and the difference in cost between good care 
and that which would usually he given them, 
would not he very great. Some milking 
must he done and some mi Ik cared (or during 
most of the winter so that It. is only a ques¬ 
tion of a little more work. A more serious 
objection might, seem to l>e, the difficulty in 
raising the calves. But in practice it' is 
found that excellent results can be had rear¬ 
ing these fall dropped calves on skimmed 
milk, with a little meal, and that they arc 
ready to go on the pastures in the spring in 
much better shape than the ordinary spring 
dropped calf is prepared for his first winter 
of dry food. 
The difference In the [n ice of butter will 
more than counterbalance the increased ex¬ 
pense in most cases.— Western HumI. 
COMFORT OF THE COW 
OVER PRODUCTION OF CHEESE 
At a late Daily Convention at Elgin, Ill., 
President Faviile made the following remarks 
on taking care of cows : 
“ I am not going into the detail of the care 
of dairy cows, but will lay down one general 
principle. This, I think, if carried out in the 
minutia, will secure the desired end. The 
principle is this;—In everything consult, so 
far as possible, the comfort of the cow. Let 
all the arrangements that appertain to her 
keeping, such as food, drink, shelter, treat¬ 
ment and general management, he such as 
shall tend to her comfort and quiet; then, 
aud not till then, can we reasonably look for 
the best results. The question of feed for 
the dairy cow is so important that 1 trust 
you will pardon me for taking time to urge 
it upon your attention. Breed is important, 
but feed much more so. Persous about en¬ 
gaging in dairying look over the reports 
from this Association, or read the report 
from some dairy in the agricultural papers. 
They see so many cows kept, and from them 
so much money made, and they seem to for¬ 
get all the rest. They go on and get the re¬ 
quired. number of cows, and when the end of 
the year comes* they ai’e obliged to divide the 
profits by two, for the reason that they have 
not well considered the business in all its de¬ 
tail. Many men (l will not say dairymen) 
seem to think anything is good enough l'or a 
cow, the warm side of a rail fence good 
enough shelter, and a chance to feed at the 
straw-stack, with an occasional dressing of 
marsh hay and a chance to run in the stand¬ 
ing corn stalks, good enough care and feed 
for the cow. 
They seem t.o> feel that grain fed to cows is 
almost thrown away. The horses and hogs 
must have all the grain, anil leave the cows 
to take care of themselves, 
“ Mb. Wit.t.ahd has written a letter to the 
London Agricultural Gazette on the state of 
the cheese trade in the United Stat es. He 
says the wisest factory managers have sold 
their products regularly through the season 
at. the best attainable price, while others, 
especially in Canada, have piled their shelves 
with large quantities‘to await the chances 
of a most unpromising future.’ Ho regards 
present prices as below the cost of produc¬ 
tion, and the stock on hand as enormous. 
“There is nowin this country a mass of 
cheese which is stranded high and dry above 
the existing trade current. Tt. is the sum¬ 
mer’s make, which must prove such a sad 
loss to producers. There cannot be less than 
2.50,000 boxes now lying in the several dairy 
regions. This amount seems just about the 
measure of this season’s over-production. 
The current make, from week to week, is 
sufficient to the demand. What will become 
of the surplus is a question. If any one Can 
think of any use to which he can put it he 
can obtaiu the material cheap. 
“I have spoken of the disasters which 
have come to some In the trade. There have 
been a number of failures among those deal¬ 
ing in dairy products, although I have yet to 
learn of a house which has fallen directly 
through the decline of cheese. The failures 
have come from launching away from the 
dairy, and taking poor chances on grain and 
hops. Those who have clung to the dairy 
have not made anything; but they have 
generally been too cautious to take very 
great risks. There is, however, in the inte¬ 
rior considerable distrust of the New York 
dealers, aud the New York dealers in .turn 
assure us that the shippers are possessed of 
no property, and are liable to go up at any 
tiinp. Of course, the dissatisfaction in the 
trade leads each of the classes handling 
cheese to look with disgust upon the other 
classes, and the result, is a demoralization and 
discomfort all around the box. 
“ All the items in thepresent outlook seem 
to declare that the season of 1871 marked the 
close of an epoch in American dairying. Up 
to that time it was going on prosperous, and 
to prosper. This year marks the climax and 
the reversing. Hence it will build up again. 
Next year there will be au improvement, 
because those who will fly from the ship this 
fall will lighten it ro that it will float on 
next year’s demand. It is not pleasant to 
think of the farmers who embarked this 
year with bright hopes on the enlightened 
practice of dairying, hoping for a share of 
past rewards ; but trade laws are inexora¬ 
ble.” 
The above we cut from the columns of the 
Country Gentleman of Nov. 11. Not haviDg 
the Agricultural Gazette before us, wo are 
unable to give the date of the letter or the 
point from which the said W illard hails. 
Of one tiling we arc sure, the letter does uot 
come from the editor in charge of this de¬ 
partment of the RURAL, and, as we do not 
desire to take the credit of other peoples’ 
labors, or to shoulder the responsibility of 
their statements, our remarks on the pa¬ 
ternity of the article will not be out of place. 
It may be proper to say, that some of our 
HOW OFTEN SHOULD COWS BE MILKED 1 
Regularity in the milking of cows is of as 
much importance as regularity in feeding 
them. In a state of nature, the cow is 
relieved of its milk a great many times a 
day. A calf allowed bo remain with its 
mother will help itself seven or eight times a 
day. Under such circumstances the udder 
of the cow will remain small, and if allowed 
to retain the milk secreted during the twelve 
hours, feverish symptoms arc likely to be 
produced. The practice of milking cows 
more than twice in twenty-four hours causes 
the capacity of the udder to be greatly in¬ 
creased, and probably helps in maintaining 
the lacteal secretion long after pregnancy 
has taken place. When, however, by an 
artificial system, the cow has been enabled 
to retain her milk without inconvenience for 
t welve hours or so, she ought to be milked 
regularly every day at the same hour. 
When the time for milking arrives, the udder 
usually becomes distended to its utmost ca¬ 
pacity, and if the milk is not speedily re¬ 
moved, the animal suffers considerable pain, 
Cases of fever, the result of allowing animals 
to remain too long unmilked, are, indeed, by 
no means of unfrequent occurrence. It is 
especially necessary to attend to this point 
for some days after the animal has brought 
forth Its young, for during that period very 
little irritation of the lacteal organs is likely 
to bring on that most fatal of nil maladies, 
fever. If milking be too Jong delayed, 
nature will try to help the poor animal. An 
absorption of milk into the blood will, to 
some extent, take place, and that which 
remains in the udder will become deterio¬ 
rated. When neglect to milk a cow at the 
regular tune is repeated several times, the 
secretion of the lluid is permanently checked ; 
and there are many cases where, by such 
neglect, an animal has become dry in less 
than a month . — Irish Fanner's Gazette. 
These are, in 
my opinion, very mistaken notions, for it 
costs only a little more to keep a cow well 
than m the manner 1 have described. In¬ 
deed, it costs only a little more to keep a cow 
upon grain than upon hay. Example ;—Tt 
will take one acre of good grass to fur.iish 
winter fodder for a cow. The same acre, if 
planted to d>m and properly cultivated, will 
not only furnish winter fodder, but will 
furnish grain enough, if fed with the stalks- 
in winter and the pasturage in summer, to 
give us a go vi How of milk during the entire 
milking season, while the hay would have 
done little more than sustain the animal 
life. 
The difference of cost, then, in the two 
methods of feeding, is the difference of ex¬ 
pense in raising an acre of grass and an acre 
of corn. We have the same investment for 
land, and it Is only the difference in labor, 
and when we strike the balance between the 
cost and profit, we shall find a large balance 
in favor of the grain. 
SETTLING QUESTIONS 
Friend Wetuekell, of the Boston Culti¬ 
vator, is, gettiug to be very hypercritical, 
thus, for instance, he wants the question of 
deep or shallow setting of milk for butter 
making settled ; and thus he bears down 
very severely upon several experimenter* 
who have given the result of their investi¬ 
gations to the public. 
He says the question of which is best— 
is easily settled, 
“deep or shallow setting 
and he suggests that the milk be set one 
week or one day In shallow pans, and the 
next week or day in deep cans and then re¬ 
port results. Jlc does not allude to temper¬ 
ature or other conditions to be observed In 
the experiment. Now, in reading this long 
and overstrained criticism on the labors of 
others, the thought occurs to ua why does 
not brother Wetiierkll step in and settle 
the question which he says can be done so 
easily. We understand our esteemed friend 
has a dairy farm well stocked with cows, 
hence how appropriate for him to settle this 
question. Then again there are some other 
questions we should like to have him settle ; 
tor instance, which is the best breed of cows 
for the dairy i Dr. Lorino and Dr. Stcrte- 
vant say that Ayrshire* are best. Mattoon 
favors Devons. Others recommend Short- 
Horns, aud others Alderneys. Then there is 
the question of the best food for dairy stock, 
and the best method of producing it. There 
area great many questions that seem very 
easy to settle, but which are not settled. 
For the last half century, or more, the ques¬ 
tion seemed to be settled that cows would 
not live on an exclusive meal diet, and yet, 
when about everybody had “settled” down 
in that belief, along comes one Linus W. 
Miller of Chautauqua, and “deposethand 
says.’' that he winters his cows on an ex¬ 
clusive diet of meal (U quarts only to each 
animal per day,) and the cows, according to 
the factory records, yield better returns 
when put to grass than they did when win¬ 
tered on hay ; and, moreover, the cows make 
better returns than the majority' of cows in 
that neighborhood that have been wintered 
on hay. 
Lawes & Gilbert have been making ex¬ 
periments for the last quarter of a century, 
and yet they have not settled many ques¬ 
tions. And now, brother Wkthkrkll, sup¬ 
pose you take a hand at some of these ques¬ 
tions, and see how easy it is to settle them. 
Perhaps a little work on your part would go 
quite as far as hypercritical opinions con¬ 
cerning the result of experiments made by 
others. 
CHEAP SHELTER FOR STOCK 
COWS CALVING IN THE FALL 
The writer of this has repeatedly pre- 
sen ted what seems to him very decided 
advantages in the plan of having cows, whoso 
milk is to be used for butter making, calve in 
the fall instead of the spring. The practice 
is not recommended for universal adoption, 
but it is believed that many farmers and 
dairymen would find increased profits by 
adopting tills plan. 
Most farmers have their cows calve in the 
spring; say in April or first of May. Much 
the larger part of the milk is thus obtained 
during the summer months, when the price 
for flutter is low, when milking and the care 
of the milk is troublesome, and when there 
is a pressure of other work on the farm. 
When butter begins to rise in price in the 
fall, the yield lias so diminished that there is 
comparatively little to sell. The cows have 
to be cared l'or and milked until iu mid-win¬ 
ter, and perhaps one or two throughout the 
winter, although it uot uncommonly happens 
that in the latter part of winter a farmer 
buys butter for the use of his family, paying 
as much for one pound as ho obtained for 
two in June 
The plan suggested, and successfully prac¬ 
ticed by some, is to have the cows calve iu 
September, bo well eared for in winter, giv¬ 
ing milk until say the latter part of June. 
Iu this way the 
RICHNESS OF MILK AFFECTED BY 
THE PERIODS OF MILKING. 
We are glad to see that the “Practical 
Batter Book,” recently issued from this of¬ 
fice, is arresting the attention of butter 
makers, and leading to investigations and 
experiments which promise to be of great 
utility. A 3 a specimen of what is growing 
out of some suggestions in this book, we give 
the following from the distinguished Super- 
intendent of the Ridge Creamery, which we 
find contributed to the Utica Herald. He 
says : “ I send you the fourth and last test 
to be made at Ridge Creamery this season 
upon the question of “ comparative richness 
in cream of the night’s and morning’s milk,” 
as expressed in .your weekly of Auguest 17. 
Prof. Willard, in ilia “Practical Butter 
Book,” on page 53, first drew my attention 
greater part of the milk 
would be giveu when butter is at a high price 
and in good demand, when the extreme heat 
does not make it difficult to make good but¬ 
ter, when there are no flies to trouble the 
cows or milkers, allowing the cows to rest 
during the warmest weather and the most 
busy part of the year on the farm. 
The cows must be eared for in any event, 
