9 
386 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
pend the amount of labor oil it necessary to 
the profitable production of roots. 
From these observations I apprehend that 
the aggregate amount of corn raised in those 
portions of the Union where the crop de¬ 
pends on manure, would be made greater by 
planting less and cultivating it more highly ; 
and that, by generally adopting a succession 
of roots, the quantity of stock kept in the 
country may be much increased, at less than 
a corresponding expense. The well known 
importance of the corn crop—second only to 
that of hay—and the increasing attention 
bestowed upon roots as articles of feed, ren¬ 
der such policy worthy of consideration. 
A YOUNG FARMER. 
DAIRY STATISTICS. 
How much milk does it take to make one 
pound of butter 1 
We have gathered answers to this ques¬ 
tion, from the correspondence of the Lon¬ 
don Agricultural Gazette, to the following 
purport: 
In Blarney Cork, Ireland, it takes “ 2 gal¬ 
lons 61 pints in summer, and 2 gallons 31 
pints in winter. Average, 2 gallons 5 pints 
of milk, or 21 pints of cream. This is the 
well bred Irish cow. Crosses of the Dutch 
and Durham produce good cows, but the 
Durham is better adapted to the butcher than 
to the dairy. The Ayrshire is not only good 
for the dairy, but has also every tendency to 
fatten, and is best adapted to light soils. 
Pure Devons are very pretty stock, and give 
milk rich in quality but much smaller in 
quantity than any of the others.” 
In Dorsetshire, it takes, for the season 
“2 gallons 61 pints, or 2 pints of cream 
The average produce of butter from a cow 
in the course of a year, is about 13 dozen 
(156) pounds. Some dairies have produced 
19 dozen (228) pounds per cow—but this is 
a rare occurrence.” 
In Cheshire, “In a general way, we have 
found, from the large Yorkshire cow, it takes 
3 gallons for a pound of butter; Ayrshire 
less; and an Alderney still less. A cow 
gives much more butter when she has calved 
3 or 4 months, and the quantity of milk is 
diminished; also, a great deal will depend 
on the quality of the food. We churn by 
steam ; and last summer we tried the short¬ 
est time we could do it in ; it was a hot day 
and we accomplished it in five minutes and 
a-half—the engine making 300 revolutions 
per minute, and the qantity 80 gallons of 
milk. We have also found that it pays very 
well in hot weather to put American ice into 
the milk before churning, to reduce the tem¬ 
perature to get out more butter ; the result 
of the same quantity of milk without ice, 15 
pounds of butter; with ice, 20 pounds.” 
In Suffolk, it takes “ 3 gallons and 3 pints. 
Our cows were feeding in our best piece of 
pasture, so that I conclude we never make 
more butter from the same quantity of milk.” 
In Gloucestershire, it takes “ 3 gallons and 
6 pints, or about a quart of cream. It is 
certainly not a good time to make an aver¬ 
age trial, as the weather has been so very 
warm during the past week, and the flies 
have been extremely troublesome to the 
cattle.” 
market, I should think it was over 18 ounces 
English weight.” 
Additional returns, representing the pro¬ 
duce of over 1,000 cows, show a general av¬ 
erage of l^/tf of an ounce of butter from 1 
quart of milk.” 
How much do these quantities differ from 
those necessary to the same result in Amer¬ 
ican dairies 1 
IRRIGATION. 
In Guernsey, “ I have had that quantity 
from 2 gallons, and have been assured that 
lb gallons have sufficed in some cases. I 
believe about 11 quarts to be a fair average. 
Our pound is the old Norman, and with the 
over-weight with each pound prepared for 
The following article from the Agricultu- 
al Ghzette, contains several interesting and 
instructive hints upon an important subject. 
The mineral manure advocates, will please 
give special attention to the statement, that 
it is not to the quality or the ingredients in 
the water used, but to the quantity, that the 
good effects of irrigation are due. 
The subject of Irrigation is one of such 
great moment in some parts of England as 
to render it unnecessary to apologise for oc¬ 
cupying a portion of our journal with notes 
upon the following points connected with it. 
We refer to : 
1st. The nature of soil and circumstances 
best adapted for irrigation. 
2d. The mechanical means necessary to 
its due accomplishment. 
3d. The nature of the changes in vegeta¬ 
tion effected by irrigation. 
4tli. The advantages to be derived from 
the practice where it can be properly 
carried out. 
1st. A principal requisite in the formation 
of irrigated meadows is an unlimited supply 
of water, as it would appear that the quanti¬ 
ty of this fluid has more influence than qual¬ 
ity, as when water has percolated through 
one meadow it is not impaired for being con¬ 
ducted on to another. This is a considera¬ 
tion of some importance, as it does not ap¬ 
pear that the efficacy of irrigation depends 
so much on the chemical constituents the 
water contains as might at first be thought; 
it seems rather to effect its good by a free 
percolation among and between the grass 
roots. 
If therefore, water can be commanded in 
sufficient abundance for the process, the next 
point to ascertain is the capability of the land 
for favoring a steady even flow of water— 
not over the surface, as this is mere flooding 
—but by slow yet unceasing filtering through 
every part of the crop, for if the water be 
stagnant the usual effect of want of drainage 
will be observed in the growth of “sour 
grasses ” and other weeds which mark wet 
land. A gravelly or sandy subsoil recom¬ 
mends itself as being best adapted for irriga¬ 
tion, and brooks or rivers usually flow in 
valleys of denudation, the worn-down rocks 
of which nearly always form a substratum 
of loose materials of greater or less thick¬ 
ness ; in all such cases, therefore, the two 
most important adjuncts in irrigation, name¬ 
ly, water and a favorable soil, are usually 
combined. 
2d. When these are present the next sub¬ 
ject for consideration will be the best method 
to be adopted in conducting the water over 
the different surfaces to be irrigated, in the 
due performance of which it is neceesary to 
consider, not only how to couduct water to 
any part of the field, but how to cause it to 
flow off again ; for without the latter part of 
the system be as perfect in its action as the 
former, a fatal stagnation will be the result, 
and hence it follows that any system which 
will secure these important ends with the 
least expense in the three following particu¬ 
lars will be the best to adopt; these particu¬ 
lars are : 
a. The first outlay in the preparaing the 
works. 
b. The annual cost of repairs, and of neces¬ 
sary periodical attendance. 
c. The amount of land taken up in the con¬ 
struction of the channels. 
Of course these are points which can not 
be dwelt upon at length, as they must vary 
with the locality, position of the meadow, 
hight to which the water has to be carried, 
and a variety of ever-changing circumstances, 
but the principles are in themselves simple, 
and require no less simple arrangements for 
securing their due development. 
3d. The changes effected in the herbage of 
an irrigated meadow are a no less curious 
subject in relation to vegetable physiology 
than they are interesting in an agricultural 
point of view ; these consist of the two fol¬ 
lowing : 
a. Change of quality. 
b. Increase of quantity. 
A meadow observed upon the bank of the 
Churn, in the neighborhood of Cirencester, 
which, from its slope could be only half 
covered with water, presented particulars 
which are tabulated below. It is necessary 
to remark that the meadow had a subsoil of 
oolitic gravel, and its pasture was that of a 
poor upland. The table will supply infor¬ 
mation on the following points : 
1st. The names of the natural Grasses. 
2d. The proportions of these observed in 
the meadow before irrigation. 
3d. The changes effected in two years of 
irrigation. 
4th. Those on the fourth year. 
TABLE I.* 
Representing the changes of Grasses under Irrigation. 
Botanical Name 
Common Name. 
Proportionals. 
Alopecurus pratensis . 
Poa pratensis . . 
Poa trivialis . . . 
Briza media 
Cynosurus cristatus 
Aira caespitosa 
Agrostis stolonifera 
Dactylis glomerata 
Avena flavescens . 
Avena pubescens 
Hordeum pratense 
Lolium perenne . 
Meadow foxtail-grass 
Field meadow “ 
Ro ugh i sh m e ad o w “ 
Quacking grass 
Dogstail-grass . 
Hassock-grass . 
Marsh bent grass 
Cocksfoot grass. 
Yellow Oat-grass 
Soft Oat r grass . 
Meadow Barley-grass 
Perennial Rye grass . 
This field has trebled in value in four years. 
This table shows that all the good grasses 
have increased in quantity, while the unfa¬ 
vorable kinds have decreased, and this may 
always be noted in pastures—they improve 
by increasing good herbage, which conse¬ 
quently smothers the bad; the opposite pro¬ 
duces a reverse result. 
Nor is it only with those plants of the nat¬ 
ural order Graminece, that changes occur; 
herbs of other families present the same 
facts, which may be gathered from : 
TABLE II. 
Representing the changes of Herbs formed with the Grasses. 
Botanical Names. 
Common Names. 
Proportionals. 
QJ.fcD 
Ranunculus acris . 
“ bulbosus 
Plantago lancoolala. 
media 
Trifolio repens 
“ pratense 
Anthriscus vulgaris. 
Upright meadow cro’-ft I 1 
Bulbous crowfoot . ■ I 3 
Narrow-leav’d Plantain I 3 
Broad-leaved “ 
Dutch Clover ... 2 
Broad Clover • 1 
Com'n beaked Parsley ■ I 1 
Hence, then, irrigation exerts great influ¬ 
ence on vegetation ; not, it would appear, all 
at once, but by degrees, and that this change 
is for the better, may be gathered from the 
following: 
table hi. 
Representing increase in Money value under Irrigation. 
1st year of Irrig 
2d do. 5 
3d 
do. 
do. 
50s. 
4 th 
do. 
do. 
60s. 
8th 
do. 
do. 
100s. 
tion, 25s. Rent the acre, 
i. 35s. do. 
do. 
do. 
do. 
* This table and the succedingone are taken from the Journal 
Royal Agricultural Society,vol. xv., part ii. 
