136 
AMERICAN A6KICULTURIST. 
[April, 
their stock and publishing a herd-book. One vol¬ 
ume of this official record has been issued, and its 
popularity has been such as to require two and 
possibly three editions within the year. 
To illustrate the characters of this breed, wc have 
selected animals from the herd of Mr. E. F. Bow- 
ditch, Millwood Farm, Framingham, Mass., who 
possesses some of the best stock of its kind in the 
country, and give engravings from accurate photo¬ 
graphs. The bull “ Hubert,” (No. 47, Guernsey 
H’d B’k), was imported by Mr. Bowditch in April, 
1877, and was three years old on the 30tli of Dee. 
last, at which age he weighed 1,400, and is regarded 
as one of the best animals of his age. The cow 
“Marie” (No. 116) is also imported; she weighs 
over 1,000, and Mr. B. remarks that as a two-year- 
old she had the largest bag he ever saw, and he con¬ 
siders her a very tine type of the breed. The heifer, 
“Miss Alice” (No. 230), is about 2 years and 9 
months old, and from July 11th, 1878, to Jan. 1st, 
’79, her yield was over 12 quarts per day, and Mr. 
Bowditch wrote on Feb. 22, that she was still giving 
at that date, between 11 and 12 quarts a day. 
Among the Farmers.—No. 39. 
BY ONE Or THEM. 
It was about the second week in January that I 
found myself among the farmers, who are also 
dairymen, at Utica, attending their meetings, and 
being edified both by intercourse with them and by 
the addresses made. There was a discussion, by a 
knot of Jersey and Ayrshire breeders in one of the 
hotel parlors, on establishing a true and attested 
ISilk and Butter Record for Cows. 
There has certainly been more good thinking 
done on this subject than most are aware of. 1 have 
known plans suggested and talked over with great 
earnestness during these many years, and now it 
seems as if we were ready for a successful movement. 
If braggingendedthere—in braggadocio ; if lying 
only affected the liar; if a few imaginative breeders 
sat down together, or sat down to write to the 
papers, just to see who would ouUyarn the others 
with assertions about the amount of milk and but¬ 
ter his best cow would yield, the case would be 
different. But every time a big yarn is told, there 
are those who believe it, and though founded upon 
facts, it grows bigger, or is apt to do so. Twelve 
pounds of butter a week becomes fourteen, the 
quart or two of skimmed milk given away becomes 
two quarts of new milk sold and cream taken for 
coffee daily, and the 14 pounds of butter is claimed, 
notwithstanding. A good cow that—hut let the 
crowd alone awhile and she will be nowhere. Some¬ 
body else’s cow makes 18 lbs. a week, “ on grass 
only,” of course; perhaps he is of the conscienti¬ 
ous ones who “can’t tell a lie,” and so he takes 
care not to weigh the milk or the butter, but lets 
his hired man do it. How these stories would 
shrink if we could have the cows all in the same 
stable and pasture, milked by the same hand, and 
the milk and butter weighed on the same scales ! 
The question is: Is it practicable to establish 
A Testing' Farm for Cows, 
where they could be as well cared for as is possible , 
brought to their best milking condition by a skill¬ 
ful herdsman, and all treated alike, their milk be¬ 
ing churned, separately, often enough to establish 
its quality, and the amount both of milk and butter 
which each cow would, and presumably could give, 
without risk of affecting her health ? If this is 
possible, then we can establish a record book for 
cows, which for the milk and butter breeds would 
be the most valuable auxiliary to the herd books 
that they could possibly have. The opinion of the 
breeders at Utica seemed to be, that the project of 
having a farm, or several farms in different dairy 
regions, working in unison, and on the same prin¬ 
ciples and system, was hardly practicable, but that 
it would be much better to employ trained experts 
who should go to the farms where famous cows or 
those to be tested are kept, and there make their 
observations; see the feeding, milking, setting, 
churning, etc., for a week at a time, at stated or 
occasional periods, and so get a record for .the cows, 
which would be accepted as authoritative. They 
unanimously shrunk from sending their best cows 
to a farm 50 or 100 miles away from home, subject 
to accidents of transit, to be kept there for a year, 
or less, or even to be more tested for a month. 
How would it be with horses! Would our 
horsemen consent to have contests of speed set¬ 
tled by experts at the different breeding farms, one 
horse at a time, in presence only of the breeder 
and his meu?— How near to the truth would 
we arrive ?—Would it be different with cows?—I 
know breeders who will “pull the wool over the 
eyes ” of persons visiting their farms, in the most 
artless and child-like manner—fill their ears with 
wonderful stories, and their souls with admiration. 
In fact, I have “ been there ” myself, and yet even 
now, with my eyes wide open, and knowing the 
tricks of the eow-jockies about as well as the mul¬ 
tiplication table, the rule of three, or the pons 
asUiorum, I would not trust myself not to be de¬ 
ceived in some way by master or man, milk-maid 
or butter maker, if the effort were really made. 
Now it must be understood that one dishonest 
breeder or feeder, or butter-maker, whose word is 
taken, and whose statements on weights and meas¬ 
ures are trusted, whose memorandums of the fa¬ 
mous performances of his cows are accepted and 
published as true by the newspapers, establishes 
the fact that the assertions of interested parties 
are not to be taken as evidence of any thing, ex¬ 
cept of the frailty of human nature. I have no 
doubt that there are hundreds of breeders who 
would conscientiously understate the yield of their 
cows, the amount of butter made, and other similar 
facts, if there could be a shadow of doubt respect¬ 
ing them, and have met with repeated instances of 
exactly this thing in cases where it seemed to me 
unreasonable not to take probabilities as facts, so I 
wish to have my remark respecting cow-jockies 
applied to them alone. 
Mr. Hardin’s Suggestion. 
Mr. L. S. Hardin, of Kentucky, now of "New York, 
has done some good thinking on this subject. I 
believe he rather favors the plan of having the 
owner weigh a cow’s milk daily—that is, at each 
milking, keep it by itself, if he can, and at any rate 
as often as once a mouth through her whole season, 
set her milk by itself for a week and chum it— 
weighing the actual butter, and estimating the pro¬ 
duct of the month from this result. During this 
whole period he is to be subject to unannounced 
visits from the “expert” before alluded to, or 
from different experts, who should thoroughly 
watch the proceedings and results, and whose find¬ 
ings should constitute a record for the cow. I 
have already suggested obvious objections, which 
I really think would prove fatal to this plan. 
Mr. Kellogg’s Proposed Plan. 
Mr. P. C. Kellogg, of New York, although he is 
much more interested in horses than in cows, has 
been ruminating at least a year on this subject, and 
he and I have frequently compared notes. It was 
he who made the remark which 1 once quoted, to 
the effect that he gives little credence to stories of 
great performances of either cows or horses (in 
private) unless lie knows “ who held the watch on 
them.” I do not know wnether he has given his 
plan to the light yet or not, but understand that we 
quite agree on the insuperable difficulties attending 
any plan of inspection of cows on the home farms, 
and on the feasibility not only of making the tests 
fairly and openly at a farm and dairy devoted to 
the purpose, but of securing entries enough to 
make the contest exciting and of great interest to 
the entire community. The plan would be to estab¬ 
lish one such dairy farm controlled by a society or 
club who would calculate to make their investment 
a profitable one—at least to make the cows pay for 
their board and the care given to them, by their 
products or in cash, or both, and to offer very hand¬ 
some prizes to the cows winning the highest honors 
in several important classes. For instance, we will 
say §250 for the greatest amount of butter ; §100 for 
the greatest amount of milk ; 8200 for the greatest 
amount of cheese, as caseine—8100 for the greatest 
amount of butter, as compared with the live weight 
of the cow ; the same for butter, compared with 
food consumed; and so tests might be multiplied 
and might each constitute a valuable record. It is 
Mr. K.’s belief that the successful establishment 
of one such test dairy, say in the vicinity of New 
York City, would be soon followed by that of 
others in dairy regions throughout the country, 
and in this I fully coincide—everything, of course, 
depending on the success of the first attempt. 
These test dairies would need to recognize some 
common head or organization, and by this central 
club the records should be kept and published. 
In preparing a catalogue of the herd of that dis¬ 
criminating breeder and most estimable gentleman, 
the late Moses Y. Tilden, some years ago, I alluded 
to certain non-registered cows, as excluded from 
the record of the A. J. C. C., but having their 
“Pedigrees Written in Butter,” 
a realization of this idea seems to be within the 
possibilities of the next few years. Something of 
this kind is the only way by which we can surely 
and rapidly establish families famous for uniform 
and great production of butter. Is it not worthy 
the combined effort of those at least who will be 
benefited by it—the breeders of the milk and but¬ 
ter races of neat cattle ? If we can thus bring to¬ 
wards perfection the races of neat cattle as to 
milk and butter yield, as the beef breeds have been 
improved, and as running and trotting horses 
have been developed, is it not worth the effort? 
Prickly Comfrey—Its Propagation. 
Like all other new plants, Prickly Comfrey has 
had its season of probation; first over-praised, 
then unfairly denounced, and at last its true merits 
ascertained through the patient trials of those 
whose verdict finally fixes its status. Having been 
promineut in bringing Prickly Comfrey to notice, 
we are glad that the final result is so favorable. 
Though it was presented as a matter of news, as a 
plant that seemed to us “ well worth trying,” 
there are some who regard the mention of a plant 
as a commendation, and while they do not thank us 
for bringing a useful novelty to their notice, they 
are swift to blame if a new thing does not meet 
their expectations. The case with regard to the 
Prickly Comfrey stands now at the beginning of the 
third year of its general introduction, about thus : 
For those who have rich land, it is a most valua¬ 
ble plant, yielding an immense amount of green 
fodder, especially suitable for milch-cows, and ex¬ 
cellent for other domestic animals. It it not rec¬ 
ommended for poor soils, but for those who wish 
to get the greatest yield through liberal manuring ; 
as one correspondent states it, “it will use all the 
manure you give it.” Milch-cows, horses, pigs, and 
poultry, all thrive upon it. It often happens that 
cows will not eat it at firsthand must be accustom¬ 
ed to it as shown in former articles. At first, the 
leaves must be chopped, or cut with a fodder-cutter, 
mixed with cut hay or other fodder, and sprinkled 
with meal or bran and a little salt. The cows are 
fed on this after fasting over night. The next day, 
the proportion of Comfrey is increased, and so on. 
It requires but a few days to teach them to prefer 
unmixed Comfrey. This matter is given more in 
full in November last, p. 416. This—the reluctance 
of cows to eat it at first—is the only objection 
worth considering yet made to the plant, and this is 
readily overcome. In several of the dairy centers 
in Massachusetts, the farmers, after a trial, are 
largely increasing their plantations, and we hear 
good accounts from other quarters. But the most 
positive proof that the Comfrey has now an estab¬ 
lished value, is in the fact that the dealers have 
made arrangements for large supplies. One seed 
house of our acquaintance, that at first offered it 
with caution, has contracted for an immense quan¬ 
tity ; and another, which would hardly touch it at 
first, has arranged for half a ton of the roots. 
How to Make a Start. 
Heretofore, started root-cuttings only have been 
offered, but we understand that this year the roots 
will be offered by the pound, and the purchaser 
will make his own cuttings. The plant is one that 
propagates with the greatest ease; of the smaller 
roots, every bit from half an inch to an inch long, 
will, if properly treated, make a plant, while pieces 
