THE CULTIVATOR. 
83 
these quantities. These great products serve, however, 
to show what can be done, and what will more generally 
be done, under an improved state of husbandry, when 
bad farmers can be persuaded, or taught, to imitate the 
good ones. 
The common rotation is stated to be, corn or potatoes, 
generally manured; then oats; third crop wheat or 
other grain, with grass seeds. The value of clover does 
not seem to be appreciated, as an alternating crop, or as 
a fertilizer of the soil, as we do not find it mentioned 
under rotation of crops. We would barely remark, that 
three exhausting crops in succession is not considered 
an indication of good husbandry. Twenty-three pages 
of the report are principally taken up with statements 
of expenses and profits of crops. The footings indicate, 
that the profit has been greatest on ruta baga, and that 
potatoes and corn are next in value; and generally, the 
profit is in proportion to the expense—the greatest out¬ 
lay making the most profitable return. A case is quot¬ 
ed, where 40 bushels of wheat were taken from an acre, 
which had been planted, the preceding year, with corn 
upon greensward; and the great product is ascribed to 
the fact, that the ploughing for the wheat was superfi¬ 
cial, leaving the decomposing sod still below, where the 
roots of the wheat would want and seek for it, and 
where it would escape the wasting influence of the sun 
and atmosphere. This mode of economizing the vege¬ 
table matter of the sod was strongly inculcated by the 
late John Lorrain, and has been frequently recom¬ 
mended in the Cultivator. 
A practice is mentioned, of alternating corn and pota¬ 
toes in the same row. The corn is planted 3 feet 6 inch¬ 
es apart, and a hill of potatoes between every two hills 
of corn. In this way the cultivator thinks he gets 150 
bushels of potatoes on an acre, without materially di¬ 
minishing his corn crop. We are inclined to think, that 
the better practice is to alternate corn and potato rows, 
two ofeach,orone of potatoes and two of corn. The corn 
is undoubtedly benefitted by the exposure, which is here 
had, to light, heat and air, while the shade of the corn 
does but little prejudice to the potatoe crop. Such was 
the practice of Lorrain, and such has been the practice 
of others, with undoubted advantage. 
DAIRY HUSBANDRY. 
This is a great dairy county, the quantity of butter 
and cheese made is large, and the quality good. The 
annual keep of a cow is estimated at about $20, and 
her products, in calf, cheese, butter and pork, is from 
30 to 50 dollars, leaving a profit for attention of 15 to 30 
dollars, according to the goodness of the cow and the 
goodness of her keep. Extra feed, judiciously dispens¬ 
ed, is always profitably applied to milch cows, as the 
extra food is almost wholly converted into milk. Thus 
a herd of 20 cows gives to the dairyman a mean average 
profit of at least $400. Three acres of pasture are al¬ 
lowed to a cow. On 22 farms in the town of Cheshire, 
there are kept 414 cows,.which gave in 1837-8 the fol¬ 
lowing produce: 
New milk cheese,. 300,000 lbs. 
Skim do . 11,050 “ 
—- 311,000 lbs. 
Butter sold,. 19,050 “ 
We quote the case of an individual farmer in this 
town, as evidence of the profits of dairy husbandry, and 
as a notable example of the reward of persevering and 
honest industry, and of rural comfort and independence. 
“ This farmer,” says the report, “has now a dairy of 24 
cows, and they produce a cheese per day, weighing about 100 
lbs. Supposing that it requires but a gallon of milk to pro¬ 
duce one pound of cheese, this would give 400 quarts of milk 
per day, or at the rate of 16§ to a cow. These cows are all 
of native stock ; most of them raised by himself. His average 
product of new milk cheese to a cow, in a season, is perhaps 
between 500 and 600 lbs. Last year .the actual yield was 
598 lbs. to a cow. Of his 24 eows last year, two were hei- 
iers of two years old. Four years since, he was the owner 
of a cow, whose milk, in the best season, amounted, by ac¬ 
tual weight, to 70 lbs. a day. During the time of her greatest 
yield, she was fed with four pails of cheese whey, and some 
rye meal. She was of native stock. This farmer has a hei¬ 
fer from her, which gives GO lbs. of milk per day. He pre¬ 
fers heifers to 1 come in’ at two years old. Their milking 
properties are in this way improved. * * * 
“ The establishment of this farmer,’’ continues the report, 
“ is substantial and independent. As far as the common 
comforts of life are concerned, little more seems to be desired. 
Good air, good water, plenty of bread, plenty of fuel, plain 
and substantial clothing made by the hands of his own family, 
and the product in a great measure of their own flocks and 
fields ; an estate which he can call his own with truth ; be¬ 
cause it has been purchased not by fraudulent speculation 
upon other people’s earnings, but by the healthful toil of his 
own muscles, and the sweat of his own brow ; luxuriant pas¬ 
tures filled with those beneficent animals, who are nourished 
by his kindness, and settle their bills in the most honora¬ 
ble manner every night and morning; and a clean dairy 
room of ample dimensions, and exemplary neatness, with its 
numerous shelves, loaded with the richest produce, and 
speaking as well for the in door as the out door management; 
these features combined in this picture present one of those 
beautiful examples of rural independence, and the bountiful 
rewards with which Providence is pleased to crown industry, 
frugality and good management, with which I am happy to 
say the county of Berkshire is everywhere sprinkled over, 
even on its high mountain summits, as well as on its fer¬ 
tile alluvions, and its peaceful and secluded valleys. The 
independent proprietor of this establishment is now sixty-six 
years old. At the age of nineteen he was not the owner of a 
dollar. He now admits himself worth thirty thousand dol¬ 
lars ; and all this, with the exception of less than fifteen hun¬ 
dred dollars, is the produce of his own farming industry, ns 
he has never engaged in any speculation whatever. A high¬ 
er good than all of this is found, in the fact which he added 
with an honest pride and enviable pleasure, that he hid 
brought up eight children in the habits of honest industry; 
and not one of them had ever disgraced his parents. 
“ The standard of dollars and cents is a very imperfect 
standard, by which to measure the prosperity of such a man. 
It is a prosperity flowing from deeper, purer and more endur¬ 
ing sources; from a competency for the evening of life, 
earned by honest labor; a mind unembarrassed by the fear 
of want and the vexatious caprices of trade and speculation ; 
and a grateful sense of the kindness of that just and benefi¬ 
cent Providence, whose blessings have rendered his peaceful 
and unpretending labors successful.” 
The North Devon cattle are said to prevail generally 
throughout New-England, though in the main, we sus¬ 
pect they have degenerated from want of attention in 
breeding from select animals, and by crossing with the 
long-horns. Some of the cows possess uncommon pro¬ 
perties for milk, and if these were carefully crossed with 
approved bulls of a good milk breed, we have little 
doubt, but the progeny would soon be in high reputa¬ 
tion, as dairy stock, rivalling, perhaps, for this purpose, 
any breed which we are importing at vast expense 
from the other side of the Atlantic. Some of the cows 
noted in the report, have given from 200 to 300 lbs. and one 
as high as 425 lbs. of butter in a year. Such a cow is 
worth more, for the profits of the dairy, than ten poor 
milkers, and her stock ought to be sedulously preserved. 
The commissioner here introduces a notice of Mr Ja- 
ques’ Cream-Pot breed, an eminent farmer and breeder, 
at the Ten Hill stock farm, near Boston. Mr. Jaques 
obtained a remarkable cow, by a cross of the Durham 
upon native breed, which gave him nine pounds of but¬ 
ter in three days; and from this beginning has sprung 
his Cream-Pot breed, the cream of some of which gives 
80 per cent of butter. Mr. J. has 40 cows and heifers, 
and 10 bulls of this breed. Their good properties do 
not consist so much in the quantity of milk they yield, 
as in its richness. We have found that while the milk 
of one of our cows gave but nine per cent of cream, the 
milk of another, at the same time, and upon the same 
feed, gave fifteen per cent of cream. The quality of a 
cow’s milk does not receive that attention which it me¬ 
rits, in our estimate of dairy cows. We have half a 
dozen cows, which we esteem superior milkers, and su¬ 
perior in form and appearance, which we have bred from 
an individual cow, and put to good bulls. If farmers 
would carefully breed from the best milkers, they would 
be able to make within themselves, in a few years, a 
vast improvement in their dairy stock. 
The properties to be sought for in neat cattle, differ 
somewhat according to the purpose for which they are 
wanted—whether for the pail, the draft, or fattening. 
And these three properties are very seldom, if ever, 
found united in a single individual. A cow that takes 
on flesh rapidly, when in milk, cannot be expected to be 
a deep milker, unless she is very highly fed. Her lood 
cannot be expected to be converted into both meat and 
milk; and as the disposition to the one or the other 
preponderates, so the other must decline. The. Here- 
fords, a branch of the Devons, which combine much of 
the quickness of the Devons in the yoke, with the size 
and strength of the long horns, and which very much 
resemble, in size and strength the best working oxen in 
New-England, and of Madison and other hilly counties 
of our state, are considered light milkers; and yet they 
afford probably the best working oxen, and if not the 
most, are certainly a very profitable stock to feed for 
the butcher. Of the seven principal prizes awarded at 
the last Smithfield (London) show of fat cattle, the 
Herefords carried off' five prizes, the Devons one and 
the short horns one. The first animals of pure Here¬ 
fords which have fallen under our notice, were a young 
bull and heifer lately imported, and now owned by our 
neighbor C. N. Bement. 
For the dairy, a general preference is given, says the 
commissioner, to the common native stock of the coun¬ 
try, in which the Devon blood predominates; but such 
are not preferred as breeders of other but dairy stock. 
Mr. Coleman quotes from English authority the follow¬ 
ing statement of the proportion of butter to milk, drawn 
promiscuously from six different short horns; the milk 
was one quart in each case. 
No. 1 gave 3oz. 6dwt. No. 4, loz. lOdwt. 
2 “ 1 “ 6 “ 5, 1 “ 14 “ 
3 “ 1“ 12 “ 6,1“ 6 “ 
Thus showing, that one quart of one cow’s milk gave 
nearly as much butter as three quarts of another cow’s 
milk. The lactometer affords a ready means of deter¬ 
mining the relative proportions of cream afforded by 
the different cows: but then, to show an accurate result, 
the milk should all be taken alike, that is, from the first 
or last that is drawn from the udder at a milking,—for 
the two samples differ very greatly in their quality—the 
first drawn being very deficient in butricious properties, 
sometimes one or two hundred per cent, to the strip¬ 
pings. The lactometer is a glass tube, sold by seeds¬ 
men, and sometimes by apothecaries, graduated into 100 
parts. The milk is put into this, and having had time 
to rise, the per cent of cream upon the top is ascertained 
by holding the glass up to the light. 
Mr. Colman gives one case in which an experiment 
was made in soiling a small herd of cows, the cows 
were kept wholly in the stable, and fed wholly with 
green cut food. The result was, three gave 389 pounds 
of butter in 13 weeks, lacking one of being 30 lbs. a week, 
or 10 pounds a week to each cow. We think a half-soiling 
system, which affords the cows a range and exercise in 
the day time, and extra green food at night, is the pre¬ 
ferable mode. When the pasture is short or deficient, 
an extra feed of cut grass at night, adds greatly to the 
milk, and is a very profitable mode of appropriating a 
lucern or clover field. We have in this way kept half 
a dozen cows upon an acre of lucern most of the sea¬ 
son. The cows had a run of four or five acres of pas¬ 
ture, and were fed night and morning with as much cut 
lucern as they would eat up clean. When the acre had 
been cut over, the ground first cut was in condition for 
a second cutting. 
The commissioner recommends more attention to the 
raising of calves, by dairy farmers, not only to perpetu¬ 
ate and improve the dairy breed, hut as a matter of pe¬ 
cuniary profit; and he cites cases of prime heifers, two 
years old, bringing with their first calf thirty-five dol¬ 
lars. But the commissioner recommends that which, if 
commendable, we doubt if it will be carried into effect by 
farmers generally, viz: that it is best to raise calves in 
the stall or yard the first season, where they are to be 
fed with hay, carrots and potatoes cut fine. These roots 
are scarce at the season of rearing calves, the expense 
of rearing is increased, and besides, we think the ani¬ 
mals are deprived of the exercise of their natural ha¬ 
bits—free exercise in the open air, and feeding upon the 
fresh herbage, destined to become their principal food. 
Good pasture will keep early calves in a growing 
healthy condition after they are 12 or 16 weeks old; 
and we should consider it better, if it is designed to 
make a superior animal, to give extra feed with the na¬ 
tural food, than to depend wholly upon what may be 
termed artificial. 
In dairy management, the report recommends perfect 
cleanliness, a pure air in the milk-room, and the churn¬ 
ing of cream while fresh, as having a great influence in 
the quality of the product. Two important suggestions 
are here omitted; the first is, that after the preceding 
requisites have been duly observed, still that the quality 
of the butter will depend much upon the temperature of 
the cream when submitted to the operation of churning. 
It has been demonstrated by repeated experiments, that 
the cream ought to be of a temperature between 56 and 
62° of Fahrenheit; that if it is below this, the process 
of churning becomes more tedious, and the butter of but 
second quality; and-that, as the temperature rises above 
62, the butter becomes white, frothy and inferior. In 
the second place, unless the butter milk is completely 
extracted, and the salt dissolved and incorporated with 
the butter, before it is packed down, and air afterwards 
excluded from the mass, it will not keep good, though 
it be good when laid down. 
Mr. Colman recommends the cheese shelves figured 
and described in our second volume, which are sus¬ 
pended on a horizontal central bar, and upon which 
many cheeses may be turned by a boy in one operation. 
The swine of Berkshire are not highly recommend ed; 
although pork is one of the staple products of a dairy 
district. The Byfield, China, Mocho, grass breed, and 
Berkshire have been partially introduced. Mr. C. says 
the Berkshire “is the best hog we have among us.” 
One hog is generally kept to four cows. A shoat weigh¬ 
ing 70 lbs. in the spring is made to weigh 250 lbs. in the 
fall, upon the slops of the dairy of four cows. 
A successful pork fatter is noticed whose process of 
fattening is described as follows: 
“ As soon as the pasture will afford a good bite of grass, he 
turns them in wheie they can have plenty of clover and’wa¬ 
ter. He is careful to salt them once a week, if the season is 
wet; and changes them from one pasture to another, as he 
does sheep or other stock, which is of much importance dur¬ 
ing the summer. As soon as he gathers his harvest, he gives 
them tH,e stubbles. When these are wellgleaned, he gives 
them corn cut up by the ground fora few days, as’it is dan¬ 
gerous to keep them closely shut up and feed them highly in 
the beginning; having no exercise it tends to produce tho 
blind staggers. In order to remedy this, they must be put 
upon thin food and have as much salt as they will eat. Flo 
commences steaming potatoes for his hogs the first of Octo¬ 
ber, his ruta baga not being then matured; he mashes them 
fine; puts nothing with them but the sour milk from six cows 
and four quarts of salt to a box of 28 bushels. This feed ho 
continues three weeks. Afterwards he commences steaming 
ruta baga, and continues this feed until the first of December 
which is five weeks. He puts with the ruta baga, after being 
mashed fine, four quarts of salt, and three bushels of oats and 
peas ground together, into a box of 28 bushels. On this feed 
they do extremely well. This feed he continues till the 25th 
December, and then finishes off with meal and com.” 
In this way he makes his hogs, the age is not men¬ 
tioned, average over 300 lbs. There are three facts worth 
noticing in this mode of fattening swine, in general, we 
believe, not sufficiently regarded or practised, and which 
evidently add materially to the profits of the business. 
1. Good clover pasture, and a change of pasture, in- 
contestibly beneficial to all other farm stock. 
2. A constant and plentiful supply of salt—as essen¬ 
tial to the digestive functions and health of the brute as 
it is to the health and appetite of man. And, 
3. The economy of fattening upon roots. Potatoes, to 
be sure, have long been in use as hog feed; but the use 
of ruta baga can hardly be said to have commenced with 
us. These, beets, carrots and parsnips, are believed to 
be all as nutritious, and as profitably cultivated for 
swine, as the potato. Our pork may be almost wholly 
made from the slops of the dairy, clover, roots and ap¬ 
ples, with far greater economy than it can be made 
from corn or other grain; and the more improved mode 
is now, to give corn and grain only during the last weeks 
of the fattening process. 
We intend to resume the review of this report in our 
next. 
Criteria of Dairy Stock. 
We copy from the Farmers’ Magazine, the following 
scale of points ol Jersey dairy stock, which has special 
