller the refuse parts, the nearer a pure milk-sloe!,; that i.s, a stock descended for ma 

 wil: be the approximation to perfection in the more J ny generations from none but fine milkers. So 



j for tic dairy. An established dairy stock might, 

 particular breed of i 'J" <oi''", 'je raised from them by a careful selec- 



ttle.' I tion of individuals, male mul female, fi-om a milk 



2. Are there one or more breeds of cows f"""^!!- But it would bo too much to say of so 



large a class as the Durham, Denton or Hereford, 

 tlioujh a\l short horns, that bearing either of those 

 nanus, they may be relied upon as good milkers, 

 and n produce uniformly good milkers. 



If llie experience of the country will not bear 

 the writer out in this remark he will be glad to find 

 the dairy" stock so much in advance of bis opin- 

 ion. 



Th3 Devon Cows are not considered in England 

 to be ;o good for milk as some other kinds. And 

 yet lYf Coke, the great Norfolk Farmer, sent to 

 a frend in Maryland, several years ago, a number 

 of D;vonsliire cows, bred by himself, which were 

 rema-kable for quantity and quality of milk. They 

 were bred on the siile of both male au<l female, 

 we p-esume, from animals whose progenitors were 

 distiiguished for this same quality : had he frequent- 

 ly crtssed the blood of the Devons with any of the 

 1 kinds of S^ort Horns, whose descent, iToin 

 dominating, or taking the place of other qual-.'"" equally good stock for milk, had not been so 

 s of more recent standing in either of the pa- *^^" guj'rded, tins same family would in a few gen- 

 erations have given evidences of material deprecia- 

 tion. 



The truth really is, that we have yet the work 

 to do to establish a pure milk breed 



town, by long trial, to be deep milker 

 3. To what extent is breed to be relied upon 

 the selection of a stock for milk-.' 

 I propose to make a few suggestions by way 

 answer to these questions. 



There is another which I shall say something 

 on in another paper with your permission. 



On what else, besides breed, depends deep milk- 



It is nothing new to say that the object of 

 seding (in a technical sense,) is to perpetuate 

 the progeny, the form, constitution, and partic- 

 r qualities of one or both the parents. But 

 at I wish to ask attention to, and to enforce in 

 •5 communication, is the very important ftict — 

 t the longer any distinguishing quality, mark, 

 peculiarity, can be traced back in the ancestry, 

 more deeply will it be fixed in the descendant; 



A particular cow may chance to be a fine milk- 

 but if the parents, for some generations, were 

 remarkable in the same way, her heifer calves 



1 not probably be good milkers — at least no 



•endence can be placed upon them. If the 

 is of a pure milk stock the chances are verj 



t:h increased of course. 



t is not too much to say from experience, here 



1 in England, that of all the varieties of cows. 



ignated by the terms. Short Horns, Long Horns! 



. Hornless — or by the names, more limited in 

 r application, as Devon, Hereford, Holderness, 



To accomplish this, we must have a class of vvas accidental in them 



ried so far as to secure a uniformity of cxcellonco 

 in this particular quality in the progeny. The an- 

 swer can only be that they liave attained to that 

 degree of perfection in England — that for half a 

 century thorough breeders, have been successful in 

 this particular as in others. It is gratifying to be 

 able to state anyone thing on this most important 

 subject, entitled to rank as an axiom and of a truly 

 scientific character. 



We say that thornugli breeders have been en- 

 tirely successful in England. Not that the fanners, 

 generally in England have reached that degree of 

 excelleirte. This would be far from the truth. 

 All that is true even there, is the invaluable fact 

 that particular families of milch rows are there 

 known to transmit their peculiarity, as great milk- 

 ers, with uniform certainty, to their progeny. This 

 fact is as valuable, for our instruction and example 

 'as if the same thing were true of all the milch cows 

 in England. On the other hand, let the following 

 statement have its due weight, going to show, as 

 it does, that it is of some consequence for breed- 

 ing from what family an animal derives its descent. 

 ' Mr \Ypodward of Birlingham, Worcestershire, 

 England, purchased twelve deep milking Yorkshire 

 cows witiiout pretensions to breed, or disposition 

 to fatten — with these cows he used a high-bred 

 Hereford Bull — and in the progeny lost the disposi- 

 tion to milk which the mothers had ; acquiring 

 that of laying p» fnt. which was the dislinguialiing 

 merit of the family to wjiich the bull belonged.* 

 Here is a striking case,where high blood enabled 

 one of the parents to propagate his own peculiar 

 excellence, and to prevent the transmission of the 

 peculiar excellence of the mothers— viz. their ten, 

 lency to be great milkers ; because this quality 



fanners who shall lie professed breeders of a dairy 

 stock — they will employ no bulls but such as come 

 of good cows, they will raise no calves but from 

 first rate cows. They will keep the heifers for 

 some generations, sending off to the butchers such 

 as turn out indifferent milkers ; as some there will 

 be, in whom the feiilts of remote parentage will be 

 found to linger — A li^rd thus carefully purged. 



folk, Denton, Bakewell, Alderney, ^c, no ''^"'' '^"'^"yi after a few years, exhibiting, 



of them has been found to give uniformly or if""".'^''^'"'^'^'''/'"" ""'^ '" ''le young, as Me?/ eome 



erally, more or better milk than any other. 



e evidence before the public, abroad and at 

 ne, is contradictory. 



"here have been individual instances of extra- 

 inary milkers among all— and I may go so far 

 3 say families, of extraordinary milkers, among 



t has been too often taken for granted, that a 

 ■dcow will produce good calves without inquiry 

 3 her parentage or that of the bull to which 

 is sent — and prejudices have been raised in 

 or of marks and certain appearances, in such 

 animal, which have no necessary connexion, or 

 te at all, with her faculty as a milker — and such 



Irks have been allowed to determine the choice 

 another cow as infallible signs of a good one. 

 lie most prevalent popular token now is the small 



in will prove a lasting and sure source of increas- 

 ii^ profit to the skilful, intelligent breeder, and an 

 iilnense gain to the country. 



The writer would ask, suppose a young farmer 

 atfhe present moment is about to stock a milk- 

 fam and is willing to pay the full value ofg-oo(/ eows 

 -good, we mean as breeders — where siiall he go 

 (^ them, in New England .' Where shall be be 

 sije to find an established milk breed that will not 

 dlappoint him .' He will find improved breeds 

 eougb — but who will venture to insure him that 

 tb improvement will not be found to consist 

 soften in adaptation to the shambles as to the 

 ftiry .' 



The idea suggested, whether well or ill found- 

 d, let others judge, is that we have not yet 



and not derived from a 



select ancestry, and therefore not firmly establish, 

 ed in the constitution. 



Md and short ;,oni«.— This is so far a good ' 'Massachusetts Agricultural Repository. 



FOR THE NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



BEES WILL SWARiM IN FOUL WEATHER. 

 Dear Sir— I have this spring for the first time," 

 undertaken the management of bees. I purchased 

 a hive in the winter, which a])peared to be very 

 full, and placed it in my garden, giving it an east- 

 ern aspect. On the first of this month, I discover- 

 ed a disposition to swarm, judging from their gath- 

 ering in clusters on the sides of the hive -. since 

 which time, they have been carefully watchedeve- 

 ry day: from 10 A. M. till 4 P. M. except at such 

 times as when the sun was obscured by clouds, 

 feeling perfectly sure of their not leaving the hive, 

 but in a clear sunshine. In consequence of the dull 

 state of the weather, yesterday, I neglected them 

 altogether, and was much surprised, when inform- 

 ed through a neighbor who fortunately saw them, 

 that my bees had swarmed. At this time the sun 

 was, and had been, during the forenoon, obscured, 

 and but few minutes previous to his discovering 

 them, it had rained ; I think it must have rained, 

 during the process of swarming. In chap. 5th of 

 Thaoher's Treatise on Bees, he says, ' it is only on 



•Prize Essay of the Rev. Henry Berry. 



