178 



GENESEE FARMER. 



Aug. 



Chee^ Dairies. 



The best paper in the volume oF Transactions 

 of the N. Y. State Agricultural Society for 1846, 

 (lately published,) is one from the pen of B. P. 

 Johnson, Esq., on "Cheese Dairies," together 

 with the answers called forth by the dairymen 

 and women who took the liberal premiums of 

 $•50 and $30 offered by the Society. 



Had we room, we should gladly copy these 

 communications entire ; as it is, we shall attempt 

 a faithful summary, and give the statement of 

 Mr. Bronson of Wyoming, who took the first 

 premium. 



The whole number of cows in the State in 

 1845 was 999,400 which were milked. Of these 

 Mr. J. estimates that one-third are employed in 

 making cheese, or 333,163; producing about 

 110 lbs. each or an aggregate of 36,744,956 lbs. 

 He says : 



In the county of Herkimer, where cheese ia more exten- 

 sively manufactured than in any other in the State, and 

 where the cheese is of superior excellence, much of it com- 

 manding in the English market as high prices as the best 

 Cheshire cheese, the amount per cow is 226 lbs. In the 

 town of Fairfield, in that county, 350 lbs. per cow ; and in 

 some dairies in that county, as high as ti80 ll^s. The annual 

 average in one dairy, Mr. Alonzo L. Fish'.s. for three suc- 

 cessive years, was 680 lbs. per cow. and in one of tUese 

 years 714 lbs. was obtained. (Vide Trans. N. Y. S. Ag. 

 Soc, 1844, pp. 227—8, 9.) 



The Cheshire dairies in England average 336 lbs. per 

 eaw, and from selected cows .'560 pounds. 



Did we not know Mr. Fish and have reason 

 to credit what he says, we should doubt whether 

 a cow ever made 714 lbs. of cheese in one year ; 

 or that a large dairy averaged 680 lbs. to each 

 eow. We think that the Secretary of the State 

 Society does not exceed the bounds of reason 

 when he says that, all the cows in the State kept 

 for making cheese can easily be brought up to an 

 average of 400 lbs. each per annui^i. This would 

 augment the product of cheese in New York 

 from 36,744,956 lbs. to 133,265,200 lbs. from 

 the same number of cows. The annual gain 

 would be equal to five millions of dollars. From 

 Mr. and Mrs. Ottley's statement it appears: 



That tlipy manufactured from the milk of eight cows, in 

 the months of June and July, 1248 lbs. of cheese from 10,- 

 400 lbs. of milk ; 100 lbs. of milk averaging 9 lbs. of cheese. 

 The average pounds of milk from each cow daily, is a little 

 over 21 Ib.s. The highest yield being 23 lbs., and the low- 

 est l-S. 



The cows are fed liay and grass only, and the calves are 

 reared and .swine are kept from the dairy. His farm lies in 

 the town of Fhelps, Ontario county; ele\ation above tide 

 water estimated 4.50 feet. It is generally level, with some 

 small ridges. He has two hundred acres under cultivation. 

 Fifty acres in pasture and fifty in meadow , the residue un- 

 der the plow. 



The soil is mostly gravel ; one-third sandy loam, subsoil 

 gravel, and a small part clay. 



The meadows are timothy and clover. The flat land in 

 meadow is red top, which Mr. Ottley states produces the 

 best hay for cows. He plows up his meadows every third 

 year. The pasture land is mostly clover, which is plowed 

 once in two years, if the yield is not equal to two tons per 

 acre. 



To the following remarks of Mr. Bronson we 

 ask particular attention. It is a curious and in- 

 teresting fact, that 100 lbs. of milk in June, when 



contams comparatively little nitrogenous, 

 or cheese-forming elements^ gave only 9 lbs. 4 

 oz. of green cheese ; whilst in September, when 

 herbage is rich in nitrogen, an equal weight of 

 milk gave 12 lbs. 7 oz. of green cheese. 



Without any knowledge of what Mr. Bronson 

 would say or do, Mr. and Mrs. Ottley remark, 

 '•That when the cows were in eiover pasture, 

 then the cheese was larger and rieher than when 

 in other pastures. ^^ 



When every braw'ch of rural industry shall be 

 studied as a science, keeping steadily in view 

 the fact that it always takes something to make 

 each product of the farm, whether vegetable or 

 animal, and that that something admits of no sub- 

 stitute, but must be the precise thing which God 

 has appointed in the certainty of His unerring 

 laws, then agricultural labor will be most boun- 

 tifully rewarded. The transformation of culti- 

 vated plants into beef, pork, muttcm, wool, but- 

 ter, and cheese ; and the cheap production of the 

 crops best adapted to these several objects should 

 command more of the attention of our County 

 and State Agricultural Societies than they have 

 hitherto received. 



STATEMENT OF MR. BRONSON. 

 To the Committee of the New York Stale Agricultural Soci- 



ety, 07i Cheese and Dairies. 



Gents : — In answer to the several questions submitted ia 

 your printed circular, dated Feb. 14, 1846, relating to Cheese 

 dairies, I, Newbury Bronson, of Warsaw, in the county of 

 Wyoming, and State of New York, do state as follows : 



Question 1. What is the locality of your farm, its eleva- 

 tion and latitude ? 



Ansicer. My farm is located in the town of Warsaw, about 

 IJ miles south west from the vil'age of Warsaw, on the hill 

 west of the valley of Allen's creek, from 300 to 400 feet 

 above the creek ; gradually descends towards the east. — 

 The hill rises west of my farm, in about four miles, some 

 500 to 600 feet above the elevation of my farm. 



My farm is about 30 minutes (of a degree) south of Roches- 

 ter, and about I'y minutes west of that place. 



Ques. 2. How much land under cultivation ; how much 

 in pasture and in meadow ? 



Ans. About 20 acres under cultivation ; 110 acres in pas- 

 ture, and oO acres in meadow. 



Ques. 3. What is the nature of your soil and subsoil ? 



Ans. The soil of my present meadows is a deep black 

 muck, with a clay hard pan subsoil. The soil of my pres- 

 ent pastures is mostly a coarse gravel, with a sandt/ loam. 

 Subsoil the same. The underlaying rock is Shale. 



Ques. 4. What plants or grasses do you use for pastures; 

 what for hay. How are your meadows treated ; how much 

 hay do they yield per acre ' 



Ans. White clover and timothy, with a mixture of red 

 top, but the clover predominating for pasture. My mead- 

 ows are timothy and red clover, with a small mixture of red 

 top, and are highly manured from the barn, and no other 

 dressing used. "They yield Ij tons per acre. 



Ques. 5. How many pounds of milk from each cow T — 

 How many from the whole herd ? 



Ans. I have taken some pains, since receiving your cir- 

 cular, in April last, to ascertain, and think the following 

 correct : '; 



My cows in June last, consisting of 44 in number, ga^-e, 

 on an average, in that month, each, 16 quarts per day, 

 which weighed 3 lbs. 6 oz. per gallon, making the daily 

 yield of each cow in June 33 lbs. 8 oz. The whole herd of 

 course gave 176 gallons each day, weighing 1474 lbs. 



During the latter part of the season I had only 37 cows. 



Ques. 6. How many pounds of cheese to 100 lbs. of milk? 

 The quantity of milk during the season ? The quantity »{ 

 cheese during the season ; the quantity of cheese to each 

 cow ? 



