28 
THE SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
Coxv=o'.osy. 
The last number of the Farmers' Library 
brings iis acquainted witn a very curious book 
on a very curious subject. The title of the book 
is “ A Treatise on Milch Cows; whereby the 
qiudily and quantity of milJc which any cow will 
(rive, may be accurately determined, by observing 
natural marks or external indications alone, the 
length of time she will continue to give milk,<^c. 
By M. Francis Gcknon, France. And the ob- 
ject ot the book is to propose a system, by which, 
in addition to what is .specified in the title, on 
e.xamination of a calf a few months old, its fu- 
ture milking qualities may be predicted. Strange 
as this may appear, it is, nevertheless, rnain- 
tainea to be true by members of the highest 
character of the Agricultural section of the 
French Academy of Sciences. And in the 
Journal d' Agticulture Pratique, as quoted by 
the Farmers’ Library, itisstated that. Monsieur 
Guenon, a farmer of Libourne, having dis- 
covered an infallible method of ascertaining 
the lactiferous qualities of cows, by means 
of certain invariable signs, easily to be found 
on these anima'r, inviieda rigid investigation 
of his theory, by the Agricultural Society of 
Toulouse. A committee was accordingly ap- 
pointed by ihafSociely, w’ho reported; 
“ We conducted Mr Guenon into seven cow- 
stables with which he was entirely unacquaint- 
ed. Here fl.rty-six cows v ere submitted to his 
inspection. In twwnty-two instances he named 
the exact num 'icr of yin's given by each cow ; in 
fourteen he came wiihin a pint, and in ten with- 
in two or three pints. 
“Exact precision as to number ot pints, how- 
ever is deemed as of little importance, as the 
quantity of milk is liable to vary, with many 
circumstances, as f)od, temperature, date of 
calving, &c. But the main fact ofihediscovery 
w’e consider, fes established, as Morisieur Guenon 
invariably di'iinguish'es the good from the bad 
milkers. 
Highly respectable as are these foreign au- 
thorities, we should still have some suspicion 
that there might possibly be some mistake in 
the matter, were it not that one ot our own citi- 
zens has prepared a translation ol Monsieur 
Guenon’s book- for American readers. 
N. P. Tkist, formerly U. S. Consul at Hava- 
na, now engaged in the department cf State at 
Washington Cilv, is the frans'ator. His name 
is a sufficient guarantee that there is no humbug 
in the business. Here is what he says about it 
in his prclace : 
T R E A T 1 E ON M I I. C II COWS. 
The Tnmslator to the Reader. 
Nonsense ! Who can believe any such thing? 
What! bv merely looking at a cow, to be able 
to tell how much milk she is capable ol 
be'ing made to yiel-i; and, also, how long she ' 
can continue to give milk after being got with 
c^lf!_lo be able thus to ascertain, not only 
what are the qualities of a full grown cow, 
but what are to be the qualities of any heifer- 
calf, by looking at her while yet but two or 
three months old! Surely, it ever there was a 
humbug, this is one. 
Softlv, Mr. Reader! You are very incredu- 
lons, no doubt, but I d-tfy you to be more so than 
1 was when in your present position. Whatis 
more, I ddy you to elina to your skepticism 
more than ari hour or so. Htnvever strong and 
firm it may be at this moment, i‘ will, in a little 
while, hive vanished into nothing; anil iis 
place will be filled bv another solid proof in ad- 
dition to the many that you have already stored 
up, thax 
“ There are more things in heaven and earth , 
Than are dreamt of in your jbilosophy.” 
When this discovery was first mentioned to 
me, as one which had recer.ily been published 
in France, I smiled at the credulity of some peo- 
ple. My informant perceiving what effect the 
announcement had upon me, said, “ It is so, 
however;'’ and then, nothing but politenes-s 
towards a stranger, for the first time under my 
roof, prevented my replying, “You do notreally 
believe this to be possible.” 
He offered to send me the book; and, though 
1 had not the least idea of throwing away my 
lime in reading it, civility would not allow me 
to decline, it came, and i opened it with the 
intention merely ol looking into it sufficiently to 
say that 1 had done so. W^hen, however, in 
turning the pages over, i saw that this piece of 
quackery, as 1 I'elt very sure the pretended dis- 
covery must be, had engaged the attention of 
distinguished Agiicultural Societies in France, 
and had earned “ Gold Medals” for its author 
in a country where they are not prone to be 
lavish u( such substantial marks ofapprohation, 
my curicsity was awakened, and I had soon 
' read enough to bring home to me once more, 
for the thousandth time, that homely old tiutb, 
“ W^e live to learn.” 
Since then, manv things have occurred to 
strengthen my confidence in the reality of this 
discovery, and in its high practical value ti all 
interested in the preservation and improvement 
of milk stock— and who is it that is not interest- 
ed in its prodneliveness? The most recent of 
these incidents is as follows : 
A friend to whom I had lent the translation 
accompanied with the plaies which are requisite 
to make it intelligible, showed it to a man from 
the courdry whose calling had rendered him 
quite conversant with thesubject of cattle. This 
person’s curiosity was so far awakened, that, 
beside attending tothe explanations made to him, 
he took a sketch oi some o\' escutcheons ■ — 
After an absence ofsome weeks, he .returned to 
the city where this had happened, and came to 
see my friend. “That thing (said he) is as true 
as a book. There is no mistake about the mat- 
ter. Since I was here, I have looked at more 
cows than ever you saw, and I am perfectly 
satisfied that the thing is just as ihe Frenchman 
says. I have become convinced, too, of another 
thing : that our breeds of cattle are by no means 
the great things they are cracked up to be.” 
N. P. T.. 
©uiginai QTammiimcations. 
To the Ed- tor of the Southern Cultivator: 
Mr. Cam.-mj : — Ttie business of the day is 
over, and f have finished saving the December 
nu.mbers of the Southern Cultivator, the Alba- 
ny Culiivaior. and the American Agriculturist, 
making the file for 1845 complete lor these 
three excellent woiks; 'and the Novembernum- 
ber of the Tenne-see Agriculturist is also sew- 
ed on. While engaged in the above pleasant 
business ol preserving the above work’s, so that 
they may answer the double purpose oi consul- 
tation and reference vi hile I iive, and be handed 
down to those who w'ill come after me when lam 
no more, m.}'' mind naturall}' turned to my 
friends while thus employed. I at once deter- 
mined to take up my pen and say sornethirig to 
the tarmers. I am ihe more stimulated to do 
this as our post office law has been changed, 
and it will only cost five cents to tell you some- 
thing of ihe day’s business now the year is 
coming to a close. I say the day’s business. 
Now, Mr, Editor, you know I live down South 
in the land of flowers in the spring, and ever- 
greens in the winter. In the early part of the 
day 1 h.Tve been engaged in digging np the 
young Magnolia, and, by ihe-by, I was more 
fortunate in fi-ding them on yesterday than ever 
1 was beture, that is, in procuring small ones, 
fir it is unnecessary to attempt to raise those 
that are of any siz '. The Ivy, the two varie- 
ties of the Biys, the Rhododendron, the Yellow 
Jasmin, the Daik Hydrangea, the Holly, I am 
colleeiing together with many other evergreens, 
to send to Mr, S. B. Parsons, of Long Island. 
While visiting that kind gentleman the past 
summer, we agreed to enter into an exchange 
of trees, shrubber}', &c. He lias promptly 
complied, and has sent me out a vaiieiy of fruit 
and ornamental trees, andnow I am making an 
effiii t to comply. 
Perhaps some of my old friends in my native 
Stale, Georgia, will say to themselves, you had 
better be employed in so nething else. In an- 
swer, 1 must say, we can beautify our residen- 
ces, and do something else too. Alter get’ing 
through the trees,^ I v erii to the furm, four miles 
distant, to see how things were getting on there, 
as I visit my fariii every day, and as the close 
of the year and the commencement ol the new 
year is, if possible, more important than any 
other season. This is the time that the farmer 
should close bis old book for 1845, and com- 
mence a new one for 1846. Now, Mr. Editor, 
I mean precisely what I say. Every farmer 
should keep a weekly and daily diary ot all his 
operaiions. Mine is a small farm, and I close 
at page 204, and have commenced my book for 
I84G. We commenced on yesterday morning 
hauling out oiir compost manure with twoycke 
of steers and two carts, the distance to haul not 
great. The carts hauled out on yesteiday 22 
loads each. On an av’erage, 20 loads a dav 
will be as much as they will be able to haul. 
Each cart hauls 15 bushels to ihe load, making 
daily 600 bushrls, and it will take 50 days to 
haul it out, which will be thirty thousand bu- 
shels of manure. Now, Mr Editor, it has ta- 
ken much tabor to prepare this manure, and 
still I have no doubt but thal we will be well 
paid in the end. 
We have refused nine cents per pound for 
our cotton, wiihin four miles of where it wms 
raised; we expect 12 cents per lb. in New Or- 
leans and Nev.' York, as we will this year send 
some to each place. So, Mr. Editor, the read- 
ing of Agricultural papers is not such a bad 
business alter all. Your friend, 
Alexander McDonald. 
Enfanla, Ala,. Dec. 30, 1845. 
Agriculfiiral Experiments— Be Careful in 
Making, 
Mr. Camak : — It is usual wheyi a letter is ad- 
dressed to an editor for publicalii n, that his 
name be annexed IherHo, I oppose the plan, 
from the fact, that private or public exposure 
does not taste well; and anoiher reason is, that 
a communication for agricultural purposes is 
different from that of a political one, and there 
could scarcely originate a cause for offence, end 
particularly too, when it is intended for our mu- 
tual benefit; but at the .same time, if necessary, 
the author should give his name in full. 
My object for writing is, to know why there 
exist such a difference of opinion upon agricul- 
ture, not only in things of an abstruse nature, 
but of the most plain and simple operations 
connected with ihe farming business. Oneman 
will tell you, that manure should be applied to 
the surface ; another will tell you, that it should 
be Covered, and that if put upon the top of the 
earth, there will be a serious loss both by wa.sh- 
ing and evaporation. Some will tell you that 
this should be done, another will say, that this 
should he done, thereby causing conflicting opi- 
nions and much contusion. It dees seem tome 
that we have too many scientific arid practical 
agriculturists in the South .ffir so much skepti- 
cism to exist long, anti it must be rooted out if 
we ever expect to be worthy of the name of 
agticulturists. Let us follow Crockett’s advice, 
“ Be certain that you are right, then go ahead.” 
Such would f say lo all agricultural correspem- 
dents. Don’t .submit your farming notions to a 
careless examination or a partial experin ent, 
but probe, probe, probe, until there is nothing 
left to probe, then hawf your knowledge of tl ese 
things published for ilie benefit of yqur broil. er 
farmers RespecMuHv, B. B. 
Cassville, Dec. 16, 1845, 
