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230 



THE ILLINOIS FA^HMER. 



downs. The two last are for mutton. The 

 first for wool and mutton. 



I hope our sorely tried farmers will try 

 Bome other kind of husbandry than growing 

 wheat. C. 



A Good Native Cow. 

 Greenville, Fed. 17, 1859. 



My Dear Sir : — I inclose an account 

 of a remarkable cow, as given the 

 Secretary of the Massachusetts Society, 

 for the promotion of Agriculture. 



This cow Avas bought from a drove in 

 Vermont, without a pedigree, and of 

 course, ignobly born and bred. 



Good milkers are not common in Illi- 

 nois, and our farmers are not generally 

 aware of the profit to be derived from 

 them. 



The most extraordinary fact in this 

 case, is the richness of the milk. This 

 quantity depends much upon the food 

 given, yet there is no doubt but any other 

 nutritious and suitable food might 

 answer as well, as the kind selected by- 

 Mr. Wright. 



The subject 13 well deserving the 

 attention of our farmers, and the fact 

 should be understood that many of the 

 best milkers are of the native breed. 



This subject of good milkers, has re- 

 cently attracted the special attention of 

 several individuals among that some 

 body of enterprising and public spirited 

 men who have already contributed so 

 largely to the improvement of stock by 

 valuable and judicious importations from 

 Europe. 



The example of the Vermont cow may 

 induce our farmers to give more atten- 

 tion to good milkers that are sometimes 

 found amongst our home bred stock. 

 Respectfully your friend, 

 WILLIAxM S. WAIT. 



Prom the Boston Coiiri-r. 



Mr. Alexander Wright of Lowell made 

 the- following statement to the Secretary of 

 the Ma^ssachusetts Society for the Promotion 

 of Agriculture, in September, 1851, con 

 cording a milch cow of his : 



The native cow offered for premium was 

 purchased irum a drove in Vermont, when 

 three years old. She is now nine. She 

 calved early in January, 1850, and from the 

 10th of that month to the 20th of August, 

 1851, she gave 1),027 quarts of milk, weigh- 

 ing 2 Jbs. per quart. The greatest quantity 

 given per day was in June, 1850, viz : 21 

 quarts and 1 gill. 



Her next calf was dropped on the 12th of 

 September, 1851, and it was not without con- 

 siderable effort that she was ''dried off" on 

 the 20th of August previous. Her milk was 

 very rich in cream, producing one pound of 

 butter from seven quarts of milk. During 

 summer and winter while in milk, she was 

 fed morning and evening as follows : — One 

 quart of lndi;in meal, one quart of shorts, 

 with one gill of malt put into a pail and 

 boiling water poured on until the pail was 

 nearly filled, the contents being well stirred 

 and tlicn covered with a thick cloth and loft 



till the the next meal to cool. In winter 

 she had a peck of carrots at noon in addition 

 to the above. 



For the quantity of milk given each month 



see the following record ; 



January, 1850, 20 d:»i«, 15 qunrfg per day, 



300 qnnrta. 



448 '• 

 627 « 

 610 " 

 KO " 

 6.",0 " 

 661 " 

 620 " 

 656 " 

 6-27 " 

 480 « 



449 « 

 434 «' 

 39i " 

 403 « 

 SGO •' 

 372 " 

 .'^90 " 

 279 " 



80 " 



68S 



Total, for th» whole time, 9 027 " 



This is an average of nearly 152 quarts 

 per day during the whole period of about 19 J 

 months. 



From January 10, 1850, to January 10, 

 1851, she gave 0,171 quarts of milk, being 

 an average for one year of over 17 2 quarts 

 per day. Allowing that 7 qu"rts of her 

 milk produced » pound of better, the whole 

 quantity would have made 1,289 4-7 lbs. of 

 butter ; and at the same rate, for one year, 

 204 3 7 lbs.; a week, 17 5-7 lbs.; and over 

 2 3-7 lbs. per day, for 365 successive days; 

 being on an average of about 75 cents per 

 day, allowing it to have been sold for 30 cts. 

 a pound, or 85 25 per week, or $2 73 for one 

 year. The skimmed milk ot one year at 3 

 cents a quart would have sold for $194, which 

 added to §273, the value of the butter, would 

 have amounted to S4G7.13 for one year. — 

 AVhat yields a betterprofit ihaua good milch 

 cow? 



So much for the history of one "native 

 cow," a record worthy of the notice of every 

 man who keeps a cow. 



Will any reader of this statement furnish 

 the readers of the Courier with a better one 

 from any of the old races or fancy breeds of 

 cows ? If so, it will afford us great pleasure 

 to give it to the public Such extraordinary 

 facts show what has been done — for a fact is 

 something done — and, it is a trite adage, 

 "That which has been done may be done 

 again." And moreover if a "despised na 

 tive'' produces such a record, what may not 

 a cow of one of the improved breeds do? 

 Let us hear from the other side. 



•MH- 



From the America a Stock Journal. 



All About Hogs. 



Hoos. The liigh price of pork, and its 

 universal use, makes hogs a subject of inter- 

 est now, in the United States. 



IJrkkds. The best of the large breeds is 

 thought here, to be the l^erkshire. Among 

 the small breeds, the Suffolk, the Essex, and 

 the Spanish are the favorites. I have tried 

 all these but the Essex, of which I have the 

 promise of a fine pair now for an experiment. 

 Jly objection to the Berkshire is that they 

 are too large for family use. The Suffolk 

 has too little hair for this climate, and our 

 method of treating them. The Sjtanish hog 

 which I now breed purely, is the best hog I 

 have tried. Thoy weigh over throe hun- 

 dred pounds gross, at maturity, — are covered 

 well with long, curly, red hair, lew or no 

 bristles, very deep bodied, thrifty, and fatten 



well at all ages. The bacon is very juicy 

 and superior. Tliey are a pure breed, and 

 prevail in Portugal, Spain and Mexico, where 

 I have seen very fine specimens. I sell 

 numbers of the a?, north, south and west. 



BuEEDiNQ. The sow goes with young 

 about one hundred and fourteen days. — 

 Some breeders insist on their being twelve 

 or fifteen months old before being put to 

 breeding, but I am of the opinion that six 

 or ten months old will do well where they 

 are forced by high feeding, and not allowed 

 to run down in flesh whilst suckling. And 

 therein lies the great evil ot early breeding ; 

 the foetus takes so much of the nourishment 

 of the food that the general development is 

 injured permanently, or greatly retarded. — 

 While with young they should be allowed ex- 

 ercise freely. As the time of bearing ap- 

 proaches, they should be put in separate lots, 

 of one, or not more than two together. The 

 bed should be covered against rain, with 

 thatch, or boards, and made of forest leaves, 

 or short hay or straw, but so light as not to 

 impede the locomotion of the young pigs ; 

 for if they do not move nimbly about, the 

 sows will overlay them. For the first day 

 the sow should not be disturbed, not even to 

 feed her, nor should they be removed from 

 the place of birth till the pigs begin to fol- 

 low her about, otherwise they will return to 

 their original beds, and there be starved. As 

 soon as the pigs begin to follow, and seek 

 food, as many as ten or twenty sows may be 

 put together, provided the weather is not 

 cold enough to cause them to "pile up." — 

 Now rail pens should be made with holes for 

 the pigs, but excluding the sows, where corn, 

 i-ye, wheat, milk, or other food should always 

 bo "kept by" them. If pigs are of different 

 sizes, there should be several pens with holes 

 to suit the several sizes, else the large ones 

 will drive oil the small ones from the food. 



Weaning and Spaying. At two or 

 three months old the pigs should be weaned. 

 If the sows are to be fed for pork, instead of 

 the barbarous method of spaying, with sharp 

 sheap-shears, cut off the extreme points of 

 all the teats, when they will at once dry up. 

 If the sows are removed to a distant place, 

 one should be allowed to remain, to herd the 

 pigs, which should be called once or twice a 

 day throughout the year, and fed a little, to 

 keep them perfectly gentle. The best meth- 

 od here is to let April pigs go to the boar 

 in January, have pigs in April, and then go 

 to the butcher the same fall, — that is now my 

 practice — except with my thorough-bred 

 hog^, the old ones of which I cannot afford 

 to go to pork. By this means there is great 

 economy, as you never winter an old hog. — 

 One month before killing they should be 

 turned to the boar, as they fatten better, and 

 are not injured. 



WiNTEUiNO. The best place to winter 

 hogs is in thick woodlands, among the leaves, 

 where if not more than twenty or thirty to- 

 gether, of even size, they require no further 

 care. If of unequal size they should be sep- 

 arated and assorted according to size, else the 

 large oues will overlay and weaken, or kill 

 the small ones. If there arc no woods you 

 must surely have — 



Hoo-HousES. My method of making 

 hog-houses is thus : — Make any number of 

 rail pens, according to the number of hogs, 



