270 
EXTRAORDINARY BUTTER COW.—INDICATIONS OF WEATHER. 
vegetation over an extensive area, so much so that 
one crop among eight near Mount Vesuvius is 
always lost through such calamities. It is, there¬ 
fore, these very falls of ashes which cause the for¬ 
mation of a vegetable stratum on a large scale, 
and such must contain humus. This corresponds 
entirely with what Mr. Lyell states, (“ Princ. of 
Geol.” ii., 148,) that he found near Pompeii under 
the volcanic cinders of 1822, a layer of vegetable 
mould of the thickness of three feet. 
(To be Continued.) 
Mr. Schenck has given us below an account of 
the most extraordinary butter cow we ever heard 
of. Yet, notwithstanding this, our readers may 
rely upon it as being strictly correct. To those 
who do not know Mr. Schenck, we can only say, 
that he is one of the most reputable citizens 
of New York, and not at all likely to deceive 
either himself or others. We merely make these 
remarks to silence all cavil. The cow in question 
is polled, having no horns, and is evidently a three 
fourths bred Durham. In form, color, and several 
other characteristics, she exactly resembles ani¬ 
mals which we have seen in England, bred from 
red Galloways by Durham bulls. She is above the 
ordinary size; with a good spread of hip; a long 
head; low, deep brisket; handles well; and shows 
the largest milk veins which we ever saw. Her 
color is red and white. She was very low in flesh 
when we looked at her in October, and so lame as 
to walk with difficulty. We much regret that 
she could not have been bred to a bull of deep 
milking family, her stock, then, would have been 
invaluable. 
For the American Agriculturist. 
EXTRAORDINARY BUTTER COW. 
Matteawan , Dutchess Co ., October Qth, 1843. 
The cow Emma was nine years old last spring. 
I got her when a calf from Mrs. Thomas Storm at 
Kipp’s bay. She was from a cow that she had 
called the cream breed. This is all the pedigree 
that I can give. 
I never till the summer of 1842 kept her milk 
separate from three other cows which I have, and 
then, for experiment, I tried it only one week. 
She then gave 18 quarts per day, and her milk 
made 15 lbs. of butter. During this time she was 
kept on grass only. The past summer she receiv¬ 
ed an injury in her spine, and in consequence of 
this had barely the power to get up, and hardly 
lived through calving. 
On the 21st May I commenced keeping an ac¬ 
count of her milk, and the butter it made. She 
at no time exceeded 16 quarts per day, and on the 
10th June, being 21 days, she had made 65£ lbs. 
of butter of the best quality. This was so in¬ 
credible, that I could scarcely believe my own 
senses, although I weighed the butter at every 
churning myself. I thought I would try again for 
a day or two. I kept one day’s milk by itself, 15£ 
quarts on the 15th June, and churned it. All the 
milk was churned, as it appeared to be unneces¬ 
sary to cream it. I had 3 lbs. 8 oz. of butter ready 
for the table. The next day it was also tried, and 
it produced 3 lbs. 4 oz. The first day above, the 
milk was put in two pans—the other day, only in 
one pan, which may have made the difference of 
the quarter of a pound. 
In September she only gave 11 to 12 quarts 
per day, and made 10 lbs. of butter a week—fur¬ 
ther, I have not tried her milk. She was so 
lame during this time, as scarcely to be able to 
move. She was kept on good pasture, and besides 
this, I fed her night and morning with a bushel of 
cut hay and 8 quarts of shorts, which is still her 
regular feed. 
Peter H. Schenck. 
For the American Agriculturist. 
INDICATIONS OF WEATHER. 
Buffalo^ October 1 Qth> 1843. 
“ Dost thou know the balancings of the clouds ? 
Out of the south cometh the whirlwind: fair 
weather and cold, out of the north.”— Job. 
“ When it is evening, ye say, it will be fair weath¬ 
er, for the sky is red; and in the morning, it will 
be foul weather to-day; for the sky is red and 
lowering.”— Matt. “ When ye see a cloud rise out 
of the west, straightway ye say, there cometh a 
shower; and so it is. And when ye see the south 
wind blow, ye say, there will be heat ; and it 
cometh to pass.”— Luke. 
We have high authority for predicting the 
weather from the appearance of the sky, and it is 
certain that this has been a leading fancy in all 
ages and climes. Indeed, so important is a fore¬ 
knowledge of the approaching weather, especially 
to the husbandman, that he may well stand excu¬ 
sed for paying a very close attention to its indica¬ 
tions. These are afforded not only from the ap¬ 
pearance of the sky, and the wind, but also by the 
habits of the larger animals, birds, fish, reptiles, 
and insects ; and how often by the feelings of the 
human system, as the shooting from a corn, a 
chronic wound, or rheumatic pains, when an east 
wind sighs through the trees; and how elastic 
and bounding do the spirits rise when a fresh 
northwester comes booming along from the arctic ? 
The moon, too, has a full share of influence as¬ 
signed her in changing the face of the sky, and 
varying the range of the thermometer. It has 
been estimated that at new moon, when she ex¬ 
erts her influence on the earth in conjunction with 
the sun, the chances of a change in the weather 
are as 7 to 1; when in her first quarter, 90° dis¬ 
tant from the sun, and when full and in opposition 
to the sun, the chances of change are as 5 to 2; 
and when in her third quarter, as 5 to 4. In peri¬ 
gee, when nearest the earth, the chances are 7 to 
1 ; and in apogee, or at the greatest distance, as 
4 to 1. That the moon should have some influ- 
