166 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



answer here. I plant potatoes of racdinra size, rejecting both 

 the small and tlie overgrown, — selecting the type I wish to pro- 

 duce. Four bushels of seed were planted on the half acre ; 

 planted the 17th day of May ; hoed when about five inches high ; 

 hilled about two weeks after the first hoeing with a cultivator 

 operating upon a new principle, which did the work admirably. 

 The land was prepared and manured the same as in 1868. Dug 

 about the 25th of September, and stored in a cool, dry cellar. 



STOCK 



ESSEX. 



Essay on the Oakes Cow, by J. D. W. French. 



In the Fourth Report of the Agriculture of Massachusetts, by 

 Henry Colman, published in 1841, may be found an account of 

 this famous cow. The cow was owned in Danvers, and pro- 

 duced in 1813, 180 pounds of butter ; in 1814, 300 pounds ; 

 in 1815, over 400 pounds ; in 1816, 484^ pounds. During 

 this time one quart of milk was reserved for family use, and 

 she suckled four calves for four weeks each, in the course of 

 those years. She produced in one week 19^ pounds of but- 

 ter, and an average of more than 16 pounds a week for three 

 months in succession. The largest amount of milk given in 

 one day was 44| pounds. She was allowed 30 to 35 bushels 

 Indian meal per year, all her own skimmed milk and most of 

 her buttermilk. At one time the owner gave her potatoes, 

 which increased the milk but not the butter. In the autumn 

 he gave her about 6 bushels of carrots. 



After reading this we must admit that she was an extraor- 

 dinary cow ; but at the same time we must admit that she had 

 extraordinary feed. Can it be possible that more than fifty 

 years have gone by, and with all our boasted improvements we 

 have nothing to equal her ? I for one do not believe it possible. 



A cow, named Sybil, owned by Henry Saltonstall, of Pea- 

 l)ody, was | Jersey and \ Ayrshire, and weighed 950 pounds. 

 She calved April 7, 1808, and gave from that time until April 

 7, 1869, 13,065 pounds, or more than 6 J tons of milk. lu July, 



