THE DAIRY QUALITIES OF SHORTHORN COWS. 
285 
the 8th of September to the 8th of July follow¬ 
ing, a period of eight months, including all the 
winter, the average quantity of strained milk 
was 27 quarts of per day. The quality of 
this milk was excellent. 
Mr. Schenck, of Matteawan, N. Y., wrote us in 
October, 1843, that, from his hornless cow—evi¬ 
dent^ a cross of the shorthorn and Suffolk, the 
former blood largely predominating—he re¬ 
ceived 18 quarts of milk per day, from which 
15 pounds of butter per week was produced. 
This was while fed on grass only. Subse¬ 
quently, she received an injury on her spine 
and was hardly able to get up, and scarcely 
survived calving. Yet, in three weeks, she 
yielded the astonishing quantity of 65£ pounds 
of best quality of butter, from 16 quarts of milk 
per day ; and on one day, 15i quarts of milk 
yielded pounds of butter. See further on 
this subject in our last number, page 258, on Mr. 
Jackson’s grade shorthorn heifer and cows. 
It must be borne in mind, that to give any¬ 
thing like a fair estimate of the relative merits 
of the Oaks and Nourse cows and the best 
shorthorns, that they should be presented for 
our consideration under circumstances as near¬ 
ly similar as possible. Within the last 50 years, 
the demand for the shorthorns has been so 
large, that every choice cow was kept at breed¬ 
ing exclusively. Their reputation for milking 
qualities was deemed fully established by every 
intelligent man, and consequently, trials were 
not made, nor, if undertaken, were continued 
only for a short time, and the results generally, 
were obtained for individual satisfaction, and 
therefore not published. 
On the other hand, the two natives were 
trained and pampered for their greatest efforts, 
with the most studied attention, and with every 
circumstance that would contribute to a success¬ 
ful issue. From the 5th of April, 1846, to the j 
25th of September, of the same year, the Oaks 
cow is said to have produced 484f pounds butter, 
or a fraction over an average of 2£ pounds per 
day. During this time, she drank her own skim¬ 
med milk, was fed all the best grass she could 
eat, and so crammed with Indian meal, that 
she broke down under the surfeit; and her subse¬ 
quent owner, Col. Jaques—the Napoleon among 
the champions of the cross breeders —by the most 
judicious feeding and management which his 
own extensive experience could dictate, was un¬ 
able to resuscitate the overtasked powers of her 
stomach, and she at once declined below the 
standard of second class cows. The Nourse 
cow produced 14 pounds of butter in one week, I 
I and 224 pounds in 123 days, which is a little 
more than 1 pound, 13 ounces per day. The 
quality and quantity of the feed is not stated. 
The result above given, shows they were 
good cows—so superlatively excellent, that we 
have little doubt that they were themselves, to 
some extent, and perhaps deeply tinged with 
the shorthorn blood. It certainly has never 
been shown that they were not. The result 
proves another thing, that these were exceptions 
to the natives, not the rule* We hear of no oth¬ 
ers approximating to the merits of the Oaks 
cow, nor do we hear anything of their progeny. 
This is one of the grand faults of the natives— 
unbred animals, of every kind, you cannot de¬ 
pend on, or at all rely upon their progeny. An 
intelligent breeder of choice imported milkers, 
has just informed us of his purchase of half a 
dozen heifer calves at large prices, from very 
superior native milkers ; and yet, he did not get 
a superior cow out of the entire lot, while his 
calves from his well-bred animals, invariably 
produced him choice milkers. 
If the general results of nativeism is such as 
shown by these specimens, we should say 
breed natives, and let all others alone. But 
when they are adduced as the models, and as 
standing far in advance of all others—when 
they may have derived their paramount excel¬ 
lence from a shorthorn ancestry; and especially 
when we see the shorthorn crosses sought out 
by every intelligent person as being the best 
dairy stock, we say the dairy interests of the 
country demand that we should advocate the 
introduction of this breed. If we add to this, 
the fine forms, quiet habits, docile temper, early 
maturity, the rapid fattening qualities, and the 
extraordinary improvement immediately rea¬ 
lised by crossing the thorough-bred shorthorns 
upon our native cattle, we should deem our¬ 
selves as derilict to our trust, if we omitted, on 
all proper occasions, to commend them to the 
favorable regard of the American public. 
As the Massachusetts and some other agricul¬ 
tural papers, have so often treated their readers 
to the superlative merits of the Oaks and Nourse 
cows, we deem it only common justice to the 
shorthorns to suggest to them the propriety of 
copying the foregoing. 
Land is like the heart of man—some natural¬ 
ly better, some worse—all imperfect, and re¬ 
quiring much study and cultivation. 
--o-- 
The Three First Men in the World —the 
gardener, the husbandman, and the grazier.-— 
Cowley, 
