1861. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



37 



might profitably give more attention. He had ob- 

 served in the report of many of the county socie- 

 ties that premiums were given for objects that 

 were entirely neglected in this county, such as 

 farms, sheep, field crops, soiling, manures, and 

 many others. These subjects enabled committees 

 to make reports that embodied their experience 

 and observation, and were of great value. He 

 thought a committee to visit farms, if they were 

 the right men, would do more to add members to 

 the society, and to awaken an interest in agricul- 

 ture, than the amount of money required to pay 

 their expenses would do in any other way. In- 

 deed, he believed money expended for this object 

 was the best investment the society could make. 

 The Trustees of our societies should inquire 

 every year, what particular department of agricul- 

 ture needed special attention. When the recep- 

 tion of premiums became amere matter of money- 

 making, the object for which they were designed 

 was no longer secured. 



THE COTTAGE TJNDBR THE HILL. 



No lordly elm trees are swaying there ; 

 But the rustic oak and the cedt r fair, 



That grow by the winding rill, 

 Their tall heads wave on the summer air, 



O'er the cottage under the hill. 



The robin loves at the twilight hour. 

 Ere he flitteth away to his resting bower. 



His evening song to trill ; 

 And the wild bee sings from the violet flower, 



By the cottage under the hill. 



The wild vine hangs from the moss roof low ; 

 And always with a motion sweet and slow, 



As over the grass so still 

 The western zephyrs softly blow, 



By the cottage under the hill. 



When the shades of night creep o'er the lea. 

 Three prattlers group round a strong man's knee, 



And their eyes with weepini; fill, 

 As he telle' h of her who sleeps under the tree, 



By the cottage under the hill. 



No gold or silver are stored within. 



But a crowned monarch would sigh to win 



The peace so holy, still, 

 That bodeth far from the court of sin. 



In the cottage under the hill. 



Wheat in New Hampshire. — From the 

 Journal of Agriculture we publish the following 

 paragi'aph in relation to the growth of wheat in 

 the vicinity of old Dartmouth. 



"Col. Culver, of Lyme, has grown on six acres 

 of fall sown wheat, 180 bushels, and on three 

 spring sown, 120 bushels. The Town Farm, in 

 Hanover, on a field of six acres, produced 226 

 bushels. John D. Bridgeman raised, on a little 

 less than two acres, 96 bushels ; and Elijah Ten- 

 ney. East Hanover, from three bushels seed, on 

 2% acres of soil, grew 125 bushels of nice spring 

 wheat." 



Cost of Marketing. — Gov. Kirkwood, of 

 Iowa, in an address at the Muscatine County Fair, 

 stated that it cost him about 20 per cent, to mar- 

 ket his beeves ; 40 per cent, on wheat, 60 on corn 

 and 4 per cent, on wool. 



POOR MILKERS DRY UP COWS. 

 The great importance of having cows properly 

 milked is very forcibly illustrated by the facts 

 stated in the following article, copied from the 

 Boston Cultivator : 



When I first commenced farming, I milked all 

 my cows with my own hands ; and the result was, 

 that no one in the town could boast of having 

 made more butter, according to the number of 

 cows, than we. I well remember of having a very 

 noble cow for milk, which would fill a twelve-quart 

 pail twice a day ; and that a friend while visiting 

 us was anxious to milk her. As I was well aware 

 of the bad results of permitting a poor milker to 

 milk cows that are accustomed to be milked by 

 one faithful, regular hand, I unwillinghj consent- 

 ed that he might milk her. The result was that 

 he obtained about one-quarter less milk, than 

 she was accustomed to give ; and although I tried, 

 faithfully to draw more milk, after he had finished 

 milking, my efforts were in vain ; and it was sev- 

 eral days before I could obtain from her the 

 amount which she had been accustomed to give. 



My manner of milking was to milk as fast as 

 possible, until a cow was milked entirely clean. 

 I was obliged, at one time, to stop milking for 

 only a few minutes, and I found that the cow had 

 drawn up her milk, and I could not get it that 

 evening. 



His manner of milking was very slow and easy ; 

 and after he had been milking about as long as I 

 was accustomed to be in milking her, she withheld 

 the remainder, and nothing that I have ever heard 

 of, would induce her to let it down again. This 

 taught me the importance of employing one steady 

 regular hand at milking. 



In the seasons of 1858 and 1859, my wife com- 

 plained very much, when I did not superintend 

 the milking, that we did not get near as much 

 milk as when I was there to attend to it. Of course 

 I could not always be there, at milking times. — 

 Then the milking would devolve on a young man 

 in my employ, who conld milk as well and as 

 quickly as myself, when he had a mind to do it. 

 But as he had inherited almost every characteris- 

 tic of the human race, but the faculty of j^leasing, 

 or of trying to please, or of making himself agree- 

 able, even in the society of cows, when I was not 

 there, for the slightest offence he would fall out 

 with the cows and beat thein, and have them all 

 in commotion. Then, of course, they would not 

 give down their milk ; for a cow has complete 

 control of it, and she will not give it to a being 

 that she hates. All that could be said to him 

 about being gentle with them, and milking fast 

 while he did milk, and keeping his finger nails 

 cut short, &c., had no more good influence than 

 this communication will have on hundreds of other 

 boys in their boyhood, who think they will make 

 cows and everything else obey their commands. 



In the spring of 1859, my wife insisted that I 

 should do the milking. I attended to it as long 

 as was expedient, and then told this young man 

 that he must attend to the milking and try to do 

 it right, and to have no difficulty with the cows. 

 Well, in less than two days, my wife said, "What 

 is the matter with the cows, that we get only about 

 half as much milk as usual ?" 



The truth on the subject is, cows know much 



