184 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER, 
[ March 3,1S87. 
To consider this important matter in detail we natur¬ 
ally turn lirst of all to the cows, and we are at once 
compelled to give attention to the value of selection and 
breeding. In our own practice we are bound to acknow¬ 
ledge that we have had more failures among Shorthorns 
as dairy cows than in any other breed. But then it is 
well known how much difference there is among cows of 
this famous and fashionable breed. Beef and not milk is 
what we generally look for among Shorthorns, yet deep 
milkers are by no means a rarity among them. So con¬ 
fident was a dealer of the high merits of a young Short¬ 
horn cow for milk, that he urged us to take it on trial, 
and assured us that it would fill a pail with milk twice 
daily. We found upon trial that his assertion was correct, 
but then the milk was so poor in quality that it was com¬ 
paratively worthless. Sussex cows, too, are generally 
inferior milkers, but both breeds may be much improved 
by cross-breeding with Guernseys. 
Channel Island cattle are undoubtedly in the first 
rank for rich milk, and where (as upon many home farms) 
only the best milk must be had, pure bred Jerseys or 
Guernseys have the preference. Of these two breeds we 
would always choose Guernseys as the finer and more 
robust animals, and as yielding milk that is equally rich 
and certainly more abundant than that of Jerseys. For 
the ordinary farmer a crossbred cow, the progeny of any 
good local breed, with an infusion of Channel blood, is 
best, as tending to insure good quality of milk with a 
vigorous constitution. It must not be forgotten that cows 
will fail more frequently from barrenness than any other 
cause, and then if only we are able to fatten them for the 
butcher quickly and well there is no serious loss. But a 
barren Jersey cow cannot easily be fattened, and it is 
generally sold at once at a loss. It is solely owing to the 
risk of barrenness that we always keep more cows in our 
herd at the home farm than we require. We must have 
enough cows to afford a stated quantity of milk, cream, 
and butter, and if we only had just enough for the purpose 
a single failure would affect our arrangement so seriously 
that we are bound to have a surplus supply in order to be 
safe. 
The other matters of importance next to good cows 
are warm sheds and yards well enclosed ; good drainage, 
clean interiors both of walls and floors, constant attention 
to keeping the cows from contact with all foul or decay¬ 
ing substances, clean litter given daily, litter for the yards, 
and clean dry bedding in the sheds, not merely clean and 
dry to the eye, but so in reality. Nothing can be more 
injurious to a cow than to lie down upon litter sodden 
with moisture and reeking with foul odours. If we would 
have healthy cows and sweet milk there must be entire 
cleanliness in buildings, litter, water, food, milk pails, the 
milker’s hands, and in the dairy. The cows too must be 
quite healthy in every part, or not only may the milk be 
unpalatable but it may be positively unwholesome. 
The researches of Mr. W. II. Power, Dr. Cameron, 
and the great German pathologist, Dr. Klein, led to the 
discovery that in a dairy Avhere extraordinary precautions 
were taken against infection an obscure disease affected 
some of the cows, and while not contaminating their milk 
in itself, provided the materials for such contamination in 
the shape of small external ulcers, the matter from which 
was carried into the milk by the action of the milker’s 
hand. As the milk came from the cow it was pure ; as it 
fell into the pails it was infected. The organism contained 
in the particles froip the ulcers found in the milk a good 
medium in which to multiply, and such milk then practically 
corresponded to ap artificial cultivation of the strepto¬ 
coccus, capable of setting up scarlatina in the human sub¬ 
ject. It may be explained that a strepto-coccus is a chain- 
coccus—that is, a number of cocci or micro-organisms 
constituting the virus of a disease strung together chain- 
wise. Some account of this important matter has appeared 
in several papers, but the most clear and useful statement 
we have seen was recently published in the St. James s 
Gazette under the quaint title, “ On the Track of a 
Coccus.” 
WORK ON THE HOHE FA.RH. 
Some losses among the ewes of one of our breeding flocks have 
induced us to look closely into a matter which upon the surface was 
apparently inexplicable. We have two such flocks—one upon the home 
farm, the other upon a farm some sixteen miles distant from it. In the hrst 
flock we have lost ten ewes, in the other there has been no losses, ihe 
proportion of lambs in both flocks is very similar—about a lamb and a 
half per head. Up to the time of lambing the condition of both flocks 
was entirely satisfactory, but then foot-rot made its appearance in the 
home flock. The ewes affected became somewhat reduced in condition. 
But the losses were not solely among them ; animals apparently healthy 
enough up to the time of parturition suddenly becoming so feeble as to 
be unable to give birth to the lambs, which, in more than one instance, 
were dead when taken from them, and notwithstanding the use ot 
stimulants and carbolic oil the ewe was soon dead. On the other hand, 
we have had no losses in the other flock on the off farm, and we can 
only account for this by the fact of this flock consisting entirely ot two- 
year-old sheep, while there are sheep of all ages in the home flock. _lne 
older sheep must have suffered from the severity of the weather just 
before the lambing began, notwithstanding our liberal dietary, and we 
have no doubt that i£ they could have had the shelter oE yards and sheds 
with dry floors we should not only have avoided most of the losses, but also 
have lessened the severity of the strain made upon the health of the whole 
of the ewes by being left out upon the snow-covered pasture. It is only 
by learning the cause of such losses that we can hope to avoid them in 
future if only we are able to afford the flock the necessary amount ot 
shelter. It may be said, Why keep old sheep that are so liable to suffer 
from such causes ! To this we must answer that we annually draught 
all broken-toothed or faulty sheep from the flock when the lambs arc 
weaned, and in ordinary winters a full-mouthed ewe is perfectly sate 
without extraordinary care, and a good mother and sure breeder is 
always retained in the flock as long as possible. We grant that under 
(rood management there should be only an occasional loss among ewes. 
We record our losses this season for our own guidance, as well as that ot 
our readers, for we hold that to render lessons in practice really usetul 
the cause of each failure as well as of each success should be known. 
There are no such things in farming as mysteries ; cause and effect may 
always be traced. Well will it be if we can anticipate failures, and 
avoid them by wise and timely precautions. 
Poultry and Pheasant Ru arinS — <; Spratts Patent” sends us t.vo 
small pampllets,entitle i“ Eae G >m nm Sanaa ot Pou try Rsiring anl ot 
(i R,Bicia»” r np3c.bi.7ely, in whioh mash prace.c .11 laijraiiuon u 
condensed int ) small space. 
Farmers’ Tear Books. -We havi received from Wessrs. Sutton & Sons 
Railin', Webb & Sous, Worlsley, and Cirter & Go., Hi^h Holbo n, copies 
of their trada oitil>gue3 for agriculturists. Tnnyara excellent produc¬ 
tions, p anting out tha advmtiges of their specialities, and giving main 
information of servioe to home farmers. 
METEOROLOGHOA.ti OBSERVATIONS. 
Camden Square, London. 
Lat. 51° 32' 40” N.; Long. 0° 8' 0” W.; Altitude, 111 feet. 
Date. 
9 A.M. 
IN THM Day. 
1887. 
s-i 
d » <D 0) 
Hygrome¬ 
ter, 
d . 
o -d 
zs d 
°3d 
a,— g 
aoS 
09 jQ —< 
CH 
Shade Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Temperature 
a 
*3 
tf - 
February. 
Dry. 
Wet. 
az, 
do 
Max 
Min. 
In 
snn. 
Ou 
gra<- 
Sunday . 
Monday . 
Tuesday . 
Wednesday 
Thursday .. 
Frltav... 
Saturday .. 
.20 
22 
2\ 
24 
9 > 
.26 
Inches 
30.18) 
30.047 
30.159 
30.138 
30.110 
30.060 
30.585 
detr. 
38 8 
413 
31.0 
47.2 
46 4 
47 9 
3L.9 
deg. 
3T.L 
39 0 
34 0 
44.1 
43.3 
45.2 
3L.4 
Calm 
N. 
Cum 
S W. 
S-W. 
w. 
Calm 
de*. 
34 9 
35.8 
34.3 
37 2 
39.0 
4 >.2 
39.7 
deer. 
44 2 
48 4 
47.4 
50.4 
49 8 
52 6 
50.3 
d*s 
36 5 
38 8 
32.4 
83 9 
44 7 
43 4 
25.9 
dey 
58.8 
83 4 
5.5.3 
60.6 
6*4 
97 8 
73 8 
dee 
32 0 
37.4 
26.8 
349 
41.8 
41 8 
24.3 
Tn. 
0.063 
~ 
30.176 
41.1 
39.1 
37.6 
49.0 
37.4 
70.0 
34.1 
0.063 
aao day, with a litUa 
REMARKS, 
20th —Kali* thrduorhout. 
2t>t.—Very bright and tine « misty in evening. 
22ud.—Fine early, with white froat; foggy irom .7 toio fruit 
sunshine. 
23rd.—Dull, wiih occasional drizzle. < n if ovaninv 
2 Uh,—Cloudy nvirnmg; talr afternoon, w.th a little sunshine, drizzle m late evening. 
25th.-B«i«ht and pleasant. .. ^ 
2ioh.—White frost, thick fog till nearly 11 a.m., then flue prignt. 
A flue dry week. Temperature about i Q above the average and nearly nhovo tuat 
of tl*e preceding week.—G. J. Symons. 
