AND H O U T I (• U L T U R A L It E G I S T E K . 



PUBLISHED BY JOSEPH BRECK & CO.. NO. sa NOftTH MARKET STREET, (AoaicoLTOB*i Wamiioo.i.)-ALLEN PUTNAM, EOITOR. 



>I>. XX.] 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, .VPKIL (i, 1842. 



N. E. FARMER. 



For ihe New England r«rmar. * 



fRESHIRE STOCK FOR NEW ENGLAND 



SOIL AND CLI.MATE. 



MrPit.nam — Dear Sir — I observed an iriiclo 



late niimljer of the Huston Cullivnlor, over the 



naiiiro of " C," purporting to be a reply to my 



miinication, publialiej in tliu N. E. Farmer of 



11*, beaded " Ayrsbire Slock." The writer 



ina to have been quite uneasy at tlio procrasli- 



lon of the editor, and "hopes he will not con- 



Dr him an intermedler, for taking a brief notice 



he subject, which perhaps may nut be altugeth- 



inintcrestinff to the public." He says — "My 



id IS to set this subject fairly before the pub- 



that my brother farmers may not be misled by 



ggcrated accounts of new things."' I give him 



it credit fur his pmftsseil motive : we shall see 



nd bye how far he lias put it into practice ; so, 



awing his example, I shall state my object fur 



ing tlie article to which he refers. I thought 



the edilur, by asserting that they, viz : the 



ihires, were "neither common nor sought," 



nded to unilcr-value the breed ; and as the puir 



ts could na speak for themselves, I thought 



, being raised in that part of the country most 



3d for the race, 1 would just say a word or twa 



leir behalf. I also caught an idea fromastate- 



t which he made, viz : tliat having " proved very 



•allent on the short pastures of Scotland," it 



Id also prove a very excellent breed fur New 



land, where tlie pastures arc generally short; 



however much his objection (even if true) viz: 



d where removed to richer pastures it has run 



it, and has not sustained the high dairy charac- 



I has in Scotland," — however much this objec- 



niight militate against it in Old England, it 



Id not be likely to do so here at present, as the 



ures must be greatly improved before the far- 



cao ^run any risk of injury from the cause 



b he mentions. But in my opinion, it is rather 



■odthnnabad quality — for as there are but 



paratively few Grahamites amongst us, we re- 



8 beef as well as milk, and the easier and 



per it can be produced, the belter; biil if he 



a difTerent opinion, he is welcome toil: and 



have already st»lcd in my former artii-le, the 



(iy for this real or supposed evil, is easy, viz: 



H viore stuck — as by sucli means, the richest 



ires can be reduced to any standard. 



ow, having stated my object in writing my 



article, if the subject is " of some little inipor- 



D," I shall proceed to discuss what I consider 



iiosl important part of it first, viz: are the Ayr. 



s a desirable breed for New England.' 



ut at the outset let lis try and find out what 



eriies and qualities such a breed would reriiiire. 



I think that (or ihi.s climate and soil, il would 



ire to be hjrdy and ea.sily kept ; and as re- 



3 profit, il would require to produce a large 



tity of milk, butter, and cheese, all of the best 



ity, and at the least possible expense ; and as 



pleasure, (fur wc like to have our percep- 



tive as well as our acquisilivo organs gratified,) it milk that is scarcely cre.liblo— from ten U. eighteen 

 should be of a handsome form and color, with a vu- Scutch pints in the day"— or from 'M to :ifl quarts ■ 

 riety of the latter, as the eyo becomes tired of (a Scotch pint is two qnart.i.f And on page 318 

 sameness. But before we proceed farther, let us when speaking on the same subject, he says--.! 

 lind out if wo can, what the proper shape and marks " These cheeses obtoin the general I'mmc of 'Diin- 

 of a dairy cow are. | lop cheese, probably from their havin" been fin-t 



Low, in his Elements of Agriculture, informs us made in that parish of the county. They are fa- 

 on page .551, that " A d.iiry cow, like a fatting ani- mous over all the country, and when mode in the 

 nial, should have a skin soft ond mellow to the best manner, are only, if at all, inferior totlic Oloii- 

 touch,— should have the back straight, the loins cester; and Loudon, in the above quoted page of 

 broad, the extremities small ond delicate; she his work says, "The annuel produce of butter 

 should rather have the fore quarters light, and the from these cows is oscerlained to be about half 

 hind quarters relatively broad, capacious and deep, their own weight (meaning the four quarters) in a 

 and she should have a large, well-furmed udder." , year ; but this requires the pnsturti, to be good, and 



Now let us try if we can find such marks as the cows o<Aeru)ijf loe// kept the whok season' ortr. 

 these in the Ayrshires. Mr Harley, in his work The produce of such a cow, s„ )tf;,/, will equal 242 

 on the dairy, stales the following amongst others ; pounds. Imperial weight per annum, of butler, and 

 of the "most approved shape and marks of Ayr- j double that quantilv of cheese. The medium pro- 

 shires, viz: skin loose, thin, and soft like a glove; duce in butter from Ayrshire milk, is one pound 

 back straight ; hind quarters large and broad ; legs ; from five imperial quarts." We are informed by 

 small and short ; shoulders and fore quarters light , the same author, thai " the weight of an Ayrshire 

 and Ihin ; udder square, but a little oblong, stretch- cow is from 20 to 40 stone"— or from 4t^0 to DfiO 

 ing forward, thin skinned and capacious, but not; lbs. Me also states on page 1025, after naming 

 low hung." Loudon, in his Encyclopsedia of Agri- j the kind of cows kept by t°he London dairyists, 

 culture, informs us on page 1017, that " lameness that for "private dairies, the varietv bred in Ayr- 

 and docility of temper greatly enhances the value ! shire have the lUcided preference, as giving rich 

 of a milch cow, as she will always give more milk miik, and a largo proportion of butter, an°d the 

 and is easier managed than those that are of a lur- ! cheese made from the milk of this breed known at 

 buleiit disposition ;" and on the same page ho says, Dunlap, is decidedly celebrated." He farther 



" the bulls are generally good tempered, and like 

 the cows, arc mild in the countenance ;" and Mr 

 Colmaii, in his Fourth Report, says that Mr Brooks 

 informed him that they were very gentle, and [ 



states on page JOI", that the " Ayrshire breed, ac- 

 cording to Aitnn, is Ihe most improved breed of 

 cattle to hi; found in the island — not only fur the 

 dairy, in which lliey have no parallel, under similar 



have hoard them gel the same character in different | soil, climate, and relative rircumstancos, but also 

 paru of the country, from people in whose posses- j in feeding for the shambles. They are in facta 

 sion they were ; and as regards color, Loudon in- | breed of cowa that have by crossing, coupling. 



forms us in the page already quoted, that Ihey are 

 "generally brown of many hues, from dark to yel- 

 low, intermixed and mottled in many a varied form 

 and proportion, with white. Some few have a 

 black ground without any change in character, but 

 almost none are of one color only : in a whole hir- 

 sel of forty or fifty, there will not be two of them 

 alike ill color ; in tiiis respect e.xhibiting a diversi- 

 ty not unlike a lied of tulips, and of as many hues 



and shades, in an endless variety and beauty." 



Now, if we have ascertained that they have the 

 principal characteristics of a dairy cow, let us next 

 examine how far ihey verify these in their results. 

 And to show "C." how much I have repented of 

 my former statement, the first witness I shall call 

 on the stand is Mr Aiton, to repeat his former testi- 

 mony, viz : that he •' set down 24 quarts of milk 

 per day as a reasonable estimate of the average 

 produce of each of the 2000 cows kept in the city 

 of Glasgow, they being generally of the improved 

 Ayrshire breed, and highly kept." 



I shall now quote from No. 31, of the Farmer's 

 Magazine, published in Edinburgh. 'J'he writer, 

 when speaking of the .Ayrshire dairies, states on 

 page :jlU as follows : — By means o{ plenlyof green 

 cut clover, eat in iho house Ihroiigh the day in sum- 

 mer, w hiic they are, or ought to be, turned to the 



/eedin/o- (inrf</-?f(;)Hfn<, been improved and brought 

 loastatouf perfection, which fits them abnve°all 

 others yet known, to answer almo.'it in every diver- 

 sity of situation where grain and grasses can be 

 raised to feed them for the purposes of the dairy 

 or fatting them for beef." 



"C." informs us, (quoting from Youatt,) thnl 

 " some of them have been tried in the London dai- 

 ries. As mere milkers, they could not compete 

 with the long established metropolitan dairy cow. 

 the Short-Horn. They yieMeO as much milk in 

 proportion to their size andWojd, but not in propor- 

 tion to the r<!om they occup.ed and Ihe increased 

 trouble which they give from being more numerous, 

 in order to supply the requisite quantity of milk." 

 Loudon, on page 1028 of his work already quoted, 

 informs us that "the Messrs. Rhodes, who kept a 

 dairy at Islington, and who are said to have had at 

 one lime upwards of a thousand cows in their dif- 

 ferent establishments, tried the Ayrsihire breed to 

 the number of 150 at a lime, ond highly approved 

 of them 08 affording a very rich cream — as fatting 

 in a very short time when they have left off giving 

 milk, and as producing a beef which sold miicA 

 higher than that of the Short Horns. The difficulty 

 however n/jiroruiing this breed teas found so great, 

 that Mr Rhodes was obliged to leave it off"." it 



field during the cool of the night, and by means of i would therofore appear Irom this statement, that 

 turnips during winter, the cows give a quantity of i they were not only " sought," but that the Messrs. 



