PRODUCTION OF BUTTER AND CHEESE. 295 



motes the secretion of milk ; a sympathetic influence proceeds from the act of milking, which 

 is agreeable to the cow. So the milking must be performed at stated hours. When the hour 

 arrives the udders are filled with milk, and the cow becomes impatient and wishes to submit 

 herself to the milker, and if it is delayed half a day, although there will be no evident decrease 

 at the first milking, yet it will be so at the next, and three days at least will elapse before the 

 accustomed quantity will be restored. So if the milking is anticipated, it breaks up the habit, 

 and the secretion is at once diminished for a short time. If the animal is imperfectly milked 

 she at once begins to lose it. If, too, the milker stops to converse, or is called away after he 

 has begun to milk, and afterwards resumes it, the cow will give considerably less. The gene- 

 ral effect of these imperfections in milking is to induce a thickening of the cellular tissue, which 

 supports or invests the individual milk glands, and gives fleshiness to the bag, which is shown, 

 after all the milk is removed, by the slight diminution it has undergone in size. Perhaps it 

 does not affect every cow alike in this peculiar way ; but the loss of milk is sure to take place 

 in all cows. 



Milch cows should never be run or chased by dogs or boys, or in any way irritated. Pro- 

 bably there is no secretion which is so immediately affected as the milk, by any disturbances of 

 this kind. It is not, perhaps, with the cow as with the female of the human being, who is 

 giving suck, for here it is dangerous to nurse the child immediately after a paroxysm of anger, 

 or a fright ; but the physiology of the human being may be applied to the cow to a certain 

 extent. It appears that very little attention is paid to these points : a gentleman has a fine flock 

 of cows, and he employs a boy to drive them to and from pasture, and it is a remarkable boy 

 who proceeds to his task as gently as he should do. 



The next important consideration which affects the quantity and quality of the milk is the 

 pasture. A hilly country is adapted to this kind of husbandry better than a flat or level one ; 

 the grass is shorter and of a better quality, and the water flows in a continued stream down 

 their sides ; there is, therefore, no injurious effect arising from stagnant water, in the vicinity 

 of which poor grasses are produced. Again, in addition to a hilly country, it is a matter of 

 moment that the water should be pure, which requires sandstones, or the primary, as gneiss, 

 granite and mica slate should be the underlying rocks. These unite in themselves those con- 

 ditions which are required to secure this end. The hard, slaty rocks — the primary and Taconic 

 limestones, stand next in order, in favoring that kind of surface and that kind of water which 

 promotes the dairying business. But the dairying business is also followed with profit in a 

 level and flat country, where the water is hard, and where it is charged with alkaline and fer- 

 ruginous matters : but after all, there is a difference in the qualities of the milk, and the butter 

 and cheese produced. Compare, for illustration, the butter of Delaware county with that of 

 Genesee and Monroe, and of a large portion of the State of Ohio, and I think that a judge will 

 give a preference to the Delaware butter. In fact, Delaware is better adapted to this business 

 than any other part of the State, and I do not forget that Orange county forms an important 

 part of New- York ; that Orange county butter takes a preference in market. I speak of adap- 

 tation, but at the same time I have proof in the quality of the butter produced in Delaware, 



