WUAT BEEED OP UOWS WOULD YOU EECOMMEND ? 



ALDEBNET OB JERSET COW. 



■WHAT BREED OF COWS WOULD YOTJ EECOMMEND.? 



A QUESTION not so easily answered. A breed prof- 

 itable in one locality may not be equally so when re- 

 moved to another. Some of the best dairymen in 

 this country give the preference to our native cows 

 crossed with the Povon or Durham, according to the 

 object sought in connection with the dairy. Good 

 milkers can be selected from almost any breed, and 

 by care and good keeping, you may get a good sup- 

 ply of milk from any one of them. Some years since, 

 the Massachusetts Agricultural Society imported 

 some Ayrshire cattle and distributed them in difierent 

 sections of the State, but they have not answered 

 the expectations of their importers. For northern 

 States the Devons seem to combine as many good 

 qualities as any others, being of a uniform color, 

 quiek, active, and hardy, and especially adapted for 

 the yoke. In the south and west the Durhams are 

 favorites, particularly for stock for the Eastern mar- 

 ket. (The Alderneys or Jersey cows give the richest 

 milk of any breed, though not so great in quantity.) 

 Uol. Jacques, of MassachusetU!, by unwearied pains 

 ind skill in breeding continued a series of years, was 

 Inally able to obtain a stock remarkable for their 

 iiilking qualities, which he called the cream-pot 

 irecd. In 1842, he had a public sale of his stock, 

 md the result was — so little at that time did the 

 rahlic appreciate his labors in their behalf — that he 

 liscontinued his efforts at improvement, and we know 

 lot now where his stock may be found. From the 

 iccoonts published of his success in raising stock for 



dairy purposes, we think the public have been great 

 losers in that they did not encourage him to follow 

 up his plan, by giving remunerative prices for the 

 stock for sale. All persons conversant with dairy 

 matters are aware that there is a very great difference 

 in the quantity of cream which can be collected from 

 the milk of different cows. Were we about to estab- 

 lish a dairy, we should test the richness of the milk 

 by an instrument designed for the purpose (Lactome- 

 ter.) This instrument in its simplest form consists of 

 a set of glass tubes 10 inches in length, and divided 

 into one hundred equal parts. The tubes being filled 

 with milk up to mark No. 1, and allowed to stand 

 twenty-four hours, the per centage of cream in a 

 hundred parts is read at a glance. To any one who 

 wishes to buy a cow for dairy purposes, we think the 

 cost of the instrument would be repaid in the pur- 

 chase of a single animal. 



It is a fact well established that there is a consti- 

 tutional susceptibility by which certain cows not only 

 yield a largo quantity of milk, but also of superior 

 quahty. This power to secrete more and better mUk 

 being transmitted to offspring, those breeds are of 

 the most value which possess these quahties in a su- 

 perior degree. It vei-y frequently happens that an 

 inferior milker will consume an equal quantity of feed 

 with one which yields a much richer and larger quan- 

 tity of milk. Professor Emmons in the natural his- 

 tory of this State (part V. Agricultural) gives the 

 results of several analyses, made by himself, of milk 

 from difiTerent breeds of cows. Though the experi- 



