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X. A. WILLARD, A. M., EDITOR, 
Or I.tTii.s FitM, liiruituEi Cotxir, Anw Vusk. 
BUTTER DAIRYING. 
The Stock, Quality of Butter, 
As I contemplate going into the butter dairy 
business, ami desire some reliable Information 
on the subject, will you please assist me through 
the Rural by answering mo the following ques¬ 
tions, viz.:—Ts Jt advisable to purchase improved 
stock at high prices ? What breed is considered 
best for a butter dairy ? Is there any dliforence 
In thoprlcc of butter made from the different 
breeds? and which sells for the highest price? 
What would be a fair estimate of the average 
amount per annum of butter of the different 
breeds ? is It customary for dealers in improved 
stock, in giving pedigree with gales, to give 
merely a statement in writing or to accompany 
statement with affidavit?—A Subscriber, Grand 
Ilapkla, Mich., JV’ca., 1869. 
Remarks. — To one about commencing 
the business of butter dairying, we should 
not recommend the purchase of a thorough¬ 
bred herd at high prices. We believe in 
improved stock, but it is more judicious for 
dairymen to improve herds gradually than 
to expend a large amount of money in get¬ 
ting together ut once a dairy of thorough¬ 
bred animals. We are speaking now in 
reference to farmers who seek to make a 
profit by the production of milk, in distinction 
from the breeder, whose profits in part may 
come from the sale of blooded stocks. To 
purchase thorough-bred stock at from ila-ee 
hundred to five hundred dollars or more per 
head for the purpose of butter or cheese 
making alone, would be, in our opinion, a 
very unwise investment and one that would 
not pay for the dairy. If good milkers be 
selected trom tlie common stock of the coun¬ 
try, it may be profitable to purchase a 
thorough-bred bull, breeding from the best 
cows, and thus by raising a certain number 
of grades each year a superior herd will, in 
a few years, be established at moderate ex¬ 
pense. 
It is no easy matter to get together a 
herd of “ first-class milkers.” Even among 
thorough-breds of any breed there is great 
difference in the milk-producing capacity of 
different animals. There arc thorough-breds 
of every breed that are unprofitable for the 
daily—animals that will not give sufficient 
milk to pay for their keep. A dairyman 
looking only to the yield of milk and its 
quality, would hardly care, and, Indeed, could 
not afford, to retain in his herd an inferior 
milker, even though she may be faultless in 
form. Then there are accidents constantly 
occurring among dairy stock that render it 
advisable to turn off’ certain animals every 
year, replacing them with sound slock. The 
annual loss from this change, if improved 
stock at high prices was employed, would 
he so large as to make a serious inroad on 
the profits of tiie dairy. The practical dairy¬ 
man, therefore, looking to all these consid¬ 
erations, finds it to his advantage to work 
into improved stock gradually,—to purchase 
thorough-bred bulls of good milking families 
from time to time, and perhaps a good 
thorough-bred cow, improving his stock by 
this means rather than paying fancy prices 
on a large scale to breeders. 
What breed is considered best for a butter 
dairy, is a question upon which there is great 
we should say that the Alderney breed would 
give that which would command the high¬ 
est price. 
As to the average amount of butter to be 
obtained from the different breeds, we could 
give no definite reply without, perhaps, mis¬ 
leading our correspondent- In selecting cows 
it will not answer to rely upon any pedigree 
or race implicitly. Actual trial of every 
cow’s milk, especially where butter is to be 
made, is the only reliable means of informa¬ 
tion in regard to its quality. We could give 
innumerable statements showing large yields 
of butter from cows of different breeds. 
Sometimes cows of different breeds have 
been put on the same pasture, and the 
amount of butter made from each in a given 
time compared, the one with theotber. Such 
experiments may be interesting, but arc often 
a fruitful source of mischief, as a poor cow 
of one breed may be pitted against a good 
cow of another breed, or some of the breeds 
may not be adapted to the soil. 
Some years ago experiments were made at 
Bradley Hall, in Derbyshire, England, witli 
four breeds of cows. During tlie height of 
the season and when fed upon the same pas¬ 
ture, the cows of the different breeds gave 
per day as follows : 
Holdernoas, 29 quarts milk made. .383$ oz. butter. 
Alderney, 19 “ “ “ ..25 “ 
Devon, 17 “ “ “ .,28 “ 
Ayrshire, SO “ “ “ . .34 “ ** 
Here tlie Ayrsliircs are made to yield 
richer milk than the Alderaeys. Youatt 
gives an account, on the other hand, of an 
Alderney cow which made nineteen pounds 
of butter each week for three successive 
weeks. 
in 1844 George Vail of Troy, N. Y., 
received a premium from tlie N. Y. State 
Agricultural Society for producing from six 
cows in thirty days two hundred sixty-two 
pounds and nine ounces of butter. This is 
an average of one and one half pounds a day 
for each cow during the trial. Tlie cows 
were of the Short-IIorn breed and led on 
pasture only. 
In 1848 the first premium for butter made 
from five cows in thirty days was awarded 
to E. R. Evans, Marcy, Oneida Co. llis 
cows were of “native breed,” fed on pasture 
only, abd produced two hundred and forty- 
nine pounds of butter—an average of more 
than one and a half pounds per day. 
Ini 850 S. T*. Cm a CM an , M ad ison Co., N. Y., 
received first premium on Short-Horn cow, 
five years old, which made forty pounds and 
two ounces butter in twenty' days. 
It, is stated on the authority of the Massa¬ 
chusetts Agricultural Society that the Oaks 
cow produced in one year, from the 5th of 
April to the 25th of September, four hun¬ 
dred and eighty pounds of butter, besides 
suckling her calf for five weeks. She was 
of the so-called “ native breed,” and had 
been purchased out of a common drove for 
a mere trifle. Besides pasture, she was fed 
a bushel of com meal per week, and all her 
own milk skimmed. 
These statements, if they prove anything, 
go to show that good cows for butter may 
be selected from any breed; and in the case 
of the Oaks cow it is evident that the extra 
feed had much to do in producing the re- 
difference of opinion. In selecting breeds a 
very important point to be considered is a 
breed that is well adapted to the soil or farm 
where it is to be kept. The Short-IIorn, for 
instance, would not be a good breed lor 
rough, mountainous pastures where feed is 
scanty or not easily obtained, but on rich, 
level, or slightly undulating land, affording 
an abundance of sweet, nutritious herbage, 
it might give the very best, results. On 
rough, hilly pastures, perhaps there Is no 
breed more profitable than the Ayrsliircs. 
They are hardy, and yield a large quantity 
of milk of good quality. The Devons yield 
milk rich in quality, but as a breed they are 
not remarkable for quantity. They are es¬ 
teemed by many as a good breed for butter, 
especially grades, or a cross on the common 
stock of the country. 
Of all the breeds there is none which sur¬ 
passes the Alderney in the richness of milk. 
They yield only a moderate quantity of milk, 
but it is of a deep yellow color, and wonder¬ 
fully rich in cream and butter. They are 
small, and more delicate in constitution than 
most other breeds, and require good shelter 
nud feed. They are not a “beef-making” 
breed, and hence in turning stock failing in 
the dairy on account of accident or other 
causes they would not realize near so much 
money for the shambles as the Short-Horn 
and Devon. 
The price of butter in the market depends 
more upon its manufacture, packing, and 
condition when it arrives there, than on 
any particular breed of cows from which it 
is produced. With high skill in manufac¬ 
turing, and a strict observance of all the re¬ 
quisites for producing good butter, high 
prices may be realized without regard to 
breeds. Still, for the production of an ex¬ 
treme fancy article, all things being equal, 
j markable yield for which she is credited. 
The butter dairymen of New York seem 
to be well satisfied with any breed of cows 
that, will make an annual average yield of 
from two hundred to two hundred and 
twenty-five pounds of butter per cow. 
We do not think it is customary for 
breeders of thorough-bred stock to make an 
affidavit of pedigrees. Breeders of thorough¬ 
bred stock and of established reputation are 
pretty careful in regard to the stock they 
send out, and of the statements which they 
make. We could name breeders whose 
simple word would be as satisfactory to us 
us a cart load of affidavits. Men who have 
been long in the business and expect to con¬ 
tinue in it, are generally very reliable in their 
statements. A tricky or dishonest breeder 
is short lived and soon “ cornea to grief.” In 
the purchase of blooded stock we should al¬ 
ways advise buying of responsible parties 
and those reputed to be honorable. Men of 
this stamp we presume would be willing to 
make affidavit of their statements if required. 
In conclusion, we should say to one about 
commencing tlie business of butter dairying, 
and whose object is to make a profit from 
the business:—Select good milkers of any 
breed that can be purchased at fair rates. 
Do not invest largely in thorough-bred stock 
at fancy prices merely for the purpose of 
making butter. Find out first, what breed is 
best adapted to your soil and climate, work¬ 
ing gradually into the breed that appears to 
give the best results. And this should he 
done by breeding the animals on the farm— 
buying a good thorough-bred bull, one that 
comes of a good milking family, to be used 
with the herd, and raising calves only from 
deep milkers. This course will incur but 
little extra expense, and be in the end fur 
more satisfactory than to attempt to reach 
the highest improvement in a herd by 
making a large investment. But if the ob¬ 
ject is to raise thorough-bred stock for sale 
ra connection with carrying on the business 
of butter dairying, why, that is another 
question. 
MANAGEMENT OF MILK. 
How Shall wc Realize Most Profit from the 
Milk? 
A correspondent inquires concerning 
dairying as follows“ With a dairy of from 
twenty to twenty-five cows, which is the 
most profitable, to make butter, feeding the 
skimmed milk to swine, or to make cheese? 
In case butter is manufactured, would the 
‘skim milk’ pay more when made into 
‘skim cheese’ than as feed for liogs?” 
In the first place it may be remarked that 
the profits of any kind of dairying will de¬ 
pend much upon having good cows, supply¬ 
ing them with an abundance of good feed, 
and in giving them good care. Again, much 
will depend upon skill in manufacturing the 
particular kind of dairy product. If one 
knows how to produce tlie best quality of 
butter, and understands but little or nothing 
about cheese making, then butter making 
for. him, we should say, would be decidedly 
the most profitable. And if the case was re¬ 
versed, then doubtless cheese dairying would 
pay best. 
Of late years the relative proportion of 
butter and cheese dairies is such that prices 
naturally adapt themselves to the two pro¬ 
ducts, so that neither branch of the business 
has any extraordinary advantage over the 
other. The home consumption of butter is 
larger than that of cheese, and the annual 
product of the country is no more than what 
is needed for consumption. On the other 
hand, the production of cheese is greater 
than home consumption, and the surplus 
must he exported. Fortunately the Euro¬ 
pean demand is large, and at prices generally 
remunerative. 
The cheese factory system has been of 
great advantage to the butter dairies, since 
it lias drawn many of the butter makers into 
cheese dairying, and thus equalized the t wo 
products. Previous to the cheese factory 
system the butter product of the country 
was so large, and prices so low in conse¬ 
quence, that the business often was not very 
remunerative. It is very probable that the 
profits from either branch will remain here¬ 
after pretty nearly equal, as any great differ¬ 
ence iu favor of the one will have the effect 
to draw from the other until prices again 
become equalized. 
If we assume that the annual yield from a 
good cow is two hundred pounds of butter, 
or if her milk, when made into cheese, is five 
hundred pounds, we can make a sufficiently 
accurate estimiito of yiw- probable receipts 
from either branch by taking the average 
prices of the two products the past season: 
Now, 200 pounds of butter, at. 86c., Is.$72 
600 pounds of cheese, at 15c. .. 75 
The skimmed milk from the butter making 
would be worth considerably more for pro¬ 
ducing pork than the whey in cheese making, 
so that the difference in receipts would not 
vary so very much. We do not pretend to 
give the precise average in prices lor the two 
products during the past season, but our 
figures are sufficiently accurate for all practi¬ 
cal purposes. 
In 1860, .John Siiattuck, a noted butter 
maker of Chenango Co., reported to the 
Country Gentlemen his receipts from a dairy 
of twenty-three cows for that year. Tlie 
total amount of butter made was 5,ISO 
pounds, or an average of 928 pounds per 
cow. The butter sold at 28c,, except the 
“ spring make,” (642 pounds,) for which only 
17c. wns received. The whole receipts from 
his dairy, including nine calves raised on 
skimmed milk, $85; and pork fed on dairy 
slops, $100, were $1,286.18. 
Mr. E. P. Haynes of Barre, Mass., reports 
in the same paper the yield of cheese from 
twenty-four cows, one of them a two-year 
old heifer, to lie 15,600 pounds, or 650 pounds 
per cow. Deducting the make of one cow 
so jhat the number of cows will be the same 
in each dairy, and we have 14,950 pounds 
as the amount from twenty-three cows. The 
average price of cheese that year was about 
9e., which would make the cheese amount 
to $1,345.50. Mr, IT. speaks of fattening 
and raising several calves, and although 
nothing is said about the disposition made 
of the whey, it is evident its value must, he 
something. This gives the cheese dairy the 
most money in its receipts, but it must be 
remembered that the yield of cheese per cow 
is large, and much more than an average. 
Wc suppose the cost or expense account 
in a butter dairy will not vary materially 
from that where cheese is manufactured. 
Tlie manufacture of cheese is attended, per¬ 
haps, with a little more expense than that 
of butter, still the difference is so small that 
it need not he considered in the estimate. 
As to the last question, there can scarcely be 
a doubt but that the “skimmed milk” can 
be better employed for “skim cheese” than 
as a feed for swine. 
Tlie average price for " skim-milk cheese” 
the past season has been about ten cents per 
pound. Some manufacturers have realized 
higher rates, hut any food at ten cents per 
pound is altogether too expensive for fresh 
muking. 
At the butter factories it is estimated that 
fourteen quarts ol milk on an average of 
the season will make one pound of butter 
and two pounds of “skim-milk" cheese. 
But suppose a given quantity of milk yield¬ 
ing a pound of butter will, after the butter 
is taken out, give a pound and a half of 
skim cheese. Then a cow that would pro¬ 
duce two hundred pounds of butter for the 
season should yield also three hundred 
pounds of skim cheese. Her product would 
therefore be as follows : 
be Hpiartatt. 
BEE KEEPER’S CONVENTION. 
300 pounds butter, at 38c. . $72 
300 ski ra cheese, at 10c. 30 
Making a total of .$102 
But the whey from the manufacture of 
the skimmed cheese can bo used for feeding 
hogs, and if four hundred pounds of meal 
he added to it the hogs will probably gain 
quite as last and make as much pork as they 
would had they been fed the skimmed milk 
alone. If our reasoning is correct, the dairy¬ 
man cannot afford to feed hogs on skimmed 
niilk, since it will pay him belter to manu¬ 
facture it into cheese, feeding the whey and 
substituting meal or some cheap food for 
the cheese extracted from the milk. 
In conclusion we would say t hat whatever 
system of dairying Is adopted, let “ the 
goods” manufactured be of fine quality. 
Choice butter or cheese always firings more 
money in the market than poor stuff', and, as 
the expense of manufacturing the good is no 
more than for an Inferior article, the extra 
price received makes a very satisfactory ex¬ 
hibit on the balance sheet at the close of the 
year’s operations. 
mimic Jnfcrrimition. 
H 
PURE COLD 
is nut Dntigerous 
AIR. 
to Brenthe jt. 
Mil T. had been an athletic man, could 
endure almost anything, but of late had 
“ sick spells ” often, and called in a pliysi- 
cian, who gave him physic to relieve his 
overloaded system for si time; but the “ sick 
spells” would recur, and remind him of 
frailty, and he often feared and dreaded eon- 
sumption. He was a great chopper, hut he 
said he was not going to chop in cold 
weather, for he felt the cold air rush in and 
out of his lungs. 
The cold air rushing in and out of his 
lungs, as nature designed it should, to purify 
his blood and strengthen his system, pro¬ 
duced a sensation which iu his ignorance of 
the workings of nature he supposed injuri¬ 
ous, though the more pure cold air he 
breathed, when lie was warmly and dryly 
clothed, the healthier he became. 
Cold air is not injurious to breathe, even 
by the most delicate. If it causes irritation 
and coughing for a timo, it is only because 
it seeks to find its way into diseased or over- 
burtlicned lungs, to strengthen and heal so 
far as permitted. Tlie injury received from 
going Into the cold air proceeds from having 
some parts of the body insufficiently clothed 
to protect from cold and dampness, and not 
from inhaling the fresh cold air into the 
lungs. I have sometimes seen ladies riding 
out In cities with a muff before their mouth, 
and 1 said to myself you lack hygienic in¬ 
formation. Yes, this is what the masses 
lack, and what they most need to render 
them healthful, lmppy and useful to them¬ 
selves, to society, and to the world. 
Why was not Mr. T., a well and strong 
man, with the prospect of longevity (acci¬ 
dents excepted,) before him ? Why was he 
harassed with fears of being cut down In 
the midst of his days with disease? He in¬ 
herited a good, strong constitution tlmt, 
under healthful influences, might have lasted 
many years. 
Let us examine his habits. He owns that 
in youth he was a beer, and an occasional 
liquor, drinker; that he had always been a 
cider and tea drinker, and drank as much of 
them as he could get. He chews and smokes 
tobacco. What, then, is he to expect but 
impaired health and occasional sickness? 
Does he say others have followed the same 
habits? True, but they have found the same 
results—ill health, uncomfortable feelings, 
strange forebodings of evil, and harassing 
fears, weakness and Irritability; for all these 
habits are destructive to the health of the 
human system, and will, if not abandoned, 
terminate in dissolution. 
Occasionally, under other favorable cir¬ 
cumstances, an individual with these habits 
may live to be quite aged; but who can tell 
how much longer these individuals might 
have lived if they had never indulged in 
any of them. How many have such habits 
led to partial or total insanity ?— how many 
to vice and crime? for you seldom see a 
criminal without some of these hubits. 
Hattie Hopeful. 
\ - 
Wind in the Stomach.—A physician, In a very 
sensible article upon bathing, says:—“For the 
‘ wind in the stomach’ children are thought to 
have, for their tiresome crying, and for the 
restlessness and worrying at night with which 
they are afflicted, It the warm bath were re¬ 
sorted to oftener, and the dosings of soothing 
syrups and worse nostrums less, it would be far 
better fur the children." 
In these days of concerted action, when 
organization might almost be called the 
watchword of the age, can we as bee keepers 
afford to disregard the advantages which it 
offers ? If every' trade and profession, from 
enterprises that bind hemispheres together 
with the electric wire and span continents 
with the iron rail, down to the most insigni¬ 
ficant interest, must have its association, I 
think it is time for us to be thinking about 
the same thing. Our brethren in the West 
have anticipated us here. They have already 
held a number of conventions—perhaps not 
permanently organizing, but meeting and 
reaping the advantages of comparing meth¬ 
ods, views, and prospects, and discussing im¬ 
portant questions. 
My proposition would be to call a conven¬ 
tion—say sonic time iu February or March— 
at some central point in the State, with the 
view, besides other maud’s, of forming a per¬ 
manent organization. Sucli a body could 
open a depot in the city of New York in the 
fall, and have all its product of honey and 
wax sold at a uniform rate by a salesman 
employed for the purpose. The members 
would thus be saved the trouble and expense 
of going each to the city and advertising for 
himself. They could also procure their sup¬ 
plies of hives, boxes, or machinery of what¬ 
ever kind, at some one place, manufactured 
in the best manner, and furnished at the 
cheapest rates. 
What we need for successful honey raising 
is an easy and rapid communication of every 
important fact that observation and experi¬ 
ence are continually bringing to light. If 
D/.iekzon in Germany, Mrs. Tui*per, AVag- 
nkr, or King in the United States, happens 
to find some substitute for honey or sugar in 
feeding, some method of impregnating the 
queens which shall put the whole matter un¬ 
der the keeper’s control, or if anybody’s else 
eyes see a thing of advantage to all, but 
overlooked by all but one, we want to know’ 
it in the shortest possible time. As now 
situated we cannot do lids. True, we have 
some good papers which do the work in 
part, but only in part, because compara¬ 
tively few of the great mass of apiarians give 
their experience in them. 
Many things are lost even to the persons 
who witness them, because there is none of 
the interest which an Association would 
awaken to induce them to make notes and 
prepare papers for its meetings. It is the 
close contact of mind with mind—the col¬ 
lision of opposing views, that has elicited 
the fire of truth in every age. Without the 
eager questioning of scholars, Socrates 
might not have become the “ noblest exam¬ 
ple Of the moral conscience that the world 
has known;” and without sharp, intellectual 
fencing among his disciples, Plato might 
never have soared as he did, or Aristotle 
have laid the physical world at his feet. 
Nothing truly and greatly human ever grew 
up wholly in solitude. Jt is the intercourse 
of man with man—the commerce of thought 
and sentiment tlmt forms the soil from which 
our splendid civilization haa sprung. And 
it is particularly so with every interest de¬ 
pending on knowledge and experience. 
Full of zeal, therefore, for the promotion 
of a branch of industry to which I have de¬ 
voted my life, tlie neglect of which is equiva¬ 
lent to the loss of many millions of dollars 
to our common country, I earnestly desire 
that this proposition shall meet with the ap¬ 
proval of the bee keepers of the State. Gen¬ 
tlemen, let us hear from you. 
M. Qcinby. 
-*-*-*.-- 
ITALIAN BEES. 
D. II. Coggbhall, Tompkins Co., N. Y., 
who introduced an Italian queen in a weak 
swarm of black bees July 17,1869, writes us 
he is fully satisfied of the superiority of the 
Italian over the black bees. lie adds:—“ If 
1 had had all Italians in the spring, I think 
my bees would have stored enough honey to 
have wintered on; sis it is, I shall be obliged 
to feed my black bees. I judge from the 
amount of honey my Italian swarm lias 
gathered. They have worked on a field of 
red clover (second crop) in the vicinity of 
my apiary, after the black bees had nearly 
ceased work. They had a comb of brood in 
their hives after tlie black bees had ceased 
working entirely. I could find two Italians 
to one black bee on the clover, and there 
were thirty swarms of black bees to one 
Italian swarm, within one hundred and 
twenty-five rods of the clover field.” 
-♦♦♦- 
Bee« North nud South. —Which la the best sec¬ 
tion of country for bees? Will bees Jo tnoro 
south of 40“ north latitude than they will north 
of the same?—that Is, yield more honey In ns 
good condition for market? If so. why la it that 
the largest apiaries are north of 40’? Is the 
Northern honey more valuuble? Do the flowers 
3 'icld more honey In a shorter time? Will those 
who have bad experience In bee keeping; both 
North and South, give it through the Rural?— 
D. B. Coggshall, Jr. 
