298 AMERICAN AGRICULTURE. 



different nations. That of the camel is used by the Arabs, 

 the rnilk of the ass by the Spaniards, the Maltese, and the in- 

 habitants of the Levant ; that of the mare by the Cossacks, 

 the Kirgheez, and other Tartars ; and that of the goat, the 

 ewe and the cow, by most of the ancient, and with few 

 exceptions, by every modern European nation. Within the 

 last century however, the use of all excepting cow's milk, has 

 been almost entirely discarded among the most highly civili- 

 zed people. If we except some few Welsh and Swiss, or other 

 emigrants, who resort to the goat and ewe for their dairy ma- 

 terials, for the first few years of their residence here, the cow 

 is the only animal which is employed in America for produ- 

 cing milk. For this, she is pre-eminently fitted, and the 

 modern improvement of this invaluable animal, has carried 

 her product of milk almost as far as can be reasonably looked 

 for from a given amount of food ; and although this is of 

 about the average richness of the goat and ewe, and before that 

 of the ass, the quantity she yields is frequently as 80 to 1 in 

 favor of the cow over the first two competitors. As a milk- 

 giving animal, the cow is the best fitted for the purposes of 

 civilized man, and she is made to contribute, not only to his 

 health, his comfort and his economy, but to many of his 

 choicest luxuries. Milk contains every element of nutrition 

 necessary to animal existence ; and man can subsist with 

 unimpaired health and strength, if limited to this food alone. 



THE CONSTITUENTS OF MILK are butter, \vhich varies from 

 2 to 6 per cent. ; casein or cheese, usually 4 to 5, but some 

 times varying from 3 to 15 per cent. ; (the last excessive 

 quantity, yielded only by the first milk after calving ;) milk- 

 sugar, 4 to 6 ; salts or saline matter, 0*2 to 0'6 ; and water, 

 80 to 89. 



There is much diversity in the product and quality of milk 

 from cows of the same breed, the same food, and other circum- 

 stances and conditions apparently equal. Thus of a herd of 

 22, chiefly Ayrshire, one gave 84 quarts in one week, which 

 afforded 3i Ibs. of butter ; two others in the same time gave 

 86, yielding 5 Ibs ; and a fourth gave 88 quarts, making 7 

 Ibs. The amount of butter however, which a given quan- 

 tity of milk will produce, is not the only criterion of the value 

 of the milk, except for this purpose alone. Some cows will 

 yield more butter, others will produce more cheese ; while 

 for consumption, another may partially compensate, in the 

 increased quantity of milk-sugar, and the saline matters, for 

 a deficiency of both the other ingredients. But for dairy 



