58 



THE LANCASTER FARMER 



t April, 



AYRSHIRES. 



Ayrshires are justly famous for their supe- 

 rior milking qualities. For a milk dairy no 

 other kuown breed of cattle can equal them. 

 They give the largest quantity of milk of 

 very flue quality. For butter, while an Ayr- 

 shire will not make as much from the same 

 quantity of milk as an Alderney, yet an 

 Aryshire cow giring so much more milk will 

 make per week fully as m;iny poiuids of but- 

 ter as a first-class Jersey or Guernsey. They 

 keep in fine condition on a comparatively 

 small amount of food. They are unsurpassed 

 as family cows, being more than any other 

 breed, naturally very (|uiet and docile. As to 

 quantity of milk, a writer quoted by Youatts 

 says : "To sum up into one sentence, I now 

 repeat that hundreds and thousands of the 

 best Scotch dairy cows, when they are in 

 their best condition and well fed, yield at the 

 rate ol 2000 Scotch pints (equivalent to 1000 

 gallons) in one year ; that in general, 7i to 8 

 pints (3J to 4 gallons) of their milk will yield 

 a pound of butter, county weiglit (H pounds 

 avoidupois) ; that 55 pints (27i gallons) of 

 their milk will produce one stone and a half 

 (3G pounds) imperial weight of full milk- 

 cheese." 



Ayrshires have been bred in America for 

 over forty years, and have proved well adapted 

 to the soil and 

 climate. On the 

 Kew Jer.sey Ag- 

 ricultural Col- 

 lege farm, the 

 greatest yield of 

 milk reported 

 from one Ayr- 

 shire cow in a 

 year was 4558 

 quarts, another 

 cow of only 

 medium excel- 

 lence yielded 

 2957 quarts. 

 There are nu- 

 merous in- 

 stances on re- 

 cord where the 

 milk of an Ayr- 

 shire cow an- 

 nually exceeded 

 the entire live 

 weight of the 



cow. 



The follow- 

 ing facts speak 

 for themselves : 



Daisy (No. 

 3.30), in 1870 

 weighed 970ft, 

 and gave dur- 

 ing the year 

 6953fc of milk. 



Beauty (No. 240) the same year, weighed 

 9551b, and gave 8011tti of milk. 



The ordinary yield of Ayrshire cows is 30 

 to 50ft of milk per day, but a committee un- 

 der oath testified that one Ayrshire cow of a 

 New York herd, gave 85ft of milk per day, 

 for several days in succession. 



Ayrshires are also superior for beef. 



Sufficient facts have already been given to 

 fully demonstrate that for milk all the year 

 round none are so profitable as the thorough- 

 bred Ayrshire ; but, in order to more fully 

 demonstrate their adaptability to this country, 

 we quote the lollowing trial, made during the 

 year 1875 with a thoroughbred Ayrshire cow, 

 belonging to the Roadside Herd of this city : 



Hensie (213 N. A. A. K., Vol. 1), height, 

 4 ft. 10 in., weight, 830ft, girth, 5 ft. 7^ in. 

 In the year 1875, by weight reduced to meas- 

 ure, gave 3000 quarts or 7745ft of milk— more 

 than nine times her weight. Too much can 

 scarcely be said in praise of the Ayrshires. 

 Kindly in disposition, beautiful and attractive 

 in appearance, they are agreeably diversified 

 in color. " In general they have large lus- 

 trous eyes, symmetrical head, well-developed 

 chest, deep fiauk, broad across the hips, bag 

 reaching well forward, milk veins large and 

 of handsome curvature and neck graceful, 



to which may be added a straight spine, whip- 

 like tail, bushy at end, full, convex rump, and 

 well defined milk mirror " 



We give herewith illustration from life of 

 our first prize Ayrshire Bull Casper, 4th vol. 

 American and Canadian Herd Register. He 

 won first in strong competition at tlie Bur- 

 lington Comity, N. J., Fairs, 1875 and 1870. 

 In concluding our remarks on this variety 

 we append the recognized standard of points 

 of excellence for judging an Ayrshire Cow or 

 Bull : 



. 80 

 . 40 

 . 10 

 . 30 

 . 120 

 . 00 

 . 40 

 . 10 

 . 10 

 . 10 



1000 



Now is the latest time to destroy the co- 

 coons of the "Drop-worm," hanging on the 

 naked branches of the trees, in a few days it 

 will be too late. 



YOUNG AYRSHIRE BULL, CASPER. Owned by Benson & Burpee, Philadelphia.'Pa. 



GARDENING FOR FARMERS. 



Paper by J. S. Harris, of La Crescent at Meet- 

 ing of the State Agricultural Society, 

 February 6th and 7th, 1877. 



There are but few thinking farmers who 

 will not concede that a good vegetable garden 

 is both convenient and profitable, and it would 

 seem that people possessing all the conveniences 

 that they have, as regards land, and leisure to 

 take care of a garden, would consume the 

 largest amount of vegetable food, but tl-.e truth 

 is that more is used in villages and cities than 

 by the same number of land owners. Take a 

 look among the farmers and it will be found 

 that one-half of them have no garden at all, 

 or, at most, only a little corner in some grain 

 field which is over-run with weeds. Some have 

 a place set apart for the purpose, but put off 

 planting it until the bulk of the form crops are 

 put in, thereby making it too late to secure 

 any early vegetables on those that require 

 early planting. The reason usually given for 

 being without one is, that they have no 

 time to attend to it. With many the truth 

 is that it requires a little attention , al- 

 most daily, and demands thought, pa- 

 tience and system in order to secure 



success and profit ; and they would much 

 rather attend the larger crops where the horse 

 furnishes the muscular power, and machinery 

 enables them to get over acres of ground in 

 a da}'. It is a well established fact that a 

 single half acre devoted to garden culture, and 

 which may be planted and attended without 

 encroaching very much upon the farm work, 

 economizing odd spells while waiting for teams 

 to feed, &c., aside from health, comfort and re- 

 finement, would annually produce more profit 

 than four or five acres in any other crop on 

 the farm. 



Without a garden, the winter diet of a 

 farmer must be mainly confined to bread, 

 meat, and potatoes, or a large draught must 

 be made upon the profits from tlie sale of 

 farm crops to purchase the extras that are 

 essential to good living. This kind of living 

 may be tolerated in winter, but when the 

 warm weather returns the system requires 

 less stimulating food, and the appetite craves 

 cooling and juicy vegetables and fruits fresh 

 from the garden, and the stomach of the 

 weary and hungry farmer is apt to revolt 

 against salt pork and soggy old potatoes in 

 the season for green peas, string beans, early 

 potatoes, radishes, cucumbers. &c., and when 

 company is expected how it taxes the inge- 

 nuity of the good wife to ggt up a passable 



meal. These 

 early vegeta- 

 bles are luxu- 

 ries within the 

 reach of every 

 farmer's family 

 at a very' trif- 

 ling outlay of 

 time and mon- 

 ey, and if he 

 must procure 

 the suiiport of 

 his family from 

 his farm, wliy 

 not give them 

 the most health 

 ful support as 

 long as it is the 

 cheapest. 

 Location of the 

 Garden. 



The garden 

 should be near 

 the house, so 

 that it may be 

 readily accessi- 

 ble and and un- 

 der theconstant 

 supervision of 

 the household. 

 H o use-keepers 

 do not always 

 have time to 

 go to a distant 

 corner of the farm to gather its products 

 for the dinner, and if it is near by, 

 a great many leism'e moments may \i& 

 spent in weeding and taking care of it. 

 It should be so enclosed with hedge or 

 fence that neither fowls or stock can enter it. 

 It is not reasonable to expect success if cattle 

 occasionally break in and the poultry are al- 

 lowed a free range in it at all times, as their in- 

 stinct leads them to the freshly moved soil for 

 some of their most essential food. They are 

 always ready to scratch where the gardener 

 has formed his new beds and planted his 

 choicest seeds. A garden is better for con- 

 taining a variety of soils and if it can be so 

 located that it will embrace high and dry soil 

 and that \which is more moist, it will beau ad- 

 vantage, as early vegetables need a warm and 

 dry situation, while some that are later, as 

 cabbage, cauliflower and celery, thrive in 

 moister locations. For early vegetables a 

 gentle southern slope is desirable on account 

 of its getting the more direct rays of the 

 sun ; and if it is sheltered on the north by a 

 hill, blutt', grove of trees, or a high close 

 board fence, it is afforded a protection which 

 most early vegetables will appreciate in their 

 early stages of growth. 



