A N T) 11 O 1{ r I C U L T U U A L li E (i I S T E U . 



NO 5' ND'Tll MMlKK.r STRliKT, (Aouitutfuu*!. WABEiiou«».)-ALLIiN I'UTNAM, EDITOR. 

 t # r - 



TDUUSUED BY JOSEPH URECK & CO., 



BOSTON, WEDNKSDAV KVKNINCS, SEPTEMBER 1, IS-ll. 



[WO. 0. 



N. E. FARMER. 



From KossenJen'a Complete Farmer. 



COWS FOR THE DAIRY. 

 In selecting cons for the dairy, the following iii- 

 icationa sliould bo atteiiiieJ to : — WiJo horns, a 

 lin head and neck, dew-lap large, full breiisu 

 road back, largo deep belly ; the udder capacious 

 jt not too Heshy ; the milch veins prominent, and 

 10 bag tending; lar behind; teats long and laryc ; 

 Littocks broad and lleshy ; tail long, pliablo, and 

 Lall in proportion to tlic size of iho carcass, and 

 e joints short. The .\ldcrney breed gives a very 

 :h milk. The Durham short horns, however, ex- 

 jed tliem as respects quantity ; and wo have the 

 slimony of the Hon. Levi Lincoln, late governor 

 Massachusetts, that the milk of Denton's pi|j- 

 iny, a branch of that race, is not only abundant. 

 It of excellent quality. 



Cows should be milked regularly morning and 

 ening, a^d as nearly as may be at the same 

 urs. At six in the morning and six at night, is 

 good general rule, as tlic times of milking will be 

 ui-distant from each other. But if they are 

 Iked three limes a day, as Dr. Anderson recom- 

 3ndcd, the times may be five, one and eight. He 

 sorted that if cows were full fed, they will give 

 If as much again if milked three times as if only 

 ice. At ttie same time, it would prevent too 

 €at a distension of their bags, to which the best 

 W3 are liable. 



The cow whicli is desired to remain in perfec- 

 n, either for milking or breeding, should not be 

 haustcd by drawing her milk too long after she 

 comes heavy with calf. It is paying too dear 

 a present supply of milk. She should be suf- 

 ed to "o dry at least two months before calving. 

 The expense of keeping cows of a poor breed is 

 great and sometimes greater than that of keep- 

 p the best. If cows are poorly kept, the diffe- 

 nce of breeds will scarcely be discernible by the 

 jduct of their milk. Some have therefore sup- 

 sed that it is the food alone which makes the 

 ds in the quantity and quality of the milk. This 

 pposition is very erroneous, as may be shown by 

 ;ding two cows of similar age, size, &c. on the 

 ne food, the one of a good breed for milk, and 

 other of a different kind, and observing the 

 ferenco in the milk product. No farmer, unless 

 is very rich, can aSbrd to keep poor milch cows. 

 : might almost as well keep a breed of naked 

 scp, such as Swift mentions in Gulliver's Travels. 

 ,e fanner who raises a heifer calf that is from a 

 or milker, or of a breed of little value, is asfool- 

 . as be would be, if, in clearing land, he should 

 rn on the ground the birch, maple, and w.-ilnut, 

 d save white pine and hemlock for fire-wood, 

 jd yet many sell the calves of the best milch 

 w8 to the butchers, because such calves are fat- 

 t! 



Those cows which give the greatest quantity of 

 n milk are most profitable for sucking calves, 

 • rich milk is said not to be so proper food for 



calvoa as milk which is less vahiable for dairy pur- 

 poses. Milk which contains a large proportion of 

 cream, is apt to clog the stomachs of calves; ob- 

 struction [luU a stop to their thriving, and some- 

 times proves fatal. For this roiison it is best that 

 Cftlves should be fed with the milk which first comes 

 from the cow, which is not so rich as that which is 

 last drawn. 



Mr Russel Woodward, in the '• Memoirs of tho 

 New York noard of Ai;riciilture," says, " I have 

 found that younn- cows, the (irst year tlial thoy give 

 milk, may bo made, with careful mi!kiii„' and good 

 keeping, to give milk almost any length of time re- 

 quired, liut if they are left to dry up early in the 

 fall, they will be sure to dry up of their milk each 

 succeeding year, if they have a calf near the same 

 season of the year; and nothing hutfcxtraordinary 

 keeping will prevent it, and that but for a short 

 timg. I have had them dried up of their milk in 

 August, and could not by any means make them 

 give milk much beyond that time in any succeed- 

 ing years." 



A writer in the " Bath and West of England's 

 Society's Papers," states, that if at at any time a 

 good milch cow should go dry before her milk is 

 gone, got a young calf and put it to her, in order to 

 preserve her milk against another year; for it is 

 well known if a*cow goes dry one year, nature 

 will lose its power of acting in future. 



Cowa should be treated with great gentleness 

 and soothoiitiy mild usages, especially when young 

 and ticklish, or when the paps are tender ; in which 

 case the udder ought to be fomented with warm 

 water before milking, and touched with great gen- 

 tleness, otherwise tho cow will be in great danger 

 of contracting bad habit?, becoming stubborn and 

 unruly, and retaining her milk ever after. A cow 

 never gives down her milk pleasantly to a person 

 she dreads or dislikes. Tho udder and paps 

 should be washed with warm water before milking, 

 and care should be taken that none of the water 

 be admitted into the milking pail. 



The keeping of cows in such a manner as to 

 make them give the greatest quantity of milk, and 

 with the greatest clear profit, is an essential point 

 of economy. Give a cow half a bushel of turnips, 

 carrots, or other good roots per day, during the six 

 winter months, besides her hay, and if her summer 

 feed bo such as it should be, she will giva nearly 

 double the quantity of milk she would afford if on- 

 ly kept during the winter in the usual manner; 

 and the milk will be richer and of better quality. 



The carrots or other roots, at nineteen cents a 

 bushel, amount to about eighteen dollars ; the ad- 

 dition of milk, allowing it to be only three quarts 

 a day for three hundred days, at three cents a 

 quart, twentyseven dollars. It should be remem- 

 bered, too, that when cows are thus fed with roots, 

 they consume less hay, and are less liable to seve- 

 ral diseases, which are usually the effects of poor 

 keeping. 



The keeping of cows is very profitable. Al- 

 lowing one to give only six quarts a day, for forty 

 weeks in each year, and this is not a large allow- 

 ' ance, her milk at two cents per quart, will amount 



to upwards of thirtythroo dollars ; which is proba- 

 bly surticietit to purchase her and pay for a yeai'a 

 keeping. 



A farrnnr some years since kept eiglitecn cows 

 on a common, and was often obliged to buy butter 

 for hia family. Tho common was enclosed, and 

 the same person supplied his family, amply with 

 milk and butter from the produce of four cows well 

 kept. 



Great milkers solilom carry much flesh on their 

 bones, but llicy pay as ihry go and never retire in 

 our debt. ' The difliculties in cow-kecping are 

 these: the iixpeiise of their fond is considerable, 

 more especially with respect to any which must 

 be purchased, and if the produce he inconsiderable 

 it may be a losing concern. You may be feeding 

 a sparing milker into flesh, and if you stint her or 

 allow her only ordinary food, you get neither flesh 

 nor milk. 



.■\matours in this lino should procure the largest 

 milkers, and I had almo.^t said, give them gold, 

 could they eat it. In this case it may be depend- 

 ed on, milk is always of more "value than the best 

 cow food ; and a cow, the natural tendency of 

 which is to breed milk, will convert all nourish- 

 ment, however dry and substantial, into that fluid ; 

 in fact, will require such solid kind of nourishment 

 to support her strength and induce her to take tho 

 bull. (Mowbray on Poultry, &C.) 



Keep no more cows than you can keep well: — 

 one cow well fed, will proiluce as much milk as 

 two indilferently treated, and .'norfl butter; and if 

 the cow be wintered badly, she will rarely recover 

 during the succeeding summer so as to become 

 profitable to the feeder. Cows should by all means 

 be housed in extrenio weather, and particularly 

 those which give milk, or a failure in the quantity 

 of milk will be experienced. Wherefore, instead 

 of keeping twenty cows poorly fed, and but half of 

 them stabled, sell ten, and give the remaining ten 

 food in amount equal to what the twenty originally 

 had ; procure constant stabling for them, and you 

 will receive quite as much inilk and butter in re- 

 turn as was derived from the former mode of treat- 

 ing twenty. Sweet potatoes, carrots, pumpkins, 

 and ground oats, are unquestionably among the 

 best articles for food for milch cattle; and they oc- 

 casion the milk and butter to assume a fine flavor 

 and color, as well as increase of quantity. (Tren- 

 ton Empoiium.) 



Pure water is an essential article for cows. Of 

 this they should have a continual supply. 



Tiie following prescription for drying off cows, 

 is given in Monk's Agricultural Dictionary : Take 

 an ounce of powdered alum: boil it in two quarts 

 of milk till it turns to whey ; then take a large 

 handful of sage, and boil it in the whey till you re- 

 duce it to one quart ; rub her udder with a little of 

 it, and give her the rest by way of drink ; milk her 

 clean before you give it to her; and as you see 

 need repeat it. Draw a little milk from her every 

 second or third day, lest her udder be overcharged. 



The day and night after a cow has calved, she 

 should be kept under cover, and her drink should 

 be lukewarm. 



