S6 THE JERSLY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW 



drawn from the cow, not allowed to stand for a single 

 minute. The amount of cream was measured in the 

 morning after the milk had stood in the tube between 

 fourteen and fifteen hours. The tube stood in the milk- 

 room at the usual temperature for setting milk in win- 

 ten The cow had been fed as usual that day, and for 

 days before — say about two quarts of mixed bran and 

 feed per day, on cut hay, with a little oat-straw. I may 

 add that this heifer had been milked on the morning of 

 the day of trial as usual I know of no reason why this 

 experiment is not in all respects a fair one. 



'' ' The mother of this heifer was tested in the first 

 days of November, 1866, immediately after having been 

 purchased, and yielded i quart of cream from 3^ quarts 

 of milk, fed only on grass, and short at that. The 

 average yield of my Jerseys, tested by the tube yester- 

 day (January 29), was 20*45 P^^ cent, of cream, after 

 standing less than fifteen hours.' '^ 



" The age at which Jersey cows should calve seems by 

 common consent to be fixed at two years. If allowed to 

 go much longer, they seem to lose something of their 

 natural tendency to lactation. The precocity of the 

 breed, however, is so great that, unless care is taken, 

 they sometimes come in much earlier. Mr. Mackie 

 writes, under date June 3, 1870, 'My yearling '' Hebe 

 4th,'' out of " Hebe ist," by " Cliff," dropped a calf last 



■5^ The heifer m question gave 3j^ quarts per day at the time h®r milk wa«; tested. 

 The herd gave four quarts on an average. Of course, the proportion of cream was 

 very laige, as the heid was drying oJOf 



