21 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[JCNE, 
that, and counting the full time to her second 
calving. 
I am glad to be able to give the record of the 
fall herd of my neighbor, Mr. Andrew Robe- 
son. Eight Herd-book Jerseys as follows: 
Locket 
Gala 
Rosemary 
Zoe Lo Baa 
Silver Gray 
Alice 
Zillah 
C'aanie 
Weiij/U, 
Age. 
April 23, '73. 
r, years. 
805 lbs. 
5 years. 
820 lbs. 
4 years. 
790 lbs. 
4 years. 
830 lbs. 
7 years. 
740 lbs. 
S years. 
M0 lbs. 
4 years. 
760 lbs. 
5 .years. 
1.050 lbs. 
Note. — Rosemary, Zillab, ami Cannie are heavy 
with calf. 
Tiiese cows were well kept, and their milk 
was regularly weighed at each milking from 
the time their calve3 were removed until they 
were dried off, or until the percentage of cream 
was proven by the lactometer twice a mouth 
for the date of this report the whole time. The 
following is their performance: 
Name. 
Locket 
Gala 
Rosemary 
Zoe Le Bas.. 
Silver Gray... 
Alice 
Zillah 
Cannie 
Date of 
Beginning 
Record. 
April 1», '72 
Feb. 12, '72 
April 12, '72 
April 23, — 
May 2, 
May 2. 
June 12, 
July 9, 
5 ~^ 
I 4\ 
a a 
205 
370 
252 
304 
303 
300 
202 
266 
fe 
Mir,:,.. 19>v,oo 19. 
TflSOU 20«Ao. 16.87 
3069)* 1 ! '%„„'-" 
R60 15«/ioo 
6054' J 19 »»/,„„ 
6706H 2} "/mo 
(il22>i 
5169 " 
Average nf all I 290 15566 
19.65 
16.48 
15.37 
16.52 
11.49 
19 «/;;;, iT.ea 
23 »y. 
19 'A. 
10.04 
Tliis is a perfectly reliable statement, based 
on accurate records, and made by a gentleman 
of character who has spared no pains to get the 
best cows of the breed, and to keep them in the 
very best manner. From an intimate personal 
knowledge of bis herd, I do not hesitate to in- 
dorse his statements in all particulars. He 
uses cream in his family without stint, and has 
not been able to learn from actual trial how 
much butter bis herd would make in a year. 
It would, however, be safe to calculate that, 
taking the year through, the cream from Jersey 
cows will make a pound of butter per quart. 
Mr. Thomas Ilorsfall, of England — the best 
authority on this subject — found, on two trials, 
that 15 quails of cream yielded 24'/ t ounces of 
butter per quart, and that 14 quarts of cream 
yielded 25 '/, ounces per quart. His milk was 
set in shallow paus, and the cream would natur- 
ally dry out much more than in the lactometer; 
liut this would not increase the rate from 10 
ounces to 25 ounces. In my own practice 
(using deep cans, which, expose even less sur- 
face to the air than the lactometer does), I find 
that one quart of cream will make more than 
one pound of butter. Now, Mr. Robeson's 
herd gave, during an average period of 290 
days, 430 quarts of cream per cow, and "of 
the whole amount of cream he churned during 
the year 1,409} quarts, and made, therefrom, 
1,333| pounds butter. This shows a yearly 
average of 407 pounds butter per cow." 
The story is a large one, and I am quite pre- 
pared lo have those who do not know mo call 
it a tough one — but I believe it, nevertheless. 
At the same time, it is not an example that 
many can follow. The breeding herd at Ogdcn 
Farm won't begin to equal it. Indeed, very 
few can afford the money, nor have they the 
intelligent skill required to get together eight 
Herd-book Jerseys of such excellence. These 
have been bought in Jersey and here, and bred 
and weeded out for years with an eye to secur- 
ing as nearly absolute perfection as has been 
possible within the time. That they will still 
further improve under their intelligent manage- 
ment is unquestionable. 
While the results of this instance of success- 
ful fanning are beyond the probable reach of any 
"ordinary" farmer, it is none the less valuable as 
an example. In any well-regulated dairy in 
which only common cows are kept, I think that 
an average annual yield of one-half that of Mr. 
Robeson's Jerseys, or 203 lbs., would be con- 
sidered very satisfactory, and this from cows of 
greater weight, and so requiring more food. 
The question arises: How can we make a fair 
beginning on the other half ?— how get to 300 
lbs ? The answer involves a good man}' things, 
but it will depend more on the infusion of Jer- 
sey blood than on anything else. A half-bred 
Jersey is very much better thau a native, and a 
three-quarter-bred one is still better. One bull 
will suffice to inaugurate an improvement in a 
large herd, which in even two generations (or 
in six or eight years) will more than double the 
profit of the dairy. Even a small addition to 
the yield will double the profit, for it will cost 
no more to support the grades than the natives, 
the quality will be beller (and the selling price 
higher), and none of the expenses will be mate- 
rially increased. 
In this connection it may be well to quote 
from the Jersey Herd Register the statement of 
Mr. Chas. M. Beach, of Hartford, Ct. (person- 
ally known to me as a careful and trustworthy 
observer). He " made a careful experiment 
witli three pure Jersey cows, three grade cows, 
and three native cows, an experiment which 
was carefully conducted for a week. The ani- 
mals were in essentially the same condition, 
and were kept on the same food. Each lot 
averaged about the same time for calving. It 
was found that to make one pound of butter 
the following quantity of milk from eacli sort 
of cow was required : Three pure Jerseys, 6£ 
quails; three grades, 8i quarts ; three natives, 
11 quarts. According to this, a Jersey cow 
giving about 123- quarts of milk per day, or a 
grade giving lGj quarts, would make as much 
butter as a native cow giving 22 quarts." Of 
course, the grades must vary according to their 
proportion of Jersey blood. In Mr. Beach's 
experiment, one was one-half Jersey, one three- 
quarters, and one seven-eighths. . , 
Those who believe that the best Jerseys have 
the " solid color and full black points" will not 
find their theories sustained by an examination 
of Mr. Robeson's herd. I think lie has not one 
animal of this character. He prefers the lighter 
fawns and grays, with some white, and his im- 
ported hull " Orange-peel," which he himself 
selected in Jersey, was light fawn with consider- 
able white. At the same time, color is only a 
secondary object with him, and no promising 
heifer is sold until her milking quality has been 
proven. Mr. Thomas Motley, who is one of the 
oldest and one of the very best Jersey breeders 
in New England, is now raising for his own use 
a bull that is foil}'- one-third white. 
The solid color men will be glad, on the 
other hand, lo know that the cattle which Col. 
R. M. Hoe recently sold at auction for very 
high prices — a nine-months-old bull for $560, 
and four cows respectively for $560, $640, $700, 
and $605 — were mainly of their favorite mark- 
ing. This sale indicates that color brings the 
highest prices. Shall we then breed mainly for 
color? I decidedly shall not. The object is 
not a wise one, and to seek it because of tem- 
porary high prices is a prostitution of breediug 
that can not result in the good of the race nor 
in the good of the dairyman. The Jeuseys a8 
a race are very valuable to the country, not be- 
cause of their conformity to a passing fashion, 
but because of their ability to yield a large pro- 
duct of good butter, and it is their value in this 
respect that must redound to the greatest event- 
ual profit of their breeders. Then again, oa 
the mere score of beauty, I would be glad to 
have the very blackest of the black-point men 
see Mr. Robeson's cattle tethered on his lawn. 
Tiiey will answer this disputed question more 
convincingly than any writing can do. 
Much has been said and written about the 
best treatment of calves, and so many have ad- 
vised their immediate removal that we this 
spring ventured to try it. Out of four so treat- 
ed (all heifers, worth $100 each when they 
were dropped), one died befoie it was a week 
old, another is scouring so badly that we have 
but little hope of its recovery, and a third is 
ailing and weakly. "We have had quite enough 
of this treatment, and shall return to our custom 
of leaving all calves with their mothers until 
the}' are at least three days old, and longer if 
necessary to start them fairly and vigorously ou 
the road of life, a practice which has hitherto 
produced the most satisfactory results. 
I have also experimented — until I have re- 
gretted it — on another theory of some modern 
breeders of Jerseys — that is, to milk the cows 
quite up to the lime of calving, if possible. In 
every case, I am convinced that real and proba- 
bly permanent injury has resulted. The idea 
advanced was that a Jersey cow has no other 
purpose but to bring calves and to produce 
milk, and that she should be trained to the 
fullest and most persistent exereise of the lac- 
leal function. The subject has been presented 
to mc so long and so persuasively, and by men 
whose opinion seemed so well worth}' of respect, 
that I had come to more than half believe it, 
and have tried the experiment this spring with 
several animals. In every case there has been 
trouble with the udder, and thus far the flow of 
milk is less than it was after the previous calv- 
ing. The calves have not been materially 
affected by it, but the mothers have been in 
every instance. Hereafter, we shall endeavor 
to dry off all of the cows a month before calving. 
Up to that time it is well to keep the milk flow- 
ing (if only a pint a day), and with Jerseys it i3 
almost always easy to do this ; but after that the 
milking should cease, aud the udder should be 
allowed to become entirely empty of milk pre- 
paratory to the commencement of its new period 
of activity — "springing" regularly aud natu- 
rally, and having uo trace of the old love when 
it begius with the new. 
Another experiment we are now making, that 
will have more influence on the prosperity of 
the farm than any other could have (for the 
Labor question is become the most vital of all), 
Haubrich aud his family have gone — gone to 
the West, that ultimate haven of all immigrat- 
ing Deutschers — aud the Dudeldorfers, whom I 
hunted up in Germany last autumn, are in- 
stalled in their place, now it will work, I don't 
know. Thus far, it seems a very good combina- 
tion of new broom and young blood, and we 
hope for a continuance of the improvement; 
but one is apt often to sigh for the good old 
days when good American farm-hands worked 
contentedly for years on the same farm. 
