14 
JAN. 40 
THE BUBAL NEW-YOBKEB. 
After very thorough and long-continued tests 
of every kind of feed attainable, i prefer the 
following rations and kinds for the production 
of the best quality of butter:—Ten pounds of 
meal made of corn, oats and wheat bran or 
middlings, with four pounds of cotton-seed 
a year or more and may improve with age to 
6ome extent for a few months, while sweet- 
cream butter should be eateD in a week after it 
is made. Thus it depends upon the manner of 
disposal, if one should churn sweet or sour 
cream. But the acidity of the cream must not 
ly formed beast, with the straight back, the 
blood-like head, the heavy layers of flesh in 
those parts where the meat Is the best, and the 
form approaching a square when viewed in 
front and behind, and an oblong when seen 
from the side, is a fine representative of the 
pigs of Essex were cross-bred and were gener¬ 
ally spotted, or black, with white patches. 
They were in no sense agreed, but were the re- 
sultof crossing black pigs with the uative white 
ones. It is claimed that these crosses, which 
do not seem to have been popular, were made 
meal, given half in the 
morning and half in the d 
evening with cut and M 
wetted hay; at noon a fl 
feed of dry hay. If roots ft 
are at hand I would 
give a peck of these in iSlt 
place of the hay at 
noon. A handful of salt 
daily sprinkled on the \ 
feed is indispensable; 
the want of It will be 
discovered in the churn- . ,8| 
Milking. 
If the quantity and 
quality of the butter de- 
pend upon the cow and - 
the feeding, the milking — ~ 
may easily spoil all. This 
should be done in the At 
most cleanly manner. It 
is impossible to keep-P 
cows perfectly clean “ 
and a stable entirely free ly® 
from odors, unless all __11 fa 
the income is expended _ _-- 
in the attention that _ ~ 
would be needed. But_ 
yet the milk may be kept _f*,. 
clean if the stables are - 
cleaned out and freshly 
bedded before milking, 
and the cows are carded //V £. ‘•; t ,i 
aud brushed off and the 
udders wiped with a ' 
clean cloth. Some im- M/ 
purities, such as loose ^ •* 
hairs and dust, t mil get - 
Into the milk in spite of 
all care, but these may 
be kept on* of the but- 
ter. An excellent milk- * I 
lng-pail, which I have 
recently tried (Dodge’s 
patent, flg.10),strains the 
milk perfectly, from ev¬ 
ery hair and speck of du°t; it is easily kept 
clean and promises to be very durable. The 
strainer may be made of one, two or three 
thicknesses of wire cloth, and esn be un¬ 
screwed for washing. 
Setting the Milk. 
Upon the setting of the milk depends the quan¬ 
tity of the cream raised, as well us the quality 
of the butter. The difference between deep and 
shallow setting is too small to be perceived by 
the most careful tests, excepting as regards 
convenience. The deep-can system is conven¬ 
ient under certain circumstances, and in some 
is indispensable ; but I prefer shallow setting 
when all other thiugs are equal. All these 
things are equalized and more by the Ferguson 
Bureau Creamery, which is the most conven¬ 
ient shallow-pan system 1 have met with. This 
consists of a closet with shelves for the pans 
inclosed by glazed or wire-gauze doors, a place 
below tor the cream aud butter aud oue above 
Sussex, another county 
name, or with the Berk¬ 
shire — probably more 
with the latter than any 
other. Just such hogs 
could be produced any 
time in America, by 
crossing CheBter Whites, 
or any coarse white 
breed with Bcrkshires, 
_ and selecting the spot- 
ted or patched ones for 
breeding. The Essex 
pigs do not seem to have 
had any special or pucu- 
Bar * nerito until they 
were crossed upon the 
Neapolitan, a distinct 
black breed native to 
the peniusuia of Italy. 
The most marked early 
improvement was made, 
according to English 
writers, by Lord West- 
politans. By continuous 
SJaJWRfy breeding in a direct line 
(which was followed up 
carefully by Mr. Fisher 
liobbs, a tenant ou the 
ettui'« rHjfu;? Western estate, who es- 
SKS/*,; tablished a number of 
y|E^ families of these grades. 
and then bred them to- 
C \.^ gather), the improved 
Essex became, after a 
T .ItWrJft number of years, pure¬ 
bred Essex. 
Pigs of Mr. Hobbs’s 
breeding have, with success, been imported 
Into this country, origiually by Samuel 
Thome, a farmer merchant of New York, and 
their descendants have been scattered quite 
extensively. The Essex, as now bred, have a 
more dished face (hollowing iu) aud shorter 
noses, than those first imported, aud they are 
not so large in body and bone This is proba¬ 
bly owing to the want of new blood to cross 
upon, aud to the fact that the young pigs are 
kept too fat, which creates an undue propor¬ 
tion of fat to bone. A renewed cross with the 
original blood, the Neapolitan, would impart 
renewed qualities to the Essex, aud we are ex¬ 
pecting to see this dona before long, as iu our 
judgment it would bo wise so to do, aud if not 
done by American breeders, it will be likely to 
be by the English, as they understand the art 
of improvement by ont-erosses. As the Nea¬ 
politan pig is eulirely black, there would be no 
ehamre in the markings of the Essex, the color 
being uow pure black, with small, upright 
ears, a light coat of hair, no bristles, round, 
full hams and wide shoulders, short legs, short 
neck, full cheeks aud broad backs. 
The Essex hold the same relation to the black 
breodB, which the Suffolk or the Small York¬ 
shires, do to the white breeds. An Essex boar 
is valuable to cross upon coarse-bred sows, as 
the offspring will fatten easily and mature 
mueh earlier than the blood of the sow. The 
females are naturally prolific mothers, when 
not too closely inbred, aud are docile aud kind. 
Essex pigs possess the virtue of hardiness, aud. 
like other black breeds, freedom from mange. 
Color will not proteet hogs from lice, but 
white hogs are far more liable to be affected 
by mange, which is caused by au insect so 
small that it is not discernible to the naked 
eye, burrowing under the skin. The pure Es¬ 
sex is a handsome, round, plump pig, aud easy 
to keep. Like the Suffolk, the young pigs are 
small at birth, bat after a few weeks, grow aud 
mature rapidly. The skin of the Essex, like 
that of the Berkshire, is, when dressed, a 
bluish*white. The Essex are excellent for a 
hot climate, as they do not blister easily. They 
possess the general merits of qnietuess and 
aptitude to fatten ou a small amount of food, 
the prejudice against their black color, being 
more notional than rational. 
BULL OF THE BOMAN CAMPAGNA 
white-faced Herefords. which are lately strid¬ 
ing rapidly to the front, especially among the 
raisers of beef cattle in the WeBt. There’s a 
lengthy article, which every farmur and breed¬ 
er should carefully take to heart, iu the study 
and comparison of these two animals, one the 
representative of the old unimproved race, the 
other the representative of our latest advances 
in the art and science of breeding. 
be excessive. In the winter, if kept at a tem¬ 
perature of 50 degrees, the cream may be 
churned once a week ; if kept longer, there 
may be trouble in the churning. 
Can Fatness In a Cow Lessen her Milk Yield 1 
That cows may be too fat to give a full flow 
of milk and hens too fat to lay, ie a current 
opinion among fanners in some sections,which 
is an absurdity, it seems to me; the fact being 
that the cow or ten gets fat on account 
of non-production, not that the yield of 
milk or eggs 1 b lessened by the accumu¬ 
lation of flesh. Cows take on flesh when 
supplied with rich food beyond their capa¬ 
city to convert it into milk. Certain arti¬ 
cles of food have a tendency to produce milk, 
while the fat-forming qualities of others are 
predominant; yet were a cow allowed so small 
a ration of any kind, that she would decrease 
in weight, the production of milk would uot 
be increased thereby ; but, on the contrary, a 
diminished yield would be the result. There 
ie a limit to the profitable conversion of food 
into milk; also a limit to the capacity of cows 
to secrete milk ; but if, by high feediug with 
careful atteutiou to details, we can get the 
same returns in four years that otherwise 
would require five, we are the gainers. It 
seems incredible that auy thinking man could 
believe that a “cow would yield more milk 
when thin in flesh than when fat." m. b. r. 
Lick on Cattle. —I have not a doubt but 
the many remedies recommended in books and 
newspapers are effectual in disposing of these 
parasites, but they all require some time to 
prepare aud use them, aud If .you will just 
stoop down and take a handful of earth (sand 
would seem to be the be6t) aud rub it thor¬ 
oughly tuto the hair amoug the lice, repeating 
it a few times, aud use the curry-comb or card 
(which you ought to do anyway), I think you 
will find it just as effectual as the most elabor¬ 
ately prepared compound used ill the most 
highly recommended mauner. flow this would 
do for ticks on sheep I cannot say, hut I would 
use it iu preference to the tobacco clip- Of its 
being an effectual remedy for the pests on 
horses and cattle, however, I eau speak from 
experience. Y ieillard. 
-The publish 
The Hereford Herd Book 
ers have adopted for the title of the above 
work, The American Hereford Record, and 
have made application to the Secretary of State 
of Illinois for permission to iorm a stock com¬ 
pany for the publishing of this and such other 
works as shall seem best to advance the inter¬ 
est which they represent. 
The Record was in the hands of the prin¬ 
ter by llielrt of January, and will ho placed 
before the public at an early day. It will con¬ 
tain 3,300 pedigrees aud bouic 50 or more pages 
of reading matter, giving a sketch of the pro¬ 
gress of the Hereford breed of cattle and their 
relation to other breeds. 
The English Hereford Herd Book Society 
has Issued the 10th volume, which is Just out. 
The American work will be complete in Itself; 
every pedigree will trace as far back as the 
record goes. 
Turnips for Milch Cows. 
Though the Rural and oilier agricultural 
papers have told us “ time aud again’" for the 
last twenty years, everybody does not yet seem 
to know that turnips iu large or small quanti¬ 
ties may, with impunity be fed to cows, if fed 
al milking time, I have used them as cow feed 
for years without the least taint being percep¬ 
tible to taste or Bmell in milk or butter. 
dodge’s milk pail—fig. 10. 
for ice. The temperature may be maintained 
the year round at any desired polut; the milk 
and cream are thoroughly aired aud exposed 
to light; and the closet may be kept iu any 
place that may be desirable. For usefulness, 
and labor-saving I have met with no more 
effective plan thau this. But with whatever 
system of setting is used, the requisites for 
first-quality butter are purity of air, sufficient 
ventilation, moi6t hut not damp atmosphere, 
and freedom from any odor whatever, with 
a temperature uot below 45 auc’. not over 60 de¬ 
grees. The cream skimmed every 86 hours 
should be stirred in the creuin Jar each time 
that fresh cream is added, and should be kept 
as purely as the milk. 
There is a dispute respecting the churnmg 
of sweet aud sour cream. Sweet cream will 
make delicious butter, aud preferable for im¬ 
mediate sale ; but this will not keep so well, 
nor has it that ripeness of llavor aud peculiar 
nuttiness, which butter made from sour cream 
possesses. Sour-cream butter may be kept for 
OUR ANIMAL PORTRAITS 
This week we present to our readers a couple 
of very suggestive animal portraits. One is a 
descendant of a race that was sung of by 
poets before the opening of the Christian era, 
aud that has remained unchanged, so far as is 
known, since thou; the oilier belongs cer¬ 
tainly to oue of the best established aud finest 
of our modern breeds. The clumsey beast with 
the hollow back, the huge ueck and brisket, 
the scarcity of flesh where it should be most 
abuudant, aud the generally ungainly form, is 
one of the famous animals that for ages have 
enlivened the RomanCampagna. The spleudid- 
OwiNG to the trouble between the employes 
of the packing houses of Chicago and proprie¬ 
tors there lias been an enormous faUiug-off in 
the receipts of hogs there The first week 
after the strike only 43,669 arrived against 
142 920 for the previous week; aud 162,401 for 
the corresponding week last year. Mauy of 
the hogs that would have gone there are still 
at home; but a great mauy more have been 
sent to other markets. 
ESSEX PIGS; ORIGIN AND CHARACTER 
ISTICS. 
COL. F. D. CURTIS. 
Essex pigs, like the Berkshires, originated 
in England, aud take their name from the 
county where they were first bred. The older 
