1864. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



243 



body of fat, becomes leaner, and thus yields more 

 fat in the form of butter than it has eaten in its 

 food. Where only part of a dairy of cows is kept 

 for their butter, and the rest for cheese, the but- 

 ter-milk from tlie former may be given to the lat- 

 ter, and thus the produce of cheese increased. In 

 the State of New York, cows are said to yield one 

 hundred pounds more cheese in a year when the 

 whey from tbeir own milk is added to their daily 

 food. 



4. The nature of the soil, also, in which plants 

 grow, end the manure by which they are raised, 

 affects their influence upon the milk. It has been 

 known from the most remote times, that when fed 

 upon one pasture the cow will yield more butter, 

 upon another more cheese. This diffei-ence must 

 depend upon the soil. 



5. The milk is affected also by a tmrieti/ of other 

 circumsta/ices. Its quantity depends very much 

 upon the distance from the time of calving. • 



The quality of the milk is better from cows that 

 are in good condition and have already been two 

 or three times in calf — it is richer in warm cli- 

 mates, in dry seasons, and when the cow is not 

 too frequently milked. It is said to be richer 

 when cows are kept constantly in the house and 

 regularly fed — those which go at large in the pas- 

 ture yielding more cheese. When a cow is al- 

 lowed to go dry for two or three months before 

 calving, it is believed to give more milk the fol- 

 lowing season. . In autumn it is richer upon the 

 whole, giving a less proportion of butter, but a 

 greater of cheese (AlTON) while it becomes poorer 

 in both when the cow is in calf. The first milk 

 which comes from the udder is also poorer than 

 that which is last drawn, the stripp'mgs or strok- 

 ings — and, lastly, the quality of the milk is very 

 much affected by the treatment and moral state of 

 the animal. Gentle treatment and a state of re- 

 pose are favorable to the richness of the milk ; 

 while anything that frets, irritates or harasses the 

 animal, injures its quality. 



Lassaigne obtained some curious results on ob- 

 serving the composition of the milk of a cow, 

 which he examined at ten different periods, four of 

 these before and six after parturition. The milk 

 examined during the first three of the former pe- 

 riods, namely, 42 days, 32 days, and 21 days be- 

 fore parturition, contained no casein at all, but in 

 place of it albumen ; and no sugar of milk and 

 no lactic acid, but a sensible quantity of uncom- 

 bined soda. The milk examined eleven days be- 

 fore and just after parturition, contained both al- 

 bumen and casein ; while milk eleven days before 

 parturition, and always after it, contained free 

 lactic acid and sugar of milk, but no free soda. 

 The milks examined 4 days, 6 days, 20 days, 21 

 days, and 30 days after parturition, contained ca- 

 sein and no albumen. It would appear from these 

 observations that the milk of the cow is at first 

 very similar to the serum of blood ; and that the 

 casein, sugar of milk, and lactic acid, to which it 

 owes much of its distinguishing characteristics, 

 begin first to make their appearance in it about 

 eleven days before parturition. 



We are aware that in this discussion we have 

 not answered the question put, and we think those 

 who have followed us thus far, have come to the 

 conclusion that it is just as difficult to answer as 

 it is to tell why one plant produces red fruit and 



I another yellow, or why one apple tree bears sweet 

 \ apples and another sour. 



j The truth is, that life, in its action, devolopes 

 ! results that are entirely beyond any human power 

 I to trace out. This diversity in the products of 

 the cow is not more strange than is sometimes 

 observed in the growth and quality of plants. It 

 is pleasant and instructive to inquire, because 

 such inquiry leads us to many interesting particu- 

 lars perhaps unknown before, and brings the mind 

 to act upon a special and highly important topic. 

 We shall be glad to hear from some of our cor- 

 respondents, on a subject of so much consequence 

 to all. 



For the New England Farmer^ 

 SHEEP HUSBAIyrDRY--3Sro. 7. 



In populous districts it will be found more ad- 

 vantageous to raise the long or worsted wools 

 than clothing or shorter wools, on account of the 

 market for mutton and lambs. And it would be 

 particularly profitable for farmers in this section 

 of the country to raise the former class of wool, 

 having a market so near at hatid, where they have 

 found a ready sale for the last twenty years, and 

 where the consumption of long and middle wools 

 has been increasing, and in all probability will 

 continue to increase for some time to come ; and 

 we may reasonably suppose that enterprising cap- 

 italists will not leave their capital unemployed un- 

 der the present high tariff, high rate of exchange, 

 and particularly the present price of cotton, which, 

 let there be peace or war, must rule high for some 

 years to come — not less, certainly, than twenty- 

 five cents per pound. 



Upon the mtroduction of cotton warps into the 

 manufacture of worsted goods the English farmer 

 thought it would seriously affect the price of 

 long wools, but the cheapening the manufactured 

 article so increased the demand for that class of 

 goods, that notwithstanding the introduction of 

 cotton warps in the place of worsted ones, and 

 the introduction of alpacca for filling, yet so great 

 was the demand for half cotton and half worsted 

 goods that the demand for long wools increased. 



And in 1844, in the vicinity of Bradford, Eng- 

 land, the great centre of the worsted manufacture, 

 there was scarcely a loom to be found weaving 

 worsted warps. In the vicinity of Halifax a few 

 mills were employed making lastings, a class of 

 worsted goods which require worsted warps, and 

 there is no reason in the world why this article — 

 the material of which our wives' and daughters' 

 boots and shoes are made, and many of our vests 

 and summer coats — should not be made in a 

 country which in all probability exceeds every 

 other country in the world in its consumption. 

 But in order to do tfiis, we must have the materi- 

 al either produced at home or brought from abroad ; 

 but the importation of the raw material would no 

 more benefit the country than the importation of 

 the manufactured article. The production of the 

 raw material is with the farmer ; which we have 

 endeavored to show in former articles can be pro- 

 duced at remunerative prices. We would call the 

 attention of our readers to the fact that bunting, 

 of which all our flags are made, is imported; 

 glory as we may in the stars and stripes, we must 



