Agriculntre is the most Healthy and Honorable, as it is the most Natural and Useful pursu^of Man^ 



VOL. XI. 



ROCHESTER, N. Y.— OCTOBER, 1850. 



NO. 10. 



AMERICAN AG. STATISTICS IN GREAT BRITAIN. 



\Vf. have just received from Edinburgh the "Second 

 Edition, with Additions," of Macqueen's " Statistics 

 of Aariculture, Manufactures and Commerce" of the 

 liritish Nation, in which frequent reference is made 

 to the Agricultural statistics of this country, as pub- 

 lished in°tho Patent Office Reports. Some of the 

 statements thus honored abroad, are so wide of the 

 truth that they deserve public notice and correction. 

 In a note at the foot of page 10, it is said that "The 

 United States Patent Office Report for 1848, states 

 that the value of milk produced in the States of New 

 York. Pemisylvania and Ohio, is $100,000,000 

 yearly." 



This estimate is too high by more than §.50,000,- 

 000. The number of cows actually milked in any 

 one year, has never been ascertained in Ohio or 

 Pennsylvania. In New York, at the State census 

 of 181.5, they were counted, in obedience to a law 

 which was drawn by the writer, as Chairman of the 

 Committee on Agriculture in the Legislature. The 

 number was 999,490. In the Patent Office Report 

 for 1849, we have estimated a gain of 100,.510 in 

 four years, being an aggregate of 1,100,000. The 

 dairy business has been greatly extended in New 

 York since 1845. Increased railroad facilities for 

 conveying milk into the city of New York, and all 

 others' in the State, have largely augmented the con- 

 sumption of the article. Two-thirds of the cows in 

 the State, yield a return of less than f 20 a year ; 

 while a third produce milk worth $20 and over. The I 

 highest reported to the Patent Office, yield over $60 

 to the cow, taking Uie dairy together. We have es- 

 timated the whole as equal to $20 a head, .or $22,- 

 000,000 for the 1,100,000 in the State. 



In Ohio, the cows on the Western Reserve are 

 equal to any in New Y'ork : but farther south, where 

 little or no "attention is paid to the manufacture of 

 cheese, and where neat cattle are reared mainly for 

 their meat, and cows and calves often run together, 

 it is not common for the milk of a cow to be worth 

 over $10 a season. Nor will Pennsylvania compare 

 favorably with New Y'ork for the extent of its dairy 

 business. While the number of Cows milked in 

 Ohio and Pennsylvania is perhaps 30 per cent, lar- 

 ger than in New" Y'ork, yet, owing to many causes 

 which will suggest themselves to the mind of the in- 

 telligent reader, the product of New York in milk is 

 nearly equal to that of both the other States. We 

 trust "that the farmers of Ohio and Pennsylvania, and 



of all the other States in the Union, will have spirit 

 enough to induce the accurate counting of the cows 

 known to be milked. We give Ohio and Pennsyl- 

 vania credit for producing $23,000,000 in milk a 

 year. This estimate gives to the three States an 

 aggregate of $45,000,000. 



"On page 12, MAcquEEM says : "The Patent Office 

 Report of the United States, after minute inipiiry 

 over the Union, says that each cow produces thirleni 

 tons of dung yearly, exclusive of what is dropped on 

 the land." The quantity dropped on the land is es- 

 timated in England at three tons. This is a most 

 extravagant calculation for this country, unless the 

 water contained in the dung is excessive. 



Under ordinary circumstances, in eating 100 lbs. 

 of hay, or its equivalent in grass or other food, a 

 cow voids 40 lbs. of the matter consumed by the 

 bowels and kidneys, and 60 by re.-piration, as vapor, 

 carbonic acid, and insensible perspiration. Bous- 

 siNGAULT (sec Rural Economy, page ?.77,) gives 

 an account of an experiment made by him, in which 

 a cow consumed in 24 hours as her ration, 40 lbs. 

 2 oz. 5 dwts. of potatoes and 20 lbs. 1 oz. 5 dwts. of 

 after-math hav. In tlie potatoes there was of dry 



matter, 11 lbs." 2 oz. 1 dwt., and in the hay, 16 lbs. 



11 oz., making the dry food consumed daily, 27 lb.-=. 

 13 oz. 1 dwt. When equally dried, the maltcr void- 

 ed was as follows : In the excrement, 10 lbs. 8 oz. 



12 dwts.; in the urine, 2 lbs. 6 oz. 17 dwts.; in the 

 milk, 3 lbs. 1 oz. Now, as 10 lbs. 8 oz. 12 dwts. 

 are to 27 lbs. 13 oz. 1 dwt., so is the dung of a cow 

 o-iving milk, to the dry food consumed. TIic dung 

 and unne together are equal to about 40 per cent, of 

 the food. The milk added to the other excretions, 

 makes the aggregate over 50 per cent. 



How much hay will a cow consume in a year, or 

 its equivalent in grass 1 A ton a mouth 1 Wo think 

 not. But suppose she did. Would it be possible to 

 get from it over 50 per cent, of its weight in good 

 manure, unless we count pure water as such ? Cows 

 require food according to their weight, and the quan- 

 tity and quality of milk which they give. It is a fair 

 American cow that cats 25 lbs. of good hay a day, 

 which is equal to 9,125 lbs. a year, or over 4^ tons. 

 Few cows eat so much, and if they did, hco Ions of 

 manure, in place of " thirteen," to each cow would 

 be the result of "a minute inquiry over the United 



There are other statements in the Patent Office 

 Report, and extensively copied and believed at home 

 and abroad, which are clearly wrong to the amount 



