56 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[February, 
Among the Farmers.—No. 61. 
BY ONE OF THEM. 
Cool Rooms. 
I visited last month some of the best cool 
storage-rooms in New York City. A. friend 
wishing to put up one in connection with his 
private dairy, I went with him to study the 
subject. I do not see why a cool store-house 
is not likely to become indispensable on every 
large farm. I give herewith a sectional 
sketch to show the arrangement of the parts. 
In figure 1, a is the floor entered from a 
double door on the side, towards the observer. 
On this floor the butter tubs are placed, and 
here, of course, the air is the coldest. In 
small rooms it might be worth while to have 
a slide two feet high, to partly close the 
doorway on the inside, so as to prevent an 
outflow of the cold air upon the floor when 
the door is opened. The person entering 
could easily step over the slide, which could 
be removed when heavy things are taken in 
or out. The ice-box, b, is filled from a shute 
entering near the top of the room. The 
structure of the ice-box is better seen in fig. 
2. At c, fig. 1, is the arrangement for light¬ 
ing. A gas flame in the apartment, or a 
lamp or lantern, would be a source of heat, 
and would give off gases and odors not de¬ 
sirable where butter is kept, hence the double 
walls of the room are provided with one .or 
more windows, with two panes of glass in 
each, so placed as to include an air space be¬ 
tween them ; a gas jet or lamp being placed 
in front of these on the outside of the room, 
the interior is furnished with a plenty of light. 
L The Ice Holder 
is a trunk or strong box with a bottom of 
slats, substantial enough to withstand the 
falling upon it of 
heavy cakes of ice, 
and under this bot¬ 
tom is a trough to 
catch the drip from 
the melting ice, and 
at the same time to 
allow the free pas¬ 
sage of the cold air 
which comes pouring 
through the ice. This 
flow of air through 
the ice causes it to 
melt rapidly, and of 
course the faster it 
melts the better, un¬ 
til the room is cool 
enough, then by 
closing the slides at the top, or in some way 
shutting off the draft when it enters at the 
top of the room, the ice stops melting. 
The result of this system of cooling is, that 
the air of such a room is always sweet and 
fresh. The warmest air is of course at the 
top of the room. That in contact with the 
ice is ohilled, made heavier, filters through 
the blocks of ice upon which it deposits 
Fig. 2. —THE STRUCTURE 
OF THE ICE BOX. 
most of its moisture, and any odors which it 
may have imbibed, and flows out sweet and 
dry at the bottom. Thus all the air of 
the room is cooled over and over, and a 
temperature of 40° to 50° easily maintained. 
I was fortunate in being able to attend the 
sale of Guernsey cattle imported by Mr. 
Samuel Kent, in Philapelphia, in December, 
and although this will hardly be “ news ” in 
February, the recollection of that group of 
superb kine will not soon lose its interest. 
Recent Importations of Channel Island Cattle. 
Most of the notable Guernsey breeders in 
the country were present, and not a few had 
spent more or less of the ninety days for 
which the cattle had been in quarantine, in 
studying their points. The Chester Co., Pa., 
farmers rely much upon the Guenon “ Milk 
Mirror,” and friend Kent has made the mir¬ 
ror, or escutcheon, a special study. There 
were, therefore, few of this lot of cows 
which had not remarkably good escutcheons, 
but the excellent forms of the udders, good 
size of the teats, the development of the 
milk veins, told quite as strongly of abundant 
milk; depth of carcass, digestive capacity, and 
constitution, indicated by thickness “through 
the heart” were especially observable. 
I think they were, on the whole, the best 
lot of Guernsey cows I ever saw together. 
They were selected with reference to all that 
shrewd common sense and a life-long experi¬ 
ence as a dairy farmer would indicate, com¬ 
bined with a thorough knowledge of the 
breed, and a reasonable regard for what are 
regarded by breeders as fashionable points. 
The first cow sold brought the high price 
of $650. She was bought by Mr. Stuyvesant, 
of New York, who purchased a number of 
other very choice animals. Others followed 
at high prices too, but it was not until quite 
towards the last that “Elegante” was reach¬ 
ed. Her sale was watched with great curi¬ 
osity, for while she was probably the best 
milch cow, regarded simply as such, yet her 
black and white nose constituted a positive 
blemish, which told against her in many 
minds. The bidding went on spiritedly, and 
she was finally knocked down to Mr. L. W. 
Ledyard, of Cazenovia, for $875. Mr. L. had 
just returned from Guernsey himself, with 
some twenty or more cows and heifers, of 
his own selection, and he was disappointed 
in his failure to secure this very cow before 
she crossed the Atlantic. The above price 
is the largest that any Guernsey cow has ever 
sold for in this country, or indeed in any 
other, it being equivalent to over 166 guineas. 
The Jerseys. 
There were a few beautiful Jerseys, also 
selected by Mr. Kent, one of them the hand¬ 
somest little Jersey I ever saw. She seemed 
a very near approach to perfection, equally 
as a typical cow, and as a type of the Jersey 
breed. She was bought by Mr. Samuel J. 
Tilden, with one beautiful Guernsey and an¬ 
other Jersey, nearly as fine as the beauty just 
alluded to, all at handsome prices. Another 
of the Jerseys, more admirable as a milch 
cow than as a type of the breed, yet very 
fine, sold at $825, and was purchased by 
Mr. S. M. Burnham, of Saugatuck, Conn. 
All the animals offered at the sale were 
good, so good that it will hereafter be stated 
as a credit to any animal that it or even its 
ancestor was bought at this most notable sale. 
Mr. Kent went out to buy for himself and 
some of his neighbors, rather as it was said 
he went to look, hardly expecting to buy on 
account of the stringency of the quarantine ; 
but when there he wrote home, borrowed the 
money, and made this bold venture. The 
result was that he made money, but lost his 
cows, every one, for though he expected to 
bid in some, the prices went so far ahead of 
his ideas that only two or three of the lot 
went to West Grove, and these were bought 
by that excellent breeder, Thomas M. Harvey. 
Besides this notable importation, we have 
had several others this year. Mr. Ledyard’s 
has been alluded to. Mr. Havermeyer, of 
• New York, gave a commission to Mr. Bur¬ 
nett, of Massachusetts, to buy some 40 head 
of Jerseys for him. He now enjoys the 
reputation in Jersey of having taken away 
with him the largest and best lot of cattle 
which ever left the Island at any one time. 
Other Americans have visited Jersey, either 
to inspect or to purchase, among them Doct. 
Miles, of Houghton Farm, and Mr. John P. 
Haines, of Cranmoor Farm. 
The Islanders are really becoming alarmed. 
Their best animals are being carried off by 
English and Americans at such a rate that 
they may well fear the loss of the choicest 
blood. The fact is, the system of breeding 
and care of cattle in these two Islands, have 
produced in each a breed of distinctive ex¬ 
cellencies, and though we may in some sense 
improve upon the cows, both in this country 
and in England, yet for the typical animal, 
one must go back to the native locality, and 
it will be an irreparable loss to the world if 
the thrifty Islanders so far yield to temptation 
as to kill the goose that lays the golden egg. 
A Stable for A Cow. 
A stable that will properly shelter a single 
cow should be at least 14 feet square, and 12 
feet high to the 
eaves, to provide a 
loft for storing 
hay. Figure 1 is a 
ground plan of 
such a stable. It 
is divided into two 
parts, S represent¬ 
ing the stall, and R 
the remaining por¬ 
tion. The stall is 
l.-GROUND PLAN OF STABLE. ^ feet long ^ 
five wide. The manger, M, should be about 
two feet deep, 18 inches wide, and run the 
whole width of the stall. A trough, T, is put 
in one comer for feeding salt, roots, etc. The 
floor of the stall 
should slope to 
the rear, that 
the urine may 
run back into 
the pit, B. A 
door is placed at 
d, for admit¬ 
ting the cow 
and removing 
the manure. 
The room R is 
used for storing 
food and litter, „ 
, . ,, Flg.2.— SECTION OF COW STABLE. 
and keeping the 
calf. Figure 2 shows a vertical section of the 
cow stable. The loft, L, is reached by a lad¬ 
der upon the inside; P is the comer post in 
the manger. The other letters are the same 
as in figure 1; it showing the stable in a 
longitudinal section made through the center. 
