AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
107 
treatment from the first: accustoming them to 
being handled before attempting to milk them, 
and then when milking using great care not to 
give the animal any pain by jerking the teats or 
otherwise. In short if we expect good disposi¬ 
tions in animals we must show our goodness first. 
Subscriber. 
Northampton Co., Pa. 
-« * > < -gq ■ 
That “Western Grease” 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist 
The anything but buttery epithet, of “ western 
grease,” that issues from the curled lips of the 
east, we can not quietly submit to. It comes 
defiantly, sneeringly, triumphantly. It stares at 
us from market quotations, private letters, second 
and third rate newspaper articles ; and even ekes 
out its vengeance, in dairy prize essays, published 
in one of the first, and most influential agricultur¬ 
al papers of the day. (See the American Agricul¬ 
turist, for January 1859.) We can not swallow 
that “western grease” without a wry face. 
A prize essay, carries weight, ergo, we are crush¬ 
ed into a “ Grease Spot.” But though crushed, 
we still squirm. That eastern butter and cheese 
elysium can not hold us all, can not butter us all— 
consequently, we shall butter ourselves as well as 
we can. I am fully conscious, that I am playing 
with fire, and may get burnt. Our grease may 
float out of our state, to the eastern cities ; but 
our butter remains at home. Chicago, Milwaukee, 
in fact all our cities sift and cull their butter, 
then cull and sift it, and the refuse, finds its way 
to the eastern cities, as a last resort. No 
wonder you lift your hands in holy horror, and 
ejaculate, “Grease!” As well might California, 
nervously expectorate ; and cry “ eastern grease /” 
at the recent importation of the refuse butter of 
the New-York butter merchants. Ought all to be 
condemned, in toto, for the sins of a part '! We 
answer—emphatically, No : 
I find it a very easy matter to say that we make 
good butter here; but it can be proved equally 
easy, if the assertion be doubted. It is also true, 
that large quantities of good butter are made. 
And furthermore, a first rate article of butter, has 
been, is, and can be made, here in the West. To 
compete for the palm, with the East, is not my 
pre'sent object; although I should not object, at 
a proper time, under fitting circumstances, to in¬ 
stitute a test, in comparison of the two; to try 
the respective merits of each. Now for the poor 
butter, and its reasons. 
In admitting one half to be poor, we are liberal. 
Our population is a little mixed. Yankees, Eng¬ 
lish, Dutch, French, Irish, in short every nation 
under heaven has its representatives here ; most 
of whom are young, and inexperienced, in dairy¬ 
ing at least. Many of them, are as ambitious, as 
they are young, and plunge headlong into the but¬ 
ter jars, if they can only see the shillings lying 
on their bottoms, and of course “ grease ” is the 
result. Want of buildings for dairy purposes is 
another fruitful source of poor butter. But the 
idea of being condemned by eastern dairymen, 
will not do. Did they, in their trials, fit them¬ 
selves up with all the paraphernalia, of a first 
class Dairy! Had they provided themselves with 
first class cows and proper stabling for the same 1 
Did they have the pasture lands, of 200, or even 
50 years, standing, which they esteem as requis¬ 
ite ! Had they studied the effects produced upon 
milk, cream, butter, and cheese, by the ever 
changing temperature of the weather! If so, 
when, where, and by whom ! 
I advise our farmers, one and all, to take the 
American Agriculturist , and secure to themselves, 
the value of that excellent series of articles on 
dairying, for the current year, which is being 
published. Commence with the January No., 
read with care, and apply the knowledge gained 
therefrom, in improving your grass lands, your 
stock and buildings, and then take the directions 
for making butter and cheese, go carefully to work, 
be neat in all your operations ; if you make a 
blunder to day, mend it to morrow. Strive to 
make a first rate article ; it may cost more labor, 
more time, but it will pay in the end. Do not be 
afraid of what you call “ book learning that is 
nothing more nor less than the practice of some 
of our best, and most successful farmers. If you 
make butter, make it the best you know how : 
and you may rest assured, that if we all do our 
best, we shall rub opt that “ Grease Spot.” I 
would simply say, that with us, white clover is 
indigenous to the soil. It mats our road sides, 
steals into our pastures, and meadows (a welcome 
little thief) and through the Honey Bee fills our 
hives with choice honey. Red clover, timothy, 
red top, all do well, especially on openings, and 
timber. Carrots, mangel wurtzel, parsneps, etc., 
also flourish finely. Sowed corn and millet grow 
in great luxuriance, for green feed ; and corn pro¬ 
duces well. Why can we not make good butter 
and cheese here at the west l I answer we can. 
Lake Co., 111. D. G. Smith. 
Written for the American Agriculturist.—Prize Articles. 
The Dairy.IV. 
PARTURITION. 
We now come to the dairy season with its la¬ 
bors and cares in the Spring of the year. The 
cows are dropping their calves, and for their ac¬ 
commodation in this trying time a convenient 
hospital, or calving room equal in area to ten feet 
square should be provided, secure from all out¬ 
side intrusion, adjoining the stables, from which 
the cow about to calve may be taken, so as to 
be free from disturbance until safely delivered. 
This is also necessary, as sometimes the cow 
needs assistance, and should be carefully looked 
after. The floor of this room should be thinly 
littered with cut, or broken straw, to keep it 
clean and dry. As soon as the calf is dry, the 
cow should have a pail of warm water, with a 
handful or two of Indian meal, or bran, and a 
spoonful of salt in it, which she will readily drink. 
Let the calf, as soon as inclined, suck all the milk 
it will, and what remains draw away carefully 
with the hand, perfectly clean, and pour into the 
swill-barrel. It is only fit for the pigs. As soon 
as the cow is all right again, she can be put 
into her accustomed stall and fed as usual with 
the others. 
As to the calf, we shall not decide what is to 
be done with it. The dairyman knows best— 
killed probably, as this is simply a business of 
economy, and pecuniary calculation, and veal 
seldom pays in dairy districts. The calf, if not to 
be reared, should be kept full thirty-six hours, and 
suck the cow at least three times, so that all fever 
shall get out of the udder before the milk goes 
into the dairy. As, however, we have elsewhere 
recommended the rearing of his own cows by the 
dairyman, the heifer calves so to be reared should 
be selected immediately at their birth, and after 
three or four suckings of their dams, be intro¬ 
duced at once to the finger and bucket in the way 
of feeding. Cows will mourn the loss of their 
calves, as a matter of course, more or less, but 
kindly usage soon reconciles them, and in two or 
three days they go on as usual. 
If, on the dropping of their calves, the cows are 
not in full pasture, a little extra food, as a mess 
of roots night and morning, or a few quarts of 
bran, or ship stuffs, should be given them, as the 
sudden change of habit consequent on parturition 
demands more generous food for a few days, un¬ 
til the regular secretions of milk are in full flow. 
It is sometimes necessary to milk the cow before 
calving, from the rapid secretion of milk in the 
udder; and if such be the case, milking should al¬ 
ways be done, thus relieving the cow of intenso 
pain, and her udder from caking, swelling, and 
fever. We have frequently had to do so when 
the grass was abundant before calving, and great¬ 
ly to the relief of the cow, and the profits of the 
dairy, while we never knew any ill effects from 
the practice. All this kind of management, 
should be familiar to the experienced dairyman, 
who ought to know thoroughly how to manage 
as the cases may occur; for, let it be under¬ 
stood, the “trade” of a dairyman is just as 
much a trade, or profession, as any other pursuit, 
and can only be successfully pursued after a 
thorough experience not only in theory, but by 
handling the tools, and going through all its mani¬ 
pulations as a laborer in each and every depart¬ 
ment. 
MILKING. 
We now come to the more laborious operations 
of milking the cows, and making the butter and 
cheese ; a word or two, however, as to the milk¬ 
ing labors and process. We have stabled our 
cows throughout the Winter, each in her own 
separate stall, and as the pasturing season com¬ 
mences, we shall not, as is the custom of some 
heedless dairymen, turn them into a filthy yard at 
night, to be chased around, and hammered with 
milking stools because they do not for the mo¬ 
ment quietly submit to the rough usage often¬ 
times given them, or driven into a fence corner 
where, frightened and trembling, their udders are 
drawn, often painfully to themselves, and the milk 
fevered by abuse. 
When driven in from the pastures at night, 
every cow should be thoroughly secured in her 
own stall, quietly and kindly. Thus secured, a 
vicious cow is manageable in one way or anoth¬ 
er, and all the others will cheerfully yield their 
milk. My own rules for milking are as follows : 
Let every milker have his, or her own milking 
stool. Let every pail be perfectly clean. No 
talking among the milkers when at work. If a 
cow is restive, sooth her with kind words, and a 
gentle patting of the hand on her sides, and a 
soothing rubbing of the udder and teats. Milk 
rapidly with both hands. Milk clean —every drop 
which can be drawn. Each milker should have 
his or her own cows, for they get accustomed to 
a particular hand, and yield their milk more freely 
to a friend than to a stranger. As soon as the 
cows are all milked, turn them out, unless in cold 
rains, when they are better to be kept in the stables 
with a little litter to lie upon, and keep them 
clean ; give a fodder of hay for the night, which 
they will always relish. I name the hay, pre¬ 
suming that every good dairyman, unless in ex¬ 
traordinary seasons, will have some left after the 
foddering season is over. If the weather be 
good, the cows should be turned out as soon as 
milked, and put into a clean and roomy yard for 
the night, or turned again to the pasture as cir¬ 
cumstances may determine. Regularity of hours 
should be observed as near as possible in the times 
of milking, as the secretions of milk in the cow 
go on regularly when she lives quietly, and as the 
milk is drawn twice a day, the times of taking it 
should be as equally divided as possible. 
MANAGEMENT OP THE MILK. 
As soon as the milk is drawn and the cows 
turned out, the milk should be taken to the milk 
